What Happened to this World

Chapter 1

"Seventeen and almost dead!" she yelled at me. I start to back away knowing that she might hurt me on accident, which will get her killed. Patty has serious anger issues.

"Why do you even care?" I retort.

"Because I'm your mother!" she screamed.

"But you're really not," I muttered. It hurt me as much as it hurt her. But it was true, she isn't really my mother. She throws something at me but misses, like always. If she didn't miss, she would be killed by the authorities. My mom was privately executed, for venturing into the forest. But that's not typical. Most people who commit a crime are publicly hung or shot in the town square. My now mother's real name is Patricia, but I call her Patty. She has red pony tail and freckles, with brown eyes. She's older so she has wrinkles to her face. Some of my friends ask why I call her Patty, I guess it's something about her round shape that reminds me of a patty.

I run up the aluminum stairs and into my bedroom, I quickly shut and lock the door.

This kind of thing almost happens everyday. I'm walking home and my curiosity leads me somewhere stupid and soon one of the guards brings me home. Then Patty has major fit and here I am again, stuck in my room, waiting for her to cool down. I'm easily bored so I decide to go down the little chute that goes from my room, to the basement. My mother made it for me. She had planned out the house well, before her execution.

Its dark and cold in the basement, like always. I check if it's still there, and it is, obviously. It's a piece of grass. I know it's grass because I saw it in mom's wilderness book. It took me about a year to pound through the hard metal floor and finally reach this odd thing. I named it Spec, like a little spec in the vast world. But in this case, a blade of grass in a world of metal. I put a cup of Partlerdmin, our source of 'water', on him everyday because that's what my mom's book said to do. Sometimes I put a flashlight over it as if it was the sun, but I'm worried it isn't enough. It's the only thing I have of her.

I hear Patty pounding on my bedroom door, probably about to apologize, because that's what always happens. Because I'm too stubborn. I place a lid over Spec, and head up the chute. I worry that one day, someone will find out about Spec and kill Patty and I. I mostly fear Patty's death more than mine. Maybe it's that, even though I don't show it, I love Patty. Or maybe it's that I don't fear death, which is weird.

"Lily, I'm so sorry," Patty whimpers as I open the door.

"It's okay, I am too," I answer. Though I'm not really, because I never did anything.

"Hey, I am going to go see some friends to study, I'll be back at six," I tell her. This is the first time I've said this, I just need to get out of the house.

"Okay, but just don't get in trouble." I'm surprised that she's not suspicious. I leave before she dares to say anything else.

I have to admit, I do lie a lot. And I'm not too predictable, but she didn't object when I ran out the door with no pens or books. The truth is, I don't have any friends. Well I do, but we're not the type who study. I have no idea where I'm going, I'm just running, on the metal ground.

My teachers told us about the history of our world. About ten thousand years ago, the Earth was destroyed by natural causes. It first started with this place called Asia, a huge wave called a tsunami wiped it all out, like all of it, even the parts that weren't on the coast, just completely gone. Mrs. Bushnell said that the wave reached up to 18 thousand feet, whatever that means. Asia also was the biggest continent. As you can guess, everyone died. I saw small cute pictures of Asian babies. And a part of me, just a little dot of me, hated nature. Then a place called Europe, got frozen to death. Apparently a northern ice wind of about -1,047 degrees Celsius was enough to kill another continent in a couple of days. Then they were gone, pretty soon people were scared. Two major continents gone in just two years. All of a sudden, a continent named Australia was exploded by huge underwater volcano that happened to be right under Australia, you can guess what happened next.. It was home to the largest living thing in the world, something like the great boral deef. I just wish I got the chance to see it. Next, from the northern part of Africa, a dust and sand storm half the size of Australia, was enough to knock out the whole continent besides South Africa. That was four continents gone in five years. Historians don't know what happened to Antarctica but it was gone in one month. The same thing happened to South Africa and all of the islands. People thought that they had sunk in the ocean, but no one knew for sure. Pretty soon, there was just North America and South America. Oddly enough, Mother Nature pushed North and South America together in a matter of months. Pretty soon, it was just land. The Americans had calmed down a little bit. But then all of the water in the Earth spread out and stormed over the new land. The people of our town were smart, they hid underground and came out when they thought it was okay to. By then, the Earth was over, nothing remained. Just land and water. Those were called The Savior Years.

Apparently, some other town, a little close by, had the same idea. But the other town had serums, that they stole from the government. The serum consisted of hydroproxiled , this drug could make you live forever.Our town has always been greedy, so our town stole the serums and used it. Obviously the hydroproxiled wouldn't last forever. So those who took it are called Ancients. If you disobey an Ancient, you could be publicly executed or locked up in the Mortanuty. The Mortanuty is where the Ancients hid underground during The Savior Years. They turned it into a jail because they built another hideout just in case another crisis happened.

I honestly hate the Ancients. Because the Ancients hate nature. They're the ones who made the New Law. Which states that no one is allowed outside of the Wall. The Wall is a motion censored metal wall. If you get caught trying to get outside the Wall, then the guards will come and do whatever to you, but let me just tell you, it's more than just public execution. Again going back to the Ancients, they're the ones who killed my mother.

My mother had named me Lily, obviously. And Lily is a type a flower. No one in Lythensun knows what a lily flower is, but the Ancients. The only explanation is that my mother went into the Wilderness. She must have found an old textbook from a ghost town. And who knows how far in? She left me her book in the basement, where she recorded the plants she saw and what berries to eat and not, and she took pictures of all the sights. If everyone could, they would leave Lythensun. So would I. So did my mother. But the real question is how did my mother get out?

I don't remember her, but I've been told by a numerous amount of people that my mother was a very intelligent person, also very beautiful. Also people say that I've inherited her looks, which I haven't. I have wavy blonde hair that reaches my shoulders, high cheekbones, a small nose, and bright blue eyes. Maybe I am pretty. Maybe I have looked in a mirror too much that I get bored of myself. Or maybe I am pretty but my personality isn't.

I fall and startle myself out of my thoughts. I don't really feel like getting up, so I just lay there. Dreaming that I'm not laying on hard metal, but soft fields of grass, like the ones in my mother's Wilderness Book.

"Lily, is that you?" says a masculine voice.

The voice is so familiar that I don't even jump. It's Jerry. Jerry is my best friend, my only friend besides Lauren. But Lauren isn't exactly my type. So Jerry's practically my only friend.

" No, it's someone who looks just like Lily Rekane," I answer sarcastically.

" Is that so?" I hear the smile in his voice. "I guess I'm just going to leave you here, to rot in this town." We both hate Lythensun.

Then just when I think that he's gone, I'm swept off my back and swung on his shoulder. I'm laughing so hysterically that I sound like someone who's dying in the worst way possible.

" Let me go, let me go!" I scream. The words are barely audible due to all my crazy laughing.

"Hmmm, this replica of Lily Rekane sounds just like her, are you sure this isn't her?" he asks.

" It's me, it's me!" I'm starting to get dizzy and it's almost too predictable what's going to happen next.

"Ok," he laughs. Just before he's about to put me down, just naturally, I drool. And either he doesn't notice or pretends it didn't happen because he sets me down still wearing his handsome smile.

Jerry is very handsome. He has jet black hair and bright blue eyes, brighter than mine, and a perfect face. He's turning nineteen in a month. People say that we would be perfect together, but we both know different.

First of all, he's too good-looking to be with me. And second of all, I can't handle a relationship. I'm too nosy and get jealous easily. While Jerry is breezy and a looker. I just don't see myself having a future with him other than friends.

Thank you guys so much for reading this and I hope you enjoyed:) Feel free to comment and vote!

         -Izzy