Poisoned world

It just got worse and worse, till the air was poison and the world was in chaos. There are constant natural disasters. No plants or animals can survive. How did it get to this? well, that's it's own story. 

It started just 10 years ago. A man named Thomas Cross Became president. No one quite understands how, but he did. As soon as he was sworn in he managed to destroy our constitution. The few people who supported him let it happen. 

"For our government to work properly everything should go through one person," he explained in a speech. 

So he got rid of all the other government officials and he and his assistants handled everything. Then he decided that the terms were no longer 4 years, that he could stay as long as he wanted. Then he started taking over all other countries. 

"I want to share America's freedom with the world," he explained. 

If this wasn't bad enough, Thomas did not believe in climate change. So of course, he undid all environmental protections. The UN could do nothing to stop him he was too powerful. He started chopping down trees Like mad and outlawed all power sources but oil as he owned the oil fields. By the end of the first year, he was in office it never got below 70 degrees, and seeing a plant was a rare occurrence. 

He didn't care about the consequences. 

"Everything will go back to normal, you are being lied to if you hear anything different," he banned saying anything else. 

Wildlife couldn't survive long and they quickly died out leaving us with almost no resources for food. At this point, everyone realized that cross was a horrible person who is on the way to destroying the world but we couldn't do anything about it. Then wildfires and tornadoes ravaged the land. Diseases spread and millions died each day. Most were homeless and fighting the world to survive. 

Just 5 years into Thomas crosses presidency and the world was destroyed. The toxic air created zombie-like things. They were people with green skin who had a sickness so deathly they could not be within 10 feet of you without spreading it. There was no economy anymore, just raiding, stealing, and killing.

I, Andrew Phillips, Have managed to get through 10 years of this apocalypse. Though it hasn't been easy. In the 6th year of this horror, my mother found out she was pregnant. We were homeless and had nothing. A kind soul who was a nurse helped us through her pregnancy. My baby sister, Maya, was born a few months later. One more year after that my mother got sick and died. My father had died years earlier when our house got caught in a tornado. From then on it was just me and Maya. 

I walked behind the building as carefully as to not draw attention myself. I did not need to be mugged today. I finally crept up to our secret spot. 

I gently grasped Maya to wake her.  

"good morning," I said with a smile, " and happy birthday. 

Today is her fourth birthday so I had my friend Carlos watch her and I woke up extra early to get something special. I didn't know what when I went out but I knew I could find something. I decided to try a fancy store only the rich were allowed in. I went right by the guard and into the shop. I saw a small bag of popcorn. I almost fainted. HOW DID THEY HAVE CORN!?! Before I even fully finished the thought I knew the answer. I could not believe it. Cross figured out how to grow crops but only gave them to the rich. whatever. I grabbed the popcorn and snuck back out. 

"look what I got you!" I showed her the popcorn and watched her face light up. 

"Thank you, Big Brother!" she practically yelled.

Together we ripped open the bag and she stuffed her mouth full of popcorn. I let Maya give me some popcorn even though I told her it was just hers. 

The rest of the day was so fun. Well as fun as anything can be in the apocalypse. After we finished the popcorn I took Maya on a short walk on the best and safest parts of town and told her stories of what the world was like before Thomas Cross. Of course, I was only 5 so I wasn't entirely sure if my memory was right. Lastly, we went and had fun playing games. 

The next day I woke up hopeful. I went to wake Maya but she was already awake. 

"Brother, look what I found!" she held up a small gold bracelet. 

"aww I love it, honey, It should fit you perfectly," I smiled. 

Just then someone I did not know came up behind us with a knife. I pushed Maya behind me out of pure instinct. 

"Give me the bracelet!" he screamed, " I could sell that!"

"NO." both of us looked at the girl behind me. 

The man swung his knife at her and got her in the hand. He snatched the bracelet and ran. I screamed as loud as I could. He got away. At that moment I made up my mind. This had to end, the world had to go back to normal.

After Bandaging up Maya I sat down to chat. I thought about this carefully. She was everything to me. 

"Baby, I have to do something, for you, for the world," I explained, "but it means I will have to go away on a trip." 

she thought about this for a long moment. I could feel my bones shaking but I had to do this. 

"Then I'm coming" she pronounced. 

I was shocked. I didn't know what to do. I decided it made sense. 

"ok," I said. 

We packed our few things into bags and headed off. First, we went to see Carlos and say goodbye. other than my sister he was our only family. 

"Be safe, Make sure to come back to me," Carlos told us, "and take this."

He held out a sharp blade. He explained that we might need to protect ourselves. we finally walked away and headed toward the train. We were going to the Blue house where the president now resided. I told Maya I was going to chat with someone there. Truthfully I did not know what I was going to do when we got there. 

It was a long trip. I had never gone far from home. I stole 20 dollars to get the train ticket. It took 2 hours to get to DC. Then we saw it, the white house. Maya grabbed onto my hand. I realized I could not take Maya with me, I had to do this myself. I took her and ducked behind a bush. 

"Okay You have to stay here, and there will be no discussion otherwise," I explained while I tried to hold a brave face, "It's dangerous. If anyone sees you just say you got lost. I'll be fast."

Before she could say anything I climbed in a window. I landed in a Long hallway. I let my feet lead me into a big room. It just so happened that Thomas was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room. 

"Hey, Mister President!" I screamed in my bravest voice, which was hard since I still had no idea what I was doing. 

He turned to look at me. 

"You have ruined The entire world, Wanna explain?'" I continued

"I don't have to explain anything to you, child" He protested, "But if you want to know so be it. The world screwed me when I was, Now I Skrew it and get everything I could ever want."

I couldn't believe it. 

"That is Sick!" I screamed, "You can't just be an awful person because you have had a rough life."

"well, sorry you feel that way," He smirked, "Now get out of My office before I call security!"

He turned away from me. Just as he did I grabbed the knife from my pocket and stabbed him in the back. He fell backward. I watched the life drain out of him. 

A new president was elected a week later and slowly they fixed everything. There was a worldwide movement for planting trees and rehoming people. It was gonna take time but things would get better. I never did tell Maya exactly what happened that day.