Anyway, I'm Sarah

They say, “An asteroid obliterated the dinosaurs, and war caused the collapse of Rome.” However, Earth and its inhabitants are resilient. We always rebuild. We always advance. So, why is it that in the year 2029, I’m writing my final words on an old piece of cardboard by candlelight? It’s not just because the crazed men upstairs, who threw me in this damp cellar, were kind enough to give me a candle. It’s not just because whoever died in this rat infested hell before me left a broken pencil. No, it all started with the bees. Bees!

It was only 5 years ago in 2025, I was 15 years old and life was as close to normal as it could be after Covid-21. We thought Covid-19 was bad. How naive of us. My mother and I were on our way back home from the food drive. Her mahogany skin glistened like gold under the Fall sun, and her black curls bounced with every step she took. I remember thinking to myself how beautiful she was and wishing my hair bounced like hers. My mother and I looked almost exactly the same, except my hair was shorter with finger waves and my eyes were a darker shade of brown. Hers were hazel.

Anyway, for years up til that point, there were commercials and programs talking about “saving the bees” because the pesticides used by big companies were killing them at an exponential rate, too much honey was being harvested, etc. Needless to say, no one really cared. That’s why this next part is pretty scary. When mother and I got home, there was a breaking news story on the tv. Apparently, despite the efforts of the few, and I do mean very few, all the bees had gone extinct. Everyone should have been horrified then, but to be honest, the news coverage barely sparked any kind of reaction.

It wasn’t until that next Spring that people really began to notice. The snow had melted and temperatures were warmer, but the trees and grass didn’t return to their usual luscious green. In fact, not even those annoying dandelions grew. The ground looked miserable and brown. I don’t recall seeing many grasshoppers or ants either, which was pretty unusual living in Dover, Delaware. Not long after, news articles began to flood the media with titles like, “No Luck for Farmers,” and “Food Deficit Imminent.”

The first year wasn’t so bad. There was still enough to eat at the market and people had their own food stocked up for a bit. My mother and I however, I did mention earlier that we were coming from a food drive. We were barely getting by, but we were use to it. It wasn’t too horrible, but at some point, all the nations of the world waged war against each other for resources. There was bombing after bombing, attack after attack.

By year three, the food rations started by the government in year two were hardly enough to feed a single adult household. It didn’t take long for people to realize that our “government” was no longer capable of, nor were they trying to help us. As the days went by and more animals and insects started to go extinct, humanity really started to revert to primitive ways. People were willing to do whatever it took to feed their families. Before I knew it, tanks and U.S. soldiers filled the unrecognizable streets of my neighborhood. My mother kept trying to reassure me that we’d be ok, but she got sick. In a time of cancer and Covid-21, we were relieved that it was just a cold. Maybe if she had gotten sick a few years earlier, the definition of “simple”would have still meant just that, but we forgot it was different times; a new age.

In December of the year 2028, my mother died from a cold. Apparently, the tanks and soldiers weren’t here to keep the peace; they were gathering all the doctors, medicine, water, and whatever resources they thought they’d need for their new society. If you didn’t have a skill or knowledge that could benefit them, you were left behind. My mother and I kept to ourselves so when she died, I didn’t have help burying her. I didn’t even know how or where to do it. I ended up picking a spot behind our apartment complex next to what use to be the garden. It’s not like anyone would care anyway. Most of everyone else had started evacuating in attempt to find better places to live.

On the day I dug her grave, I overheard two older men talking as they passed by. Apparently, there was a place somewhere near the old town of Dagsboro where there was live, healthy cattle and real green grass. They called it Greenland. It was supposedly the new society started by what use to be the government, and that’s where everyone was migrating to, but it was surrounded by a huge wall. Only official citizens could get in and anyone else would be shot down.

With my mother gone, I had nothing to lose. After a month or two of gathering old cans of food and collecting rain water, I headed out for Greenland. In hardly four years, the world had changed so much. Practically everything was in ruins; there was no electricity, no cars, no vegetation, just devastation.

I never made it to Greenland and if your reading this you didn’t either. After traveling for only a day, I was kidnapped by some group who call themselves the Saviors of The New World. I’ve been in this cellar wearing this white dress they gave me for six days and I finally overheard what they want with me. It isn’t pleasant. When I got here, I found an old, golden locket. It was clearly left behind by the poor soul held here before me, but I like to pretend it was a gift from my mother. It's the only thing bringimg me comfort. Anyway, I'm Sarah and I’ll leave this locket here for you, whoever you are.