This Can’t Be Happening To Me

By Shelley M. Latreille  

The invisible man walks upon this Earth virtually unnoticed. But by a few, he can be seen. His invisible head is filled with knowledge that he wants to share with the entire World. He knows how to end World hunger, violence, and lies. But no one listens to him. He is made invisible by all those who do evil and by the rest of the population because they are ignorant and do not listen to his wonderful words of wisdom.

The invisible man was always left feeling sad. He felt that no one would ever listen to him in time to save the World from self-destruction. But what really made him at peace with himself was the fact that there were still forests in the World that were still standing and thriving peacefully. He chose one forest which was a secret, way up in the mountains. It was almost untouched by humans.

As the invisible man walked in that lackadaisical forest, he felt something that he never had before. He could feel the crunch of the dead, wooden leaves beneath his tender feet. He could feel the innocent wind bathing his enlightened face with an innocent breath. He could feel the incandescent sun warming his glowing face. The tall, luminous trees looked down upon him with respect and gratitude for they were the only ones who knew the truth, or so he thought. Because suddenly, all the small furry woodland creatures surrounded him in a small, yet protective circle.

To his surprise, they all began to chirp and chatter. He could understand their language. They told him all the secret ways of the World in which they have survived all throughout the beginning of time. They told him how the roots of the trees are all intertwined in an intricate union of rough bark and wood. The sap from each tree flows throughout this union, creating a syrupy sweet dance throughout all the roots. This intermixing makes a sort of drum beat, almost like a heartbeat, in the very core of the Earth. This is the Earth’s lifeline. When the heartbeat is strong, the Earth is healthy and feeds its people efficiently, but this time, the heartbeat sounded weak with despair.

The animals chattered on frighteningly, that if the Earth’s heartbeat gets any weaker, the whole Earth would die, including all the animals, humans, and trees that inhabited the Earth now. But, the animals did not think that these humans deserved to live anyway. They led very bad and dishonorable lives. Their lives were filled with filth, greed, lies, murder, and disgust. But worst of all, they were killing their precious Mother Earth with their polluted aggravations and grievances. The only way to save the Earth now was to annihilate all the evil humans thriving off the Earth, which cannot take the exsanguination any longer. When the World had only animals, there was peace, love, and harmony among the Earth and its fields. The animals created a balance which was knocked unconscious by the humans that one day grew upon the Earth. The humans lacked a respect for the Earth’s resources which the animals had always possessed.

The invisible man thought long and hard about what the animals had told him. They wanted him to decide whether humans should be allowed to live and destroy the Earth and themselves in the next one-hundred years or killed now so that the Earth could be saved, and the animals could create their natural balance and harmony with the Earth again.

Day after day, the invisible man walked all over the Earth. He visited the peaceful and illustrious mountains, the overcrowded and overpopulated cities, the pleasant countryside with its animal farms, and the forests with their beautiful fields of wildflowers. The more he walked among the humans, the dirtier and more disgusting he felt. He cried for the animals and trees who were dying because of all the human’s pollution. And the worse he felt, the more that he wanted to rid himself and the Earth of all the shapes and forms of humans.

On the six-hundred and sixty-sixth day, he went back to that forest and his animal friends. They chirped happily when he told them that he would help them rid the Earth of all humans. Then they spilled to him their great plan to heal the sick Earth. He was to fly with the great and soaring eagles, far up into the sky. There, he would send a poison salt up into the clouds, which would cause a huge and great thunderstorm. This would poison the air and water which would kill all the humans, but would leave all the animals in the World unharmed. It would make the animals healthier. It would heal the Earth and make everything well again.

On the six-hundred and sixty-seventh day, the invisible man climbed aboard the great eagle. It flew him up to the sky and with a great thrust of his wrist, he threw the salts into the clouds, creating a huge flash of light and the harsh sound of destruction. On that fine day, the Earth grew very gray and smoked with the destruction and death of all humans. All humans and their humble families, along with the polluters and murderers, all screamed in unison, “This can’t be happening to me!” Hours and hours, and days upon days flew wickedly by. The hideous screaming was almost too much for him to bear, but soon it was replaced with motionless cadavers. He had watched everyone die from the back of that eagle, far up in the clouds. After everyone was truly dead and putrid, he watched as their bodies decayed and shriveled up into nothingness. He felt moved then and shed tears of sadness, which fell upon the Earth.

The eagle took him back down upon the face of the Earth to the animals. They cheered in a joyous wonder and in utter delight for what he had done for them. They told him that he was the Chosen One, and that is why he had spent his whole life as the invisible man. They said truthfully, in a soft voice, that saving the Earth had already been imprinted in his destiny before the beginning of time. And now there was an even bigger event to come and he was an extremely significant part of the plan. They said that he would no longer be invisible, but visible to all who looked upon him. Suddenly, he was standing naked admits the forest and the animals. He felt the soft dirt and the Earth’s strong heartbeat beneath his feet. He felt happiness, joy, and love for the Earth and the animals. The Earth was healthy once more, and all the pollution, hurt, anger, and lies created by humans were lost to oblivion in place of health and love.

The animals gave him a present. They created a woman out of dirt, leaves, and bark. She lay beneath a tree. She was naked, like him, but she did not breathe. And suddenly, she was given life by a small and light misty rain. She opened her eyes and looked upon him with love. He held his arms out to her. With the soft misty rain pouring forth over their glistening bodies, they mated there in the soft dirt of the forest. The animals told them that they had been chosen to begin a new race of humans. A better race which would keep the balance of the Earth in check and a race that would not pollute the Earth or their fellow animals. They would now populate the Earth. The children of the invisible man and his mate and the children of their children, and so on, would become the new humans and nothing would ever have to be destroyed again. But after generation upon generation, there could be a failure with these new humans. They could become like the original humans who had almost destroyed the Earth. If these new humans become like the previous humans, then by the Millennium of the year two-thousand, there will be a terrible explosion and the Earth, its humans, and the animals would cease to exist, and no one would ever remember that the Earth had existed. It would be erased from the memories of all the other beings in the Universe.

As the years went by, generations upon generations grew upon this Earth and inhabited the stars. Some of these humans treated the Earth with the respect that it deserved, while others treated the Earth with pollution, violence, and death. But, now it is almost time for the year two-thousand. We can finally find out what fate is in store for us. Or can we change our ways in time?