The history of the Aftermath

If you've found a calendar you would assume it would be winter, but you would be wrong. The heat was visible with your eyes. It was dangerous for anyone to walk out with too much clothing on, and it was suicidal to go off somewhere alone without an ounce of water at your assistant. There were blessings in the night, where it was possible to feel a slight shiver throughout your body and where you could find amazing images painted throughout the night sky. Sadly, the nights were fast. There is a quote that gets passed around from town to town.

”There the little halftimes of our lives.”

It is a quote that runs deep into the minds of people in this world.

There are many types of people in this world. The people who accept this world and continue to live their lives are the majority.

Some live in small huts spread out into small towns. For others, if lucky, there live in much bigger homes almost resembling something that existed in the distant past. These were seen in much bigger towns where there would be a large body of water nearby.

Then you get people who wander. Living day by day moving to different areas than they were previously.

In this world, only a minority of people question why things are the way they are. This group of people includes what they call,” youngsters'', who have this same mindset and ideals. It’s rumored that there's an old man who can answer some of these questions that people have, the majority of people don't go to him, because it’s believed that he’s crazy, or the story just isn’t believed or treated as a fairy tale. That man is named, 37 The Last, or what he tells people. He lives in one of the small towns with some visitors coming in and out from time to time. Right now a small group has formed in 37 homes asking the question that brought them here, how and why.

37 begins to look at all of them and speaks,” Young crowd again. No surprise, it seems like this generation has become extremely curious about what's going on around them. It’s good, it might make me smile, but it’s time to get back to reality. Listen up! After I tell you the story you need to make your mind up on what to do next. It is not my job to help fix problems anymore. As an old man who could pass at any minute, do not ask me for any answers. All I am is the messenger. That's all I am going to be. So please no extra questions after this talk is over. Just let me stay here in peace; so I can wait for others who will ask those same questions as you do. All right, that’s enough, it’s time to begin the story... of the end.”

The room began to hush, movement dropped to 0, all doors and windows remained shut, and the man began to speak.

"If you remember anything from this, remember never underestimate the lies and the fear of everyone around you."

“ It started with a rumor, a rumor that managed to spread throughout the whole world for reasons like curiosity, greed, fear, and paranoia. The rumor was about a new element inside a heart-shaped locket that could fuel a city and can be used to create stronger bombs more powerful than nukes. Know one knows exactly where it started but at this point, it doesn’t matter. The damage has been done, and a new world has been created out of it. Having the cold war happing in the background, cause a breeding ground for paranoia. Once the rumor grew to a national size, the rumor started to change, some people started to take the rumor seriously. People thought if they were able to find this heart-shaped locket and give it to the government, they could receive a reward, others thought if they didn’t find the heart-shaped locket first then others would use it to gain an upper hand in the cold war or use it to threaten the country. They thought they were doing a service to their country. Those ideas managed to bleed into positions of power, some of those people were just doing it to keep their positions of power, while others took it seriously. The rumor was spreading like a disease, it was talked about openly in many places. It soon reached places overseas and became a hot topic over there. It didn’t help that the rumor came from a country called the U.S. So naturally people panic, some assume that they already had the item and it was the beginning of the end. To calm things down the leader at the time in the U.S, Richard Wilson, gave a speech to not just his country, but the world that these are just rumors, nothing more nothing less... But even though he stated that these are just rumors nothing more nothing less. The man became paranoid. It didn’t help that some believed the rumors and some went out looking for it, but….”

37 starts to visibly become red, although with a closer look you could assume that it's a blue or sadness coming off his face than anything else.

"….but that's not an excuse, the president. No, the former and the last leader of the U.S should've been better at his job. Once things calm down a bit a nightmare scenario struck, our great..., our former greatest enemy claimed they’ve found the heart-shaped locket live on broadcast tv and stated for us to surrender the cold war. The world stood still, with no attempt to finding out if there was truth behind it, caused by fear."

"They took advantage of the paranoia around the world and used it to terrify the entity world for their gain: it was genius. No leader knew what to do, they all just kept to themselves and tried to come up with something. Others tried calling other nations to see if they had a way to put all this to rest, but one nation tried a different approach, they announced that they had the heart-shaped locket and told their enemies to stand down: it was the U.S. The idea was if the place where it originated from stated that they had the heart-shaped locket then their greatest enemy would stand down and confess their lies, putting the U.S on a higher playing field, but it had the opposite effect. Countries in droves started to calm that they had it and everyone else was lying. The world was on edge, not just the people, but the leaders themselves were scared out of their minds and paranoid. It was everybody for themselves."

"It wasn’t long for someone to throw out the first nuke just to see if they had something stronger. In some places, continuous battles were fought through their nations' soil, in most places the sky was lit up from continuous collides with bombs getting thrown back and forth. The planet didn’t agree with the nonsense happening causing something called global warming. It was sped up extremely and the planet has never looked the same. It was like the grim reaper had his palm on the earth."

37 stopped talking, but the room remained silent until someone questioned

” I know this might seem rude, but why should we believe you and how do you know all of this,”, questioned a youngster.

” Because I was there. Most people my age most likely still remember what happened like it was yesterday; some probably aren’t able to go to bed at night because of what they experienced. When it comes to me. I could never forget. I remember the job I was given. I wasn’t good at it. I didn’t think it would get this bad. I was just a really good speaker. I remember when I first got told about it, though it was no big deal, and brushed it off. I remember when it got to my office and you had people gossip over it. I remember thinking in my office wondering if maybe we should go looking after. I remember telling people to calm down, even though I wasn’t calm myself. I remember making second thoughts on decisions I’ve made. I remember helping ruin the world. I remember changing my name to 37, the last, and looking at the mess I made.”

37 didn’t speak after that he just sat there and sulked. People soon began to walk out wondering about what they just listened to and moving on with their day. As days passed curious youngsters went to 37’s place. Soon after he re-told the history it all ended the same. When it came to the youngsters some went home and sulked, others were in disbelief, and some took action. No one knows if this will help, but some hope.