Earth's Last Hope

• Ella Rousseau, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2014

I shifted uncomfortably in the shuttle seat - my blonde hair, a tangle of knots. I sighed in despair, staring longingly at Earth which was gradually fading into the distance, soon to be a forgotten planet. I knew this day would come sooner or later - my parents had warned me. Yet, nothing could have prepared me for that dreadful day. I gazed out of the shuttle’s single window. The Earth was covered in a thick, sickly brown haze. I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was my mum. She looked exhausted. The signs of sleepless nights were visible in her eyes and the deep purple lines under them were proof. The look of defeat was clear in her eyes. I exhaled, turning my head from Earth for the last time. I closed my eyes, letting the darkness fill my vision and rested my arms behind my head. That horrific final day on Earth still seemed to haunt me, as clear as day. Every time I shut my eyes I would see the terrified faces surrounding me. The brown cloud of pollution slowly engulfing the entire Earth. By then, the o-zone layer had completely depleted and we were warned to stay inside due to the UV rays. I opened my eyes and took a deep breath. The shuttle began to shake and the muffled, static voice of the pilot echoed through the shuttle.
“Passengers, please buckle your belts, it may be a bumpy ride from now on, we are 1 hour off from reaching Mars.”
As hundreds of years passed our technology evolved and advanced so much that it felt absurd. Past generations weren’t even able to travel to Mars and come back. However, today it only takes us a couple of hours. We were in one of the last few shuttles travelling to Mars. I pondered, would it be anything like Earth? I hoped so. I can barely remember what the Earth was like before it became uninhabitable. My parents do though, yet they rarely talk about it. On the rare occasion that they do speak of ‘the good old days’, they talk about the very last trees, now an unknown and extinct variety of what they called ‘flora.’ In school I was also told that the trees release something called oxygen. That’s how people used to breathe. I tried to imagine what it would be like but only images of the brown sunsets and concrete jungles entered my mind. The space shuttle shook us violently as it landed roughly onto the dusty ground of Mars. I peered out the window at my new home....
This is a message from the year 2200 to warn you of our possible future. If you are able to read this message, the pollution has already begun. What’s done is done, yet you are still capable of preventing these horrible events from occurring. My name is Tara, I am 15 in your years and this message is Earth’s last hope...