100 after 2021.

 1 - “Someone unearths a diary written in 2021 100 years later”

Character - Sydney

Profession - Student. 

Location - Mars (rane) 

Additional Info - Rane is the capital of a country on mars 

I squinted looking at the window as the sunlight pierced through the curtains, slipped into my fur-lined slippers and walked towards the kitchen to brew my first cup of tea for the morning with exhausted eyes. The whistle indicating it was done brewing interrupted my thoughts as I went to the breakfast table and sat with a thump while Fluffboy barked from under it scaring the wits out of the newspaperman. 

Staring at the dusty apartment made me realize that I hadn’t cleaned up since the landlord left and my college books were scattered all over the tables, chairs and even the floor. Fluffboy was now asleep so I gently reached over him to grab the cleaning supplies from the storage closet and prepared for a rather interesting day. Spotify played in the background as I dusted the shelves, swept the floors, changed the sheets and put everything back into its place. As I was cleaning my books I pulled out a weird looking one tucked away at the bottom of the pile, it was just a rusty old book with layers and layers of dust on it. I coughed while inhaling some of the dust as I opened the book in wonderment of what it was. The pages had an orange tint to them and a peculiar smell. It looked like someone’s diary which made me look away. I continued cleaning as if nothing happened. Worst case scenario - my landlord wrote her love story in there, but curiosity was driving me crazy, I had to look. 

I started to read the diary, it was hard to write scribbles and grime all over the text which gave me a reason to believe it was older than I first thought. From what I pieced together it was of a girl named Vanessa, there were mentions of laboratories and hospitals and tests which made me feel that she was either a doctor or a scientist. I put the book down and quickly put away all my supplies, emptied the cleaning water and chucked all the dusty books in one corner of the room then sat down again to continue reading. 

By the end of the month, I had already read the diary three times, it was wonderfully written in ancient English, everything was clear by the end of my third time reading it except for the text which was scribbled on, on the last page. The best my app could tell me was that Vanessa wanted pizza which I’m positive wasn’t what she had written, it was almost secretive. She had described a mysterious virus in the book, a pandemic. It killed almost 50 million people and destroyed their survival system. The last few pages looked like they were written in a hurry, but she mentioned a virus-like that would occur every 100 years. There was never date on top of her diary entries so reading that last sentence always made me uncomfortable. 

It had been almost three months since reading that book when one day everything changed. I was having a fun day cuddling with Fluffboy when I switched on the news and realised my worst nightmares were coming true. “Trax, a new virus has started spreading in the west of Rane, 3 deaths have been reported but otherwise details state it is highly contagious, some cities are going under lockdown as conversations about a new epidemic rise, regulations as per now advise all citizens to stay home and keep track of their oxygen levels and blood pressure, coming up next on the debate we have” I shut it off, then stared at the blank television screen taking time to process what just happened. Fluffy had been licking my hand like a popsicle all this time, I got up and went to look for the diary as if I would find something I hadn’t already read about the virus. I sighed and closed my eyes, almost wishing Vanessa would talk to me in my head. “Oh, fluff boy,” I said as he snuggled up to my neck, I managed to comfort myself knowing it was only an epidemic and fell asleep in a few hours with the book open on my face. 

Two months later. 

The morning gazette, Newspaper websites and every reporting channel in this world had one story to cover - Trax. People were dying by the day and the virus now spread over multiple countries. As for me, I was looking for details in the diary that might help me or do anything. Just anything. I don’t know why it feels like she was right, that history was repeating itself but I didn’t even know if it’s been a hundred years or not. 

I was just staring at the diary’s last page as it poured down outside with sirens just ringing in my ears when I finally realised what was happening...what was under the scribbles. I pulled out my diary and wrote what she had written, then turned it upside down and translated it in Latin and it said “analgesic”. It was a chemical, I-I knew about it,. A few days ago, I had started researching about the earth, then compared the happenings to mars and over time my idea only started becoming true which I hated.

It has been 5 days now and I hardly slept at night. I wrote multiple letters to the white house asking to speak with someone in power but I was just one of the 1000’s who thought they had the cure. I waited, and waited and waited knowing I was right this time when one day I finally opened my mailbox to see a letter there. My hands shivered as I opened it, they asked me to come to meet someone outside the white house, it was signed by our president. I ran to grab a notebook, quickly wrote down everything I knew about the virus, about Trax and analgesic thinking about the people 100 years later when it hit me. Why would Vanessa write the cure in a book? Was she the one who found it? Why didn’t she save everyone on earth then?. I shook off all those questions and finished writing everything down, then I put my coat on, grabbed an umbrella and left the house to drive to the president. 

I was on my way, whistling to music with my face mask on when I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder then a throb in my chest, the car jolted to a stop, I- had been shot, there was blood on my fingers as my vision became blurry, the last thing I heard was sirens. I finally realised why Vanessa was in such a hurry at the end. Someone must have been after her...Maybe someone doesn’t want the cure to be found. I sighed knowing this was the end and closed my eyes. 

100 years later 

I squinted looking at the window as the sunlight pierced through the curtains, slipped into my fur-lined slippers and walked towards the kitchen to brew my first cup of tea for the morning with exhausted eyes. The whistle indicating it was done brewing interrupted my thoughts as I went to the breakfast table and sat with a thump while Fury barked from under it scaring the wits out of the newspaper robot. Staring at the dusty apartment made me realize that I hadn’t cleaned up since the landlord left and my college books were scattered all over the tables, chairs and even the floor. Fury was now asleep so I gently reached over him to grab the cleaning supplies from the storage closet and prepared for a rather interesting day. Spotify played in the background as I dusted the shelves, swept the floors, changed the sheets and put everything back into its place.

As I was cleaning my books I pulled out a weird looking one tucked away at the bottom of the pile, it was just a rusty old book with layers and layers of dust on it. I coughed while inhaling some of the dust as I opened the book in wonderment of what it was. The pages had an orange tint to them and a peculiar smell. It looked like someone’s diary which made me look away. I continued cleaning as if nothing happened. Worst case scenario - my landlord wrote her love story in there, but curiosity was driving me crazy, I had to look.