They say this every year to the point where you don’t need to listen anymore. They are so obsessed about telling the same story that they haven’t even changed it. I know its history but they could at least say something new about it. At least I'll never have to hear it again. I realized after a second I had been mindlessly messing with the dangles that covered my pointed ear and the class was already rushing out the door to leave. I grabbed my bag not caring if I left anything behind after it since at most they would get reused.

    I walked outside and looked up at the dark clouds that circled around the sun. The ashes from the “explosion” still hadn’t cleared after 219 years. Sometimes you could see the space station but it was rather rare. I walked into the center of town as the colorful haze around it made it brighter. The town's children ran around excitedly and chased after each other's tails like they were animals. Taking a right I headed towards the deep end of the forest so I could return home. I admired the surroundings like I've done several times before.

The trees weren’t green like you see in pictures; they were always a light shade of pink, blue, and yellow. Over time it looked like they grew these light orbs but they were just eggs for a creature that is super fluffy. For some reason they gave it a super weird name called “Geologic.” The elders of the town say the word Geo means rock but I don’t know if I should believe them on that.

I finally reached home and immediately bumped my head into the doorframe. I went to the bathroom to make sure I didn’t have a purple spot forming on my face. There I decided to give myself a good look compared to a random image of someone that was in the mirror. I had green skin with blue patches scattered around. My hair was very messy in the front and had a low and loose tail in the back. I had a shirt on that had a hood and a zipper for no reason unlike anything else I had. One of my eyes was blacked out as the other had a yellow look. I had a thing under the shirt cause it had a giant hole I couldn’t fix which said “My heart is in Hollywood” which for some reason was very comfortable. I had a tail that was a horribly uncomfortable texture that didn’t match how soft my skin was. I had long ears that reached all the way to the top of my head. I had put on a little dangly thing the elders called “Earrings.” The person in the photo had a really light yellow and white mixed skin that made their skin glow against the lighting. Their ears were more rounded and stuck to the side of their head. They had a dangle in between their nose giving it a more toned look. Their clothing stuck with the same black shade so did the hair that sat very thinly on the head. It was hard to see how the humans merged with the animals that had thrived on this earth.

I headed out of the bathroom towards the kitchen while repeating a tune one of the elders always hummed. I grabbed the corn that had thrived in the town's local farm. I looked outside and saw that it was about time I went to assist the town elders. I put on the plain bright white I wear when I go there and sprint out the door, still managing to knock my head on the door a little bit. I slowed down as I reached the center of town. But before I could reach town square a rustle came from the bush nearby. Out of the pure curiosity I had I went over to check it out.

“Boo”

I jumped back slightly startled. “Oh jeez really Wednesday.” My tone was maybe a bit harsh.

“Sorry for the startle Branch, what you doing out here.” She went on with a suspicious tone.

    “Going to do my job. Unlike you.” I gave her a very stern stare. She got very annoying after years of being friends.

    “It's not my fault I'm part of the hierarchy,” She pointed her hands towards herself “ I just got lucky I guess”

    “Right, why are you here anyways?” I slightly speed up so I would get away quickier. She was part of one of the several royal families that scattered the land. She wasn’t usually allowed out without a guard but I guess todays different. Likely to the fact that she was now legally obligated to do as she pleased since school was finished entirely. I had realized I tuned her out so I didn’t hear anything she was saying. I saw where all the elders lived and started running over there.  With the little breath left in me I said my goodbyes to Wednesday for now.

    I slowed myself as I drew near to the area. I saw little kids listening to their grandparents and running around with the items they had gotten for the end of the school year. I entered the building and went behind the counter to sign in.

    “You got here faster than usual.” I looked up quickly to make sure it was someone I know. It was really “The Queen of the Building” Ms. Mayberry

    “Oh ya Wednesday was being bothersome again.” I tried to show little concern before she started ranting again.

    She gave a little frown, “When you gonna tell that girl you don’t enjoy her company”

“I don’t know if I'll do it one of these days. I’ll just need another friend to hang out with.” I started preparing the cafeteria for their dinner.

    “What about that sweet lady you live with? She stopped by earlier and well she did take care of you.” She was making a lot of suggestions 

    “I know you believe that but I mean that’s her in public you don’t have a clue what it’s like at home. Really all she does is nap and invite her friends over.” I said with a lot of disinterest

    “So?”

“So, I'm not gonna waste my time trying to befriend her. We got the non communal agreement that I live with her and I feed her and take care of her when she is home and I get a place to stay.” I was getting annoyed by the amount of questions that were being asked. So I had to stir off the subject.

    “Well Ms.Mayberry I know we are having a nice conversation but I have to finish preparing the cafeteria for lunch. I don’t have enough time to think about this but maybe we can continue this conversation later.” I had changed the subject the best I could.

Ms. Mayberry gave me a salty look before turning away and walking back to her room. I relaxed and finished setting up the cafeteria and left to go do something while I waited. I walked around the house's library to check for anything I didn’t see before. I picked up a writing that one of the elders made themselves explain what had happened all those years ago. I looked around at the emptiness of the room. The only person in it was some old guy sleeping away in a chair. Guess it wouldn’t hurt to listen to the story one more time I mean and this is from the perspective of someone else. I opened the writing and read it,

    The explosion that caused where the world is today was a big nuclear plant explosion. The world was at a point where they were figuring out peace and slowly resolving any problems they had about. All nuclear plants had been shut down but not in the middle of Denver, Colorado. They had left one large one that kept the scientific research around the idea of nuclear bombs and other things. The plant was filled with scientists from all around the world. But of course since it was from all over the world no one was able to communicate very well. It only took a month before the place broke down. The nuclear haze quickly spread all over the world. All the scientists a part of it passed away and anyone in the surrounding area was either killed or transformed into the lizard like people today. Only in Hawaii people managed to survive completely untouched by the surrounding area. Though in Japan they built a wall that starts at the water around it and surrounds all of it. It kept them away from the radiation and most of the effects that came because of it. When seeing how the radiation affects everyone around me it was as though I would have died. People were breaking down crying and tearing into things for resources. Before the explosion a lot of important leaders and main scientists had evacuated to a bunker. Before anyone could understand what had happened in the area you could hear a large rocket take off and leave for the international space station. The world slowly rebuilt itself but with the few technology that was left it became scattered. In some areas you could find people still making newspapers, some TVs still worked. 

    But the main problem was taking advantage of the discovery that came from the explosion. The few people that were well educated saw the effects of what happened. The few people that had all of a sudden become a new species. They immediately started to experiment. The people behind these experiments were very few inbetween the few animals that were left were taken and had their DnA taken from them. They started to take whatever electronics they could find, even go into people's houses just to grab the most minor device. Religion to them was hoping the people that left would come back and save them if they continued scientific discoveries. Soon almost everyone was trying their hardest to make discoveries. A war broke out between them and a lot of the people around were being killed for it. At some point only a group of 10 people soon were the only ones left; they started to transform any of the people they had kidnapped after the war. Soon instead of just lizards there were people that were merged with dogs, cats, fish, and birds. Nothing ended up stopping them. The people that were a part of the experiments were soon excreted from any community because they had caused the war. One day the victims of the experiments finally figured out how to get rid of the scientists that runned the cruel earth. They found the vault where they had left the planet was the only thing left. They found undamaged contact radios where they reported that someone important scientists had been left behind. All of a sudden they were off the earth just like that. It was not known what had happened to them. At some point I had helped all the people form the government even if it wasn’t the best type. I educated them slightly until it was like they never had anything bad happen to them. The last humans left outside of Hawaii in Japan are known to me. They have retreated to the mountains to escape the radiation that thrived below. While things are peaceful now I know I have not done enough for this world. As things still have not gotten better by the amount it needs to. Though I hope my wife Greens Mayberry is ok when I go.

    The story ended there. Only one thing was left. Something that was crossed out but one thing was for there at the very back of the book marked the death of the author.

    Patrick Mayberry 1974-2208

He managed to make it all the way to the age of 234. He was claimed dead after having not come back from a talk with the other humans. I looked up after having read the story and realized how late it was. I had stayed here all night reading the thing I've complained about my whole life. A story that had been overused told the same way.