I Remember the End

Chapter 1: The Beginning

A pure soul turned black was all I could see as I ran away from him. A young, jovial heart had been rung dry, like a soaking towel that was billowing in the wind. His golden locks of untrimmed hair now covered in ash and soot, and snipped lazily off. While his innocent white smile stared into my soul with a look of evil, but a twang of inner pity. And his once healthy body was shrunken down to but a whisper of his former self. My old friend, my pal had changed, most definitely, but I felt a murmur from his soul that told me he was still in there, which meant I could still bring him back.

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Things were different without Joshua by my side. It’s much easier for two people to survive rather than just one. With someone by your side, you feel more secure and safe. You both protect each other as you run from the horrors of the world. Now that Joshua was gone, no one was by my side.

It all started a few months ago when scientists engineered a new device that could send out sound signals and intercept your brain waves and make you believe that you want to do something. They could make you do anything because you would believe that you want to do it. Of course, nothing could be so strong as to completely force you. A few weeks after the devices had been tested and shown that they worked, some people broke in to the government lab and stole all the devices and a list of names of everyone who knew how to build it. Only after destroying all prototypes and anything with a clue of how to recreate it did they make their getaway. The next morning, before anyone knew of the break in, all the scientists and anyone whose name was on that list couldn’t remember anything about the device. It was like they forgot all about it. Some claimed that they had a dream about such a device, but when they woke up they convinced themselves to forget everything about it.

After a few months, the public forgot about the incident altogether. Eventually, a few people noticed something strange in the new television shows. Some people thought it was static from a bad signal, but it was much more. For months a small signal had been coming in through the T.V. shows, but it just sounded like a bit of background noise. It seemed that the group that stole the devices was using them to control anyone who watched T.V. or even movies. One day all the shows shut off on every channel and a black screen came up with a few words on it. “Please listen to this emergency broadcast” was all that came up. Everything was silent for a moment, until strange noises boomed out of the screen at full volume. It was so loud that anyone outside could hear it. The sound lasted for a full ten minutes before it shut off and everything went back to normal. The sound was from the devices, and it just planted a little seed in everyone’s mind so that they could control them without making them listen to the noise. No one seemed to notice this for a while.

I was hiking with a group of my college friends in the mountains when the broadcast came. The night before there was a terrible lightning storm that had blown out any cable or signal from a cell tower, so none of us heard it. We heard something strange and looked around just in time to see a helicopter land about twenty feet from us. We crept over behind some trees to see who they were. The group that had stolen the devices had sent out people to check out places without cable or radio signal, and our mountain was one of them. About ten of them went to search the forest for anyone while they left two people to guard something. My friend Kyle suggested we sneak up on them and see what they were guarding. A few guys chuckled and nodded, then snuck off. Three of us stayed behind, Joshua, Sara, and I. Sara started freaking out and told us she was going to head back down the mountain. Then it was just Joshua and I as we watched the other guy’s head over to the helicopter. They snuck up behind the guards, but being the unskilled college guys they were, the guards heard them and turned around. They hit one of our friends in the jaw and suddenly it was a fight. I had an idea and didn’t want to go alone, so I grabbed Joshua by the wrist and ran towards the helicopter. Inside it was a black box with a lock on it. I told Joshua to put the box in his satchel as we ran away. 

We made it down the mountain and onto our motorcycles before anyone saw us. Once we made it back to main roads we were surprised to see that no one was there. No one driving, and no one on the sidewalk. We came to a huge bridge over a gushing river and saw a sight no one would believe. Over fifty people were about to jump off the bridge into their watery graves. Joshua and I stopped and just watched for a moment. Suddenly I remembered the box and asked him to get it out for me. The lock was old, but the box was new. Joshua got up and grabbed a rock to smash it. It took multiple hits, but the lock finally broke and the box cracked open. Inside was all the information that I’ve already told you, and two key things. Their goal was to help reduce the earth’s overpopulation by having people kill themselves and other people. Secondly, if anyone was aware of the devices purpose and how the signals worked by making you think you want to do something, then they are much harder to control because they can’t as easily give in to the urge. That information was the key to our survival because after that we were aware, which gave us a chance.