[Child of God]: 416.What If - Contest.Changes

She watched as the rain continued to bear down against the window, her heart as dark as the clouds above. Christina’s mind had stopped registering the thunder and lightning weeks before, when the storm had first began. Back when she had first truly looked at the world around her. When she had, for the first time, seen the true filth and desolation. When the violence had stripped her of her naivety and the bitterness of that revelation had stolen her joy. When the hatred had first began to eat away at her heart like a cancer and despair destroyed her hope.

Before, the trees seemed so vibrant, the waters so clear and the air so clean. It seemed as though Gaia was preparing for a rebirth, for renewal after the horrors she had been subjected to over the millenniums. It seemed as though her wounds were finally beginning to close.

But how could she possibly heal with the ground so poisoned with blood?

As the state of the world and the nature of its inhabitants revealed themselves, Christina had finally realized what every other before had also realized; there was no rebirth, no renewal. There is no escaping one’s nature, only eventual submission. She was one of them; she will suffer their fate as well.
There was no escape, only darkness
No compassion, only bitterness
No charity, only greed
No love, only hate
No hope, only despair
No life, only death
There is no escape.

The trees around her then died, the waters became blackened and the air poisoned. Mountains became cancerous lumps and valleys became scars. Monsters surrounded her, from without and within.

As she grieved for her loss, movement within the storm caught her attention. Through the acidic rain, a deer could be seen staggering from the surrounding bush. Multiple wounds made its ordeal known as the rain was unable to wash it clear of the freely flowing blood.
‘You too are unable to escape your fate.’ She watched the deer collapse, then struggle to get up again. ‘We all become victims to the monsters of this world’
Unable to stand, the deer finally submitted, laying down to accept its fate. As the creature lay still, another emerged into the clearing.
Compassion filled Christina’s heart as she watched the infant carefully approach its mother, a small wound on its back made visible by the blood. As the rain subsided slightly, she watched the fawn attempt to arouse its mother.
‘No one is safe, not even the innocent. Such is the life we are all doomed to lead.’
She sat, watching the infant’s futile attempts until it finally trudged off into the trees. Her hear darkened even more, despair weighing even heavier upon her.
‘We are all born to die at the hands of another. Even if the mother hadn’t been protecting the infant, her fate would not have changed.

‘But why then do we strive to protect, knowing it will eventually perish? What do we hope to achieve?
What do we hope to . . .
What do we hope?’

The simple question startled Christina. Why do mothers protect their children, when they know they will eventually die? Why do people fight for something which will never be realized? Why do we fight?
Beyond the hurt,
Beyond the bitterness,
Beyond the greed
Beyond the despair
Something must be driving us.

What we to achieve drives us.
Hope drives us.

‘But what hope? What is the hope that drives us? Where do that hope come from?’ Christina stared at the dead deer outside, illuminated now and again by the lightning. ‘You died, hoping to save your child. You died trying to give your child a chance of life. But why? Surely you know your child will share your fate.

But maybe, it was the hope for something better that drove you.’

She blinked, again startled. Perhaps it wasn’t about the outcome, but maybe the attempt. It wasn’t the finish, it was the journey that mattered.
The thunder began to fade, the rain slowing as this new realization revealed itself.
Aside from greed
Aside from bitterness
Aside from the need for revenge
Aside from the despair
The hope for something better drives us.
The hope for our children, for our future drives us. The hope for change and for a better tomorrow; it is that hope that drives us.

As the revelation sank in, the rain stopped and the clouds dissipated. Trees began to revive and the waters clear. As her heart lightened and the despair melted away, Christina rose and opened the door. A clean, warm breeze greeted her as she shielded her eyes from the rays of the sun. The monsters were driven away by the doves song and the mountains again became a rising see of life.
As she peered over the cliff at the city below, no longer were the buildings cancer, the inhabitants beasts or the life a walking death. Rather, as the sun reflected off the glass buildings and the sounds of life reached her, it became a beacon of hope, of courage. The world around her changed, undergoing its rebirth. As she sat, dangling her feet over the cliff side, she marveled at the power of hope, and how one’s emotions are what really shape the world, and everything in it.