2014: Full Version

2014: Prelude

This is a story about the end of times.  There are multiple threads and stories within each of us.  Each time we use our free will to make a decision, we start a chain of events which is a story.  These events can be fantasized through the imagination which is a stories gateway.  Let us take a journey.

Many people believed the end of the world was coming in 2012 but it never came.  Don't get me wrong, there were earthquakes and life was hard for some.  But for others, life was no different than any other time.  People watched as third world countries such as Haiti and Ghana were destroyed, but it still wasn't in our backyard.  People have a tendency to not care if it is directly not affecting them.

The end of the world did not come with a bang.  Instead it came painfully slow as humanity watched cities fall one by one.  Not through war or genocide.  Nor was it biological or chemical.  Those who believed that population growth would deplete our resources were wrong.  Aliens never came from the sky or from the ocean.  Strangely, global warming might have had something to do with it.  You see, in the end what takes out the world is nature.

Many cultures and people since the dawn of time believe the earth gives us what we need.  But what happens when the world decides it no longer needs or wants us?  Or maybe a clearer question would be, what happens to us when the world readjusts just as all places eventually do?  Furthermore, how will people react and is it possible for humanity to rebuild? 

These questions came and went during 2012.  They were played out through movies, cable television channels and books to name a few.  

Entire communities in the heartland of America emerged like mini fortresses that held militia ideologies.  Many spiritual extremists took their lives and others around them.  Tensions created more conflicts such as school and factory shootings.  The world continued to experience racial and religious turmoil but this did not attribute to the mass floods and solar flares.

Two years before in 2010, the world watched many changes that prelude the natural disasters to come.  Chile and Peru had earthquakes which knocked out entire cities; Japan and China started to experiences massive volcano activity that disrupted telecommunications.  Americans who traveled to Europe got to experience massive blackouts as Iceland's volcano blocked out the sun for months.  But for majority of us, life was no different.  These events did not pertain to us, for our minds could not fathom the depth of the situation unless it was happening to us.  Others took it as signs of revelations and the end. 
 
2011 ushered billions of dollars is lost telecommunications around the world.  With this came more civil unrest.  The world watched as the Middle East was reformed as dictator after dictator was over thrown.  Environmentalists and scientists warned of issues concerning solar flares which we later found out created the big flood.  In the beginning the solar flares were light.  They started as mellow bursts that gave the earth’s atmosphere breathtaking auras but due to depleted resources in our ozone the earth began to experience what some would refer to as nature shifts.  To put it simply, solar flares started a chain of events that led to a change in our polarization.

In America we were having our own problems.  Current issues were about New Orleans and the oil spill in the gulf.  Media and fanatics kept on talking about the end of the world in 2012 but others were quick to point out that they have been doing this since as early as people could remember and to put it simple, most Americans did not care.  Many remembered the Y2K scare and did not want to repeat it.  There were enough problems in the real world.  For most, dogmatic questions are not wanted.  Real issues are how to get to work on time, what’s for dinner, or what should I wear when I go out to the bar tonight.  All of this changes by 2014.

2011 saw some events that made the world pause.  February ushered in New Zealand and Australia having earthquakes and floods that literally reshaped their landscapes.  Each time these natural disasters occurred people would band together and communities showed their best.  People worked together and rebuilt what was broken.  The problem came from the fact that the earthquakes and natural disasters did not stop.  Instead, a place would get an earthquake and as soon as the people would rebuild another earthquake would follow.  Scientists said that it was all part of the original earthquake and everything that followed was aftershocks.  These aftershocks assured the destruction of some cities.  As soon as one country would send aid another country would get hit within weeks.  By the end of 2011 the world experienced a dozen countries that lost people and cities.  Many feared that Peninsulas were not safe to live on but most people decided to stay still and be tough.   In the beginning, coastal cities such as San Francisco and islands such as New Zealand and Japan got hit.  These disasters did not make many people fear for they were expected.  It did however suck for those who lived in those cities.

So what does one do if the end of the world doesn't come in 2012?  We did NOTHING. In 2012 I moved to Washington DC with my wife, April.  We decided to put fears of the end of the world into their proper place and carried on with our lives.  I have a Masters degree in Public Administration and my wife is an illustrator.  Naturally, a city like Washington D.C. has much potential so we decided this was the place to start our new lives.  We have a 17 year old son and we came from the great Upper Peninsula in Michigan.  The UP is in the middle of the woods and has a strong Finnish culture.  We are tough and survive 4-5 months of winter a year.  I am a scholar and we are a educated couple.  On the other hand we lack red neck skills and are clueless on how to survive off of the land.  Our lives center around computer and television screens.  Instead of living in the practical world I prefer to live in the abstract world.  My favorite place is not a bar but the library.  I prefer to have friends that are gamers then who are jocks.  My parents are professors and dinner conservations pertain to Shakespeare, quantum physics and religion.  My wife also lives in the abstract world.  She prefers to zone out in front of a canvas for the day and she is dualistic with talent.  She knows how to both paint and how to illustrate.  Every six months we travel around the world for three months.  This is our life and it is good.  At 31 years old I graduated with a Masters and it was time to look for employment.  A few years ago I was a intern at the Library of Congress in D.C.  It made perfect sense so start my career there.  We never knew what was coming.  For that matter, no one knew what was coming.  We all thought that the danger was in 2012.

This is my story.  This is how the world ends.

Chapter One: First day

Dreaming

The alarm clock gave a soft buzz, I found myself drifting in a dream.  I was in a house eating dinner with my wife.  She smells of lavender and her gentle eyes tear up as she talks about her son's recent love life.  She is 5’6; her dark eyes and hair remind me of the dew on grass at predawn in the summer.

I put my fork down as I listen to her, "Greg! Do you understand what I am saying?"  She tosses her silverware on the plate, her fried chicken leg brushes upon the table as her hand moves the plate not so gently.  "Our son, Sam, refuses to get on the air plane!  He wants to stay one extra week to be with his boyfriend.  Why can't he ever care about what I want?"  She huffs and puffs as she jumps out of her seat and storms into the kitchen.  Dishes and pans rattle as she takes out her frustration on them. 

I have a step son who is 17 years old.  His name is Sam and he is gay.  I'm alright with that because deep down I believe its each person’s personal decision to be what they want to be.  My only issue is that I don't think children should sexually define themselves until they are an adult.  I understand what my wife is feeling and decide to remain quiet.  It's hard to articulate the pain a child inflicts as they grow apart from the nest.   I drone out her voice with some world news.  Remembering what a political science professor once said, "CNN is so damn censored it's referred to as Communist News Network by some," I laugh as I settle on CNN World News.  Stories of global warming and unrest in Israel and Egypt take my mind off my wife.  A most interesting segment catches my attention.  A star in the sky is burning out and is going to create two weeks of extra light.  Apparently by burning out, the star is going to create a black hole and burn bright for two weeks.  This means there will be two suns in the sky!  The reporter jokingly concludes that perhaps we are living at the end of times and shows a few clips of millions of people gathering in spiritual places around the world.  The phone rings and April drops whatever dish she is holding. 


"I bet you its Sam."  She quickly shuffles back into the living room and picks up her cell phone.  I pause because two things simultaneously occur.  The first was on the flat screen TV, an emergency warning popped on screen and said to stay tuned.  The second was her phone.  It wasn't the same phone that she used, but instead it was old cell phone she threw out back in 2012.  My mom gave her that phone when she thought that solar flares were going to wipe out everyone.  This didn't make sense.  I then realized something else as my blood started to chill.  The living room I was in was from 2012 and we were back in Michigan.  This was 2014 and I lived and worked in Washington D.C.!

My wife starts to screech, "Oh my God, Sam! What's happening?"  I watch color drain from her face as she instantly looks thirty years older.  She looks me deep in the eyes and real tears come to her as her expression goes frantic.  She is about to tell me something.  Instead all I hear is a buzz.  It is distant but persistent.  My awareness pulls as I feel myself lift up.  My spirit loses touch with the dream as I open my eyes.  My wife murmurs "Turn that damn alarm off!"


Chapter Two: Early Bird Catches the Worm

Its 2014 and I am home.  What a fucked up dream.  I try to remember it but it starts to elude me.  Deep down I feel that I missed something vital but I can't place it.   It is a fine Tuesday morning in September and it is7:15 A.M.  I have to get ready for work.  I file the dream away as a nightmare.  

Light streams into the bathroom as I open the curtain and window.  Even though I am in our nation’s capital, I find myself sometimes missing nature and woods.  I want to feel a clean breeze.  Instead I am greeted with a police siren and cars honking.  Balancing with these disturbances is shaky so I shut the window.

I live in a spacious apartment in a complex building in Bethesda, Maryland.  We have a three bedroom apartment and a very large living room.  I quickly turn on the news and began to make my wife a pot of coffee.  My mind drifts to the project of the day as I shrug off the last of the nightmare.  Usually my wife doesn’t wake up with me.  She is an illustrator and painter and works from home.  Today was to be different.  My supervisor decided that it was time for me to assistant in my first public function.  He needed me to meet a journalist for CNN.  The Library of Congress was working in junction with the Smithsonian to reward a few people of their endeavors regarding education and peace.  One guest of honor was to be the vice president’s daughter.  I was to be there by 10 A.M.  I had one hour to get ready; I quickly jump into the shower with excitement.  In retrospect, if I knew this was going to be my last warm shower in a long time I would have stayed in it longer.  For that matter, if I knew what was coming I would never had left my wife’s side in bed. 


It takes one hour to travel the red line on the metro to get downtown so I had to make sure I didn’t miss the 8:30.  As mentioned earlier, I work at the Library of Congress.  I am the assistant to the director.  I have a very nice office in the ancient manuscript division within the Jefferson building.  I started my career six months ago.  There are three main buildings at the Library of Congress and thousands of workers.   The library of Congress’s primary function is to help the public with knowledge.   I often parallel the Library of Congress with the Library of Alexandria. It’s sad the Romans had to destroy the library and with it all the knowledge.  I hope a similar fate never befalls the Library of Congress.
I hear a rustle behind me as my wife plops down in front of the television set.  She sighs in satisfaction as she sips the coffee I made, “Greg, what exactly do we have to do today?”  This is a loaded question for she already knows it’s a special day.

I quickly respond with excitement, “We are to be at the capitol building across from the Library of Congress at 10:30.  We are going to meet a whole bunch of important people!”  I’m very excited for the vice president’s daughter is to give an award to a few writers.  For the last six months I worked long hours to make this happen.  This was going to be my first time my work blurred with a public function.

April slowly ebbs the last of sleep as she lovingly comments, “You deserve this today!  Who knows, maybe you will get a promotion or something!”  She looks at the television set and quietly murmurs, “I’m going to check my e-mail.  How long until we have to leave?  After the thingy we are doing for you we have to be at the airport at 2 P.M. to pick up Sam.”  She left the living room and I turn on CNN.  In the back of my mind I get an impression of déjà-vu but I quickly write it off as anxiety.  I hear her tell me from the other room, “Greg, make sure you take your blood pressure today.  With events like today you don’t want to find yourself getting a stroke.”

I quickly get up and walk to the bathroom to finish getting dressed.  While listening to my wife’s’ advice I spy that I only have one week of medication left.  I dryly comment, “Can you remind me to get my medications refilled at the end of the week?  I’m running low.  I also have to get some pain killers for my back” I take a blood pressure pill and wait patiently.  I have high blood pressure and have to take pain medications for my spine.  I have degenerative disk disease which makes moving around a little harder then it ought to be.  We still have 30 minutes before we have to go.  A most interesting segment comes on CNN that is airing about earthquakes in the Pacific and Japan when all of a sudden I hear a gasp and crash.  For the second time today I felt déjà-vu.

My wife storms in the living room, her expression has completely changed and she is half a broken coffee mug in her left hand.  Coffee is dripping down her shirt, it is apparent that she dropped the mug.  My wife has a glass face and it’s really easy to follow her emotions at times. 

April looks me in the eyes and with much anger declares, “Sam sent me an e-mail!  He’s staying in Michigan for an extra week to be with his boyfriend and did not get on the plane!”  She starts to cry.


I respond, “Dammit, why is he doing this?”  I instantly fear that this is going to affect the day and in a bad way.  Instead of saying the right thing I blurt out, “What about the airplane ticket?”  I instantly regret this as April cries harder.
After a minute she gathers herself, “I don’t care about the money, anyways he said that his boyfriend's dad will cover it.  I guess they have a concert they want to go to in Wisconsin.” I am quickly reminded how much I love my wife as she pulls herself together.  April prides herself in being stoic, a Finnish trait of being strong and rolling with the punches.  My wife often jokes that I am a whiny German who miss communicates all the time.

April looks at the coffee spill and gives a curse, “I dropped my mug and have to clean it up.  It looks like we won’t have to go to the airport today.  I will be ready in 15 minutes; can we eat breakfast at Burger King?”  She gets up and kisses me on the forehead as she continues to finish getting ready to leave.  What a way to start the day!

Chapter 3: Metro

Washington DC has a very pleasant public transportation system, called the Metro.  The metro has five train lines which are represented by colors.  We live on the red line.  Ironically we live three stops from the end and have to cross an entire state to get downtown.  It roughly takes one hour and I have to change trains once.  The Library of Congress is located on the blue and orange line.  I find myself loving the train and the people in it.