My world is gone. I walked on the remains of mankinds' errors, weak and powerless: Standing on a
wasteland that I'm not supposed to be standing on, watching the black clouds in the sky. The grass
no longer grass and the sky no longer sky. Noise no longer noise and my tears no longer tears, only
blood. My throat was as dry as this wasteland, and the only thing that kept me from dying of thirst,
was my own blood. Everything else was irradicated, so food and water were no longer an option. The
world I once called home was no longer there. As I continued walking, I noticed something on the
ground. I glanced at it, my vision dying slowly and saw a clock. The clocked laid there, its hands
no longer moving, stopped at 3:17pm, the time the earth stood still. I took my eyes off the clock
and continued walking. My muscles grew weaker with each step. The smell of death and decay remained
still in the air and the ashes of everyone I once knew lay prominently on the ground. I kneeled down
and filled my hand with ash, letting the wind blow it away. A single tear of blood rushed down my
face. 'Why am I still alive?' 'Why does time stop, but I still keep moving?' 'Why didn't
they listen?' 'Why must I suffer the errors of mankind!!?' I started to cough, blood shooting
out with each failed breath. I knew at that point that no matter how angry I was, or how much I
screamed I couldn't fix what mankind had already done. My vision grew worse by the minute, blinded
by the radioactive toxins in the air. My legs could no longer walk, only limp. Breathing no longer
felt like a necessity, and living no longer an option. I fell on my back, gazing at the black hole
sun, letting the ash swallow me whole. I closed my eyes, my life flashing before me, when one song
began playing in my mind: 'Imagine' by John Lennon. With my final breaths I started singing part
of the chorus: 'You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.' I struggled to
breathe; tears of blood rushed down my eyes as I attempted to continue with my weakening lungs: 'I
hope someday you will join us and the world as... one'. It was all I could remember.

I woke up quickly, breathing intensely as my heartbeat shot up. I had the vision again, but this
time it felt too real. The pain, the sorrow, the blood rushing down my face, I felt it. Suddenly, a
rush of pain channeled through my head, the images of the inevitable future growing stronger and
stronger. I started to scream uncontrollably, the pain overwhelmed me as if every single limb of my
body were being severed slowly. The doctors and nurses rushed out of their offices and held me down
to the bed as I struggled to break free of their grasps. 'Doctor what's wrong with him?' a
nurse asked as she struggled to hold me down. 'I'm not sure, most likely hysteria'. The doctor
focused on me as he held my chest down. 'Mr. Lewis please calm down!' the doctor shouted. 'The
end is near! The end is near!' I started to shout, tears rushing down my face intensely. 'Ms.
Nixon, please take Mr. Lewis to Room C102' 'But doctor, I don't think electroshock therapy is
going to solve anything.' 'Ms. Nixon, you will do what I say!' he shouted in that poor
woman's face. 'Yes, doctor,' she replied. A few nurses stationed themselves on each side of
the bed while the doctor held me down with his cold, sweaty hands. They moved the bed, with me on
it, over to C102, the worst room in the institution. Some of my fellow patients called 102 the real
number of the devil. I, for one, couldn't care less. Before I knew it, we were in C102. The
florescent sun blinded my eyes as nurses and doctors surrounded me. The room completely white with a
counter of supplies and a couple drawers filled with syringes and pills. The only relief about the
room appeared as a single-barred window you could barely see through. I gazed at the window, it
poured rain ferociously and at that point I knew that rain would never be that mesmerizing to look
at again. The doctor locked my arms and legs with metal rings to keep me from moving, and the nurses
gave me a rubber object to bite on through the procedure. They then applied the mechanical devices
needed for the therapy on my head. 'Now, Mr. Lewis, this is only going to hurt for a little bit.
If you cooperate with us it will go a lot faster.' I looked at the doctor, his arrogant smile and
fake concern for my health made me want to break through the rings and punch him in the face.
Instead, I closed my eyes and tried to think of something to soothe the pain. I thought of
Christine. Christine was my girlfriend while I was majoring in English at UCLA. She was a brunette
and a little younger than I was, but seeing her blue eyes was like gazing at the clouds in the sky
and her beauty was unmatched. She was always the highlight of my day, and I couldn't have been
happier. One day though when I was a senior, everything changed. When I was returning from one of my
classes to my dorm room, I opened the door and froze; there, on the same bed that I first made love
to her on was my roommate Justin, with Christine on top of him, engaging in sexual activities. I
dropped my books in shock. As soon as they hit the floor, Justin and Christine stopped in their
tracks, Justin and Christine looked at me, horrified. Christine quickly got up and started putting
what was left of her clothes back on, focusing her attention toward me. 'John, I'm so sorry.
This was not how I wanted you to find out,' Christine stuttered. I said nothing. 'It's just
you're so busy writing those stories and studying that you have no time for me. I need a
man who has the time,' She added. Justin opened his mouth to say something but quickly changed his
mind. 'And if you don't have time for me, then I don't want to have time for you!' Christine
shouted. Still, I said nothing. My shock quickly turned to anger as my fist started to clench; a
single tear went down my face. Then, I finally opened my mouth. 'How long has this been going
on?' My voice started to escalate until I began to shout. 'How long have you been going behind
my back you backstabber!' 'John, please!' Christine cried. 'Not another word,
Christine! Justin, how could you? You've been my roommate for god knows how long. How the hell
could you do this to me!' Justin looked at me and began to stutter: 'John, I didn't know' it
wasn't my fault,' He said. 'Like hell it wasn't!' I screamed. Suddenly, without any other
train of thought, I jumped Justin and started punching him in the face, each blow crushing his skull
against the wall of the bed. His face looked like a painting from Picasso. 'John! Stop!'
screamed my ex girlfriend. I ignored Christine and continued slamming Justin's face against the
wall, intending to the paint it with his blood. Then suddenly, I heard a voice. 'One, two...
three!' A painful electric shock raced through my body. Everything turned white as I began to lose
consciousness. 'One, two' three!' Another electric raced through, worst than the first time. I
slowly slipped out of reality, everything blurred out of focus. 'Doctor, he's had enough. Stop
now!' Ms. Nixon exclaimed. The doctor looked slowly over to her, his cynical hazel eyes gazing to
her innocent blues. 'One more word out of you Ms. Nixon and I'll have you fired! Do you
understand me?' The doctor shouted. Ms. Nixon looked at him, completely terrified by his remark.
She began to open her mouth to say something but quickly closed it at the last minute. Blood from my
nose slowly began to move down my face, as I was completely paralyzed to the bed. 'One, two''
'Doctor, no!' 'Three!' The final electric shock took complete control of my body as I
started to scream as loud as I could, the rubber object blocking the sound. Then, slowly, I lost
consciousness. Only one thing came to my mind: What happened next on that terrible day at college.
As I kept hitting Justin, Christine started to scream for help. I looked over to her face, tears
filled her eyes. As I began to back my fist up for one more blow, I froze. Justin was no longer
recognizable, his face covered with blood, his eyes completely swollen and his nose broken. I looked
down at my blood covered hands. I let go of Justin's collar and started to cry. I was suspended
for a month from UCLA, and charged with assault. The court dropped the case a few days later. After
my suspension, I dropped out of UCLA and continued on with my life. Soon after that, I suffered from
depression and went through countless panic attacks. Desperate to soothe the pain, I resorted to
using illegal drugs like cocaine and heroin. That would be the biggest mistake I would ever make.
Both the substances left a permanent effect on me: Making cataclysmic events and dreams more real.
That's why I'm here. 'Mr. Lewis?' I opened my eyes, waking up to the face of who I thought
was an angel. 'Mr. Lewis, are you okay?' Ms. Nixon sat by my bedside, I looked up at her, her
blue eyes like the gates of heaven. 'Mr. Lewis do you need some pain pills?' she asked. Trying
not to show any sign of weakness or agony, I lied. 'No, I'm fine, thank you' 'You know, that
was quite a scare you gave me in that room.' 'Do they pay you to sympathize for your
patients?' I remarked. Surprisingly she smiled and said: 'No, they pay me to shut up and do my
job.' 'So, tell me, what's it like to work at this hell hole anyways?' I said with a smirk
on my face. She chuckled and said: 'It's a lot better when you're the faculty and not the
patient.' 'Well, I could've figured that out.' We both laughed and looked at each other; she
then got up from the chair. She began to walk away until she looked back at me. 'If you need
anything, just say my name.' I smiled back at her, but then quickly shouted: 'Wait! What's
your name?' She didn't hear my remark as she disappeared into the other side of the white walls.
I slowly closed my eyes, and went back to sleep. I woke up the next morning, the pain of the
electroshock therapy still radiating through me. I got up from the bed and headed to get a drink of
water. Until I noticed that nobody was around. I began searching through the institution, confused
as to the whereabouts of the loonies and even loonier faculty. I then heard a noise of a television
and went to the common room, everyone, even the faculty surrounded it. I went up to the crowd of
people and went closer to the television. I stood next to Ms. Nixon, she looked just as confused as
I was, then as I was about to ask what was going on I looked again at the television. The president
was about to give a speech. Ladies and Gentlemen of the United States of America, I have regretful
news. This morning, January 17th, 2013, a computer virus created by an unknown source swept every
single nuclear war base of each nation. Launching every nuclear bomb in the world, and heading
towards each part of this country. According to our information given to us by the Pentagon, the
first targets will be each state in the east coast, followed by the southeast, southwest, northeast
and finally the northwest. My fellow Americans, this may be my last broadcast as the President of
the United States and probably the last broadcast this country may ever see. My fellow Americans,
I' Suddenly the oval office shook violently, and the President started to panic. Finally, the
camera and feed turned to static. The bombs had landed in Washington D.C. Everyone in the room was
speechless. The static still played on the television. Ms. Nixon had her mouth covered with her
right hand, and a single tear went down her face. My vision was coming to life. It was not a dream,
nor was it a negative effect from the drugs, it was a premonition. The end of our world was upon us.
Suddenly, I felt something freezing; I looked and realized it was Ms. Nixon holding my hand. I
looked up at her, tears in her eyes and tears in mine. The doctor came up from behind us. 'Ms.
Nixon! What is going on?' She let go of my hand and looked at him, not a single ounce of fear in
her eyes. 'Sir, I believe I have the right to console people I know.' 'What on earth are you
talking about?!' She grabbed my hand again and said: 'Mr. Lewis and I went to college together,
I was his ex girlfriend.' I jumped out of shock, quickly letting go of her. She turned and looked
at me, and asked. 'John, do you remember me?' I then had a flashback, and quickly realizing that
the girl that I had cheated on me, the girl that shattered my heart into a thousand pieces, was
standing right next to me. Her name was Christine Nixon. I ran out of the room, the tears going
faster down my face. 'Wait! John please!' I kept running, exiting the Institution, and because
everyone was so devastated by the news, nobody bothered to try and catch me. I went out the front
door, the sky dark and cloudy, and my heart darker. I quickly fell on my knees, the wet grass
seeping through my white pants. 'John!' I looked back and saw Christine standing behind me.
'John I should've told you sooner, I'm so sorry...' she cried. 'That's the same thing
you said the day I caught you with Justin!' I yelled. 'John that was different!' 'How can
you even say that?' 'John, I was young and stupid! You don't think I've been regretting for
what I did to you?' I said nothing. 'John, I love you. I've always loved you.' I was
speechless, the tears still going down my eyes. Suddenly, my heart started to beat faster and
faster, and at that moment I did something I thought I would never do again, I stood up, approaching
Christine. 'Christine'' She looked at me, completely speechless until suddenly she screamed:
'John! The bomb! It's right behind'!' Before she said anymore, I grabbed her arms and pulled
her towards me, kissing her lips. 'Stop, don't say anymore. Just look at my eyes, one last
time.' We kissed again, holding each other in our arms. With the mushroom cloud still behind us
and the ground starting to shake. My world is not gone. It's just beginning.