Annandale After...

When a meteor shower destroyed most of Australia’s landmass in the second decade of the 21st century, all that remained was the leafy Sydney suburb of Annandale. These are the tales of how life changed in the thirty years that followed.

Suddenly mortality felt real and activities once urgent seemed empty. People began to ask deep thoughts and questions once ignored. As the world became slower, phones were replaced with tiny printers that created tiny scrolls of astonishing essays that people would devour with each spare moment. The world became more caring and people were happier than before the meteors fell.

After the meteor, older people were rare, so exotic and admired. Bertrand became famous for his vivid recollection of events past. Shortly after, he was voted the most handsome man in the world.

As the boy compared his love to a glowing sky, little did he know the imminent meteor shower would soon destroy the path they now strolled.

A mysterious thing began to happen one day: the world’s coolest youth started to age in reverse. Their once youthful, now looked old, and grew younger looking over time. Soon an older appearance became desirable and attractive. Those unafflicted by the mysterious change desired to look older, more like the cool youth — they greyed their hair, underwent surgery to loosen their skin, and tattooed sunspots.

In the disaster’s aftermath, modesty came into vogue and opulence was disdained by the wealthy, who purchased new luxury cars with old exteriors.

No one suspected it, but this boy would grow up to change the world by being the first world leader in history to wear shorts and sneakers every day.

Each morning this coffee would somehow be magically replenished. Its owner was grateful for his abundant gift and favoured it — not one day did he notice a pattern. As he sipped the coffee, every conversation with his friends confided their problems, and something strange happened: their fortunes mysteriously reversed. He grew resentful at their happiness and tried to give the coffee away, hoping to unbind a magnet of its mysterious power. But when he gave away the coffee, its power was lost forever.

The day after finding this pocket watch for the first time, its recipient would awake with a list in their own handwriting titled ‘Things I must do differently from today on’ — no memory of where it came from, and no sign of the pocket watch. What they didn’t remember was that the watch displayed the future date and time of their death, counting backwards to the present.

A man invented socks that made him feel the anguish and joy of anyone he looked at. He used those amazing socks to win the affection of anyone, and soon ruled the world. Over time though, feeling what others felt became common and his heart became hard. While he ruled the world, he no longer felt anything. And he regretted what his invention had made him.

A time traveller from 2050 travelled fourteen years into the past when he accidentally bumped the ‘backwards’ toggle in his car. He realised the error only after noticing men wore pants and not the customary kilt of his era.

The mother and her son devoured their food, unaware what they ate wasn’t a cheap buffet but rather the precise artistry of the world’s greatest chef. You see, convinced of her genius, the chef accepted her arch rival’s ultimate challenge: to convince the ordinary diners that truffles and petrified dinosaur eggs were nothing more than common food.

Prized DNA of the once-common but now extinct seagull was secretly smuggled as a yellow necklace by a billionaire who longed to see the bird flying once again, high above the ocean.

Greg and Helen were said to be the most fortuitous treasure hunters in the world. What no one knew is that after a strange meteor shower they now possessed heightened senses that helped them detect gold from afar.