Outside the Inside World

A world where everything is digital, and there is no human interaction outside of homes. The streets are always empty, no trash or vehicles or people to clutter it. If somebody were to walk outside, they would only hear birds chirping, or the wind blowing, nothing else.

This is my world.

I always enjoy going on walks, looking at the scenery, and spending as much time as I can outside. I always take a break from my walks at the old oak tree on the hill in the park. It has been there for many years, and I love it so. I hate being cooped up, where the walls seem to suffocate me. I just want to be free, to go wherever I want to, to not be locked up where I can never see the sunlight, but instead, only the artificial light that never changes.

Eventually though, that world tries to end. The destruction of nature caused by humans in the past is now coming apart, and seemingly destroying even more now. As far as I know, I am the only one to come outside anymore, so I am the only one who notices these changes. It is my burden to bear, so I alone will fix it.

Eventually, others notice that their once thought "perfect" world isn't so perfect, and their so-called "indestructible" structures aren't indestructible anymore. So they start to come out. One by one, slowly. Unsure of what to think about the outside world, barely remembering the time when it was common to come out. But I remember.

I always have.

Now I have grown older, and I can feel my years coming to a close. I still have time, though. I still have many years ahead of me, but I know I have come closer. Still, I do what I can to save the world.

People are still nervous to come outside, so they have stopped again. By now, my hair has started to grow gray. My color is still there, though, so I know I have time. And I keep pressing on.

Eventually, people start to notice that the same person is always outside, and is always trying to clean up the mess of humans from the past. And they start to give me attention. More and more they pay attention to me, and they make me the face of the clean-up projects. I have become the poster girl for the earth.

It feels nice to finally be recognized for my work after all these years.

Soon, my whole head becomes gray, and my limbs start to become stiff. The end is near, I know it, and yet I still press on. I refuse to quit until I see the day that the earth is back to its former glory, and I think others have noticed. They have come outside even more, and they are all there for me, always willing to help me with something. I feel like I've become a granny to everybody on earth.

One day, I laid myself down to take a break from the work of the years, and I closed my eyes. When I reopened them, the sky was much brighter, and the air was much fresher. I stood up, and realized I was much younger as well. When I looked around, I could see that there was a reflection of myself, sleeping against the old oak tree on the hill in the park. I see one of my young "grandchildren" come up to me, and shake my shoulders. When I didn't respond, he pressed against my wrist and neck. He then runs down the hill, and comes back with a group of people. They shake me, and press against my wrist and neck as well, before calling somebody for a car.

When the car comes, I realize it is an ambulance, and they take me to the hospital. I watch as they hook me up to a machine, remembering how to do so from their grandparents and great-grandparents before them. When the machine comes to life, only to show a straight line, their suspicions are confirmed, and they turn off the machine, and unhook me from it. They make some calls, and gathered everybody they could contact,and for those they couldn't, they broadcasted on the televisions and radios across the globe.

My funeral was the biggest in history. Everybody around the world was gathered together, either watching it on tv, or listening to it on the radio, or being there in person. I was watching, too, from my reflection window, and looked on with sad eyes as everybody mourned my death. I wasn't sad, though. My goal was completed. Sure, maybe it wasn't back in its former glory, but it was sure on its way. I had started something, and everybody in the world was there to complete it. My job was done, and now it was another's turn to keep the clean-up going. Still, though, I went through the reflection into the outside world.

I hate being cooped up, so I was happy to be able to roam about freely for the rest of time. I went to my funeral at the old oak tree on the hill in the park, although nobody could see me, and I hugged everybody there. It took awhile, but I didn't care. The first person I hugged was my "grandchild" who found me under the old oak tree. He froze, almost like he could sense me. When I pulled away, I gave him my biggest and brightest smile, and spoke one last time.

"Cheer up, my boy. My goal was completed, and I have you to carry on my legacy. So don't cry, but smile instead, and always look forward for each day when you can walk outside and enjoy nature, and to tell my legacy to those of younger generations. Be happy for me, and for you - for all of you, okay?" He nodded, shakily, and smiled at me, before going up and speaking to the whole world, telling them what I said to him. And I stood there, watching, before going to everybody and hugging them.

The funeral has been over for many years, and I have been roaming through nature, enjoying everything, when I decided to visit my grave. I was standing there, looking at it carefully, memorizing every detail about it, when it got a visitor. It was none other than my "grandchild", coming to "speak" to me, like he did every week.

"Hey Granny, how've you been? I just came to tell you that I've been doing well, and I finally got myself married! She's the most amazing girl I've ever met, and we're actually expecting a child soon. It's gonna be a girl, and we've both agreed to name her after you, in honor of how you've inspired everyone, especially us. You're invited to the baby shower, so we hope you can make it! Well, I gotta go to work, so I'll see you later, Granny!"

That's right. He invited me to their wedding a couple of months ago, and I attended it. I'll make it to the baby shower as well.

I heard a voice, and felt a tugging in my gut, so I followed it back to the voice, back through my reflection window. As I did, I saw darkness, instead of the bright light from when I first woke up, and I was confused. I tried to leave, but I couldn't quite yet, and I could feel my memories fading, before the last one of the old oak tree on the hill at the park came to my mind.

And then, my mind went blank, no memories at all, before being pushed into light.

-----

A world where everything is digital, and there is no human interaction outside of homes. The streets are always empty, no trash or vehicles or people to clutter it. If somebody were to walk outside, they would only hear birds chirping, or the wind blowing, nothing else.

That was what the world used to be. It all changed when a single person became an example and helped to save it. This is the legend I was always told as I grew up, and I remember the first place I was brought to when I left the hospital was the old oak tree on the hill in the park. It has been forever engraved in my memories, and I always aspire to be like that person, the one who inspired everybody and saved the world.

My parents claim they were the closest ones to her, and even tell me stories of when they were able to feel her at key points of their life, like at their wedding, or at the baby shower (my mom told me that one),  or even just sometimes randomly when they would visit her grave. They even claim to have felt her presence very strongly when I was born,and that I remind them of her.

My father tells me that he was the one to find her after she died, and that at her funeral he thought he saw her smiling at him, telling him to cheer up. He relayed that message to everybody on the globe before the funeral was over, and then other various people said that while he was telling them her message they felt her, almost as if she was hugging them. They tell me that I have a very special connection to her, and that is probably a reason why I feel so cooped up inside, and I love to be outside, in nature.

Do I believe it? Sure, why not?