Hello to whomever is reading this,
My name is Mason, I am about 47 years old and live in America. Last week I got some very bad news, I am dying. The radiation in my body is finally taking its toll on me. I guess it should not have been such a surprise, I mean my mom and dad had died from radiation poisoning over 20 years ago. Their insides slowly being changed as the radioactivity turned their body's molecules into ions, permanently damaging them.
The multiple doctors I went to said I only have a month to live, but I decided I am going to live a much shorter time period than that. I have nothing to live for. No family, no wife, no kids, not even a pet. There is no point in suffering through the pain and the failures my body is going through.
That is why I left this letter in my tiny apartment for someone to find. I just want you to know that I am returning to my home town. I want to die where I spent a big chunk of my life. To clear things up this is not a suicide, it’s just where I grew up is going to give me a large amount of radiation so it may speed up the process of my death but its well worth it. I want to die happy instead of wasting away in my bed.
Just in case you need it, you can find my body in the ghost town of Chernobyl.















Yours truly,
















Mason R.

Shortly after writing the letter I bought a plane ticket to Russia. Later that week I took a bus to a town that was close to my destination. I had to rent a car to drive the rest of the way. Because it is guarded to make sure people would not enter I snuck in.





***
I stood on the balcony of my new apartment that I shared with my mom and dad. We had moved to this town because my dad had gotten a job at the nuclear power plant. I looked out onto the town. The plant’s smoke stacks rose high into the sky puffing little clouds into the blue oblivion. Next to it, the giant lake glistened in the sun like millions of little diamonds. People of all different shapes and sizes scurried and wallowed around in the square below like little ants. I sighed hoping that one day this place will feel like home





***
Standing in what used to be the square I took in my surroundings. Thirty years of abandonment and abuse certainly showed. The large apartment building that I used to live in was overrun by all kinds of plants. The windows of buildings,dark and empty. I look up at the balcony of my old apartment on the third floor; sure enough the pink ribbons I had tied on the railings for mother’s day, but was too lazy to take down were still there, frayed and flapping in the slight breeze. A yellowed and molded teddy bear with the words I love you on its belly sat in the corner under the faded pink ribbons. I didn't dare go into my old apartment for the flooring was probably no longer strong and supportive. Old shoes and toys lay on the empty streets, along with trash and rubble. I could see the people that used to live there before me, walking around as if they had never left. I knew it wasn't true just simply me remembering what it was like before the meltdown. Simply ghosts of my past.





***
My 17th birthday had passed a couple days before and I had used the money I received to buy a gift for a special someone. I placed the White teddy bear on my balcony where he will wait for his beautiful new owner. On his belly he had the words I love you sewn on in shiny purple thread. Ashley had been my girlfriend for almost a year, and our one year anniversary was going to be in six days. The same day the new amusement park was opening. I was going to take her.
“Hey Ash?” I asked
“Yeah?”
“Want to go on a date Friday night? It is a special night after all and I want to spend it with a special girl.” I said with a grin.
“Of course I will!”
“Great!” I said, “I will pick you up at 8”




***
The rusted Ferris wheel towered above me. It’s yellow and rusty cars swayed and creaked. It looked like it had taken years upon years of abuse even though nobody had ever taken a ride on it. The park was due to open five days after the meltdown. I looked around at all the rides. Sorrow swelled in my chest, it was sad that nobody ever got to come here and have a good time. I was manly sad cause I never got to spend my one year anniversary with my girl in fact I never talked to her again. “Where is she now?” I wondered out loud.
I shuffled out of the amusement park and continued to the spot I had used as my getaway during the few years I had lived here. On my way I looked up at the skeletons of buildings over run by plants. Trees grew out of the streets, birds flutter in the sky. Mother Nature was taking her long limbs and reclaiming what is rightfully hers. The silence and absence of other human life pressed down on me like a large wool blanket. It was breath taking. Peace and calm drove out the sorrow that had been choking me only moments before.
***
Wailing sirens jerked my mind to reality, I wish what I was experiencing was a dream. It was sometime in the afternoon, I had fallen asleep and was now being woken up by the deafening noise of screams, sirens, and my parents banging on my door.
“Hurry Mason!” My mom shouted, “We haven’t much time, pack up some clothes. We are being evacuated!”
A few minutes later we were outside. Buses were rumbling up outside the apartment. They were going to pick us up and take us away from the chaos that had claimed the town. I didn't worry too much as we got on the bus and sat on the hard seats. We were just being relocated for a few weeks until they cleaned up after the meltdown.




***
We never came back. A few weeks after the incident we found out what had really happened to our home. The plant, just a few miles from my apartment, uses nuclear fission to create energy. Fission is when Uranium 235 atoms get hit with a neutron and split. This splitting creates energy that can be used. If there is enough uranium the chain reaction of splitting that it will cause a huge explosion. That is actually how an atomic bomb works. In order to not get a critical mass (or enough Uranium to cause an explosion), the plant workers used sections. They would separate the uranium with walls that they could move so they could better control the chain reaction.
They started to get careless with the walls and put them too low creating a critical mass. The plant had a small explosion causing radioactivity to contaminate the whole town. It was worse than first thought.
I walked up the huge oak tree in the middle of a clear area that used to be a park. I sat down and leaned against its strong ruff trunk. This tree has seen a lot. I am not all that surprised that it survived the entire radioactivity. It’s roots go far into the ground, hanging on tight, refusing to give up.
I looked up to the cloudless sky through its large limbs. Light filtered through the big leaves, making them a rainbow of greens against a backdrop of the most brilliant, flawless blue. So beautiful yet so deadly. I lay still just breathing in the peace that filled the air. This was way better than just spending my last days in bed or wandering a smog and noise filled city. I closed my eyes and felt the slight breeze run its hand through my hair and the warm sunlight kiss my cheeks. I seamlessly fell into and endless sleep.