Humanity: Project X - 160

Prologue

She awoke to an enormous headache that was beating on her head.

Where was she?

That was the first question that came to her mind. Nothing more, nothing less. As she tried to get up, she felt her headache threaten to expand. It was probably better for her to stay down until she knew that she was better. Scanning the rest of the room, she looked for any other type of life form, even a fly.

She found the room to be almost completely empty, except for a couple things that were placed almost randomly. They looked as if they were scattered, and the person who decorated the room didn't have a care in the world to how it looked.

The walls were splattered with white, light brown, and gray, all together in weird and random swirls. The design didn't look too bad, but it was making her headache increase. Looking below her, she found that the soft carpet was a nice tan, not too bright so that she could look at it freely. To her left, she found a bed; it was diagonal to the wall. An interesting style, indeed, but it didn't matter much to her. To the right of her, she found a nightstand. It looked as if it were made of wood, the metal handles' connected to the drawers of this nightstand had a familiar scent.

Looking slightly above the nightstand, she found that in fact, there was a life form. A small little plant, barely a sprout peaking out of the dirt. She quietly dragged herself to the nightstand and raising her arms in attempt to get the plant down, her world began to spin. But her fingertips barely brushed against the pot. This time, trying even harder, she raised herself just a little higher, ignoring the throbbing pain in her head.

After doing so, she was happy to see the small pot fall onto her lap. Carefully cradling it in her hands, she scanned the room once again, this time for a source of water. And indeed, there was a huge tank of water in front of her eyes. Although it was in front of her, she found it hard to drag herself forward. After all, it was across the room. And on top of that, she had to carefully protect the lifeform in her hands.

By the time she got to the jug, it had seemed like hours had passed. Seeing a couple of paper cups to the side of the jug, on the floor, she grabbed one and swiftly pressed the button of the machine, allowing water to slowly pour into her cup. She was about to drink it herself, due to her dry throat, but thought otherwise. She mentally apologized to the plant on her lap for not thinking of it first and began watering it. After pouring quite a few cups of water into the plant, she grabbed a new cup and began quenching her own thirst. This is how she remained for a while.

Her routine continued the same way; she exercised around the room, protecting her plant from harm, and then quenched her own thirst as well as its own. That is, until she noticed how hungry she had gotten. Noticing the small leaves that were now growing on the plant, she was tempted to pluck one off and eat it. But no, she couldn't find it in her to harm her only friend.

As she continued to tend to her plant, she heard the door swing open. Someone was entering... another living being. She opened her mouth to speak but found that no words would come out. She was even more disappointed when she discovered it was nothing more than a cleaning creature that had no affection, no life.

She went through the leaves of her plant, looking through it to see if there were any bad parts of it when she felt a stinging sensation across her back. Groaning, she touched it with her fingertips, only to discover that something, or someone, had hit her hard with some sort of chemical.

She felt her world darkening, and so she tried to get up, to fight the sensation. She had to stay with her only friend, her plant. In the process, she ended up dropping the small pot, causing it to shatter, and the dirt scattered along the now cold carpet floor. She felt tears spill as she groaned, landing on the floor just like her pot.

Letting her hands dig deep into the dirt, she sniffled and wiped the rest of her tears away. The plant was now partially smashed, its leaves not as beautiful as before.

The shards scraped her hands as she allowed her fingertips to dig deeper into the dirt. But she ignored the pain. She let her tears spill, thinking about who would do such a thing. Weren't people supposed to conserve life? That was what she was taught all her life, or at least she thought so.

As she wiped away her tears, she remembered the chemical. She gasped as it took over her body, making her eyelids feel unusually heavy. She wanted to sleep all of a sudden. Yes, sleep sounded so good... so wonderful at the moment. She closed her eyes, wiping the last of her tears, and then allowed herself to drift off, no longer fighting the chemical.

Now, she laid next to the shattered pot of dirt and life. The only life she had seen for days. The only thing that kept her company.

Her only friend.

Gone.

"What may this have to do with the story?" you may ask.

My friend, this teaches a valuable lesson for all of us. It is a part of a much bigger, larger lesson, one of which humans refuse to accept. So, when I say you must understand that this is just the beginning, my friend, then do not question the actions of life; they just occur.

I may call you my friend, right?