Utopia

Chapter 1

"Let them go, please!" she begged, her voice loud and shrill with each cry and scream that emanated from her lips. The woman fell at the base of the house before her, watching with horror through the window as her children, her babies; the ones she adopted and grew to love as her own, were soon... no more.

The pixels were all that remained as they crumbled in a heap before her, flickering with the last bit of light and hope- and life- in them before it all just went dark.

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire,

I hold with those who favor fire.

My world used to be just like yours. At least, that's what my grandparents have told me.

I'm not even sure how many years it's been since we lost Earth. Our government doesn't like to talk about it. They like to pretend that it never existed- that here, our home, was all there ever was, and all there ever will be. They only speak of the other planet when they are letting their people know how far we've come, and how much better we are then they used to be.

They'd like to get us to believe that besides our planet, there is nothing out there; that those who leave never come back because they perish in the vast emptiness of space. They've left the care of a government who has only wanted the best for its citizens, searching for something better- and better is never found.

But why would people keep leaving the planet if all that was beyond the atmosphere was death? Is death so much better than being here?

I wouldn't think so. Anything is better than death. Just the mere idea of it makes me shudder.

Rules have to exist for the good of humanity- laws have to be in order, to keep peace and unity. Peace. Unity. Order. Those are the things that make my planet great.

Aren't they?

Those who don't believe in the government and the laws like to speculate. They like to put doubts in the minds of others so that you wonder what really is going on.

I can't say I haven't been influenced in some way. You are affected by the people around you, whether or not you say otherwise. Each year, I see more and more things happening that I don't think should belong in our world- things that don't add up. But there is nothing I can do. I don't want to lose what I've worked so hard to gain.

Amidst the corruption and greed of the old planet, Earth, I've heard stories that it used to be a wonderful place. They had grass and trees and animals like we do here- and they had something else that we don't.

They had love.

I'm not sure what that word even means. It's spoken so softly and whispered so quickly that I'm not even sure I've heard it correctly. All I know, is that if the word were heard by the government, those who spoke it would be severely punished.

Severely. Now that's a word that every citizen knows through and through.

Earth was lax. Earth let criminals off with warnings, and gave their citizens trials to prove their innocence if convicted. These are the reasons why Earth failed.

Eventually, Earth was consumed by its own mess. A ravenous fire spread across the land during one particular, dry, summer. It spread so quick and so fast, that the officers were unable to stop it before it consumed the whole of the United States. The heat evaporated lakes and rivers, and the thick smoke choked out all remaining life as it spread across the sky. All that was left in the wake of the fire was the charred remains of what used to be.