posted on Apr, 16 2009 @ 05:26 PM
Friday, March 7th, 2014
December 21, 2012 passed without any memorable occurrence, save the palpable fear and excitement surrounding the date. Even now, the beginning cannot
be positively linked to the specific day. By the 23rd, however, some were starting to notice the change.
Of course, it was small things, at first. Things that were easily explained by the day to day stress in people’s lives. People were becoming
confused in the middle of a sentence, or getting into fender benders more commonly. Tempers flared frequently and there seemed to be a lack of self
control that was escalating daily.
In the second week of January, 2013, the reports about the animals and plants started to surface. They were changing, too. Long known facts about
their biology, physiology, and sociology were no longer true. Many were growing to previously unheard of sizes. While looking for ecological
explanations, it was reported that the Earth’s atmosphere was also changing. It was becoming more oxygen rich and our beloved ozone layer was
apparently repairing itself. Still there was more curiosity than concern.
On March 18th, 2013, the first nuclear reactor shut itself down in emergency mode. By the time it was determined to be human error that nearly caused
devastation, six others had followed the same path. Operating rooms had become slaughterhouses of mistakes, airplanes were crashing both on the
ground and in the sky, communication satellites were lost, and the legal system had bogged to a halt. Extreme survivalists took this as their cue to
leave the populated areas.
On the Monday following Easter, the heads of government met with scientists. There was an emergency announcement, that afternoon, broadcast on all
channels still available. With little proof to back up their claims, the population of Earth was told it was regressing. It was explained that
higher cognitive abilities were deteriorating quickly and unexplainably. We were asked to not report to work if our responsibilities included
operating advanced machinery or put other lives in danger. A request for volunteers in a world civilian police force was made. That night there
were riots.
The human race would not hear from their elected officials again. Many were killed, more were in hiding. There were, however, a few brave
journalists that tried to alert the public of current events. Crimes of violence were at an all time high, globally. The newly recruited police were
just as violent in handing out justice. There was no economy to speak of, and the people fed themselves by preparedness, hunting, theft, and
occasional cannibalism. The lights went out.
Six months later, there were carcasses in the streets of animals that had been forgotten. A half horse, half zebra, called the Quagga, was the first
to appear. It had been cataloged as extinct in 1883. Humans had become more aggressive, larger, and some had lost the ability to speak coherently.
Guns had been thrown away when the ability to operate and reload them had left. They now had to contend with creatures from antiquity along with
their own stick and stone wielding species. Few chose community and a home, rather than a lone, nomadic lifestyle.
Now, just over a year later, we begin again. Speech, sanitation, and cooperation are uncommon luxuries. The relics of technology are but a part of
this strange landscape, one more thing to hide behind. Memory of the past is slippery at best. The Earth is only two years into its twenty six
thousand year cycle. I wonder if we can make it any further this time.