Silence. Not a sound is heard as the people of the planet Earth look into the skies. Something is happening, no one knows what it is. The scientists are dumbfounded and grasping at straws to explain what is going on.

It started out with the animals disappearing, vanishing off the face of the planet. People just thought they were dying out. A natural part of the life cycle. First it was the bees, they stopped pollinating the plants of the world. Then it was the fish, vanishing into the deep of the oceans. People finally started to notice when the domesticated animals started to disappear. The cows, sheep, goats, even family cats and dogs seemed to stop coming home.
Without the animals the Earth started to die. The ecosystem was out of whack. Plants could no longer generate fruit, seeds or even grow beyond what already had. Where were they going? People asked.

After the animals, it was the stars. One by one they faded from the sky. Constellations dissolved and darkness took over the night. No longer could the once powerful people of their planet see the universe. With no outlet for thought beyond their own existence, the people started to fight over any and everything from the past. With the people starving and fighting amongst themselves, many didn't even notice when the sun began to dominate the horizon. Causing the days to be longer and cooking the planet slowly. What is happening? Shouted the few who noticed.

The Earth became a horrible place. Ravaged by war, famine and disease. The few who survived held on with weakening fingers to the lives they once had. People spoke of the wonders of the past and the great animals that once dominated the landscape. They reminisced of the fields of green grass they once took for granted, while lying in their filth on the dead parched ground.

When all was said and done the Earth died. The human race could not defeat the one thing more powerful than it's mind. Mother Nature. All that is left of them now is their ruins. Cities that show their great intellect and prowess. Artful creations trying reach out to those who no longer exist. Books and stories no longer read by the eyes of interested minds. Remnants of a vast network of data fading into nothing.

The mysteries surrounding its death only to be found by the next intelligent species to find the barren solar system. That is another story though.



[edit on 4/10/2009 by Tentickles]

brilliant story, mother earth is the real force around here so far we have taken her for granted but once in a while she gives us a natural disaster or too to wake us up. I believe we are in for tough times ahead and thats just because of climate change weather pattern change also with the sun acting up recently who knows, i dont buy into all the 2012 stuff people worry to much even if we are wiped off the face of the earth mother earth would still carry on it might take billions of years but life would slowly return to the planet

i think thats the natural cycle of things, things need to die off for others to flourish just like with the dinosaurs and all things before us

we had our turn and what a good turn it was shame we turned out to be so selfish with not a thought to mother nature!

great story hope its fiction!

Before the changes, she was just a normal woman living her life. Going to work, feeding her children and enjoying her marriage to a wonderful husband. That was before the changes though, now she is barely alive, having seen horrors and destruction beyond anything that she could have imagined.

She watched her children die of starvation. Her husband had succumbed to madness, killing himself shortly after the stars faded away. She watched as her neighbors murdered one another for food hidden in their houses, and the left overs of once lush and green gardens.

In the end she was alone. The last of her kind within 100 miles. Surviving off of canned food no one else wanted to eat and rancid, scum filled water pooled at the bottom of once clear and shiny pools. She knew she didn't have much longer to live. It was getting harder and harder to find what she needed to survive.

There were times when she could have sworn that she heard her children laugh and her husband call her name but it was just her going insane from the isolation. Humans weren't meant to be alone, they were social creatures. She dearly wished for the end to come soon.

As she become more manic in her madness, she composed poetry and spoke to people who were never there. Sometimes she danced around the fire, built from the dead and wilted trees around her once beautiful suburban home. She danced until she could no longer dance, hoping this was the last night to exist on this horrid planet she called Earth.

When the time finally came for her to leave her broken shell of an existence, she was writing a poem...

Silence in your head
you are speaking with Death.
An apparition you progress too
as if Death possessed you.

You fear the unknown.
Yet, you strive ahead alone.
Face Death's brother Fear.
Don't let us forget you were here.

Echo's of the past
make your life so bad.
You cling t

As her hand fell away from the page, her poem unfinished. Her vacant eyes stared up at the black abyss. She was one of the last bastions of life on the tiny planet known as Earth, stubbornly holding on as long as she could, for reasons she will never know.

[edit on 4/10/2009 by Tentickles]

I thought I would add an extra chapter to more humanize my story. Please enjoy.

I enjoyed your story, lets all hope 2012 is one of the most boring years of our lives in actuality.

You really are a joy to be around in the same threads too!!

Killer avatar, and yes I like it, but can't stop staring at it either, no matter how many times I see it!!
ooopppss off topic.

When all was said and done the Earth died...Remnants of a vast network of data fading into nothing

I like the imagery here. Very well written.

An excellent contribution to the contest my friend.

I hope the judges are kind to you and you do well.

wupy

Enjoyed reading your story, funny my 10 year old asked me out of the blue if I knew about the 2012 thing, I was as casual as could be and felt deeply in my heart of hearts that it would be just the end of the Mayan Calendar, and yet as we reach many other critical points between now and then, it could get intense. Sunspot 24 is the thing to watch out for and of course the 'agenda'.

I like your story alot, very nice.
Hopefully there's still a reason for hope, may the stars shine forever more.

Mother Earth, the factor no one pays attention to.

Great story Tentickles, I especially liked the second chapter; it added just what you were striving for, a more personal touch.

We walk backwards into the future, seeing the history of our ingenuity fall from our hands as we stumble into an unseen future.

When the future ends with our back against a wall called the 'End of Time', we will gaze upon our works and find them empty of any real meaning.

Nice story, Tentickles, it has a great lesson in it.