To Life Never Promised

It is a well known fact that everything with a will to live is destined to die. Being able to accept or not accept that fact will never change it's certainty. I have been alive for 22 years, but simultaneously, I haven't. Nothing I did or said achieved what I wanted. I don't know if I wanted anything at all. I never wed anybody, never became a Father or a Grandfather, never considered pursuing a "dream job". But I think, if I was to be granted a second chance at life, if I could do it all over just once, I would choose to live truly. Find somebody to befriend, to love. Find something I whole-heartedly enjoy, and do it.

So it is a great shame that I cannot simply rewind my time on this Earth. None of us humans got the hint about how harsh our reality is. We painted over those truths with distractions. We will never take back those wasted years working our asses off to make a minimum wage, which only ever afforded us some "cheap" milk and bread anyway. Instead, our existence will be entirely erased at our own hands, all because we turned such a magnificent place into a man-made Hell.

Many generations before us were aware this would happen. There were thousands of articles, hundreds of researchers attempting to determine when this star would explode. At least they agreed it was unpreventable, instead of spouting some unrealistic crap about stopping it. Nothing can stop something as ferocious as Mother Nature.

It's ironic, that something us humans needed to survive will now be the very thing that kills us. The perfect karma, seeing as we were originally the ones murdering our own resources for survival. Demolition. Construction. Demolition. Construction. Over and over again. We eliminated everything besides ourselves, and it was all for nothing.

The air is poison.

The water is poison.

The soil is poison.

Everyone is dying.

Death.

Death.

Death.

That is what every News story was about. We could have turned it around, too. Instead, we became the ruination of what created us.

I wonder if the wailing and the praying muffled in my ears, jam-packed with my own hateful thoughts, are derived from the same realisation. Is it only at our ends that we can understand how venomous we are? Did these people think the violent cruelty inflicted upon our own home would come at no cost? The children, the descendants of the generations before us, were we not serving them on silver platters in desperation for more time? Time, something never guaranteed - and yet we thought we were the sole exception.

I can't die yet, I've got a future ahead of me.

I won't die until I'm 85!

I'm a perfectly healthy person, so my life will be long-lasting.

All of it is a gamble. You bet on yourself every time, because you think every day is a given. But really, it's all lucky dip.

It seems we all bet wrong.

It is so loud here. I can't tell the difference between my own thoughts and the yelling of others amongst the crowd. I don't see the point in panicking, when our fates are already sealed. I would rather contemplate in silence, experience that "life flashing before your eyes" phenomenon. Most people joked about that saying, used it in stories that were nowhere close to being a near-death experience. Well, this is me telling my story about my certain-death experience. Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things.

I am rambling. Mumbling nonsense before my time is up with cramping hands. At least my hands can't be smudged with ink, because we stopped using real pens years ago. Everything is done with a screen or some technological device, like the one I use to write this. I know that there will be nobody left to read it once that explosion shreds and burns this place. But I figured: let this float in space for a while. The shame, the regrets, the havoc we wrought - let it remain here in our absence. So that even if it is true, what they say about becoming a star after passing, we will still face that guilt in our eternal fire in which we rest. But also, if whatever entity that rules over us decides to start over, it might pass this message on to them. I could not achieve anything during my time alive, but in my death, as it is the only thing promised, I would like to achieve something. Save the future, if there is any. If that entity, if God, if whatever crafted us, decides to recreate any form of life after this, please hear my words, though they are written.

Protect your place of birth. Protect the creatures, the plants. Do not welcome Hell on Earth.

The air is clean.

The water is pristine.

The soil is nutritious.

Everybody is grateful.

Alive.

Alive.

Alive.

Let this be your News. Because if humanity had become a battalion of saviours for this beautiful, natural world, it would never have ended like this. My time would not be up so soon. And maybe, maybe, I would have achieved something in life.

Sincerely, B.R - Human Fool & Servant to Corruption

P.S If anybody does find this in the future, and there are beaches, can you see what it's like to swim in the ocean? It's ridiculous, really, for me to ask. There might not be anything left after this all-round extinction. But if it is possible, could you? That is one of the many things I never explored, and I wish I had. Thank you. This is me, signing off my very last entry.

_____________________________________

The clawed creature poked at the unusual, ancient rectangle. With it's sharp, twisted ears, it brought the cool metal up to listen. Sniffed it, inhaling a cloud of ash.

Nothing.

Again, it tapped it's claws against the glassy face of it, dragging down, down, down.

White light illuminated the creature's pale face. With ink-drop eyes, it squinted into the light. Black lines danced along the screen, curving and straightening.

What did it mean?

The creature kept this mysterious device as a treasure. It seemed peculiar, but important, and the creature had the instinct to protect it. One day, it would learn what those scrawls and scribbles meant.

When it's kind would ask why it kept it, the creature would tell them that the stars twinkled and whispered when it was discovered. One star shined brighter than all the rest.