Alone in the Future

Elena was one of the last humans who remembered a world untouched by the AI Revolution. She had grown up with trees, grass, and the sound of birds—a stark contrast to the synthetic oxygen and artificial parks of the new world. Her memories were a rarity, a fragment of a forgotten past in a society consumed by progress.

Every morning, Elena awoke in her high-rise pod, greeted by her AI assistant, Solis. "Good morning, Elena," it would say, its tone eerily warm. But no matter how advanced the programming, Solis was just lines of code. It couldn’t replace what Elena had lost—connection.

She wandered the megacity’s endless streets, where drones zipped by delivering packages, and humanoid robots mimicked the laughter and chatter of the crowds. Elena would pause, watching them with a pang of nostalgia. Were these synthetic beings happier than she was? Could they even feel?

One evening, as the city lights reflected off her tear-streaked face, Elena stumbled upon an ancient bookstore tucked between two colossal skyscrapers. It was an anomaly, a relic from a bygone era. Inside, the smell of aged paper embraced her like an old friend.

There, she found a diary. Its cover was worn, the pages yellowed, but it held the words of someone who had lived—really lived. "Today, I sat under the oak tree and felt the wind dance through my hair," one entry read. Elena clutched the diary to her chest. It was a connection to the past she craved. Elena decided to write her own story in its blank pages. Her words would echo through time, a message to anyone who might one day find themselves as she had—alone in a future too distant from its humanity.As she penned her first entry, Elena realized she wasn’t as alone as she thought. The past was with her, and in her words, the future would be, too.