I Broke Happiness

50 years ago

'The virus is spreading quickly Mayor Rebbeca'

'What will you have us do Doctor?'

He shrugged, 'Don't really know' 'As I see it's not contagious from person to person'

'Then what's causing this fiasco?' asked the Mayor impatiently, She was a scary person when she wanted to be .

'A plant of all things, The amount of hy-'

'A plant,' interrupted the Mayor 'That's all I needed to hear'

Jeremy flushed.

A man was walking up to the Mayor. He was shaking from head to toe, People tend to do that when they bring disappointing news.

'Yes Loyd?' The Mayor asked,

'Miss?'

'Did you do what I asked Loyd?' She said

'Yes, Miss'

'Great' she answered and her eyes darted from ship to ship.

'But, there was a slight issue, Miss' Her eyes snapped back, and she was looking straight at him. 'What was this issue Loyd?'

'Well some of the ships weren't ready for take off because of the delay in fuel mining.' he said,

'Great' she muttered. 'Loyd, call Mayor Laura, of Earth, I should have done it ages ago but..,Go'

'Earth?!' Jeremy exclaimed as Loyd hurried off.

'Yes'

'But it takes...' He counted in his head for a second then said sadly 'Fifty years'

'Are the bands ready?'

'Yes, but miss, don't you know that we use the same plant in those bands as the one that is causing this fiasco, if the bands are somehow broken, the person will die within four painful months if not treated.'

'Anyway' He continued before she could interrupt 'Those bands are for animals, it takes away their emotions so when we kill them they don't feel pain'

She nodded 'There is a chemical in space that we released years ago not knowing what it'll do.'

She paused before continuing

'Turns out it melts every metal known to us, the flower that is causing this fiasco is the only thing that can resist the chemical, We grew more in hope that it would help us set our mistake right'

She exhaled loudly 'We were wrong, the plant can also kill people. We mixed it with metal and when we sent it to space it came back unmelted, We are leaving due to a mistake that I made a long time ago'

Jeremy's jaw fell open, he quickly closed it, 'Poison everyone, Miss we can't do that,' he asked weakly.

'Don't tell me what I can and cannot do Jeremy'

The Mayor snapped.

He wanted to argue but the edge to her voice made him stop.

'Everyone?' he asked

'Yes, every single person on the ships, Did you add the Colis flower?' she asked

'Yes, Is that the antidote?'

'Yep'

But why can't we just give them the antidote now?' Jeremy asked.

'The antidote only works if the poison in inside the and constantly flowing in the bloodstream'

'But miss if they break the band, the antidote will stop flowing'

'Make sure nobody breaks it then'

'Loyd' said Jeremy in greeting looking over the Mayor's shoulder. Loyd took a whole minute to catch his breath before answering, 'She said that she'll take us' He gasped.

'Great' said The Mayor clapping her hands, She looked at them, 'Loyd' 'Get Captain Carl and Captain Lily, They'll be the pilots of the first ship'

Loyd ran, only sixteen but already the Mayor's personal servant.

Jeremy waited until she turned away and left. 'Jeremy!' she shouted after him, but he didn't look back. He walked until he got to the top of the mountain. He looked at the sunset and it occurred to him that it may be the last one he will ever see.