Temperance.

• Marynell Proszenyak, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2013

The worlds ending, the world is ending. And who am I? No one, but there’s something about me you should know; I can see things, things no man should be compelled to see. It’s not the living, but the dead. Those that are dead want to destroy us all, I can see right into the minds of those who wish to destroy us. I see everything for what it is; I can see things that the ordinary mind wouldn’t even consider, I can see your past and your future. It all started when I was 15, a man walked up to my greatest friend Temperance, he said his name was Arthur Liston, that was the truth, then he proceeded to say that he was to take her to the hospital because her parents were in a car accident. That’s when every bad he had ever done flashed before my eyes. I grabbed Temperance’s arm, and we ran. I never saw Arthur Liston again until now. The year is 2017, and in two years I have seen what the earth is to become through Arthur Liston’s future, only I can prevent this, and even though he had given into his lusts back when I was a kid, his a good man now, and he wants nothing more than to save the earth, but with all that I am, I know, he must pay for those that he had hurt.
“Marty, I know you don’t trust me, but you and I both know how this ends”. The only way for this to end is if Arthur or I die. The future always changes; it swaps between him and me. The only way to make this stop is if one of us dies. But who am I to decide which life goes? “Arthur I know, I wish we could find a way around this, I do. But there is no other alternative” I wish there was. “I’ll go” that was a lie, in that moment I knew that it was never his intention to die, when it came down to it. He was going to kill me. “Let’s just sleep on it okay” He knows only part of what I can see and do, he is a fool.
Today’s the day one must leave this earth, I’m scared, scared of the future. I’m scared of messing this up and not saving the earth. “Come on Marty” Arthur was nervous; his body was shaking, with good reason. He was about to kill me, his only friend.
But then the future changed again, the only way to save the world was to make another. Magic this dark required sacrifice of a pure soul. I knew it couldn’t be Arthur, and with the things that I’ve seen, my soul is no longer pure, but Temperance’s was. I know what I must do. I’m sorry temperance, I leave this note for you so you know why you must die, I love you with all that I am.