THE ONES WE LEFT BEHIND

PROLUGE: THE BEGINING OF THE END

THERE I WAS, STANDING in front of what I knew was the meaning of death. The end. A literal and figurative meaning. It was the end of all humanity, and all of what was to come. There I was, standing in front of what I knew to be; the Pressure Temple. Legend has it, that this temple will activate and crush cities, some say the earth, and suck everything into a final piece of nothing. An endless void. I grabbed my sister's arm, which was reaching for the pillar holding the building. "Don't touch." I commanded. I looked around, seeing crowds, stands, and old buildings with stone streets. I tugged my other sister on my left, "let's go home, guys." They turned to me in disappointment, "mom and dad are making food, and we have a role to play in this city." I informed, "we're already far behind on community service," I said, gesturing to the bag in Isabelles, (the one on the right.) Hand. Emma pulled on her curls, stroking her hand through her hair.
"I don't wanna go." She pouted, "and this work stuff is boring." She threw her bag on the ground letting trash spill out,
"Stop it." I said picking the trash bag up and handing to her. "This is our place- our role to serve the gods." She groaned, and walked away in the direction of our home. "Care to pick up trash for two?" I asked handing Isabelle the trash bag. Honestly she was doing a lot of work for a nine year old. Let alone Emma who was eight. I grabbed my trash-grabber and continued picking up trash. Isabelle stoped for a second, and turned to me,
"Who made this?" She asked, turning to the Pressure Temple.
"The gods." I answered, "they gave this to us as a punishment, giving us a heavy burden to please them, or else we would be crushed underneath the power of them all." I said, looking up and down, scanning the building, "which brings us to this, picking up trash." She nodded her head, picking the trash up. As I picked up a Pepsi can, this great pain was shoved in my head. I started seeing buildings, flowers, crumbling cities, monsters, and my family. It all felt like hours when it had happened in a matter of minutes. I regained my vision, and saw myself on the floor, my head in my hands, kneeling on the stone road with hundreds of people walking by, the noise and chatter deafening.
Isabelle walked up to me, "are you okay?" She asked, slightly grinning,
"Go away, just let me finish cleaning, just go home." She punched the air and ran off, catching up to Emma who had been dragging her feet, moping for the past fifteen minutes. What the hell was that? I thought to myself. I looked around concerned, and on the brink of tears. "Hey Raja, do you mind picking up my trash for the day?" I asked, slowly getting to my feet. He walked up to me supporting me, as he asked what happened.
"Sure, yeah, no problem." He shook his head denying any protest I would have against it, "whatever you need, just go home and rest." I patted his shoulder, limping off.
"Thanks a ton man," I said, "I owe you." He smirked, and shook his head,
"Don't worry about it." His voice was faint as I trailed off on my way home.

"MAMONE, STOP!" A voice shouted way louder than anything I've ever heard, "DON'T DO THIS!" It shouted again.
"Sometimes in order to save things, you must destroy it first first."
A softer voice said, almost shaking.
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" It shouted again,
"I'm only doing what I was taught." The softer one said again, this time the voice was breaking, as if it was about to cry. My vision went dark and the world disappeared around me. I swung my arms around, searching for a solid surface. It was as if I was flying. But then something came into view. A pink, purple, and green flower bulb. It turned around, revealing a face. Not a human face, but a face as in eyes, mouth, and nose. I looked closer and noticed that it was crying. I tried slapping myself across the face but there was nothing there. I didn't even have a hand. Just a state of mind that told me I had body. The background behind the flower was shown, and I saw something in the corner of the beige, empty room. A label that read: Pressure Temple. I opened my eyes gasping, feeling around my bed, making sure that I was real. I was. I gripped my pillow and shoved my face in it. It was just a dream. Or I thought.