Home, Sweet Home

I walked into the house and I immediately felt at home.

There were cracks running all along the walls from the floor to ceiling, the air was thick with the smell of mold seeping through the floorboards, and I noticed paint chipping away on the walls that were covered in yellow and brown spots. It looked absolutely hopeless, but I knew what it could be. Besides, I had lived in it when it was.

I envisioned the grand chandelier in the foyer - something I’d grown accustomed to until bringing home new guests and being genuinely surprised when their jaws dropped in awe. We were the only family within miles to have one. But it wasn’t just the chandelier- there was the antique wall phone, the elaborate fireplace, the moose head. My parents, like my Dad’s, went out of their way to ensure the house still resembled its original form when my great-great-great-grandparents had built it in the early 1900s. The house was pretty much a museum and my parents started talks to host tours. But they never got to give one, because the war had decided to come to Earth.

The first space war happened soon after we colonized Mars and the Moon. See, we had to get people off Earth or else there wouldn’t be one anymore. Since hardly anyone wanted to leave, there was a lottery that split us up. A quarter of the population was forced to move to the Moon, and another third went to Mars. The remainder (including my relatives) stayed on Earth. As you can imagine, there were a lot of unhappy faces. But rather than moping around on their new homes, they thrived with fierce determination. Later, and as one would expect, the Martians and Lunies didn’t appreciate being controlled by Earthlings any longer. Mankind has a knack for repeating itself it seems.

They had sent out most of our smartest scientists and engineers to Mars and the Moon, so their technology had advanced much quicker there than on Earth. The Lunies also became efficient space pirates that stole all types of resources from Earth to bring back to the Moon colony or to sell to Mars. Basically Martians and Lunies were very well-prepared when the war started, whereas Earthlings were not. Avoiding nuclear warfare, all we had were numbers. So when I was 15 they drafted me out to space and I never saw my parents again.

In a way, I was lucky to have been drafted. As soon as I was docked to my station and assigned my bunk, news was spreading quickly across the station that Earth had been hit with some kind of chemical or biological weapon. Panic had overcome me as I tried finding out if my parents were okay - but they had lost all contact with Earth. We could literally see it happening from out our space station window as Earth became blanketed in a light purple dust. Martians and Lunies never took ownership of this act and accused Earth of accidentally releasing the weapon. But it stopped everyone cold because we realized none of us could go back - at least until the dust had settled. Trapped in space, Earthlings surrendered to the people they had cast away years ago and became immigrants in their homes.

Forty years later, the dust had settled and Earth looked as lush as we’d ever seen it. It appeared only humans were affected by the weapon because while nature and wildlife were thriving, not one human or human remain was ever found. Scientists (Earthlings, Martians, and Lunies) couldn’t even locate a hint of whatever had eradicated human life on Earth, but then had also ended the war and saved our planet.

Sometimes I wonder and I think if it was all worth it, and where we went wrong. Sometimes I wonder. But now that I’m home, I need to find a new chandelier for the foyer.