Taylor Pedro

Humanities
November 12, 2015
Inevitable Times
She saved me, again. It never changed, the sky had been a slight grey and the air was
thick around me. I was thrown over her shoulder and I could barely see through the thick smoke
as I caught a glimpse of the bright orange flames that were once my house. The woman set me
down on the grass lawn across the street and started to yell at me. I felt myself come back to
reality. My eyes shot open.
Wake up Skyler!! she exclaimed. Madison was inches from my face as she was
continuously shaking me. When our eyes met, she had a look of relief wash over her.
Finally, Ive been trying to wake you up. You were moving around a lot.
Madison, I had that dream again, I said, still settling into being awake.
Maybe it means something, she said, sitting down next to me.
Maybe, I said, unsure.
Madison had been with me for four years along with two others, Zach and Titon, who had
only been with us for two years. We all lost our parents when we were young and fortunately
taken in by a foster mom. She was only in our lives for a short year before passing. Then were all
forced to find shelter after our foster home was ruined by the frequent hurricanes.
Every inch of the world was polluted either physically or chemically. The oceans became
so overfilled with trash that it started to clump together to make small floating islands. Once the
bees died, a rapid extinction of plant life followed and food became scarce. Due to the
overpopulation of people, the new generations were forced to gather their items and move on the

trash clumps. After years of pollution and overpopulation, common animals became extinct,
water became extremely scarce, and food was completely made out of chemicals. The food was
extremely expensive to make, resulting in the starvation and death of billions through the years.
I was born into what was left of the world. Titon read me stories about the fish that used
to swim through the depths of the once clear oceans. He taught me about how apples grew on
trees and were not really made in laboratories. He taught me how to survive by eating the
leftover food that the wealthy did not like and took his chances hunting for me. Most importantly
he showed me that in such a dark world, there was always a shining light. Our group was
constantly moving around looking for shelter but most of the building were destroyed due to the
government's attempt at reducing the population. They bombed the cities, placed land mines
randomly across the towns, and executed the criminals worldwide.
It felt like we had been walking for hours when the sun started to rise. We arrived at a
graveyard of playground pieces and remains of a school.
We can set up camp for the night and continue in the morning, said Titon.
The four of us went inside the school and took refuge in a classroom. Titon and I made
our sleeping area just below the window. I could make out a faint crescent shape that shined
slightly in the thickness of the clouds. I was the last to fall asleep due to the howling wind that
made the remains of the building shake. Everyone was exhausted from our long journey but I felt
sleepless. Hours had passed by when Titon woke up and excused himself to use the bathroom. I
heard his footsteps, one by one as he walked outside.
A loud bang and one last scream filled the air. My ears rang loudly and my vision became
blurry. My heart was pounding and my throat had tightened instantly because deep down I knew

what happened. The classroom filled with smoke and I stumbled down the hallway as Madison
and Zach ran behind.
Thats when we saw Titon, or what was left of him. The smoke began to dissolve slowly
and Titons limp body became clear as it laid in the dirt. The ground had a gaping hole where the
land mine blew, it must have been one that was planted years ago and never went off. I screamed
as tears came bursting from my eyes as I quickly ran to him, hoping that he was somehow alive.
My knees dropped down on the ground as I reached for his body. Zach and Madison stood there
in shock, not knowing what to do. They gathered around me in hopes of letting me know that
they understood. He was my family, he felt like home, and now I had nothing.
Zach and Madison began to dig a grave where the playground use to be, allowing me to
grieve. I stayed there with him until they were done. We all gathered the remains of his body and
took his most prized possessions and buried them with him. I took his bracelet that he wore
everyday and put it on, a reminder that hes with me everyday. Zach, Madison and I bowed our
heads letting the tears hit the ground as we each had a moment of silence.
When the sun rose, so did our heavy hearts. We knew the journey had to continue so we
gathered our things and got ready to leave. Before leaving, I stopped at Titons fresh grave and
knelt down in silence, remembering all the times we had together. All the years we had spent
fighting for our lives. The journey had to continue.
After hours of not talking, Zach spoke, I miss him, he said the sadness heavy in his
voice.
We all do, I said, but he wouldnt have wanted us to have stayed there any longer.
I know, Madison said softly.

After a couple more hours of walking, we came upon an empty house. The house was
coated in a black charcoal film and the porch was in pieces. This house felt familiar but I
couldnt seem to figure out why. Most of my childhood consisted of faint memories of my
parents; they died when I was very young and left me with only the blurred images of their faces.
We walked inside and most of the furniture was scattered and flipped the wrong way. Zach went
to check upstairs while Madison inspected downstairs with me. I felt as if this was home and I
never felt more confused in my life.
I think you might want to check this out, Zach called down.
Whats wrong? I asked as I made my way up.
Zach was standing by the doorway as he handed me an old picture.
Whats this? I said as I took the photograph from him.
That looks like you, Zach said as he pointed at the little child in the picture.
As I stared long and hard at the photograph I began to notice some similarities between
the child and me. The child had a square face, thick hair and stood tall just like me. There next to
her, stood a mom and a dad holding the childs hands. I flipped over the picture and read the
words Knight Family. I shook my head in disbelief and began to analyze everything that just
happened in the past minute. Is this my house? Is that me in the picture? My thoughts spun
around my head as I stared at this photo. I took a seat as Madison and Zach looked puzzled,
waiting for me to answer them, but I didnt know where to start.
Welcome to my house? I said jokingly.
Are you serious?? they asked simultaneously.
I think... I replied.
Maybe theres more stuff that can help us if we look around, Madison said.

We searched around and only found boxes of old documents and books scattered around
the house. I created a pile that we could all sort through. Desperate for information, I picked up
an old news article with the title, Knights Find A Solution. I read through the article and other
documents which had an over brief of what my parents went through. They tried to protect what
was left of the natural reserves around the world and had a long drawn out lawsuit. It was an
argument of using the natural reserves as space for more landfills or keeping them. By now,
humans were already living in their own trash and were desperate for more space. The money
hungry companies were pushing for ruining the precious lands that sheltered many life forms and
had no regard for saving them. In the end, my parents lost and all the natural reserves were
ruined.
Most of my life I didnt know anything about my family and today I read about their
greatest efforts and failures in saving the natural world. I didnt expect to come across all this
information and I certainly didnt know what to do with it. I spent the rest of the day reading all
of the articles and documents that we had found. These papers contained information on the
pollutants that the water contained and my parents efforts to clean it.
I woke up abruptly from my nightmare, my skin felt hot as if the nightmare was real. I
quickly realized that my recurring dream had been my reality. The burning house and the woman
felt all so vivid and I soon remembered it clearly. When I was five, I had been awakened by my
frantic mother. The room was hot and the flames started to catch on the furniture. My father was
throwing things out of the window as I quickly jumped into my mothers arms. The smoke had
thickened and the sounds of the fire trucks grew louder. My mother, who held me in her arms,
ran downstairs, out the door, and set me on the grass lawn across the street. She sprinted back

into the burning house shouting my fathers name. Thats the last I remember, much after that
was a blur.
I decided that I wanted to live in the home that was once mine. I needed to recognize my
parents efforts and continue to get back the natural world, like they did. I took the remaining
articles I found and read them thoroughly, learning what I could do to reverse the pollution.
Zach, Madison and I rebuilt the house from the materials we found. While Madison cleaned
inside, Zach helped me move the trash off the lawn when I witnessed a little patch of fresh green
grass that had started to grow. I walked across the street and faced our newly clean home, the
houses in sight were surrounded by an abundance of trash and our efforts to preserve one home
would have made my parents proud.