By, Milo Shawn
Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if humans suddenly, just, disappeared? I was born into this world. I watched as humans disappeared from the world, and I watched as the world continues on without them.
On the high noon of a warm summer day, a strange phenomenon occurred. No one knows how or why, but all humans disappeared from the earth. There were no screams. No shouts of pain or fear. No blood or gore spilled on the ground. It's as if humans disappeared into thin air. Cars slammed into anything and everything and set off loud blaring alarms that can be heard throughout the cities and towns. Planes descend from the sky, crashing brutally into random locations throughout the world. Nuclear-powered facilities grew unstable and caused mass nuclear fallout in many areas of the world.
Wildlife has thrived. With no human interference, wildlife has had the opportunity to flourish unlike ever before. The animals have been able to roam freely and repopulate areas that were previously inhabited by humans. Without humans to maintain them, the power plants, water treatment plants, and other critical infrastructure, eventually fell. This resulted in widespread power outages, water shortages, and other problems. Cities have deteriorated. Without humans to maintain buildings and infrastructure, they quickly fell into disrepair. The buildings have collapsed, the roads have crumbled, and finally, nature has reclaimed the land completely and utterly, leaving behind only brief traces of human history. Environmental damage took centuries to repair while wildlife eventually thrives. The damage done to the environment by human activities such as pollution and deforestation has taken centuries to heal, but time is seemingly irrelevant these days.
Staring at the world as it shifts and changes from the disappearance of humans is almost soothing. All the widespread panic, negativity, and stress that filled the world daily is gone. The almost unconscious feeling of fear and desperation no longer plagues the mind. With the healing of the world from the fallout, and the reclamation of the world. Rather, the best way to describe viewing this world is as if your mind were swimming in a lake of cool, soothing, liquid gold.
Many may find this absurd! After all, so would the humans who are no longer here. Truly, they would have laughed and scorned anyone who would have warned them of their fate. Who dares to destroy this 'Great Society' that they had created? Who can dare stand against the might of humans? Live how they want. Act how they want. Fight how they want. Kill how they want. Bring misery to others, all for what they want. That is the assumed right of humans, the most dominant species to ever walk the planet. How dare they act as if all other forms of life were beneath them? Global warming, slaughter farms, littering, cutting down rainforests, and much more were all caused by humans. Who gave them the right? Surely nature didn't give it to them, so what gave them power over other lives? This arrogance and disregard for others are what brought about their downfall. What a glorious downfall it was. One without pain and suffering. It was too good for those scum.
The animals now graze endlessly, with only natural selection to bind them. The skies grow clearer and clearer with each passing year. The air slowly returns to its original clean, fresh self. I have witnessed this with my own eyes. The world's corruption by humans, and its redemption. I have witnessed evil overcome by good. I have witnessed the birth and death of an era. Time will move on forever, unyielding to my will for it to stop. Soon the world will undergo a new era of change, for better or for worse. I fear for what is to come. Can the world not just remain frozen in time? Can it truly not remain in this beautiful state of tranquility and peace? Can I not live in this sense of joy for eternity? Why must evil exist? Why must corruption find all things good? Why, am I cursed to forever witness the corruption of beauty?