The Nothingness

A faint humming sound of an old cathode monitor fills a small room. The monitor has since been sun-faded, it now has a light yellow tint to what probably used to be white. Unluckily, it weighs more than a medium-size dog or a really fat feline. I know all of this because I had to lug here from across town. A few posters of computer diagrams and other machines fill the pale blue walls. The workspace has a thin layer of dust covering an assortment of tools and components on a long-forgotten teacher’s desk. This small window in the corner of the room is the reason for all the dust. I left the window open just a crack when I had gone on one of my scavaging runs. This place wasn’t luxurious in the typical sense or any sense at all. The basement was a makeshift workshop in a lonely Nevada desert town. For those who may have forgotten the way earth used to be, Nevada was a western sate, part of the United States of America. The USA is now mostly known for its self-destruction in the literal sense, although you know most of the story. This place is just a whole lot of sand and dusty winds blowing far and wide. The town where I live is now merely a heap of sand, other then a few areas we’ve tidied up.

Twice a week on Wednesdays and Thursdays I climb the side of my two-story home. I guess it wasn’t my home it belonged to my parents but I can’t find them anywhere. There’s an ancient television antenna I scale as a ladder, a few times I’ve tried to make an elevator to bring Toto up with me but it never worked outright. I’ve managed to rummage the necessary bits to assemble a radio transmitter and receiver, so far Toto and I have just been hearing old radio shows refracting throughout the cosmos. I’ve continued seeking communications with someone or something out there. A long-time has passed although still emptiness. The surviving population is unknown to me and many, assuming I’m not the only one clinging to life. Other than Toto and me, there’s nobody else out here. I call this place The Nothingness, because well you probably get it.

The loneliness came pretty fast after the fog cleared. The fog is a symptom of waking from a cryo-chamber (a pitiful pod where we would lay frozen in time). Our government told us it was for our protection but most of us knew the real reason. I don’t want to waste my journal pages discussing the many ways the government shafted me and the other normal people quite yet.

Toto was made to keep me company and to help look for any sign of another living organism. Toto’s constructed from an antique chrome toaster, 2 cameras, a mobile CPU, a compressed hydrogen power cell not to deferent from one found in a Calvarien blaster and a slew of other pieces of garbage. If you’re interested when you find me and the little junk box. I’ll let you take him apart and see what makes him tick.

Yesterday I accidentally stepped on and crushed are last VHS player so now we can’t watch any movies or shows so that sucks. Although some minor setbacks we’ve have had good luck finding different ways to stay entertained. Toto and I are on our way across town to an old scrapyard. First, we need to get some groceries Handerson’s fresh food market has lots of options but wich none are still fresh. I always joke to Toto about taking that up with there manager but I’m pretty sure the Calvariens have got to him first. I’d rather be vaporized by a Calvarien then have to deal with another Karen. I mostly just run up and down the aisles with the grocery cart. While pretending its how it used to be, based on what the movies and tv shows from the 90s and 2000s have taught me. Other than the stuff I watch and the podcasts and music I listen to I’ve pretty much-forgotten everything about the old earth. Sometimes it feels like my brain is keeping me from remembering, I guess I’m just seeking to shield myself from my past. I’m only 17 or at least I’m mostly sure, I’ve kinda lost count along the way. Age doesn’t matter or mean much when there’s no one else around or any rules to follow. It’s kinda nice to do whatever I want when I want, but its starting to get old after a few years. it’s just Toto, me and a pile of junk Toto’s the smartest robot I could build. he has an artificial intelligence module that gives him the ability to listen and understand. He can’t speak much other than a few beeps and boops kinda like a little droid I think we all know. He gets around using big rubber wheels from an RC rally car.

Every once in awhile we’ll see bright lights high up in the sky to high to reach and to high to see any detail. I need to leave my home to find out if there’s anything out there. We haven’t gone too far from home yet. In the movies, they say to always stay right where you are, if you get lost help will be on the way. I’m not sure how much longer we should wait, I’m starting to lose confidence. I haven’t seen or heard any sign of life since the fog had cleared. Soon we’ll have no choice but to venture into the nothingness. I need to find another human, life is getting too tough just us two. supplies are getting slim nothing grows in the desert and I’m running out of bottles of water. The town only had a few hundred people when it was being used as a military outpost, so the supplies have never been in abundance. Nevada’s where it all started. They open the can of worms without knowing how to put the lid back on. I’m just a kid and I’ve got to figure this out or I’ll die all alone in the middle of nowhere.