Brightened Darkness | Teen Ink

Brightened Darkness

November 7, 2013
By SamuelR BRONZE, Las Vegas, Nevada
SamuelR BRONZE, Las Vegas, Nevada
3 articles 0 photos 0 comments

The year just reached 3000. Earth was over populated, ruined, and polluted. Every inch of Earth was taken over by tiny houses that had to house 10-20 people. Even the oceans were covered to make more buildings. Also, Earth was hollowed out to search for more valuables. The depressing planet could fall without any warning. My punishment turned out saving my life while they doomed themselves.

I don’t understand how I became guilty, I’m an engineer and everyone envied them. Engineers had everything! Unlike the others they had a house to themselves. People had to pay taxes for engineers to attempt to make new discoveries that went nowhere.
Well the day I was convicted a man rushed out of his house while I chose to go to city and purchase more materials. I returned from the city’s capital and he noticed me. “Thief!” he cried.

“What” I questioned, but cops were already handcuffing me. I was forced into the hovering car with the blinking strobe lights. I stuck my head out the window and yelled,” Tell me! What did I do?”

“My house was robbed earlier today. We asked around the whole neighborhood investigating who could’ve robbed me. We entered your house and you had all of my items that were stolen. Tell me why’d you do it?” He leaned in, smirked and then waved goodbye. Then I was off.

I woke up at the prison I occupied, I thought it was just a dream. After I noticed the warden I questioned “Why am I here?”

“Didn’t you rob a man’s house?” he replied.

“No I didn’t! I don’t even know how his………”

“Save it for court.”

Finally I was allowed to leave my cell and was led to the building right on top of the jail cell. Court was now in session. I took my seat answered questions without losing my temper. I watched the two lawyers bicker it out. They were amazingly persuasive. After an hour or two the jury was confused on which side they should choose. It took another hour to make up their minds “Judge we have made our decision. We aren’t certain, but we believe the suspect is guilty,” the man explained.

“If you aren’t certain, how did you come up with this verdict?” the judge questioned.

“He’s an engineer,” replied the jury.

“I see. Well, because we aren’t certain, your punishment will be banishment from Earth. They didn’t give me time to react. At that moment I was rushed outside to a car to arrive at a space station. Next I was ordered to put on this outfit and sprint to the giant machine. They gave me no warning or sympathy; they just blasted the giant machine into the air and no one bid me farewell. I expected that my life was over and so I went to sleep. I’ve lived with this much towards me ever since I became an engineer, but I didn’t think it would go this far.
“Warning! Warning!” I was awakened and surprised. The ship was crashing! I randomly pressed buttons and it worked luckily. I landed a ship! When I exited the machine, the planet was beautiful. I repeatedly pinched myself thinking this was a dream. The grass was blue and the sky was orange. Water was teal and the wildlife was peaceful. It felt like I was inside a Dr. Seuss book. My dreams became a reality on this unknown planet. At some point my admiration ran off and thoughts of survival entered my mind, but it was interrupted by terrified screams. I became frightened and headed the opposite direction of it. It wouldn’t stop or fade away! I paused, took a breath, and noticed the area has changed massively. Water boiled because of heat, trees were turned into charcoal, and the animals, or whatever they were, were more gigantic and stronger. Then a voice appeared from the forest of charcoal “You there!” a tanned man who looked like a native tribe member whispered. “You’d get killed if you stand out in the open.”

“Why are you whispering?” I yelled in sarcasm to him. Right then a roar appeared and a giant creature came into sight. It was terrifying with its scaly skin and its four legs and bloody face.

“Now you’ve done it.” The man stated while pulling me away. We ran and ran but that thing kept up with our pace. All I could think was who I should write my will to. The man halted once where the sides collided.

“What are you doing? It’s going to catch us!” I panicked. He did nothing though. His arms were crossed while he stared toward the border between the 2 sides. Then the trees started falling and the thing changed into a gecko! After that freak show I was guided to their campsite with fear in my eyes. We headed for the luxurious tent in the center. I was greeted by a elder man who observed my appearance and nodded in approval. After that, I was a taken to the man’s tent. “So, how’d you get here?” he asked.

“I was framed for a crime on Earth and then banished as my punishment,” I replied.

“What’s your name?”

“My name is Barry, and yours is?”

“Mine’s David, the discoverer.”

“Hi David and what is this planet?”
“We refer to this planet as the ying-yang. Half of it is evil and the other half is peaceful. We’re in the peaceful side right now. The evil side is confusing. Everything that enters the dark side becomes more aggressive, stronger, and taller but for some reason it doesn’t happen to humans. Right now the dark side is spreading and its taking over the whole planet.”

“Is there any way to prevent it from fully reaching?”

“We believe there’s a source and tomorrow, we’re going after it!”

“Should I help?”

“What did you do for a living at Earth?”

“I was an engineer.”

David took a long pause to think “Do you think you can create the equipment for the big expedition.” That night I upgraded everything that was needed. We prepared for the big fight that would happen the next day.

The next morning the tribe and I set off to the evil side and searched thoroughly for the source. We noticed a tall mansion deep inside the evil side where many creatures were admiring. We broke into it and found a machine pumping chemicals. A man came from the darkness and I remembered him.

“Hello there Barry, do you remember who I am?” the man smirked.

“I hate you!” I said.

“I feel the same way towards you, actually I just hate engineers.”

“You’re like everyone else, it doesn’t bother me one bit, but tell me why, why did you do all this?”

“At one point my wife became sick with a new, deadly disease that could only be treated with expensive medication. I couldn’t afford it; I couldn’t even pay the taxes I was forced to. It was a tough. My wife and I tried to avoid the taxes but my roommates actually liked engineers and tattled on us whenever we planned to escape them. I never had enough money and could never stop my wife’s suffering.” He began to cry and the man was silenced. One of the tribe members snuck behind him and ended him. The others worked on smashing the machine. Finally they were able to and the planet became purified from its evil. It was brightened from its darkness.



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