Endless Paradigm

        People were waking up as the sun rose to bring light and warmth to their part of the world. These yawning, exhausted human beings were not just any sad, pitiful excuse of wasted life; they were the last of their kind, they were scared, they were alone, and most of all, they were devoid of all meaning of life.

They had no idea what to do with all this time on their hands, with no limits and no rules set out for them and enforced by the laws of their country. Some people had been awake for hours now, stealing, hurting, killing, even raping. It all came down to this—the good and the bad. There was no in between, and those who believed themselves in the middle soon found out their true nature and chose a side. The lesser of the two sides grew in numbers by the thousands every day, and more and more kids were finding themselves killing and stealing and raping because they thought that was the obvious thing to do.

The other side, the good-hearted, greater but smaller of the two sides began to form groups, began to plan out what they were to do with these new freedoms suddenly and mysteriously granted upon them. They decided it would be best to prepare themselves for any danger presented to them, the obvious enemies the other side, the bad kids who did whatever they so desired without a thought of anyone but themselves. “It won’t be long before they turn on each other,” the Good would tell each other.

“What else can wee 'borrow',” the Bad would ask each other, “when wee have taken everything that wee’d ever desired?”

“I envy them,” some Good would say, and blindly they would leave everything they knew to be good behind and join up with the lesser evils of the world.

“I say wee take advantage of the lonesome females wandering about,” some Bad declared, their lust blinding them. Some took part, some didn’t. Most of them fell to the less violent crime of looting everything in sight, their greed filling their pockets with useless money and unneeded possessions. Some had so much anger pent up inside that the only way to let out their wrath was to take it out on the innocents around them, this usually consisting of rape, torture, and even murder.

A very select few, those who still thought themselves somewhere in the middle of all this, they sat back and did nothing; they found there was no more point to living, but they didn’t have the courage to make an end to their suffering. And so they sat and watched as the two factions on either side of them swept over and drowned them in a sea of blood. That’s when they finally got up and joined a side, leaving their acedia behind.

Some of the larger, less out of shape kids just sat in their houses and played video games and ate an extra helping or two of breakfast. They couldn’t possibly be of any harm to anyone. These kids tied in with the sloths who lazed about the house with them, failing to use the best of their abilities to their advantage and to help them survive the wrath of the Bad. Soon these types of Good would all be out of the picture unless they changed their nature and found the strength and energy hidden deep down somewhere within them to stand up and declare their freedoms.

The exact opposite of these people were the suicidal maniacs, the kids who couldn’t cope with real life in the first place, and now that everyone was gone, what was left for them? Sure, they needn’t worry about having to fit in or having friends or getting an education or a job anymore, but they were even more alone now, their lives even more meaningless. Ninety-nine percent of these kids didn’t survive the first two days following The Departure, most of them having climbed to the top of the nearest tall building and jumped off.

“There must be something wee can do to help these people,” the Good would consult with each other. They were here to help, and they wanted to make the best of this bad situation.

“There must be something wee can do to get rid of them,” the Bad would consult with each other. They were here to get whatever they so desired with the rest of their obviously short lives, and they wanted to make the worst of this bad situation. Half of the Bad knew this, and yet the other half were oblivious to the fact that the lifestyle they’ve chosen will lead to depression, anxiety, and a short life.

Then there were the arrogant bastards, but these were neither Good nor Bad; they were annoyingly abundant on either side, and nobody wanted them there, and most were ignored or shunned. It got so bad after the first week of The Departure that half of them joined the suicidal maniacs on the roofs of buildings and gave the rest of the Good and Bad the satisfaction of not having to listen to their constant boasting. It’s almost sad, as they were the only true neutral group left in the world. Or so it seemed.

“Wait, let me fix my hair,” some Good would beg before they set out with their congregation into the world. This was almost as annoying as the boasters, but nobody paid them much mind and minimal complaint was heard, as most of the Good wanted to keep their girlfriends there with them and not have an awkward break-up fight in front of their friends. “I need to look extravagant,” the Good would say when asked why their hair needed any fixing in the first place. This answer would never fully be understood by the surviving male population, but they kept asking the same question every day, always receiving the same answer. Some females just felt like they absolutely needed to look their best when in the worst of times.

“I’m still better than you,” a very small percentage of the Good would say (actually, most of them hadn’t the courage to declare this and could only keep it to themselves), strictly believing that the pride they held for themselves was that of the perfect human being; they were absolutely better than everybody else around them, especially the Bad, and nothing anybody could do or say would ever change the way they thought.

The sun was rising, and the people were beginning to move about. Something important was going to take place today, something to go down in the history books. They were going to meet new people and hear new things and hopefully learn about the world and what was happening to it. And maybe an explanation as they why it was happening, others wished. It all made no sense, it was idiotic; why would the entire human population in America be wiped out, with nothing left but for the kids who had nothing better to do than drive to their aunt’s house in Oregon or to attend an important meeting in San Francisco? Why hadn’t anybody from another country flown over or taken a boat to them to tell them what was right and wrong? Where was Kevin's sandwich? And why the hell had it snowed in the middle of Summer?

Again, Stephan knew these were all the wrong questions, but it gave him something to think about while he wiled the hours away, waiting to leave this temporary home behind for good.