It started on the outskirts by the farms some said, others said it was brought in from abroad.
There's always someone or something to blame, regardless of actuality.
After the original panic subsided a bit, it was noticed that the rust was different.
It didn't seem to corrode in the way it should,it merely discoloured and re-textured.
Nobody could make sense of it.
Without the fear of structural decay and animal sickness (among end-of-the-world rumours)
the townsfolk settled down once more and treated the rust as though it had always been there.
It even became a trend among teenagers to wear rusted iron as jewellery.
Soon everyone wore small metal pieces from jagged shards held together with safety pins to
polished and finely crafted shapes decorated with semi-precious stones.
The occasional person complained that their metal had left marks but they faded quickly.
I'm sure you can tell where this is going and how it will end.
Nobody really pays attention when it comes down to the smaller details like new freckles.
As an intense summer rolled in everyone seemed to tan so quickly and more so than normal.
The tan didn't fade either, if anything it grew richer over time as their skin grew rougher.
It didn't take long for someone to put two and two together.
Soon after they shared their theory with a friend strange stories of the metal jewellery came out.
The local news was flooded with people's limbs where they claim to have once had metal.
With no negative effects aside from the permanent tan and change in skin texture, the authorities
said the general public had nothing to fear.
When the first body was found flaking and crumbling in a house full of jagged metal shards they
quickly retracted this and begged everyone to stay indoors for their own safety.
It wasn't long before they all went that way, the metal overwhelmed them and they passed on.
Nowadays the town's gone altogether but for some old fencing, red and rough in texture.
Our school once took us on a field trip there to play sports until a kid cut themself on the fence.
We never saw from him again, rumour quickly spread that he'd died.
They claimed it was a hit-and-run and in such a small town as ours we believed it.
Well most of us did, those of us who were there when he got cut linked his passing with the
old stories of a town that rusted to death.
Whatever that rust has inside it, it isn't done yet.
His gravestone is a dark reddish colour, the grey overwhelmed within a fortnight.
The neighbouring graves are starting to get it too.
Its really only a matter of time and we know that now.
We've decided to get it before it gets us by doing the worst a teenager could in a small town.
Parents noticed our new piercings but they never saw us slip metal into their food.
Soon we'll all be rust, just like the other town.
Hopefully by fully ingesting it we'll go sooner than the others, sooner than the kid.
Nobody wants to linger.
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