100 Ways the World Could Have Ended

The Wrinkles -- Charlotte Thompson

Many years ago, a small water planet called Gralien formed a disease that could spread around Earth so that they could control the humans. They placed a small strain of the disease into the ocean and flew away, always observing its movement. Only when the humans formed many wrinkles from being in the water for too long would they catch the disease. A few years ago, the experiment was deemed a failure, and the planet Gralien abandoned their project, except for a small group...

***

The alarm went off in the control room and thirty Gralienites (the people of the planet Gralien) streamed in. They all sat at their corresponding desks and brushed off the cobwebs and dust that had settled on them. The Control Master, Grudon Jaffa, stood at the front of the long rows of desks. He banged twice on the desk in front of him, making the young Gralienite jump out of his seat, and called for silence. As the control workers quieted, he began to explain the situation.

***

Teresa shrieked as she ran into the water, shocked at how cold it was. She had just moved into an apartment up the road from this small beach, and it was the first time she'd come down. She tensed up as another wave hit her. The water was really cold, yet she loved it. She loved the cool slap of the waves when she entered the ocean and the feel of sand underneath of her toes. This beach was perfect. Teresa waded a few steps forwards before diving under the water. She took a gulp of air before floating on the top of the water. She never wanted to leave.

***

Grudon glanced around the room, watching as the control workers began to type fast on their iTablets (the top of the range, super-fast and super-expensive laptops).

"Listen up people! We have 5 minutes until the wrinkles set and the human begins to transform," Grudon began to explain (although not in English, this was translated from Gralish, a series of clicks and sneezes – their native language). "We have visual on the girl, a young teenager from California. She is perfect for this transformation-," he went on before interrupting his speech with a sneeze. They were entering the spring season, and the pollen was really stuffing up his nose. Allergies suck. He opened his mouth to talk and saw a small Gralien at the back begin to stand up. He must be new, Grudon thought. There was no way an inexperienced worker could finish the human transformation, but there wasn't enough time to replace him.

"I'm confused," the small Gralienite said. A few Gralienites chuckled in the back. This was a famous catch-phrase they had picked up from Earth from a young girl named Sara who was famous for her nearly-completed transformation many years ago before they had abandoned the experiment. That test run never succeeded. Grudon sighed and realised the small worker was waiting for an explanation.

"Only when the human forms wrinkles, from being in the water for too long, start to form can the disease be administered. The disease will then spread like 'wildfire'." He raised his hands in an air quotation, then looked to his left towards his secretary.

"Did I get that human term right?" he asked. She paused before nodding.

"Excellent. Let's get started on the transformation"

***

Teresa glanced down at her hands. Wrinkles. Wrinkles everywhere. She had been in the water for way too long and needed to leave. She stood up and began to walk towards the shore. Teresa looked up to see her mother standing at the edge of the water, waiting for her to exit, and began to run to her. Once she reached her, she extended her arm to grab the towel she was holding out for her and gently brushed her knuckles in doing so. Her mother frowned at her hands and Teresa saw wrinkles spreading from her knuckles and racing up her arms. She gasped and collapsed, writhing on the sand. Her mother's body began to completely fill with wrinkles, and with one final breath, her body went still. Around her, wrinkles spread everywhere, killing every living thing in sight. Every tree, every animal, every person. They all shrivelled up and died. Teresa fell to the ground with a grunt, her eyelids drooping. The wrinkles covered her whole body. There was nothing she could do to stop it. Her body began to shrivel up and her eyes closed.

***

Grudon stood in front of a large screen, watching the red splodge slowly travel around the world before covering it entirely. By now, every living thing on Earth would have died. The disease had spread fast, and they hadn't expected that. It didn't matter, their mission was successful. He heard a beep coming from the speakers and turned and left the room. He walked quickly towards where the sound was coming from – the docking bay. There was a click and the door of a shuttle sitting in the hangar swung open. It had only just landed. There was a yell and a man tumbled out of the shuttle. He was completely covered in wrinkles. The man had the disease too. Grudon felt a tingle on his hands and glanced down. The wrinkles had begun to spread up his arms.

And that was the end of the world as we know it...