Still I breathe

They left. I stayed behind.

No food. No clean water.

The silence grew too loud.

I counted stars. Every night.

One meal lasted three days.

Wolves howled. I didn't answer.

The cold bit through bone.

Firewood gone. Fingers turned blue.

I screamed. Nothing answered back.

Daylight faded far too fast.

Tracks in snow. Not mine.

I hid beneath broken boards.

Breath held. Heart thudded hard.

A man came. Not friendly.

Knife in hand. Eyes empty.

I ran. He chased me.

Fell hard. Blood on stone.

I faked death. He left.

Darkness wrapped me like cloth.

I dreamt of summer peaches.

Morning came. I was breathing.

Leg broken. Spirits nearly too.

I crawled. Inch by inch.

Pain screamed louder than fear.

Ravens circled. I whispered, "Wait."

I found an old shack.

Roof leaking. But walls strong.

Days blurred. Time meant nothing.

Snow melted. Streams ran wild.

Spring came. I planted hope.

I'm still here. Still breathing.

The Still trilogy is a minimalist survival story told in sharp, five-word sentences. Written in the first person, the story unfolds across three parts: Still I Breathe, Still I Walk, and Still We Rise.

In a post-collapse world stripped of comfort and noise, one voice emerges - sparse, honest, and deeply human. These are stories of quiet resilience, of pain, and perseverance, of losing everything and slowly, steadily, rebuilding hope. With each part, the solitary survivor finds not just endurance but connection - and finally, a reason to rise.

Part I: Still I Breathe
A lone voice in a collapsed world, speaking in five-word breaths—quiet, raw, and unbroken. This opening chapter traces the first fragile steps of survival, where loss is heavy, hope is faint, and breath itself becomes an act of defiance.