Model: FluX

Size: 1152 X 864 (1.00 MP)

Used settings:

• Prompt: (Sound: Distant church bells ringing, not the old warning clang, but… different. Lighter? The ragged breathing of a child just stopped running.) Her Thoughts (Racing, fragmented): Bells? ...Not the run-to-the-cellar bells. Not the hide-under-the-table bells. Sweaty hands... sticky on the wall. Mama’s spoon... dropped it. Clattered loud, so loud... scared me. But... the shouting outside... it’s... happy? Laughing? Not the bad shouting. The other kind. Like... before? (A deep, shaky breath) Look. Up the alley. Old Man Petro... crying? But... smiling? Waving his stick like a flag? "Over!" Someone yelled it. Right past me. "It’s over!" Over... like... finished? Done? Like... dinner done? But... war? Can it be... done? The sky... it’s just grey. Same grey. But... the birds? (Listens) Hear them? Really hear them? Not drowned out by... by the nothing sound? The waiting sound? That’s gone? Just... birds. And bells. And... laughing? Real laughing? My belly... still pinches. Empty. Always empty. But... maybe... maybe now? The trucks... the ones with sacks... maybe they come here again? Like before... remember? The flour sacks? White dust on Papa’s nose... (A tiny, hesitant smile flickers) Beans? Maybe... beans tonight? Papa... (The thought stutters, a familiar ache) ...He was going for wood. When the big boom... (Shakes head violently, fists clench) No. No thinking that. Not now. Now is over. The man said. OVER. So... maybe... maybe Papa finds his way back? Roads are safe now? Safe... (Tests the word) Safe. Like... no boots stomping? No windows shaking? Just... birds. And bells. My shoe... (Looks down at the broken shoe, toe poking out) Mama said... when it’s over... maybe... new shoes? Not maybe. Will. She will say it. Later. When she knows. When I tell her. "Mama! Mama, it’s OVER!" (Imagines running home, the words bursting out) She’ll drop the mending. Her eyes... they’ll get big. Then wet. Then... maybe she’ll laugh? That sound... her real laugh... like sunshine in a cup... School? The broken place... with the hole in the roof? Will Teacher Maria come back? With the book... the one with colours? Maybe... maybe I can learn the big words? The ones that mean things? Not just "run" and "hide" and "quiet"? Chickens! (The thought bursts bright) Granny’s chickens! The fox... or the soldiers... took them. But... maybe now? A little chick? Yellow. Fluffy. Like a dandelion puff. We could keep it safe. Feed it scraps. Watch it grow... not afraid. Just... grow. (A long, slow breath. The frantic energy settles slightly. A fragile hope blooms, sharp and sweet.) Over. It’s really... over. The big dark thing... the monster under the whole town... it’s... gone? Slinked away? No more hiding. No more shaking. Just... bells. Birds. And maybe... maybe tomorrow... isn’t just another hungry, scared day? Maybe... maybe it’s... beans? And sunshine? And quiet? (Leans her forehead against the cool brick wall. Lets the bells wash over her. A single tear traces a clean path through the dust on her cheek. It’s not a sad tear. It’s... different. Like rain after a long, long drought.) Just... quiet.
• Upscale & Enhance: 0
• Aspect Ratio: landscape