Desolation

Author : Indiana Fairhurst

Confused, I open my eyes, it’s blurry. I slowly become aware. The sound of the ocean becomes louder and louder.

“I’m alone. Where am I? Who am I?”

My dry throat causes my voice to come out raspy and harsh. I struggle to stand up. It’s apparent I’ve been here for a while. But where is here? There’s sand on either side of me going miles farther than I can see the end of, and behind me, trees, grass, mountains, all such a lush green, all so beautiful. But I wonder, how did I get on this island? I spend all my time searching for answers, any sign of other humans, but nothing.

I go further, I’m deep in the island now, searching. Suddenly, I fall down a steep hill only to find a home, made from logs and branches covered by giant leaves. I walk to the door cautiously but anxiously. But when I walk in, I don’t see any people, but instead, boards covered in complex equations, walls covered in sketches, notes, and calculations.

“I remember.”

Not everything comes back, but enough to know why I’m on this island. I remember the virus, how it killed so many people. I remember my plans, my research, my mother. My sweet mother who died so young from the thing I had come to this island to cure. I tested it on myself, and that’s what caused the memory lapse. I did it to myself.

As the percentage of deaths grew, I realized that my research couldn’t wait any longer. That’s why I came to this island, I needed this specific environment for research.

I see my journals, I remember how some were for research, and others personal. I remember logging my thoughts to keep myself sane. The more I read the more my tears stain the pages. It wasn’t what I expected, I was always alone, always isolated from the world around me. My eyes scour the room when what looks to be the remains of a dog catches my focus.

“Darwin,” I cry out as I remember what it was that helped me finalize the cure. Something was missing, I needed bone marrow, more than I could take from myself without taking my own life as well. Battling my thoughts I fall to my knees short of breath and in shock of all the information that just came flooding back into my memory. I did it to save humanity, it was what finalized the cure that will save the lives of millions. But in the process I ruined myself. I killed the only friend I had since childhood. How could I have done this? How could I kill the only friend I had ever had? I scream until my face turns blue.

“I’m a monster.”

I’ve done nothing for days, despising the person I’ve become. As I take a bite of the most beautiful fruit I have ever seen, I remember what on the island is nutritional, and what’s fatal. My breath runs short, my throat tingles and my vision goes blurry. I fall on my back only to see a helicopter, the same I had arrived in, and the same that was scheduled to pick me up this day. I try to scream, I try to beg for help, but all that comes out is a whimper, a desperate last attempt to justify all that I’ve done to get here. But I know… I know the last chance of humanity surviving will die with me, and I know it was all for nothing.