Tale From The Year 2030

My earliest memories from when I was a child, are jumping on the trampoline with my friends, laughing and playing until we got tired and hungry. My parents would take us to mcdonalds or sit in and order a pizza and watch a movie. I remember the games we used to play, those nights that went too quickly and it was already time for bed. I remember going to the store and being allowed to pick out some things I'd like to take to school, my favorite candy bars and cereals, and lunchables that made all the other kids jealous. I remember growing up, and getting a job, getting my drivers license and experiencing the thrill of driving on my own for the first time. I remember hanging out with friends, going to parties, and socializing the night away. Then one day, it all stopped.

That feels like another lifetime now. Hard to believe that this world was civilized once. One morning I woke up to breaking news. The stock market had collapsed, and everyone was in a panic. It was only a matter of weeks before business's and shipping routes, and factories were all shut down. Everything was crashing down around us, the dollar had become super inflated and worthless, all the money we had spent all our time earning, was worth the paper it was written on. It was not long before people took to the streets and raided the grocery stores and the camping stores. People fighting each other, killing each other, over these resources, because they knew that there wasn't any more coming. The police had long since given up their fight, taking their guns with them, many of them raiding the grocery stores using their weapons to keep people away. I lived slightly out of town, so I was away from most of the commotion, we had enough food to survive for a few weeks, maybe a little longer. However it wasn't long before people started kicking the doors of houses in, to take what they could get.

During that month, the power shut off across the country, with no one being paid to run the power plant, there was no one to keep it running. Everything came to a complete stand still, with everyone fighting for whatever local resources were left. My parents prepared a backpack for me, filled with canned food. They told me to run as soon as someone kicked our door in, we set a meeting place, and hoped to meet there. Two days later, they came, and I ran. I waited in the forest for many hours, and knew that my parents weren't coming. I was 18 years old then, and during the next two years, I have lived in the wilderness, but it is not easy. Finding a place to sleep, a hollow log, under shrubs, in some kind of protected alcove, was not easy. There were others roaming the wilderness now, looking for animals to kill for food, as was I. I was lucky at times, to find an abandoned house, where I could grab clothes, or blankets, but no food. The winter months are the hardest, I try to find a basement of an abandoned house to curl up in to keep warm, however, others come to the house, and I know I cannot be seen. I eat dandelions and other vegetation I know is safe. I started eating insects whenever I saw them, I find beetles are the best as they are bigger. I have eaten spiders, worms, ants,and many others. If I am lucky, I find a mole or a mouse, which I retreat to the forest to eat, because I have matches and lighters in my backpack to light a fire with. It is one of my only comforts. The food long since ran out, so now all it contains is clothing and a water bottle which I try to fill at a nearby stream.

I have to be very cautious when approaching the stream as many other people are guarding it. Water has become a valuable resource. All streams rivers and lakes are kept under control. So I must find a place that no one is watching. I pray for rain, as it saves me from taking the risk. Luckily it happens often enough, that I have not been caught yet. I spend my days constantly in fear, not knowing if my next step will be my last. I know that someone will take everything I have and kill me without remorse.

I often think back to the old days where everything was so abundant and alive. It brings a smile to my face, just thinking about it. Then I begin to think about how it all went wrong, what happened to make the world plunge into darkness so quickly? The more I thought about it, the more answers came to me, as if someone else was answering them. Voices in my head would tell me this all happened because humanity was in a state of denial. That all the signs were all around them, pointing to what was coming, but humanity kept on doing what they were doing, paying no attention. Those that did pay attention, were told off as fear mongerer's and conspiracy theorists. People were too busy with their own selfish lives, to have a care about the planet, or even their neighbor. The voices went on to explain, that humanity had the chance to turn it all around, to come together and stand against all the things that were insulting to their souls. Rather than working for the system that was bringing about their downfall, they could have stopped and said, enough is enough. To say no to GMOS, and factory farming. To say no to bankers and wall street. To say no to politicians and useless laws of control. To say no to war, because no war has ever solved anything. To say no to unsustainable things such as the use of fossil fuels and over fishing the oceans. To say no to the deforestation of the amazon and other forest, when it is well known that hemp can do the same things. The voices told me that humanity had a choice all the way until the collapse, the collapse was a result of the choice they made. Humanity choose to live in a world of ego, of selfishness, of greed, of control, and this is the result.

It has been sunny for a week now, my water bottle is empty so I must make a run to the stream soon, or I will get too weak to walk. Unfortunately, it was not my day, and as I approached the stream, I was caught filling my water bottle. A big man with a rifle told me to drop everything I have. I gave him my backpack, and my water bottle, but being a 20 year old woman, he wanted more. Always more. It wasn't long before I was naked and raped. Why he let me live, I will never understand, he said something like, I'll see you again.

Two long months passed since I had to find new clothes, which was not easy, and carry on struggling to survive in a world that wants me to die. I am getting sick now, and I am not sure if that is because of poor diet, as I have lost a lot of weight, or because I am pregnant. I've run out of paper to write on, as it was all that was left in a house.

The thread paints a pretty vivid picture in my head. Did you maybe mean to have it posted in the Short Stories forum though?

reply to post by webpirate


Didn't know where to post it. It kind of does have a general "conspiracy" ring to it though. Just in story form. People need to wake up, now. So post it in all the forums lol.

reply to post by xxshadowfaxx

Heh. Yeah. Your writing is really good in this thread. I felt like I was actually there in the time and place. Watching you, as if watching on a TV. But right there too!

Thanks