Muller

            Surrounded by luxury in his downtown high-rise penthouse home was where Henry Muller wanted to die, and that is exactly where it happened. He had built this city from nothing, designing buildings and funding businesses to fuel the infrastructure. Muller Ohio was his legacy; his gift to the state if not the world at large. Now, it was his bustling metropolis of a tomb thanks to his untimely heart attack.

            Shed of his body, Henry carried on in more ways than just a name. His spirit roamed the city keeping an eye on the people and buildings as the years progressed. Although for reasons unknown to him he was restricted to the city limits, he never felt trapped by this though. He did however feel lonely, but listening to the conversations and watching the families of his city live their lives and grow up helped with that. That is until the days after The Hole opened.

            Ohio, known for many things, is perhaps most famous for its coalmines of the past. Most of them have closed down long ago, but the coal is still there as are the tunnels that led to them. Sometimes on accident, and sometimes on purpose, fires were set in these mines and although the coal fires don’t burn with the bright fury of gasoline, the slow smolder can do far more damage in the long course of geology. Muller is a perfect example of this.

            On a warm Tuesday morning in June, steam began to rise from the storm drains along the eastern edge of the city. The steam was largely ignored because it looked not to different than the steam you might see rising from the streets after a summer rain passed until a sinkhole taking up nearly an entire city block opened up swallowing an entire community of townhouses including all the residents unfortunate enough to be home at the time. Flames replaced the homes then and those spread with the unbridled quickness of herpes in a fraternity house. The fires were brought under control before they spread to the rest of the city, but to much damage had already been done. The surveying of the underground mine fires as a result showed that the entire metropolis of Muller and most of the suburban sprawl was at risk of suffering the same fate. It had to be evacuated, closed down, and boarded up.

            Over the next few months that followed the fires, everyone and their belongings were forced out. Henry watch in growing despair as they all moved on to other cities, other towns and new lives outside of his watchful eyes. Being as the businesses moved as well, many jobs were relocated rather than lost, but enough of the jobs simply ceased to exist to cause an economic upset. Hundreds of people therefore stayed behind to live as squatters illegally in the closed down city. With water and power shut off, they lived poorly and many died quickly and quietly in the nights. Henry could only watch all of this happen. His beautiful buildings rotting due to neglect, his people run off the land, or die for staying, and is dreams and legacy becoming a runaway nightmare with no hope of waking. All that was left were junkies, whores, pillars of smoke, and his crumbling monoliths of success gone to sour rot.