It
was back in the 1900s when I was born into a wealthy family in the
wild, wild west. My father was an inventor, he had been since he was
boy. He was a brilliant man, smarter and wittier than any other you'd
ever meet. He worked in his own shop in the growing town of Las
Vegas. We lived in a massive home on the outskirts of the town and my
father had his shop deep below the house in a huge warehouse-like
basement. It was common knowledge in our family that my father had
made a recent breakthrough in his work, but we did not know exactly
what it was, and we were forbidden to speak of it to anyone outside.
In
school I was a smart boy as well, most likely getting some of those
good old brain cells from my father. However I was a rather socially
awkward kid, and didn't have any friends. You might say I was the
most unpopular kid in my school, even if it was small. I tried to not
let it bother me, even if I didn't have friends, the other kids
mostly just left me alone.
But
that all changed one day.
My
father rushed into my room one morning as I was about to leave for
school. He looked at me seriously and sat down on my bed.
"Son,
you must listen to what I say. I have made a terrible mistake...I
have doomed the world...but I know I can save one person...I must
save you."
I
tried to ask what he was talking about but he hushed me and grabbed
my hand and pulled me along. He brought me down to his shop in the
basement and showed me two large objects in the middle of the room.
One was what appeared to be a large glass tube, standing upright with
all sorts of hoses and wires coming from it. The other object was a
massive cube-like thing, all black and smooth and not very
interesting.
"The
glass case there, you must get inside and stay there until you hear a
high pitched noise letting you know it is alright to get out. That
big black box...it is something I should never have created...it was a mistake….But you will be safe inside the case."
Again
I attempted to question my father but he hushed me, grabbed my hand
and pulled me to the glass case. He knelt down in front of me and
looked at me while he held my hands. He kissed my forehead and gave
me a little push inside and closed the door.
"I
love you," he mouthed to me. The sound outside was completely
cut off. I could hear nothing. Suddenly I noticed movement to my side
and I looked and saw that the big black cube was vibrating violently
and spewing out what looked like steam. I looked back at my father
just as his whole entire body seemed to disappear before my eyes,
almost like dust or sand being blown away in the wind. I screamed and
cried and eventually passed out. When I woke up later everything
seemed normal. I pushed hard on the door of the glass case and it
fell open. There was no sign of my father. I rushed upstairs.
There
was nothing. The house was silent and empty. I looked outside. There
was nothing. No plants. No animals. No people. No nothing. Just
absolute silence. I was alone. Quite alone.