In the corner of a dusty, sweltering shack, five children sat around a nearly busted radio. There were a pair of eight year old twins, a ten year old and a seventeen year old. Their clothing hung loosely on their thin, fragile frames and all of them stared at the radio with blank expressions.
A soothing female voice came from the radio, “My name is Carla and I choose to help end Humanity.”
One of the twins began a coughing fit. She struggled and gasped for air in between ragged coughs.
“The Earth’s scientists are saying our planet is no longer suitable for life.” The voice on the radio continued. “The majority of our ancestors were only concerned about themselves and did not think of the future generations. Their lifestyles have destroyed and polluted our home and now, ecologists say our planet has been damaged beyond repair. Our inheritance is suffering in this inhospitable planet and paying for the neglect they have done.
"More than eighty percent of children on Earth do not have enough to eat. The air is filled with pollution and almost all of our fresh water sources contain nano pollutants that make them undrinkable. The global child mortality rate has increased from 26% to 62% in the last fifty years, that’s the highest it's been in the last five hundred years.”
The twin started coughing again, her tiny body was racked with spasms. Her sister held her and started crying. Just then, a thin, corpse-like man entered the shack. He shuffled over and held them both. He tried his best to be stoic but tears began to seep out the corners of his eyes.
A different woman came on the radio, her voice was heavy with grief. “My name is Chorla and I choose to help end Humanity. I had a son, Corl, he died when he was six because there were so many nano pollutants in his body. There was arsenic, plastic, cadmium, polyester and all these other things I can’t even pronounce. My baby was sick since the day he was born and there was nothing I could do to help him. I couldn’t afford to get him treated because I couldn’t afford any health care. The government stopped providing children’s health insurance. So all I could do was try to comfort him as much as possible and watch him die. He wanted to change the world, become a scientist so he could help repair it. He never had a chance…”
The woman started sobbing.
“He’s gone and there ain't no way I’m bringing another child into this world to suffer like Corl did. Let me tell you a harsh truth: There is no future for our children. The only future they have here is filled with pain and suffering. This is why I’m choosing to end Humanity and why you should too.”
The man quickly got up and turned the radio off. He picked up the coughing twin, set her down on an old, worn-out mattress, he wiped the sweat off her face and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. He then turned back to the other children gathered around the radio. His lifeless eyes looked into their equally lifeless eyes.
“Ok.” He said, “That's enough radio for today. We need to go take care of the farm. The crops are drying up.”
The children slowly got up and went towards the door.
“Crista.” The man said to the twin heading to the door. “Could you please stay with Cristal and watch her? If she has another coughing fit, run and get me.”
“Okay.” Crista smiled weakly. She hobbled over to the old mattress where her sister lay wheezing. She turned to her dad.
“Dad?” Crista said.
“Yes, sweet pea?” The man said.
“They said that more than half of Alaska is on fire and it's spreading north. Will we be safe?”
The man hesitated, panic flashed over his face for a brief second but was replaced by exhaustion. “No, sweet pea. We’re near Prudhoe Bay and the Beaufort Sea, that’s too far north for the fire, we’ll be safe.” He quickly turned away from her, pulled a handkerchief over his face and headed for the door. The two older children followed him out like zombies. One by one, they stepped into the hazy yellow-orange of the outside world.
Crista plopped down next to Cristal and started rubbing Cristal’s forehead. She stirred and let out a weak cough.
“Are we safe from the fires?” Cristal asked in a faint voice.
“I don't know.” Crista said. “I think dad is saying we're ok just so we don't worry. But the fires have been coming farther and farther north. One day the fire will reach us and burn us down. Maybe not now but in a few years.”
“Crista?”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s never have kids. We should make a promise to end Humanity.” Cristal let out a few coughs. "The only thing life holds for us now is suffering a slow death. It's only going to get worse for the future kids. I don't want anyone else to suffer like us."
Crista gave her sister a gentle hug. Their eyes, aged far beyond eight years, locked. “Let’s help end Humanity so no one else will suffer like us. It’s a promise.”