The Appointment

Susan carefully wrapped the baby in his blanket and laid him in the stroller. She smiled as she bent down to kiss his smooth face. Susan couldn’t help but smile as his nose brushed against her cheek. She hesitated as she looked into the baby’s brown eyes. Susan couldn’t help but notice how peaceful and still they looked.
“Don’t worry, mommy will never let anything happen to you.” Susan promised as she carefully covered him up.
Susan pushed the stroller through the lobby of the Department of Children and Family Services. She could feel the fear growing inside of her. Susan hesitated before finally deciding to head for the elevator; she took a deep breath and looked down at the baby stroller.
“I’ve got to make them understand.” She said pushing the elevator button.
As the elevator moved up the building, Susan watched silently as the numbers changed. 1… The motion of the elevator made her body feel like Jello, 2… she could feel her knees beginning to buckle, 3… the queasy feeling in her stomach made her want to throw up, 4… she wanted to run away, but it was too late. 5… 6… 7… the elevator continued moving bringing her closer and closer to the inevitable.
The elevator doors opened in slow motion. Susan felt like she was in a dream, like she was watching a movie… like nothing was real anymore. Susan stepped out of the elevator. The sound of her heart beating was thunderous. She could hear it pumping faster and faster, harder and harder until it felt as if her heart was being ripped out of her body.
Susan felt sick. She wanted to throw up, but she knew she had to go on for her baby. As she walked towards her social workers office, he stepped out.
“Ms Phillips, I told you not to come back…” Susan didn’t let him finish. She was going to make all of the choices this time.
There was silence… dead silence as Susan looked around. Not one person was moving. They were all lifeless in their fancy suits and clothes. Susan looked down at her torn dress and worn shoes and sighed.
“I can provide for my baby. I can.” She said beginning to feel afraid.
Susan looked down at her shaking hands. The blood flowed freely now. It was too terrible to think about…
“My baby.” Susan screamed suddenly remembering.
She ran over to the stroller and looked down at the baby. Susan smiled. He was still sleeping. Relieved she pushed the stroller over to the elevator and pushed the button.
“Don’t you worry, nobody’s ever going to bother us again.” Susan promised as tears filled her eyes.
1…2… Susan watched the elevator as it moved closer. 4…5…
The doors of the elevator opened and officer Jackson motioned for his partner to cover him. He was careful not to step out the elevator. Slowly he stuck his head around the corner and looked outside. Jackson quickly put his head back in the elevator. He rested his body against the wall trying to catch his breath.
“What is it?” His partner asked.
Jackson was too stunned to answer, all he could see were the bodies, and blood splattered all over the wall. Jackson took a deep breath to compose himself, and then motioned for his partner to cover him.
As Jackson stepped out of the elevator, he stumbled over the body of a dead woman lying next to a baby stroller. He bent down and put his hand over her eyes closing them.
“Check on the baby.” His partner urged.
Jackson stood up and went over to the stroller. He reached down to pick up the baby and was surprised to find that it was only a doll.

Shy

Hi, my name is Brian and I’m shy. God, I sound like I’m at an AA meeting. It’s true though… me being shy I mean. I can’t really tell you how it happened. One day I was a normal thirteen-year-old, and then the next thing I knew I was a shy weirdo. My parents thought I’d grow out of it, but here I am twenty years later just as shy as ever.
Being shy is really hard because no one really understands what you’re going through unless they’ve actually been shy. The only way I can describe it is it’s like being trapped in a glass case. You really want to get out, but you don’t know how. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to just say hi to someone, but couldn’t because I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth. My mind literally goes blank and I can’t think of anything to say. Do you know how frustrating it is to be a thirty three-year-old man who has never had an adult conversation? It’s devastating. When I see all of my co-workers laughing, and joking, and having fun together it makes me sad. Sometimes I just want to scream, “Talk to me too,” but I don’t. I just pretend like I’m busy doing something at my desk and secretly dream that I’m friend’s with all of them.
It’s kind of weird because sometimes it seems so real. I have this whole life in my head. I have a best friend named Mike and we’ve known each other since high school. We hang out together, and I was best man at his wedding… I have a wife too, her name is Teresa and we have three kids, Brian Jr, Justin and Kendra… I know it’s not normal, but I have to do something or I’ll go mad.
I’ve been trying so hard to have a real life, but sometimes it’s hard. I wake up every morning and say, “Okay Brian, today your going to make a new friend.” Then I get out of bed, dress myself, and go to work. I take a deep breath and walk up to the group of people standing around talking and then… I freeze. I start shaking like a leaf, my tongue gets all twisted, and I just stand there unable to say anything except, “Hi.” So I go back to my desk and feel like a stupid fool for the rest of the day.
It’s hard. I want what everyone else wants. Do you realize I’ve never had one close relationship outside of my immediate family? It’s because I can never figure out how to make someone want to be my friend. I always find it fascinating when I see two people become friends. I mean how does it happen? Who invites who to hang out first? Are there rules? I want to know because I wanna do it too.
Sometimes I hate who I am, and what I’ve become. How is it I can find success in my professional career and suffer so much personally? I make a hundred thousand dollars a year, drive a Lexus, and own my own home, yet I would gladly give it all up if I just had someone to play basketball with on Saturdays. I feel so hopeless sometimes… What if I end up shy for the rest of my life?
Now don’t think I haven’t tried to change. I’ve been to every shyness class in Southern California, but it hasn’t helped. They all say the same thing, “Just go out and talk to people.” Now if it was that easy, I wouldn’t have spent the four hundred dollars for the class.
But I can’t spend my time crying over spilled milk, I just have to keep trying. The truth is, I’m a lot better than I was ten years ago. I actually went to the mall Saturday and looked at televisions. Now that might not seem like much to you, but for me that was a mile stone. See I haven’t been to the mall since 1983 when that nasty women… I was thirteen and I had the worst acne on the face of the earth. My face oozed with pus and bled… I looked like one big pimple. I was so sensitive about my skin… Anyway, I was in the mall one day with some kids from school, and this woman walks up to me with her daughter (who was eating an icecream cone) and says in a really loud voice, “Keep eating all that junk and you’ll end up like Frankenstein here.” I can still hear all the kids laughing at me. I was so embarrassed. I felt so dirty, so freakish, so inhuman… I wanted to run and hide. I was so shocked. I just stood there with my mouth open. How could an adult be so cruel? She never even thought about how what she said would effect me. She just walked off like she had just said hello. The funny thing is I can still see the horror in her daughter’s eyes as she put that cone in the trash can. I’d like to find that woman now. I’d snap her neck like a pencil. Just thinking about that… how it changed me… makes me so mad. Maybe if she hadn’t been so mean, if I hadn’t been so sensitive… Maybe I’d be somewhere having a beer with my good friends, or picking my kids up from school, or taking my wife out to a movie. I don’t know… I just wish I hadn’t wasted so much time.

My Father

Every time I see my father dote on my son, it makes my skin crawl. It’s hard for me not to feel total disgust when I hear him going on and on about his grandson. See I remember when he first found out I was pregnant.
“You whore, how could you do this to me?” He yelled. The words stung like a slap in the face.
“This isn’t about you.” I said feeling the anger beginning to rise.
“Don’t you talk back to me. You shamed this family. I’ll never be able to show my face in church again. I’m a Deacon for God sake.” I laughed.
“You hypocrite. I don’t care if you go to church or not. As far as I’m concerned you can go to hell.”
My father raised his hand to slap me. My mother who had been completely stunned up until this point stood between us. She didn’t say anything, but my father understood and sat down.
The way people treat you when you’re sixteen, pregnant, and unmarried is really hard. So many of my family members and teachers kept telling me how disappointed they were in me. They acted like I didn’t know that I had made the wrong choice. I knew sixteen was too young to have a baby… But that doesn’t mean my life is over. Sometimes they act like this baby growing inside of me is killing me. It’s not. It’s making me stronger… Every time I feel my baby moving inside of me it helps me go on. It’s like it’s saying,
“So what if you’re sixteen, I love you. Keep going this is not the end, this is the beginning.”
But then I look at my father who hasn’t spoken to me in four months and I want to give up. Mom says he’ll come around, but how do you recover from something like this. Our relationship will never be the same. Because every time I look at him, I’ll know he sees me as a whore.
You wanna know what the funny thing is? He never even asked me who the father was, and when he found out it was Mike (the ministers son) he was surprised. Like Mike was the victim. I’d love to tell him how Mike suggested it, but somehow I don’t think he’d believe me. He’d just turn it around somehow. You wanna know the worst part? He didn’t even get mad at Mike. They hugged and my dad forgave him and now they hang out like their buddies or something… It makes me sick. Mom says I shouldn’t let it upset me. It’s not good for the baby.
Mom really loves me. You know that unconditional kind of love where no matter what happens it doesn’t change how she feels about me. My dad doesn’t. Sometimes I can feel him looking at me and it makes me feel dirty... like I’m some kind of criminal.
I moved in with my sister in my sixth month because I just couldn’t live with my parents anymore. I didn’t even see either one of them during my last two months. It was just too painful.
On May 8, 2000 I gave birth to a seven pound eight ounce baby boy named Zackary Nathaniel Lemon. I think his last name is ironic because my pregnancy was so bitter.
My dad was still mad when he came to the hospital, but once he held my son in his arms all the hate and anger left and he just stood there weeping.
I never got over that day. Because it was the day I realized that my father loves me for what I do and not for who I am, and for me that’s just too hard to swallow.

The Pregnancy

Most women are happy when their daughters tell them their pregnant, but my mother well… she was stunned. It kind of reminded me of the time I announced I was getting married. Now that I think about it, the look in her eyes was fear. It was so strange. Now my parents have always been very overprotective of me, but that’s only natural when you’re an only child.
Mom started asking me all kinds of questions. You know how did it happen, was I sure?
“Make no mistake about it.” I told her placing her hand on my belly alive with the movement of my baby.
“I’m expecting.”
The more concerned my mother got, the more afraid I became. Why wasn’t she like other mothers when they found out their daughters were pregnant? It confused me.
The night I told my mother I was pregnant, my husband Mark and I had a long talk. It turns out his parents had been just as surprised when he told them. We both wondered why the people, who had almost forced us to date in high school, always became nervous when ever we took another step in life. I admit I thought it would pass, but the more the baby grew in my womb, the more frightened our parents became.
“I want you to undergo a series of test.” My mother finally blurted out.
“Test for what? The doctor says the baby is fine.” I assured her.
“You went to see a doctor?” Mom was almost screaming now.
I have to admit I was a little surprised since she knew how important it was to seek prenatal care.
“Of course.” My mother and father exchanged looks.
“We need to talk… all of us.”
Being eight months pregnant wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as I felt sitting in my parents’ living room the next day. Mark and I held hands. I think we did it to protect one another from the looks that were on our parents’ faces. We all sat around looking at each other for the longest time. Then after what seemed like an eternity, my mother finally spoke.
“As a scientist…” Mark rolled his eyes as my mother paused to clear her throat.
“My study of robotics was very important to me. I wanted to create life… to do what my own body could not.” I slowly released my husbands hand and took hold of my mothers. She smiled.
“That’s why we… I… created you.” I was frozen, unable to move.
This must be some kind of weird nightmare.
“I’m just as human as you are.” I said trying to convince myself as I had done so many times before.
“This baby can’t be…” my mother began. I trailed off into my own thoughts as the baby moved inside of me. I felt sick.
“What are you talking about?” Mark yelled.
“I created you once Kelly became interested in boys. I never expected it to happen. We never even thought she’d grow… I thought she’d stay two years old forever. But when she started growing… I loved her so much… I couldn’t shut her down.
I just sat there starring unable to move or say a word. My mother had created me… us… a race of people. Me… my husband… my baby. My mind was racing. What if my baby was deformed? What if it was nothing but metal? It was too horrible to think about.
“What should we do?” I asked my husband later that night as we lay in bed thinking about what had happened.
“Nothing… he said.
“Let’s just live.”
Six months later I gave birth to a five pound seven ounce baby girl and she is so beautiful. She has the softest skin and the brownest eyes… and the most perfect human body I’ve ever seen. When she was born it made me think about my mom and the power of love. She loved me so much that she made me human. I think that’s what happened with my baby too. The love between Mark and I was so strong that it literally created life. I told my mom my theory and she says I’m probably right.

Lisa/Asil

There was a loud snap as Asil’s head hit the wall. She was sure he had killed her this time.
“ I told you I hate peas on my plate.” Joe roared slapping her across the face. Asil grabbed her face. It felt as if it were on fire.
“Why do you always make me do this?” Joe asked.
Joe stood over his wife as she lay in the corner sobbing uncontrollably. Asil closed her eyes and prayed that he wouldn’t hit her again.
“Wake up baby… It’s just a bad dream. Daddy’s here now.” Lisa slowly opened her eyes and looked up at her daddy. He picked her up and sat her in his lap gently rubbing her back to calm her down. The fear in her eyes was so strong, so intense it made him feel helpless.
Lisa’s daddy carried her to his bedroom and layed her down. Lisa’s mommy sat up and looked at her husband who only nodded slightly; she lay back down and wrapped her arms around her five-year-old daughter. She could still feel her daughter's body trembling as she slept restlessly. The dreams were getting worse. Lisa was too young to tell them what was going on but, the screaming, and the crying were all too real…
The black and blue marks looked a lot worse than they felt Asil thought as she examined her bruised body in the bathroom mirror.
Asil carefully finished dressing herself and went into the living room. She knew that things between her and Joe were getting worse; his temper was getting shorter and shorter. Too much butter on his toast… Slap, underwear in the wrong drawer… punch. Peas on his plate… Kick. Joe always blamed her, said she didn’t listen. How was she supposed to listen to a man who didn’t know what he wanted? Asil looked at the mess in the living room from the night before, she knew Joe would be angry if she didn’t clean it, but her body ached so badly. Asil tried to clean but she didn’t make it any further than the couch. She closed her eyes and slept.
Lisa sat between her parents happily watching television. There was a feeling of relief in the house because she hadn’t had a bad dream in over a week. Lisa’s parents were beginning to think that it was all over. That didn’t mean the battles at bedtime had ceased, Lisa still hated sleeping. She cried when her mother suggested she take a nap after kindergarten, she kicked and screamed before bed each night… and now the clock said eight thirty. Coldness filled the room.
“Lisa…” mommy began.
Lisa’s body stiffened as tears filled her eyes. Lisa turned to face her mother. She could see her mother’s lips moving, but the boom of her heartbeat blocked out her words.
Memories of the horrible dreams ran across Lisa’s mind, and terror gripped her. She didn’t want to close her eyes. She tried to run, but her daddy’s strong hands came towards her. Lisa screamed, and fought, but the hands kept coming, grabbing her, holding her, pushing her closer and closer into the darkness.
Joe hated it when Asil flinched. He only wanted to touched her. The coldness of her body made him shiver, why couldn’t she understand him better? She never did anything right. He worked hard for her all day, yet she couldn’t manage to do the small things he asked. Joe looked over at his wife’s swollen face. He loved her, wanted to make love to her… to show her he had forgotten, to unite with her, make... her understand.
Joe bent over and softly kissed Asil’s face, her skin tasted sour because of the bruises. Joe could feel her body trembling. Anger flashed over him for a quick second… How had things gone so wrong? How could he love and hate the same person? Joe was afraid, afraid of his own thoughts.
“I’ll never hit you again as long as I live. I swear baby, I’m going to change.” He whispered tenderly in Asil’s ear.
Asil didn’t move. She knew Joe only felt that way because he wanted… no needed her. She could feel his hot breath on the back of her neck. It made her feel sick. How could he use his hands, those same hands that had battered her earlier to caress her, make her feel safe? Asil could feel Joe’s heart beating in unison with her own as he wrapped his body around hers, and it confused her.
Asil wanted to kiss him, to feel what he was feeling, but his hands felt rough now and no matter how softly he caressed her, she still felt the sting of his blows.
Asil felt dark and empty. There was nothing left to give Joe. He had taken it all. Now his smell, the smell that had once excited her, was like rotting flesh to her nostrils. Asil got out of the bed. She had to get away from Joe.
Asil went over to the mirror and looked at herself. She was a twenty eight year old woman with no children(she had made sure of that), and yet she looked like she was sixty. She could no longer recognize herself and felt almost as lost as she looked.
“I can’t do this anymore Joe.” Asil said as she turned away from the mirror and looked at him.
“What?” Joe sat up and looked at his wife.
“I want out Joe… You have to let me out.” Asil said with a roar that came from her very soul.
“You can’t leave me, I love you.” Joe pleaded.
“You don’t love me, you possess me.” Asil whispered.
Joe sat silently for a long time, his mind raced as he tried to figure out what to do. How could she leave? She needed him.
“Who is he?” Joe screamed grasping at straws.
Asil was confused; she didn’t realize what he was saying at first. Then she laughed.
“There is no one else Joe.” For the first time in 10 years Asil looked Joe in the face.
Joe knew that she meant it this time, and it scared him. He couldn’t live without Asil and she couldn’t… no, wouldn’t live without him. Joe jumped out of bed and grabbed her, put his hands around her neck, her soft, pretty little neck. The neck he would never again kiss…
The sound of Lisa screaming sent a shiver down her daddy’s spine. He jumped out of bed and ran for her room.
Asil felt warm and cold at the same time. She knew Joe wasn’t going to let her go… let her be free, but she didn’t care. It didn’t matter any more. Nothing mattered; she could hardly feel him hitting her.
Asil closed her eyes. The rhythm of Joe’s fist smashing her face had become soothing. It made her sleepy. Asil’s eyes grew heavy, and the room began to darken. Asil had a peace that she had never felt before.
“Asil.” She tried to open her eyes as she heard Joe call her name.
Asil hesitated… she didn’t want to see Joe, she wanted to stay in the peace.
“Asil wake up.” Joe screamed frantically.
Reluctantly Asil opened her eyes, but Joe wasn’t there. There was only darkness, but she wasn’t afraid. Asil could feel her body moving forward towards the light, a small light far off in the distance. The light grew larger and large as she got closer.
“Asil baby… wake up. Do you hear me? Asil?”
Joe’s voice was fading … Suddenly Asil felt two strong hands reach out and grab her, hold her gingerly. These hands were different from Joe’s hands; these hands were filled with love. Asil felt like a little child…
“Lisa baby… wake up. Do you hear me? Lisa?”
Lisa opened her eyes and smiled as her daddy picked her up with his strong hands. She liked the way her daddy smelled and how his hands gently, yet firmly held her safe.

Sector 489

Jessica kicked off her shoes and put her feet up on the coffee table. After eight hours at work it felt good to finally be at home. Jessica leaned her head up against the couch and closed her eyes.
Images slowly formed settling in the darkness of her mind.
She felt as if she were watching a movie... A horror movie. Jessica sat up quickly and opened her eyes.
“Jessica, what did you see?” A deep voice boomed.
Jessica looked up at the observation window where Doctor’s David Wayne and Timothy Barster stood watching.
“Leave me alone. Can’t a person take a quick nap?” Jessica yelled storming into her bedroom.
Jessica was in sector 489 with the seventy other people who had been chosen as possible “candidates.”
They lived in a bubble constantly being watched. Watched with the hope that one day one of them would discover the code to restart life.
“She knows something… I just know it.” Dr Barster slammed his fist down on the table.
“Calm down. We’ll get it out of her.” Dr Wayne adjusted the video screen watching Jessica toss and turn in her sleep.
“When? How long is this going to take?” Dr Barster yelled knocking over a coffee cup in his rage.
“I don’t know, but we have to remain calm… for all our sakes.” Dr Wayne said as he took a couple of tissues and wiped the coffee off the desk.
Dr. Barster sat down and took a deep breath. He looked down at his coffee soaked shirt and sighed.
“I’m so sick of this. I want things to go back to the way they were. I want to feel the wind blow on my face, I want to see rain drops fall… I want my kids to become teenagers. I want to grow old with my wife and then die. I want too…” Dr Barster was too choked up to continue.
The two men sat silently as they watched Jessica sleep. Finally Dr Wayne turned to his friend.
“I feel the same way, but we have got to remain calm if were ever going to stop this nightmare.”
Jessica was only pretending to be asleep. She was afraid that the doctors would send her back to the “office” if they knew she were awake.
The "office" was what they called the lab where they did their experiments. The experiments where cruel and brutal, but the doctors justified them by saying it was for the benefit of mankind. Yet it was mankind that had created their own suffering.
It had happened over five hundred years ago (at least that was how far they had been able to calculate) during what many now called the Last World War. Over ten billion people had died during the first nuclear blast.
The impact had been felt much further away than in the Middle East. The first bomb had been set off by a small country that wanted to send its enemies a message. The message had been sent, and the nuclear holocaust that followed left no doubt in the minds of the people who had survived.
The effects of the bomb were devastating. The surface of the earth had been scorched, three fourths of the sea animals had died, and all of the remaining men, women, children, and animals had suffered from radiation poisoning. All except for the seven thousand people who had been forewarned.
Life for the survivors had not been easy, they had been sealed in a metal chamber 500,000 feet under the earth, and something strange had happened… time had stopped. It was as if the universe had literally given up on mankind.
In the five hundred years since the great world war no one had been born, and no one had died. No one had aged and nothing had ever changed. The sun was still stuck in the same position in the sky as it had been on that faithful day, and the survivors lived each day miserably wishing they could move forward. They wanted to live, they wanted to die, they wanted time to move on.
At first they thought they had been doomed to relive that fatal day for all of eternity, but then people began to hear rumors about people having dreams… dreams that were telling them how to move time. They took this as a sign that God was giving them a second chance… a chance to move on… a chance to undo what they had done and live once again.
Jessica knew she had to get out. Her “job” had become more intense. The doctors methods were become more and more extreme everyday. They had forgotten their specimens were humans with feelings and emotions.
“Turn up the juice.” Dr Barster yelled over the piercing screams.
Jessica’s body shook violently as volts of electricity surged through her body.
Jessica held her face up to the shower head and let the water run down her aching body. The water was soothing and helped wash away some of the pain and anger she felt. Anger that sent a charge through her body that was almost as intense as the electricity the doctors had used. Jessica allowed the water to hit her face so that she could hide her tears. Her heart was aching as she thought about all of the innocent people that had been lost in the war.
Violently the earth shook moving time forward.
Jessica stopped her thoughts. The memories were just too painful.
Once again time froze.
“Did you feel that?” Dr Barster and Wayne exchanged looks and ran to the observation room.
“What did you do? We know it was you!” Dr Barster screamed.
Jessica calmly brushed her hair as she turned and looked up at the doctors.
“You see this burn on my arm? That’s what happens when 1600 volts of electricity surges through your body.”
Jessica turned her back on the two doctors and continued brushing her hair. She realized that they could no longer hurt her.
“What did you do? Answer me!” Dr Barster ran into Jessica’s room and lunged at her grabbing her by the throat. Jessica smiled at him causing him to become enraged. Dr Wayne ran into the room and pulled Dr Barster off of her.
“ Jessica please… how did you move time? You have to tell us, nobody’s been able to do that in over five hundred years.
Jessica took a few seconds to catch her breath. She turned to the doctors and smiled.
“Why should I? So you can hurt me again?”
“Nobody’s going to hurt you.” Dr Wayne promised.
Jessica looked at Dr Wayne and then turned and looked at Dr Barster. She had forgotten how handsome they were. It was amazing how fear and brutality could take away a person’s humanity.
“Please Jessica… we’re just trying to end this nightmare.”
“You use to know the solution Dr Wayne, but you’ve forgotten it haven’t you?”
Dr Barster froze as images began to fill his head. He grabbed his head in pain.
“This is nonsense, tell us what you know!” Dr Barster screamed.
“I don’t owe you anything.” Jessica stormed into the bathroom.
Dr Wayne sat down on the couch holding his head in his hands. The pain had grown more intense. He thought he had blocked out the images that had haunted him from so long ago. He was a man of science.
“She needs to be isolated, probed, taken apart…” Dr Barster said both excited and afraid.
Dr Wayne didn’t answer. He was too afraid to speak. Jessica had triggered something inside of him.
“David are you listening to me?” Dr Wayne looked over at his friend and colleague.
“She’s right…”
“What are you talking about?” Dr Barster asked confused.
Dr Wayne took off his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes. He knew that it was time for them to stop hiding.
“I had forgotten how to stop this nightmare.” Dr Wayne stood up and put his glasses back on.
“What’s the matter with you?” Dr Barster asked.
The two men stood face to face for a long time. Dr Wayne finally spoke.
“ I knew once… I knew what would…”
Suddenly there was a violent shaking and time inched forward for the second time in five hundred years.
“I tried to forget, but somehow I always knew I’d have to remember.” Dr Wayne confessed.
“What are you talking about?” Dr Barster looked over at the bathroom door… he was beginning to get impatient.
Dr Barster grabbed Dr Wayne and shook him violently.
“Don’t you see? The solution to beginning time has been inside of us all along.”
“What do you mean?” Dr Barster asked confused.
“The solution to our problems.” Dr Wayne allowed the tears to flow freely now.
“It’s the thing we all forgot about.” Dr Wayne sobbed.
“Have you gone mad?” Dr Barster watched as his friend’s tears turned to laughter.
Dr Wayne was laughing because he realized that the very thing he feared was the thing that would free the world from this nightmare.
Slowly the earth began to rotate as tears streamed down the doctors face. It was as if the earth rotated every time he shed a tear.
Jessica could feel her heart pumping in her chest. It felt as if it were going to explode. She bent over to catch her breath desperately trying to control what she was feeling.
“No Jessica don’t be afraid. It’s okay.” Dr Wayne whispered.
It was as if the two had some kind of spiritual connection.
“What do you want from me?” Jessica asked even though she already knew the answer.
“I want you to feel what you’ve wanted to feel for a long time. What we’ve all wanted to feel but were too afraid.”
“Who are you talking to?” Dr Barster asked as he watched his friend fall apart.
Jessica let her emotions flow. All of the grief and sorrow she felt over the past five hundred years came pouring out. She grieved for he loss and the loss of the billions of people who had once lived in this world.
Dr Wayne grieved as well. Suddenly the things he had worked so hard to forget came flooding back. He could once again see the faces of the people he had watched die. The people that had died during the Last World War. The family and friends that had been lost.
“Why? Just tell me why?” He sobbed.
“We had to… you know that.” Jessica whispered.
Dr Barster was at a loss for words. He didn’t understand what was going on. He was sure that his friend had gone mad.
With every sob of grief the hands of time inched forward. The earth was like an old bicycle whose rusty chain had been oiled. You could hear it creaking with every turn as it once again returned to life.
Dr Barster watched his life long friend as he suffered under some unknown agony that seemed to be ripping him apart.
“What is it?” Dr Barster asked afraid to hear the answer to his own question.
“Don’t you see? It was us… we were the reason time stopped.” He sobbed.
Dr Barster had a sick feeling in his stomach. He headed out the door, unwilling to be a part of this madness any longer.
“We knew the consequences.” Jessica sobbed.
“Stop it! Stop it!” Dr Barster yelled.
Dr Barster now knew what was tearing his partner apart. Suddenly the memories that he had managed to push down in the bowels of his mind came rushing in like a flood.
“This is crazy… we have to stop this!” Dr Raven stood in front of the panel of scientist.
“It’s fate.” Dr Barster explained.
“We don’t have the right to play God.” Dr Raven pleaded with her colleagues.
Back in the present Dr Barster was in agony. He held his head trying to stop his thoughts, but the memories kept coming.
“Play God? Don’t tell me you believe in fairy tales.” Dr Barster laughed.
“You’re a fool to say there is no God Tim… Your arrogance is unnatural.” Dr Raven sighed.
“Listen to me… whether we sale them the bomb or not, there going to find a way to kill each other. So why not profit from it?”
“What about the innocent lives?” Dr Raven screamed.
Dr Barster could still hear the words echoing in his head. He held on to the wall trying not to throw up. He tried to stop his thoughts, but he no longer had control over them.
“Nobody’s innocent. Besides, who cares if those fools wipe each other off the map?”
Dr Raven was at a loss for words. She knew what they were doing was wrong, but she was too afraid to go against someone as powerful as Dr Barster.
“We never should have made that death bomb.” Dr Raven whispered.
“You worry too much.” Dr Wayne said as he put his arm around her.
“That bomb is only one sixteenth the size of a regular nuclear bomb. It won’t any further than a fifty mile radius.”
Dr Raven didn’t believe that, and she didn’t think her colleague did either. She looked deep into Dr Wayne’s eyes searching for his true feelings.
“Look Jessica, stop worrying. The only people that are going to get hurt are the people that deserve it.”
The three doctors stood silent for a long time.
“Now let’s vote. All those in favor raise your hand.” Dr Barster said raising his hand high in the air.
“One by one the scientist in the room raised their hand. Dr Raven hesitated, she didn’t want to raise her hand… she knew it was wrong. Jessica looked around the room at all the raised hands, finally she slowly raised hers agreeing on what would be the end of mankind.
Dr Barster could feel his heart being ripped out of his chest.
“No… I didn’t know.”
“We all knew.” Jessica yelled.
The cloud mushroom could be seen all over the world. The bomb had been more powerful than anyone had expected.
The three doctors and their colleagues had taken their immediate families and hid in a miniature city that they had build under the earth. So while billions of people on the surface were dying, the doctors lived in a Utopia where they grew their own food, generated their own electricity, and had almost all the necessities of life.
They had gotten a chance to see the destruction on the monitors they had attached to the search robots that had been sent out, but they made no attempt to help anyone. The refused to open the bunker or provide first aid for the people begging even though they begged and pleaded for help. Jessica had cried at first, but eventually she would just turn off the monitor like the rest of her colleagues.
The horror of what they had done was no longer a faint memory. It had now come to the surface, and could no longer be ignored.
The three doctors remembered why time had stopped… they had stopped it to silence the blood of the innocent from crying out to God for justice.
Jessica fell on her knees sobbing. The pain and weight of her guilt was so intense, she could do nothing but ball up in a fetal position and cry.
Time was out of control as the earth began spinning faster and faster until it created a vacuum.
What’s happening!” Dr Barster yelled.
The earth had begun to collapse upon itself pulling the stars out of the sky, and the planets from their orbit. Even our star, the great star know as the sun fell, and it was as if it had been poured into the earth like hot lava.
The collapse continued until the whole universe had collapsed upon itself.
And then there was nothing but silence and nothingness. And so it was that man who believed in nothing and had faith in no one, ended God’s greatest creation… himself.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the waters… And God said, let us make man in our own image: after our likeness...