Teen Ink

Day 20

Hatred is unreasonable, but there are things far more ridiculous and illogical like unconditioned love and the contented heart. If one is frowned upon and others so strived for, why are they all so real? Wisdom, truth, love, goodness, justice. All for the better of the world; all can be easily misread. Most souls journeying through life get lost and fixed on certain aspects. Without an understanding of them all and how they relate to each other can be very dangerous. But this is how individuals are formed.
Luther Marx, Jeanette Daily, Gary and Katie Pedersen headed back to Earth on Courtauga.
The four watched from Courtauga: saw the grid collapsed into itself and disintegrated into the plasma core, as their ship slowly left the planet, barely escaping its pull. Soon there was nothing left but the core itself, which dimmed into nothingness. A silence came over them. That dead space in the universe was Michael Erikson’s grave now. Gone with the evils he fought relentlessly to destroy. Now with only self-guidance, the four would accurately, truly restart humanity. Possibility and wonder reentered their hearts as the grand ship neared the cleansed Earth.
Lush, blossoming, beautiful life covered the planet, as it was meant to be. They set down on rolling green hills, littered with beautiful trees. The beach ahead of them, waves of pure, sparkling water calmly and delicately rose to a length on the soft, warm sand, and sank back down over and over. Dozens of clouds scattered across the bright blue sky, cleansed by the fresh sea air. This place was still and timeless. This place knew gorgeousness and serenity; a land where the devilish throngs certainly could never discover or overtake. A place with no need for anger or lust for anything. A still, yet vibrant and beautiful feeling its air sent out to what simple life called it home: birds in the distance, fish coloring the ocean with life, running through the streams that cut across the wilderness.
“Is this what you were talking about?” Katie asked as they stepped outside the ship, in shock of Earth’s natural beauty that before had been so buried and distorted.
“And it’s far more powerful than I could have ever imagined.” said Luther. “Do you feel it? That’s opportunity. Possibility. Choice. What every good man knows is most important. And Katie,” he said turning to her: “I want you to know that whatever you’ve done that you may be ashamed of, whatever you might regret, I love you and I always will. This goes for all of you.” he continued, speaking aloud to the three, “we can leave everything behind. This here, now, is rebirth. This is the new beginning we’ve been searching for; waiting for. And it’s breathtaking isn’t it?”
“Do we have the will to go on after all this, though?” she wondered to him.
“Only you can answer that for yourself. I know you give me the will to live, and make me want to be the best I can be, always. Guide us, until the end. Each of us; we’ll guide each other.”
“Why didn’t humanity fight back when they had the chance?” asked Gary, thinking back on how the world was, realizing the repulsion of it all in contrast to its now untouched beauty.
“The enemy was deadly precise and determined for greatness without reason. We reached a point where all good men who realized the situation as you do now, were subjugated; criminalized. A point where there was almost nothing to be done. It was tragic, but it’s all behind us now.”
“Learn from the past my friends.” Jeanette said. “That tragic tale told over and over as a constant reminder of the terrifying potential of evil, could do this new world good. I don’t mean to sound grim. We need to take one step at a time to be extremely careful we don’t end up where we did, so people like Michael don’t have to ruin their lives; waste their talents, making up for others’ mistakes.”
“I agree. In addition, we’ll help them to discover the other side of life. The part worth living. The part people forgot, that you, Gary and Katie, know so well.”
“What is it about us that you find so wonderful?” asked Gary, embarrassed and flattered.
“The very fact you don’t see it yourself destroys any doubt I might have had that you don’t really hold the qualities closely and naturally to your heart. You’ll be the best to nurture the innocent. To encourage creativity and speculation, and example the importance of modesty and morality.”
“So we restart?” asked Katie.
Luther took a worn breath and started onward, aimlessly. As they wondered through the rebirth, they came to a burial of some sort: an M16 planted in the ground with a soldier’s helmet a top. Moss and grass had begun to cover it and pull it into the ground. The four stared without a word, down on it.
“For Michael Erikson and all others who aided and sacrificed to make this overwhelming, marvelous, astonishing, beautiful place a reality; our home a reality, it is our duty. So we restart.”
Once again the world felt everlasting.
No matter how hard we try to tell our brothers and sisters, to warn them of what darkness lurks inside all of us, in the corners of our minds, the same wonder that makes our souls so flawed and beautiful, tempts us to reach these distant thoughts and feelings. Men that thought they were some sort of guardians chose Bardia Foxx to build a new world. And he eagerly stepped up to the challenge. But it takes a mellowed, wandering soul that would hate nothing more than to rule humanity, to find the path to righteousness. Every step they took, Gary and Katie Pedersen defied the evils’ prophecy. So every step they take makes me think we need them more and more. There will always be demons. So we will always need some form of hero to destroy them, even after paradise is achieved. Don’t succumb to either side. Hold on to your innocence as best you can, and do what feels right, in instinct, in heart. Morality is indeed a natural part of life, and one of the most difficult to understand. Devils turned good men to sheep. Turned them to a point of no return. To a point where Ea was necessary. The sickening truth stared humanity in the face, and they chose to look away.
The End