The Voice

How can it be 2047 but it is.Who ever survived the great collapse live to tell their stories to the ghost that didn’t.No human who remains alive wants to hear of the old world.Why talk about how it was when it can never be like that again.And why talk about how it could be when it’s clear it never will be.

Johnathan walks alone manifesting how it could be.Believing for something new something better in spite of the present circumstances.He hasn’t seen a soul in years only ghost of those who once lived ,breathed , and experienced life before everything changed.Johnathan’s sanity is kept alive by talking to the ghost of James Hoffman.Hoffman was the lead scientist that with the help of his team built a dimensional gate machine.This gateway allows you to cross back into 2003.

Hoffman developed this technology in 2025 seeing the inevitable demise of the planet.He foresaw that society would keep spiraling out of control into madness without any effort to stop and make necessary changes.Rather than trying to fight against the masses and the human need to self indulge Hoffman spent what little time he had left creating a time machine.Technology that used dimensional portals to connect the present to the past and allows you to cross over.

Johnathan used to work for Hoffman Industries.He was a security guard for the nightshift.Hoffman worked late and over the years got to know Johnathan.Johnathan became the only link to the outside world Hoffman knew.Johnathan reminded Hoffman what being a true human was really about.Johnathan became the very reason Hoffman immersed himself in his work toiling day and night.Hoffman wanted to create an opportunity for humans like Johnathan to have a second chance at living.The only way Hoffman knew that could be possible was to go back in time and try again.To try and be human for once.Truly human.This means to live in harmony with all creation ,most of all ,with yourself.

Hoffman went crazy but never the less brought his dream into reality.Hoffman wore a heart shaped locket with a picture of his great grandfather in it.Johnathan knew how much that locket meant to Hoffman.One time Hoffman had lost the locket and Johnathan found it and returned it to him even though it was worth a lot of money.The locket represented family and purpose of keeping family alive.Hoffman was always trying to give humanity another way to co exist.The human family was Hoffman’s obsession perhaps because all his relatives were dead or dead to him in other ways.

When Hoffman was laying on his death bed he gave the locket to Johnathan.Johnathan tried to refuse it insisting it should be given to someone in Hoffman’s family.Hoffman with a painful cough insisted himself.He demanded Johnathan take it and protect it.Johnathan did just that.Actually he did more than that.He watched over the locket like it was his own life.He talked to the picture in the locket as if the old Hoffman could hear him.Even though it was a picture of Hoffman’s great grandfather it looked just like James.At the loneliest times Johnathan could hear him talk back.He gave pretty good advice believe it or not.

The best advice anyone could hear in a situation where the world had been torn apart by war and violence.The best advice you could give anyone was to never stop moving just keep going.In spite being alone in a world with little resources available the voice from the locket kept Johnathan awake and alive.The voice kept a fire lit in Johnathan’s heart that pushed him forward even if the edge was all that awaited him.

In a post apocalyptic world there wasn’t really a future to look forward to.And the past was too tragic to try and remember.So Johnathan concentrated on the present .The present was this.Johnathan had knowledge of the gateway because Hoffman told him what he was working on.Hoffman wanted Johnathan to accompany him in going back before the world got any worse.However Hoffman’s health has gotten worse first and he passed away.But before Hoffman left this world he told Johnathan about the gateway back to the past.

Johnathan explored the city for three years alone not seeing or hearing anyone else.He would have forgotten what another human looked like had it not been for the picture in the locket.He searched through trash and piles of debris for anything useful.He searched every vehicle and building he came across for survivors.He would often think how could the whole city be so desolate.How could he really be the only one left.Not even a dog or cat roamed the streets.It was always just himself and the picture in his locket.Over time he got used to it.He certainly wasn’t alone.He had the voice that emanated out from the locket.He heard the voice so much at times he wished it would shut up. But when it finally would cease he it wasn’t long before he needed to hear it once more.It took only minutes of silence before Johnathan needed someone to talk to.He was not on his own even though it seemed that way.In fact he had the best friend he ever had with him at all times.Any other voice of reason would have sounded absurd.One thing was for certain when the locket spoke Johnathan listened to it verbatim.

Johnathan made his way back to Hoffman Industries after three years of walking aimlessly.He found the entrance to an underground base exposed to a world that wasn’t supposed to know it existed.

Johnathan with nothing else left to explore decided to go in.He made his way down the dark hallways reaching a large room.Johnathan walked through the doors and the lights came on automaticity.There in front of him stood a 70 feet tall and forty feet wide circle.It was the gateway Hoffman had told Johnathan he built.As Johnathan walked closer to the portal it began to awake. As Johnathan backed up from the gateway the portal closed. Johnathan quickly realized that key to opening this portal was the locket .Hoffman gave it to Jonathan for this very reason that he could use it to activate the technology and cross through.Hoffman died before he could tell him the true purpose of the locket.Johnathan walked right up the the portal.The dimensional gate opened giving the opportunity for Jonathan to walk through and get his second chance at life.

Johnathan thought about the world that once was his reality.He remembered the hatred and bigotry.He remembered the cruelty of humans towards animals.He thought about how we continually caused so much havoc to the earth and its waters.He thought about every girl who had broke his heart and all the friends that betrayed him.He thought about how hard it was to keep his family together and not part ways because of petty differences.It was more work to survive in that world than the one he stood in presently.Never the less he heard the voice from the locket tell him to never give up but keep moving forward.Who would ever give him better advice than his own subconscious that became sentient and separate from his body and mind.This voice could never brake his heart or betray him in any way.

The advice could never be wrong because they were no other voices to hear.They’re was no other advice to consider.

As Johnathan stood there

seeing through to the other side.The city before it was rubble and ruins.

People talking to other people and birds flying in the sky.Joy and laughter and the prospect for love and family again.Johnathan saw a chance at a life he would never have.Instead of walking through he walked away.It seemed to Johnathan the only way to keep going forward was to stay right where he was and continue to grow and build the best he could.Going back in time would just be going backwards.