11

The Year of Destruction

By: Katie England Ross

“ Time is here, time is there,

Time is absolutely everywhere.

On and on it goes,

Where it stops, nobody knows….”

That’s an old saying my mother taught me. I thought of it because so much has happened since I was beginning MY time.

Nobody is really sure what year it is, since the Year of Destruction but in our time, in this world, it’s been around 202 years.

The names and dates are taken from the records before this time, so it is August 19th, 202.

Perhaps you’d like to know where I live. Well, even if you don’t, here goes: It’s a beauteous place! Green trees and grasses sway in the breeze while blooming flowers send their fragrances into the atmosphere. Plants grow as squirrels and deer scamper among them.

It really isn’t that different from the time before the Year of Destruction except, this time, there is no pollution.

Chapter 1: My Time Begins

“Alison, rise and shine,” Alison’s mother called through the door.

Alison stirred but made no attempt to get up. Why did she have to get up so early?

“ALISON!” her mother cried.

“ALL RIGHT!” Alison exclaimed as she struggled out of bed.

She rolled onto the floor and began crawling toward the bathroom. Getting lazily to her feet she began to brush her teeth. She then combed her hair, splashed water on her face and did all those other things you do in a bathroom.

Finally she managed to get dressed and head out to Baker Hall.

Baker Hall was named after Colonel Baker and the elegant hall showed it.

It had rich carpets and wood furnishings with diamonds and jewels imbedded into them, some, the only ones in the world! It’s outside glistened with many rainbow colours and its roof was a bright, simmering white. Inside it was lined with tables, each beautifully furnished and a kitchen with all the necessaries complete with silver utensils, real silver.

Alison walked to her table where her mom, dad and brother were sitting.

Her mom was tall and slender with deep, blue eyes and crimson skin. Her name was Lydia and she was gentle and loyal to all rules and regulations.

Her dad was also tall but slightly plump with dark brown eyes and darker tanned skin. His name was Michael and he was stern, but kind with a face that gave him a look of innocence.

Her brother was a year younger than her with a body like his mother’s and eyes like his father’s. He was very silly and liked to tease her but overall he was nice.

All of them had dark brown hair that needed washing everyday.

Her dad said that THAT trait had been passed down through the family.

She sat down at her place between her mom and brother. He was staring at the food, waiting for everyone to thank their higher power so he could eat.

He didn’t appreciate their higher power as he should, Alison knew, but he would someday because it was their higher power that had saved the human race in the Year of Destruction.

Alison, her family and the other thirty families that lived in the village lowered their heads in thanks for the rain that nurtured their crops and the sun that blessed them with growth.

Then they settled into their warm porridge.

Alison knew that the Emilys had cooked the meal today and tomorrow her family, the Handbegers, would be the ones to cook for the day.

Every family had to take turns cooking food for the other families.

It was part of teamwork in a community.

After breakfast, Alison sat under her favourite tree going over the list of things she had to do that day.

Go to Meeting for Worship

Go help build furniture for neighbors

Help work around the village

Eat Lunch!

Rest and read new book: Year of Destruction Vol.39

Go on patrol in swimming area for unusual activity

Eat Dinner!

Play games with kids

Listen to story: The Creatures of Long, Long, Long, Long Ago

Go to Bed!

Very full list of things to do but, then again, she did them everyday.

She turned a few pages ‘til she came to her family tree, which began with the oldest records at Katarina Emplish Rose and her sister down to her mother Lydia. Why she continued to ponder it day after day was beyond her. It wasn’t a very long tree so it wasn’t like she was ever going to see anything different. But still she pondered it, for what reason she may never know.

Four hours later, she was heading down to the beach to check out the water and its creatures.

“I wonder what caused the Year of Destruction,” she asked, talking mostly to herself.

She had read every book on it though all they told was who had survived and for how long. When she tried to ask someone they’d say they just didn’t want to talk about it.

Of course, she knew it had been caused by pollution but what caused the pollution and what was it like?

Unable to find answers to these questions she thought about her family and about her oldest ancestor as far as she knew, Katarina Emplish Rose.

Later at the lake she was still pondering these same questions over and over again mumbling to herself.

“Hey, airhead,” a voice called through her thoughts. “you mental or something?”

It was Canny and he was doing imitations of mumbling with funny expressions.

Canny was a boy of about sixteen who found pleasure in making others feel low. He was very skinny with white skin and disheveled clothes. He had dark hair with light blue eyes. He also was supposed to be a descendant of Katarina’s sister Vanessa.

It was true. She was a bit of an airhead. She spent a lot of time imagining and mumbling to herself but that was the way she was.

She had dark brown eyes and hair. Her skin was a shade darker than white and her figure was slender and fair.

Some people said that she looked almost identical to Katarina but that was hard to tell because only a slim bit of information had come through the Year of Destruction.

Thinking about Katarina made her wonder what her ancestor had been like.

Had she had something to do with Pollution?

Was she a culprit?

Little did she know she’d find out sooner than she thought…

While walking back to the village Alison became aware of changes around her.

The trees seemed to be shrinking and the plants were invading the path before her.

Then the world began to splash around like water followed by a huge explosion!

Alison was thrown backwards, landing on rock- hard ground with nothing growing in it.

Where were the plants and animals?

Then the growing started.

Trees reached to the sky and plants once again bloomed. Then the path re-appeared and everything returned to normal.

Or so it seemed.

She shook her head a couple of times.

Her imagination must have gotten carried away.

It had happened before.

Once, while working in the kitchens, she’d imagined that she was in a kitchen with different decorations and cooking equipment.

She had burned the pancakes because of that.

She continued up the path, only now it seemed…different.

The first set of stone stairs that normally went straight up now curved up the hill. The general scenery was different too.

As she came to the top of the second set of stairs a sight met her eyes she hadn’t been expecting.

The houses where all the families lived were gone and replaced by half-a-dozen small cabins. The Hall where they met to pray was older with many cobwebs and Baker Hall was dark green with a really old look about it.

She starred for a couple of minutes before starting to advance.

She passed two cabins, one saying White Feather and another saying Amitie.

She continued up the slopping pathway.

Places where houses had once stood were now replaced by swaying grasses. Giant trees of every sort towered over her, shading her steps and casting swaying shadows that had once not existed.

She must be hallucinating.

She walked into Baker Hall and looked around.

All the carpets, jewels and wood furnishings were gone to be replaced with, in her opinion, cheap, plastic tables, unfashionable art and graffiti.

She stepped into the kitchen and remembered it from her earlier hallucination.

The kitchen had an old-fashioned look and strange equipment.

She stepped back into the main chamber of the Hall and pinched herself.

When nothing happened she did it again, and again.

Still nothing happened.

“I’m really deep into a dream or something,” she told herself, staring around.

Then she spotted something that really shocked her.

At the front of the Hall where usually there hung a picture of Colonel Baker was now a picture of Baker Hall and a cabin.

Above that was a round picture of a tree and grasses but then she saw…

“The date!” she cried, in amazement.

It said, 1932-1957.

“That can’t be in my time,” she said, staring. “we haven’t even reached 300. It must be the time before the Year of Destruction!”

Then she noticed the word above the date and picture.

It read NEEKAUNIS.

Chapter 2: Katarina Emplish Rose

A door closed.

Alison spun around and came face to face with a girl of thirteen with dark brown hair and eyes. Her skin was a shade darker than white and her figure was slender and fair. She wore blue jeans with a light pink T-shirt and a sweater tied around her waist.

In fact, other than her hair being longer and her face slightly thinner they were very much alike.

“Hi,” the girl said in a voice that was shy yet sweet.

Alison couldn’t help but compare it to her own, low and flat.

The girl walked across the room and sat down at a table where a game lay ready to play.

“Can I play?” Alison asked.

She had a strong urge to get to know this girl.

“Sure,” the girl answered and cleared off a part of the bench for Alison.

Alison sat down and while the girl shuffled the cards, rather clumsily, Alison asked her the two questions that interested her most out of all the ones swimming around in her head.

“What year is this, 1957?”

“No,” the girl answered, dealing out the cards. “it's 2001.”

2001, that wasn’t too far away from the Year of Destruction!

“What’s your name?” asked the girl, curiously.

“Alison,” Alison answered, still pondering. “ what’s yours?”

“My name is Katarina, Katie for short,” the girl answered, dealing out the last of the cards.

“Katarina Emplish Rose!” Alison exclaimed.

“Yes,” Katie responded, looking up. “how’d ya guess?”

Alison just stared at her early ancestor in fascination and disbelief. Could this really be Katarina, her oldest ancestor, as far as she knew?

Now she knew she really was dreaming!

Katarina died over a century before the Year of Destruction.

Well, even if this was a dream she couldn’t do anything to wake up so she would just have to play along.

“Where are we?” asked Alison, looking again at the round sign at the front.

“Camp Neekauns,” Katie answered, getting to her feet and eyeing Alison suspiciously, “why are you asking me these questions?”

It occurred to Alison to tell the truth but she wasn’t sure if she could trust this imaginary person who claimed to be her early ancestor.

“I think I’m suffering from amnesia,” Alison answered, rubbing her head.

“Oh,” Katie said, as if Amnesia was a common thing. Well, maybe in this world it was.

“What cabin are you in?” Katie continued looking up at a small map hung on the door.

Alison followed her gaze and read the first name.

“Swan.”

“Me too,” Katie smiled.

Her smile lit up her gentle features similar to how a candle lights up a dark room.

“Do you want me to show you around?”

“Sure,” Alison replied.

She couldn’t help smiling too.

When this girl smiled she gave Alison a happy, trusting feeling inside.

Katie showed her to Swan, which was a cabin with dark brown wooden logs, and a dark green roof. Its inside was like a small house except it only had four rooms, three bedrooms and one bathroom.

Katie led her to her room, which was tidy but decorated with things Katie explained were from Arts and Crafts.

Katie then showed Alison the camp from the hill to the lake.

Alison noticed that Katie often breathed deeply and seemed to enjoy the beauty and peace that existed around her.

Also, when they were at the lake, Katie bent down and ran her fingers through the water.

She was at peace with the world.

Alison asked her what her hobbies were.

She replied that she loved to write but spent most of her quiet time dreaming and imagining.

Alison asked her what she liked to imagine; excited because she had finally found someone who did the sorts of things she loved!

“I like to, well, imagine new story ideas and such,” Katie answered as they entered Swan again. “where’s your stuff, I’ll help you move in.”

Alison didn’t want to fib more then she had to so she quickly changed the subject.

“What do you like to read?” she asked, half of her not knowing what else to say and the other half really wondering.

“I like Fiction with adventure and a little romance,” she answered, looking at Alison with a curious expression. “Why are you asking questions about ME?”

Alison shrugged.

“I’m interested in you, you’re like me.”

Katie sat down on her bed and stared at the wall.

Alison sat beside her and studied her eyes.

They were filling with tears.

“What’s wrong?” Alison asked, wondering what she had said to make this gentle girl cry.

“Nobody has ever been really interested in ME before,” Katie answered, choking back the sobs she could feel building up in her throat. “I don’t really have anyone that understands.”

Suddenly Alison didn’t care if this was a dream, or of anything else in the world! She just wanted to help this girl and be her friend.

She put her arm around Katie and told her the whole, true story.

Katie seemed excited and not doubtful at all that the story was true.

She believed it all.

Alison liked having someone to talk to who would listen and not make hurtful comments.

After Alison had finished Katie laid her sleeping bag on the second bed in her room and gave Alison some clothes of hers to wear.

When Alison was settled, Katie took her out to Baker Hall; she called it Nelson Hall, and introduced her to Vanessa Emplish Rose and her friend, Chris Talenhand.

Alison took to Vanessa right away. It took her a while with Chris though.

Vanessa had short, blond hair with, puffy face and brown eyes. She was pleasant and didn’t take offense. She was also assertive and asked for what she needed.

Chris also had short blondish hair a slightly puffy face and blue eyes. He was funny but knew how to act in a serious situation.

After a while they all became very good friends going to activities and working together.

During a game called Survival Katie showed them her love of nature.

At Utensil Night they laughed when Chris got a potato masher for eating soup.

They took part in Field Sports and did each other’s hair on Hat and Hair Night.

However, every period when they were free they would study pollution and ways to stop it.

After the fourth day Alison was pretty sure that it wasn’t a dream. That she really had gone back in time but she also knew it was for a reason!

The only problem was she wasn’t sure what that reason was.

She continued to meditate and ask for guidance but so far she had had none.

She asked Katie, Vanessa and Chris what they thought might be her purpose and Katie reckoned it was to warn the people of 2001 about the Year of Destruction.

Alison figured that was it too but she wanted to be sure.

It was two days before the kids were going to return home when Alison was starting to worry about how SHE was going to get home.

Sure this place was nice and interesting with all its weird gadgets and things but she missed the simplicity that she had back in her world.

That was when she had the vision.

During Meeting for Worship something clicked and she began to truly believe that her purpose was to warn the others of the Year of Destruction. She also had the sense that she could return home on the last day of camp at sundown.

She told this to her friends who were sad to hear that she was leaving but glad that she had somewhere to return to like they did.

They agreed to make their last days together the best of all!

They dressed up as a monster, a cat, an old lady and a farm girl for Dress Up Night.

They spent every minute of their time together when possible and played every game they knew.

Then, all too soon in Alison’s opinion, it was the night before they all returned home, which was the night they had a dance.

The whole camp was there, dancing and having fun.

Alison danced with everyone; however, even though she had a lot of fun she could still feel a sad ache inside her that wouldn’t go away.

She walked outside and sat down on a bench.

Katie came out, sat down on the bench next to Alison and put her arm around her friend.

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

“You’re my best friend,” Alison answered, her eyes watering. ”I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t lose us,” Katie said, gently. “whatever happens we’ll always be with you, forever.”

The two friends looked at each other.

Both had tears in their eyes.

Then they hugged each other like they would never let go.

However, eventually they did and then walked off to bed.

In the morning Katie, Vanessa, Chris and Alison walked to the path where Alison had first entered this strange world.

“Goodbye,” she said to Vanessa, hugging her.

“Goodbye Chris,” she said, hugging him as well.

Then she walked up to Katie and looked at her before lunging forward and hugging her too.

They were all in tears when Alison finally managed to remind them of the promise they’d made when they’d first met.

“Remember,” she choked back a sob, “do what you can to prevent the Year of Destruction.”

They nodded and then Alison felt that familiar tug of change and saw the scenes around her transform.

She took one last look at her friends before they too disappeared.

Still, a voice lingered, carried over the wind of changing times.

It said.

“Forever.”

Chapter 3: Time Goes On

Many weeks had passed since her arrival back from 2001 and she was home safe and sound.

Her family had fussed at first but everything returned to normal in the end.

Even though she was back with her family and back in her old routine Alison still felt an ache in her heart for the friends she had left in another lifetime.

One day they got a letter stating that a new family would be moving in.

The letter also asked if the new family could board at the Handbeger’s until a home was constructed.

Alison spent the next few weeks preparing a room for the new family’s only son, Mike Fallx.

On the day of their arrival all the families lined the streets of the village waiting to welcome the new inhabitants.

Alison didn’t feel much in the mood to celebrate.

Even now her heart ached.

Then the clip-clop of hooves upon the cobblestone sounded down the road.

The families strained their necks for a look at the people on the horses.

As they neared, the townspeople could see three beautiful horses trotting up the lane.

On the first horse was a tall man with black hair and a tough face. His skin was tanned like he had spent many hours in the sun but he wore his best suit and sat straight in his saddle.

The second horse seated a woman with brown hair and a soft face. She had a smile that lit up all her pretty features and she wore a long, satiny dress.

Then, on the last horse, came a young boy of around Alison’s age with dark brown hair and eyes. He wore blue jeans, a white shirt and a jacket tied around his waist.

When he smiled he gave Alison a happy, trusting feeling inside.

That smile was familiar.

When Alison finally got to meet Mike he asked, with a puzzled expression.

“Have we met before?”

Alison merely smiled, answering.

“Yes, we’ve met before but the last time we met, it was in another time.”

The End

Authors Note:

Alison never found out if her friends stopped the Year of Destruction because it hasn’t happened yet.

This story carries a message to always take care of the Earth because there might not be another world like Alison’s and besides, no other world could be better then our own home, Planet Earth.

Written: August 15-24/ 2001