The Last, The New | Teen Ink

The Last, The New

February 24, 2011
By RaindroppsForRoses BRONZE, Springfield, Illinois
RaindroppsForRoses BRONZE, Springfield, Illinois
1 article 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
"Music puts that into words which cannot remain silent."







-Victor Hugo


July 13, 2029. My First Entry

It was a cold night in September, 2012. In a makeshift shack in a cave in the southern tip of what used to be Minnesota, now it’s part of the New Union along with the rest of the world, the Guardians, Jared, a mother and father were awaiting the birth of their first child. Not only was there anticipation, but there was a sense of foreboding looming around. Since this was the only just thing (by our definition) left in the world, The Guardians were especially cautious. The Guardians were posted all around the lake in front of the cave, in the cave, outside the cave, and in the trees within a two mile radius. The chill of the night made it difficult to stay alert, but the physician Guardian still managed. The delivery itself went as smoothly as any parent could hope for. What happened afterward is still a shock to the people who know about it.

As the mother and father fondled their newborn, they heard a bird outside the cave. It sounded like a canary, which they knew weren’t in Minnesota, so they figured it was a Guardian giving the signal that someone was approaching. They heard the fluttering whistle twice more, and then they started worrying. The Guardians only signaled once when there was danger. Jared, the leader of The Guardianship, went outside the cave to see what was going on. The night was lit up with the full moon, but the figures of the Guardians couldn’t be seen. Jared knew the danger of walking out alone, so he hurried back into the firelight of the cave to assess the situation. With the overuse of signals, Jared knew that the Guardians were probably either dead or imposters. He took the blanket from the mother and swaddled a few rocks and leaves to make two decoy babies. He gave one decoy to the father who gave Jared an inquisitive look and sat down. He handed the other to three of the Guardians posted in the cave and told them to run east until sunlight. They got on their horses and left. Jared explained to the mother and father that their child would be safer with them. They were reluctant to hand their child over to the young man, still only 19, who thought he knew everything. They understood he was wise and did know more they gave him credit for, so they gave their new child, their perfect little girl Azalea. Shortly after they watched Jared ride into the Southwest, the New Union officers came and murdered them. They did not die in vain; they were protecting their daughter and one of humanity’s last hopes. The last hope was me.

seventeen years later, I’m still with Jared. My parents are dead, but he’s my father, my only and best friend. We know everything about each other, and what we don’t know about the other are the things that we’ve been struggling about within ourselves. He’s taught me everything he knows, which is a lot; how to survive, read, write, lie, fight, and textbook knowledge. Around the end of 2011, the New Union peeped its ugly head out into the face of society. They legally rose their way to the top of the legal system in a matter of four months. They took all electronics away in November, paralyzing the world economic systems, and each individual’s social life came to a halt. The world was dumfounded and lost, no one knew how to operate. And since communications were down, people lost touch very quickly which isolated people. Not only did the New Union take away electronics, but they also took all means of education. Being uneducated and isolated, it was all too easy for the New Union to take over the world country by country.

How did Jared teach me by textbook, you might ask? Well, he was recruited by the New Union when he was 17. He knew what they were doing was wrong, but he was too scared to deny them. Since they were paying him well, he recruited people for his own organization, The Guardianship. He knew the threat the New Union imposed and that potentially, they could single-handedly destroy humanity. He was right. You know how the Mayans or whoever said the world would end in 2012? Well they didn’t mean it literally; they meant that humanity would end. And, for the most part, it did. Well anyway, he was sent off to confiscate books from libraries, colleges, schools, churches, the whole shebang. He figured he would need them someday so he smuggled some books out of the system. He was right again. He was tired of taking people’s resources away and he wanted out. He privately swore that when he got his chance, he would be out of the New Order as fast of the speed of light. He got his chance. In the summer of 2011, on his birthday, he was assigned to take books from a cathedral and Catholic school. The whole town protested. The New Union got their books loaded onto their truck (vehicles were only permitted to the New Union), and prepared to leave. Jared was doing a final walkthrough through the church to make sure they didn’t leave anything behind when all h*** broke loose. Protesters started throwing Molotov cocktails, and apparently the night before, they strapped bombs under the building. They were detonated. Jared narrowly escaped, but the wreckage was too dangerous for his colleagues to explore, they assumed he was dead. Shortly after that, he went into hiding and started his underground revival. I was the second or third child born into his protection program.

I’ve met some of the other children in the program. Most of them are still with their birth parents, I guess I was just unlucky. But at the same time, it’s not such a bad thing. What’s been in store for me at birth might be harder to do; I don’t need the extra emotional baggage. Since before he was recruited by the New Union, Jared has been planning to overthrow them. Our numbers are small, but we’ve been taught to be strong, determined, ruthless when needed, and we have incredible leadership skills. When it comes to fighting for what we want and believe is right, it doesn’t matter where you come from or who you are, it’s who you make yourself out to be.

Every once in a while, I’m left alone in Jared’s and my cave when he’s on official Guardianship business. They plan the overthrow of the Communist world, which Jared has told me is to be on my eighteenth birthday. The movement is going to start on the west coast and move eastward until we confront the New Union. They don’t have a single leader because they don’t believe in having one. My assumption is that Jared will lead us because he’s the one that started us off. I’ve been trying to persuade him to call the last good offspring the world has to offer “The Last, The New”, because that’s what we are and what we will be.

I’m not supposed to be documenting this, but I don’t care. My existence is more dangerous than me writing this. So signing out until further notice, - Azalea.


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July 29, 2029. My Second Entry.

I’m wondering why Jared has suddenly talked less. We’ve always talked about everything and when there was silence, it was because we knew what the other was thinking. I’m starting to wonder about his plans. He’s been unable to answer most of the questions I ask him, which he always confides the answers in me. I want to know what’s going on really, but at the same time, I’m afraid to. I guess I’m just afraid of being disappointed, blind sighted, or having that feeling of loss. I’m also starting to question Jared’s credibility and trustworthiness. I’ve been going through documents and books and found some pretty sketchy stuff. It’s not about our plans to overthrow the New Union, but more about the “pre-plans” if you will.

Jared doesn’t know this, but I’ve been going through some of his private documents. I’m still trying to decipher some of it, it’s all in Guardian Code, but for the most part I have it. He hasn’t been exactly straightforward with me. I thought that the New Union thought he was dead, but apparently he still works for them sometimes. I know that the Guardianship still exists, but what’s his motive for lying to me and sticking with the New Union?

In other news, I know when “D-Day” is for the attack on the Union, my eighteenth birthday, September 13. Maybe it’ll be a little more productive than my other parties. Maybe I’ll get the world handed over to me; maybe I can make it a day more enjoyable for others and not just me. What if in the future, It can be the birthday of a new world, and not just the day I was born….

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August 4, 2029. My Third Entry.

Today was a dark day for me. I discovered that Jared had completely lied about my birth. I even doubt myself right now! My parents could very well still be living. But I don’t know that I’d want to see them. They SOLD me to the New Union for research. It wasn’t just research, it was experimentation. They changed the physical makeup of my body to unleash on the World Resistance Forces. I hadn’t heard of this organization before because for one, we don’t hear about what the Union doesn’t want us to hear about, and two, it was hidden in Jared’s records with the information previously mentioned. The New Union isn’t the only power out there; they only have about 85% of it. The rest of it goes to the World Resistance Forces, the Guardianship collaborates with them occasionally, but for the most part, we’re unheard of. But nor for long, on D-Day, we’re going to show ourselves like no one has ever seen! We’re going to be louder than thunder and will refuse to be put down.

They have me after all. I keep forgetting that there’s more to me than my human capabilities. I really want to figure out what I can do. But I need to confront Jared first. I’m so furious with him right now. But we should be able to smooth things over. After all, he’s risked his life for almost eighteen years protecting me. The more I think about it, I understand why he did what he did. He kidnapped me from the New Union because he needed me for his method of saving the world. He’s been planning to use me for my whole life. I still don’t know which side he’s playing on for sure! I do know that I can sneak off to one of the Guardian’s upcoming meetings, I’ll just follow Jared.

For now, there’s nothing more to tell. –Azalea

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August 28, 2029. My Fourth Entry.

Ok, so I just found out that I’m more awesome than I thought. I have amazing strength, my skin is impenetrable, I’m super slinky stretchy flexible, my reflexes are OUTSTANDING, and my senses are enhanced. I don’t know why I haven’t noticed this before, but the closer I get to my eighteenth birthday, the stronger I feel. But enough about that, let’s talk about Jared.

Jared started off with his priorities straight. When he was supposedly gone for “official Guardian business”, some of the time he was actually with the New Union. He has been trying to give the Union false information on resistance groups, the Guardianship in particular. He said they didn’t have a clue about us, but I guess he lied about that also. His two lives have been catching up with him. He keeps mixing up information on the Guardians and the New Union, he’s been trusting me less and less partly because he’s suspicious of me, or because he’s trusting himself less. I think he’s aware of my growing anger towards him, but he has bigger problems to deal with.

When he was supposed to be at a Guardian meeting, he went to the Union instead. They are now suspicious of his dealings with the Guardians. But while he was worrying about getting caught, I was at the Guardian meeting. They informed me that we were starting the revival movement September 10, but we were shooting for the 13 as D-Day. They knew all about me, and I didn’t even know their names, but that was ok because they never addressed each other by name. They knew exactly what I looked like, too. I guess they had pictures of me. They told me that they couldn’t go forward on their movement without me. They also said that they couldn’t trust Jared anymore, I told them I understood. They want me to move out of our cave (that I think is in Wisconsin), but I knew it would be too dangerous. Jared could turn on us too easily if we tried that.

The way we left things was that I was forbidden from going anywhere alone unless contacted (I don’t know how), I was to meet a Guardian in two weeks on September 11 so they could move me into position, and I was to avoid Jared as much as possible. I’m excited, but nervous. Jared will know something’s up no matter how hard I try. –Azalea

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September 9, 2029. Possibly My Last Entry.

Jared noticed that something was wrong. I didn’t get a chance to tell him because he left. I don’t know where but I don’t care anymore.

I realized that I’m about to do the riskiest thing any single person can ever do. Many people have attempted this task and failed. I’m going to stand up for what I believe in. Not just for me, because I have to, or because I feel obligated. I’ve realized that I’m doing this for the world (no pressure, right?). I have to make sure that the message is clear; New Union is only as powerful as we let them be, and the world is tired of it. My whole life I’ve been in a cave, a nice cave yes, but I haven’t seen how the world works outside these walls. I don’t know what exactly I’m going up against on Thursday, but I know I’m not going to give up. After all, I’m superhuman, right? As long as I’m standing there’s still hope. Even though I’m alone (as far as my abilities goes), I know the Guardian Armies, The Last, The New (since Jared abandoned us, I designated this name to all of the other offspring of the last free generation who is fighting for our cause), and the people we pick up along the way will keep fighting even if I fail. This world will not be lost forever.

Tonight, I’m writing this entry from the opening of my cave. The design of it reminds me of life’s challenges. From the ground, there are smooth spots and rough spots to climb through on the way to your destination. Sometimes it’s worse falling than others, you may get a couple cuts and bruises here and there, but the scars you get on the way remind you of why you keep trying. It might be hard reaching your destination (in this case the cave hole), But once you’ve tried and failed a couple of times, it gets easier and easier. When you finally get there, you can relax a little bit. Your hard work is done, and you can reward yourself. But sometimes just getting to your goal is rewarding enough. When you finally get to the entry of life’s cave, you can sit back and enjoy the view. Like tonight’s beautiful sunset. The cave is just above the tree tops, there are mostly pine trees in my forest, but their vibrant and Kelly green colors look slightly black with the sun behind it. There are no clouds out this evening making the sun the star of the show until the moon comes out. The sky is orange at first, and then it fades to brilliant pinks and purples.

Why couldn’t the world stay just as beautiful as this sunset? I’m about to give everything I have to make sure it’s as pretty as possible. Even this sunset has a flaw. What is this flaw? The fact that it will end and eventually dissolve into darkness just like everything else. This world had its beautiful brilliance until the New Union brought the darkness of the night upon it. I am about to bring the sunrise to renew the world. –Azalea
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September 15. I Was Wrong.

Today is the day we succeeded. The New Union is just a figment of some bad distant memory. My birthday was not in fact D-Day, but we did have a turning point. The New Union surrendered to me personally yesterday the 14. What was supposed to be D-Day was the day that half of the New Union turned on their brothers. They approached me yielding white flags, I didn’t understand at first, but they got on their knees and explained what they wanted. They wanted peace, not “union”. When they were in charge with the rest of the New Union, they realized that this wasn’t peace, it was reluctant cooperation. Eventually it would have led to total anarchy. I accepted their offer.

Today, the old Union workers, the Last, The New, the Guardian armies, and all 5,000 people that we picked up along the way stood in front of the New Union building demanding justice. After seeing me and hearing about the damage we had done to people who resisted us, they decided it wasn’t worth the fight and gave up.

The world expects me to take over in my own way, but under one person or organization, the world will not last. I’m restoring government systems to each country (none of them communist), and even though I disagreed, in each capital, there is going to be a statue dedicated to me with these words,

“Keep Waiting For The Sun To Rise”, signing out until further notice –Humble Azalea



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