How the End of the World Came to Be

I have never been good at keeping secrets – and my friends should have known that. My friend Charlie showed me something that would change the future of America. Charlie worked for the government, but he could never tell me what he did. We had known each other since second grade, and used to be the closest of friends. Ever since he was selected for a special job in the government, we seemed to grow further and further apart. I could never know what he was up to. Then one day Charlie decided to change that and show me everything, which was a huge mistake on his part.

One day I woke up, took a shower, ate breakfast, and got ready for my job as an electrical engineer. It was a normal day until I grabbed my coffee and heard a knock at the door. There on the doorstep was Charlie with two men in black suits. He said, “It is time we get better acquainted.” When I inquired what was wrong or where we were going he just said, “you will see.” I should have known then that something was up. I was about to be meddling in matters that should be left alone. We got in a white limo and drove off discretely, to an unknown location.

I recognized where we were though before we stopped, as anyone would have. We were at the White House. We got out of the car and walked inside. I asked, “What are we doing here?” Charlie replied, “Just hold tight.” Having special access to the White House wasn’t new to me. My job as an electrical engineer brought me here many times to fix faulty wires. I still didn’t understand what we were doing. Our party of four walked past the Oval Office and down a glossy white hallway. I had never seen this place before. At the end of the hall were four armed guards and an elevator at the back. When we walked in a wall closed behind us concealing the bright hallway. One guard said, “Good morning gentlemen.” He pulled a card out of his pocket and put it in a slot. Then he entered a code and the elevator doors opened. Charlie, the two other men and I shuffled into the elevator. There was one button with no number on it. Charlie pressed it. Finally he broke the silence, “I could not tell you about this before, it was highly classified, but I convinced the President you could be trusted, but you cannot tell anyone about this. If you do who knows what will happen.” “Wait, what do you mean?” I asked nervously. I was awful at keeping secrets. Charlie ignored my concern, “Welcome, to the new area 51.” I could not respond. Before me lay a facility that went on for as far as the eye could see. People were scurrying, furiously typing on computers and observing new things I had never seen before. There was a flying object, which floated up and shined a blinding red light on us and then flew away. Charlie asked me, “Do you think we really have the resources to produce all the modern technology we have? Most of it came from observing alien equipment. And before you ask, most of the aliens are not green, many look like us. Of course, there are those who live up to the reputation of a fantasy alien.” Charlie led me down to a pad, which appeared to be floating in the air. He said, “We built this to experiment with repelatron technologies found in an alien space ship. For now it just goes up and down, but we think we may be able to apply it to cars. No more tire replacements.” The hover pad silently floated down. When the hover pad had landed I saw the President there observing an ongoing experiment. In a glass bubble there were tiny streaks of blue light, bouncing around. The President turned around and said, “Oh there you are Charlie, I see you brought your friend, just make sure you are not disrupting any experiments.”
“Thank you, sir,” replied Charlie. I was intrigued by the streaks of blue light and found myself asking, “What are these?” A scientist in a white lab coat turned around and said, “These streaks of blue light are faster than light micro organisms found on a scouting mission by one of our ships. We found they bend space and time around them and this allows them to travel very fast because they move what is ahead of them behind them. We are still not sure just how they do it, but we would like to adopt their technologies to our own use. I said, “This is amazing.” “And it’s not even the tip of the ice berg,” replied Charlie. The President spoke up again, “Now the real reason we brought you here was to ask a favor of you.” “Not a favor, more of a job opportunity,” added Charlie. The President continued, “Yes, we need some help in out electrical work, it has become increasingly hard to keep this place powered and we hear you are the best at what you do. So, would you design a more efficient way to conduct energy for us? If you succeed we would give you a full time job.” Charlie put in, “And it would pay nearly three times more than your current job.” I thought for a moment then said, “What about my current job?” “You will have to quit, but we will pay you while you are working for us.” I decided, “Well who could resist, I will get to work on it as soon as possible.” “Great,” the President replied, “We will provide you with anything you need, tools, manpower, plans of the building, and money. Now I have to head to New York for a meeting. Good luck.” “Thank you,” I said. Charlie suggested, “Why don’t we take a look around, you should get familiar with this facility considering you will be working here for a while.”

For the rest of the day I toured the underground facility. Charlie showed me things that were way beyond what I thought possible. Things like a machine which rearranged your molecular composition to a gas so you could travel through tight spaces. There was also a space ship with a nuclear drive that could run for nearly fifteen years without a replacement. I took some pictures of things I would need to do my new job, but I could not help but to also snap a few photos of all the contraptions around me when no one was looking. I also found it fun to spend time with Charlie again after all this time. I hadn’t had a real conversation with him for a year or so now. We even went out to have a quick drink after my tour. As the sun set I realized I had work to start on. As I waved good-bye to Charlie I didn’t realize it would be the last time I would see him.

As I got home my phone rang. It was my boss, calling to ask where I was. I picked up the phone and said, “Hello.” “Where were you all day?” “I took a sick day,” I replied. He said, “No you didn’t, I was at your house, I had to drop off that new shipment of computers.” I said, “Look, I quit. I found a new job.” “What do you mean, are you just too much of a wimp for the job? Are you just going to work at Subway or something for the rest of your life?” By now I was annoyed and the words just came out of my mouth, “You want to know where I was! I was in a secret base under the White House. Past the oval office is a secret door leading to an underground facility, If you don’t believe me I will show you the pictures.” I sent my boss the pictures, but he never called back. My mind flashed back to when the President said, “Do not tell anyone.” I thought about that for a moment then went to sleep. This would be my last night in a real bed in a real home. I didn’t know it, but tomorrow everything would change.

Overnight my boss was busy posting the images on Facebook. A little goes a long way and before dawn word had reached a group of terrorists hiding out in a building in New York, but now they were on their way to the White House with a bargaining chip, the President.

The next day I woke up and got ready. Instead of going to my job I went to the White House, ready to get to work. The day there started off normal. When I walked near the wall hiding the narrow white hall the doors opened, but the four armed men were not armed anymore, their weapons were on the floor and to the side. In the narrow hall were fifteen terrorists with the President held hostage. They had him gagged, with his hands tied behind his back and a gun to his head. The terrorists turned around and saw me, but did not seem to care. One of them said, “Quick, open the door now or the President dies.” You could tell the man in charge of the elevator was looking for options, but when none came to mind he turned around put the card in and entered the code. Only two terrorists went down the elevator, but a moment later there was a huge explosion that shook the whole building. The terrorists turned a moment later and shot all four guards. They were deathly still on the floor. Before I could even move the terrorists turned and pointed the gun at me, but instead of shooting me, they gave it to me and said, “Go, shoot the President. If you don’t do it we will kill you both.” I thought long and hard. They will kill us both anyway I concluded. I threw the gun to the side. In one last attempt to escape I ran for the door, but I can’t outrun a bullet. I must have then passed out because I don’t remember anything that happened from then until someone woke me up. He said, “Hey, take deep breaths, okay.” Your going to be fine, you just passed out from shock, the bullet wasn’t fatal.” I caught a glimpse of the President’s lifeless body. With the help of two others I got up and looked outside, the terrorists had turned all our technology against us, the city was in shambles. One of the men next to me said angrily, “Some idiot posted these pictures on Face Book.” He showed me pictures, the ones I took. “The terrorists must have got a hold of them and found out how to get inside. And now, this is what happens.” He continued. It was then I realized that the end of the world was initiated at my hand and now I would much rather be dead than alive.