It was three nights ago.
What was supposed to be a normal Saturday night had slowly been turning into a nightmare. First, I got the call I was laid off. Then, my power went out and after that, my internet. I was barely making ends meet with my job, and now I'm not going to be able to even pay rent on time. So, I sat there in the darkness with no way to call my parents, friends, or family, and I just started to break down. What else was I supposed to do?
That's when I walked outside. It was some sort of weird compulsion to just walk outside and lay on the grass. So, that is exactly what I did. I fell asleep there in the soft Bermuda grass of my backyard on a warm summer night. I didn't wake up, though.
When I finally opened my eyes, I'd sunken four feet into the ground and below the soil. I was not in my body any longer, and I felt mortified. Not because I thought I was dead, no, but because I knew I wasn't supposed to be in this position. I knew, for some odd reason, that something was watching me as I watched myself. It didn't want me there, and I didn't want to be there myself.
With no way back into my body, I watched days turn into weeks, weeks into months, months into years, and years into foreverness. I watched America fall into war after war and come out worse and worse each time. I watched in horror as the nuclear bombs dropped on my city, which I barely recognized as the city I had once lived in. I watched everything burn down and get destroyed from my backyard. After thirty short years of nothing but plants growing and Mother Nature reclaiming what was hers, I saw humanity prosper once again. I saw as men, women, and children worked together to make a better world not just for them but for future generations too. I saw man and nature coexist with each other in ways I had never seen during my time.
Though everything has to come to an end at some point. Soon I had started to see fighting amongst the groups and the rise of new groups. I had found once, in a colony near what used to be my back yard, a little girl who had the gift of supernatural sight. I was so happy that she shot me with that bow that day. It was the first time I had talked to a human being in one-hundred and sixty-three years. I cried that day like I had not cried since that Saturday night many, many years ago. She was freaked out at first but shortly got adjusted to me. No need to explain. There were a few things I figured out from her, though.
- I was the only one like myself that she had seen.
- She was the only one like herself that she knew of.
- She had no idea of what the Earth was like before the bomb.
From that day on, she would come to my land, and we would exchange stories. She would tell me of all the distant lands that I could not see, and I would tell her of the past. She would eat the fruit growing on bushes near by and she would describe what the taste was to me and I would try to imagine and remember all of those taste from when I could still eat and drink. I loved having her around, but I knew that it would end one day.
One day during one of our conversations, an arrow came out through the trees. I saw her get hit straight in the neck and her eyes get wide. I muttered something and had felt a rage I hadn't felt since I had gotten laid off. Alas, I could not do anything. So, I took a seat next to her as she died and told her it would be okay. I tried and tried not to cry and to not show signs of fear in my voice, but I did. I was so scared and angry that I had lost the only thing I cared about. So, I sat there, and she decayed in my arms for another eternity. No one else came along like her.
I sat in my position until one day, out of the blue, a blinding light finally engulfed the Earth. When the light finally subsided, I had ended up in a long hall painted in silver. I had nothing better to do than walk. So, that's what I did. I walked for what felt like fifty-eight years straight, and I didn't break a sweat. When I finally stopped walking, I saw a single golden door in front of me. I didn't care what was behind it, I just wanted everything to end, and I had a feeling the end was behind this door. So, I opened the door and found nothing. It was empty and dark for miles upon miles. I walked into the room and heard something beautiful. It was a voice. It questioned me about why I was here, and I just had to tell it that I didn't know. It questioned me about who I was, and I had to tell it that I couldn't remember. Finally, it asked me this: "Do you want to go back?" I thought about it for a long while. I had seen so many harsh things happen in just my little area alone, but then I remembered something important. I remembered all the good things I had seen come out of humanity too. I remembered not only the compassion of the young girl who would tell me stories but also of the people of my generation. The art and music and food and drink that I had missed ever so much. All of this led me to answer yes to the entity's question. Before I left though, I asked it a question: "Who are you?" He answered back but did not tell me. He said to me: "I am whoever you want me to be." Of course, after all these years, I couldn't get a straight answer. Though, it's not like it knew anything either.
I woke up a few days ago in my backyard and I'm beginning to think it was a bad choice coming back. I don't remember how to fit in, and I still have rent to pay.