This path was created by Alison Morgan.
The End
As I wake up, I feel my stomach grumble. All I want to do is go back to sleep, as my dreams of green meadows and unpolluted, beautiful earth are infinitely better than this reality of being confined into this mega center. Dreaming takes my mind of the fact that the earth is barren and I am confined to the indoors the rest of my life. Reading is another escape I use to take my mind off the hopelessness of my current time. It sharpens my mind and imagination, which helps formulate some wild and vivid dreams. The best authors write about nature and the earth before everything was destroyed and became mechanical, such as Joyce Kilmer. The nature of the earth’s beauty is so elusive and magnificent; one moment a flower is blooming with colors bursting out of its’ petals and the next it is dried out from excess heat and lack of water. It’s mind boggling to think such a flower can be captured forever with a combination of some nouns, verbs and adjectives. Since the earth no longer has any kind of wild flowers or any wildlife, I must venture out of my experience in order to feel even a tiny connection to nature. There are sectors dedicated to gardening and other animals, but these creatures are slaves and are harvested for practical use of humans.
As I stare blankly out the window of my room, I can only see darkness. Darkness not born from the night, but conceived by the pollution from the efforts of the human race. As I walk down the large white hallways, I stop to get a bite to eat. The options are endless and it is always a tough decision, but I just order an omelet with cheese. Technology had made this possible by controlling all factors of production. A whole sector is dedicated to slaughtering animals and growing different plants for harvest. The people in charge of the whole operation claim that this is simply a progression of natural selection. I have been there once and I remember looking into a cow's eyes to see if I could catch a glimpse of what the creature was feeling. Desperation and hopelessness were apparent. I would feel the same if I had hardly any space to move saw other kinds of my species being slaughtered before me everyday. I sit down to eat with a TV in front of me and watch a game of soccer that is being played in a different sector. I wonder how these players would execute if they were forced to play outside. The fact of the matter is they would die within minutes of stepping out into the marred earth, either from extreme heat (It’s over 200 degrees at all times) or their lungs would suffocate from the mass polluted air.
As the waves come crashing at my feet, I slowly sink in the moist sand. A pelican dips dives like a torpedo into the water and grabs hold of a sorry fish. Even in the death of an innocent creature, there is still beauty. I think back to the cows and their deaths. This fish experienced freedom and had the whole sea to wander around before being eaten, while the cow could hardly move. Even a blind man could see there is no beauty in the death of these cows. I take a dip to cool off my head from the hot sun, and when I reenter out the water, I notice the water is no longer water. It has turned black and begins to burn my skin and I scream, but no one is around to hear or help me. I wake up in my bed with the hot sweats, returning to the world of indoors.
All of the inhabitants of the mega center I live in rather enjoy their lives. No one has nightmares of pollution or of the environment. People have access to all kinds of food and entertainment, but more importantly, are protected from the hazardous environment. People are free to do what they want and move among the sectors as they please. This distracts people from the reality of the human race; people have destroyed the earth and continue to do so at the expense of their individual pleasure. The mega center really did save the existence of humans, but humans put themselves in a position to rely on this invention for life and it is uncertain if the center is sustainable. Big businesses were trying to keep up with the mass consumption and mass demand for products, and created tons of pollution in the process. People had to choose between the environment and their desires and the environment lost.
I visit the sector with all the plants and animals one day and decide to steal a little snail. The little guy was had escaped his glass container and was scrambling on the groud when I found him. I had to put him into my backpack and suffocate him a little, but I have saved the snail from being eaten. I place the snail away in the back of my room and just stare at it. I notice how the animal seems less slimy and more dry than his snail counterparts. The beads of water are sucked up by the roots like a specs of dirt into a vacuum cleaner. I imagine the snail is happy I have saved it from being deep fried and eaten, although I can offer only a little more freedom than the gardeners can offer. I can offer affection and care for this small little snail, which is not true of the gardeners. They feed the little snail just because they want him to be as fat as can be before they fry him and offer him up as a delicacy. The gardeners don’t see and beauty or awe in God’s creation, but only see him as fuel for humans. I put the snail in my pocket whenever I leave my room because stealing plants and animals in rather large crime and could cause me to lose my freedom like any other animal in the center.
The snail reminds me of a childhood memory I had some time ago. I was sneaking around the animal sector, specifically where the fish are located. There are so many fish with different size, shapes and behaviours that it made me ponder the power of our creator. This flounder at the bottom blended in so well with the sand that I didn’t even know he was there until it swam away from a predator, kicking up a storm of sand. I moved along to the shark section where I was admiring the power of these creatures. I was startled when I saw a big splash at the top of the water, but came to my senses when I saw what had created the splash. It was a young child who had been wandering around like me who fell in. I rushed up the stairs to the top of the tank and quickly jumped in the water. The child could not swim and the sharks began to circle him. I urgently grabbed him and kicked a shark in the nose. I barely got out of the water and luckily the kid was breathing and undamaged. I returned him to the authorities, where they did not congratulate me, but incarcerated me for six months. The kid, whose name was Snail, was also put in a juvenile jail.
Rays of sunshine hit my face and send me warmth, while the cool spring breeze offers a refreshing sensation. I sit walk through a field that has clearly not been interfered with by anyone and approach a massive, leafy tree. I have seen this tree before though my mind’s eye; Joyce Kilmer once gazed upon what I gazed and produced a poem that transcends time. The tree is pickled with different kinds of birds who have found a sturdy and suitable home to rest. No human could ever create such a masterful tree, but humans can definitely tear down the creation. As I sit at the base where the large roots dig into the surface of the earth to receive water, I notice a dark cloud coming from the east. The cloud is producing some kind of black substance that is suffocating every living thing in its path. Right behind the cloud is the mega center, which is positively producing the black toxin. I stand up and hug the tree as tight as I can as I await the end. My eyes pop open and I return to reality right when the cloud hits the tree and me.
The mega center has become very hectic in recent days. People have not stopped their selfish and mass consumption habits, but the earth has finally had enough abuse. The center is capable of operating in a max temperature of 400 degrees. Since the center is emitting extremely high pollution and waste, the atmosphere has been deteriorating, which increases the temperature of the earth. The temperature started hovering around 375 degrees recently, and when it exceeds 400 degrees, the center will no longer be able to convert the toxic air into musky breathable air and a livable temperature for people. Everyone in here is concerned about their personal safety, but not of the animals and plants that are confined to the center as well. I am slightly worried about my life, probably due to human nature, but I am at the same time happy to see the mega center implode. The earth has taken so much abuse from the center and the people in the center that it seems time for it all to end. I close my door and spend what I am sure is my last couple hours alone with the snail. The snail is so innocent and does not deserve what is about to happen. I feel a very strong connection with this snail, more of a connection than I have had with any person. I am at last peaceful for the first time in a long time when suddenly the air that starts to come out of the vents starts to turn dark. The heat starts to become unbearable. I close my eyes and think of the tree portrayed by Joyce Kilmer. Just as the cloud came and took down the tree and me in my dream, the cloud now comes over the snail and me, except this time there is no opening my eyes when it hits.