Air

By: Anonymous

Waking up this morning, I get a weary feeling throughout my body. I remember the last time that I felt this way, and let me tell you, it was not a good day. Lets just say that there may have been the worst earthquake in California's history. I walk outside and I am getting this awful nauseating feeling. Once outside, I feel the humidity and heat hit my body. I’m not sure what to think about this, but for the time being I just let it slip by. I go inside, unable to stand how thick this air is making breathing hard, and my asthma is NOT helping. I decide to go to my computer to see what is causing this momentary air problem. The first thing that I Google is the pollution level. As of the year 2034 the pollution levels have been going up drastically, I’m thinking that this has to be the cause. I don’t think much about the problem and I continue to go on with my day.

Driving to work I notice that no one is outside. Not only does the town look like it is a ghost town, but there is also a slimy substance covering everything. Once at work I start  Googling things getting even more behind on the usual paperwork. My Google searches are practically the same questions varying in the different ways that they are stated. “Why is the air so humid?”, “Slime substance on buildings?”,and “Hard time breathing?” I just keep getting the same basic answers saying that it is asthma or, that there must be a storm coming because of the rising humidity levels. I scan through dozens of different articles. It isn’t until  I get to the 28th page of all my Google searches that I find something by the government. I click on it and of course, it is password protected. I try my password that I use to get into all of my court documents. It works, the only perk of being a lawyer.

As I click on the document I realize that it is a live chat group of government officials. I don’t think that they notice that I am on, and if they do they don’t seem to care. I scroll through all the comments and I realize that I am not going insane. Last night a highly toxic chemical was released into the atmosphere. They were trying to use a new chemical to get all of the pollution out of the air because it was a record high. Twenty years ago something similar had happened, except the chemical was not highly toxic and it actually worked.  However, this happened because something found in the chemical is no longer available in the world so they tried making the chemical without it.

I  am extremely busy thinking about this, so much so that I  don’t see the comments. One of the government officials sees that I have joined the conversation. I quickly exit before much more can happen and the situation can get out of control.

As I rush out of the office,  I realize that I was the only one who had came into work today. I start to drive home and once again the streets are empty. I hurry inside and turn on the TV, leaving my shoes on. I want to see what the government's excuse is this time, “Deadly Hurricane coming stay inside”, “Record breaking heat today don’t go to work”, and my favorite “National stay at home day.”  None of those are on the TV but what I did see does surprise me. On the bottom of the screen there is an advisory to stay inside today. A volcano in Hawaii has gone off again making the air unsafe to breathe. No one has been to Hawaii since 2083, when the volcanoes started erupting and haven't stopped since. Although the volcanoes are still going to this day, they are not releasing any smoke into the atmosphere.

I need to get more people up to date. After logging on to my Skyface account, the most popular site in the world; I am glad to see that there is a countless amount of my friends online. I decide that I am going to go live and try to tell my friends and anyone else who will listen what is really happening. I push the start button.

“Hello everybody, my name is James. Most of you probably already know that.” I precede to tell the viewers what is really happening.

Most of the comments consist of “Are you ok, James?”, “What kind of messed up joke is this?”, “I know that things have been tough since Shara died. I am always  here to talk”, or something along those lines. Most of the people on the live stream I know or have heard of. It isn’t until a person named Cameron comes on to my stream. Most people would not think much of this, but since president Cameron Phil died they made it an official rule that only government officials can go by this name.

I end the stream quickly and sit watching the news even if half of it is false. I don’t realize that I have fallen asleep until I am woken up to the sound of a violent gust of wind. Branches are airborne and I have the feeling that even before I look outside this is not going to be any average thunderstorm that happens in April. Through the open curtains, I can see my neighbors car fly by. Not only is the wind strong, it is burning the siding of the houses located around mine. It probably is burning mine as well I just can not see it from the interior of my house.

I wait until the next groggy morning before heading off to the store to stack up on an abundance of food. I know that things are only going to get worse. Once at the store I notice that I am not the only one worried about the torrential weather. I go down every aisle in the store. Most of the usually fully stocked shelves are now completely bare besides the disgusting canned foods.

I go to another grocery store that is on the outskirts of town. The only thing that I  got out of the previous vacant store was canned meat, and different types of beans and peas.  Entering the parking lot the doors and windows are boarded up with wooden planks that read “No Entry!” I break through the boarded up window with a  red deformed brick lying on the ground.

The shatter of the wood and added glass behind it pierces my ears with a high pitch  scream. There is a decent sized hole in the window just big enough for me to fit though.  Entering the store I realize that they must have known that people were going to raid the store because this store is stocked with all sorts of luxuries. I go straight to the canned goods aisle because I need food that will last.

After stocking up on all of my goods I hurry  to my car and drive straight home. I am going to try to go on Skybook when I get home and live stream about my recent encounter at the store. Pulling up to my house I notice that there is a very tall, muscular man standing on my doorstep. At first I don’t think much about it, probably just one of the neighbors asking what I was talking about earlier today. It isn’t until further inspection that I notice he is wearing a yellow patch on his left shoulder, an indication that he is part of the government.

I drive straight past my house and just keep driving. It isn’t until I am out of gas that I realize how far I have actually gotten. I am now on the border of California and Nevada,  almost a 3 hour trip from my house. I would cross over the border to see if they are having the same thing happen to them but I have officially ran out of gas. I try to use my phone to search for the nearest gas station but the atmosphere must be damaging the cell towers or the reception out here is just really bad.

I decide that I am going to just sit in my car and wait until another car passes. The highway that is usually booming with cars and travelers of all types is suddenly like a barren wasteland. I don’t know what to do but sit, so that is what I do for 34 hours. To pass the time I read all the information on the back of the packages of food that I have in my car from earlier today.

Later, I start to walk up the road and can see that there is a gas station sign about 4 miles away. I grab the empty water bottles and cans that I have and plan to fill them up with gas. Once there, I fill up my water bottles and cans having a total of 4 gallons, enough to get me back to fill up my cars gas tank all the way. After walking a total of 8 miles, I finally have a running car. I fill up my gas container and head home unsure of what to expect.

Finally, I arrived home and the government official is no longer standing on my doorstep. Once inside my house the first thing that I do is try to start another stream, and of course it doesn't work. I think that I have no other opportunity to warn people until I see the iHome, a digital phone on the wall that works without reception. Although very outdated it still works. I start to type my message that reads, “Stay inside, the government is lying. They have released a highly toxic chemical in the air and are trying to cover it up with the volcano hoax.” I push send to all; anyone within a 25 mile radius will get this message. I sit and wait to get any sign that someone took the message seriously. Finally I hear the distinct sound of the iHome, a sound that I have not heard in at least 12 years. I push the call button which actually doesn’t call but is used to listen. Once I pushed down I hear the low grumble of someone's breathing.

“You need to stop doing this and trying to get people scared, it is not working. I have informed the government of your wrong doing and you have at least 12 minutes before they barge into your house and take you away where no one will ever hear of your hoax again,” said the strange voice.

I didn’t know what to think of this so I decided to take it seriously. I jumped into my car and drove as far away as I would get. I’m thinking Wisconsin, I heard that they have nice cheese. I try to start the car but it won’t budge. I try repeatedly but it just won’t start. I am running out of time so I do the only thing that I can think of. I hide somewhere in my house that is so unpredictable they would never find me.