A regular beep, a small red light blinking amongst a white blanket. A weeping mother sat on a firm metal chair by her child. A doctor donning a smooth, white, lab coat and clear glasses placed his hand on the woman's shoulder, "I'm sorry ma'am. I thought we could save him." The woman shook in her sobs and held on to the doctor's hand. A nurse in a pink coat walked in the room and knelt next to the mother, "Ma'am? We are going to take you to the fertility room alright?" The doctor frowned in clear disapproval but said nothing. The woman angrily swiped the nurse's hand away and said, "My child just died! And you want me to get pregnant again! Do you want my record to say twenty one dead children?" The woman stormed up from the chair that she was sitting in and left the room in tears. The doctor looked at the nurse and said slowly, "You could have waited a little longer Ms. Eve." The nurse looked at the Doctor coldly as she said, with sarcastic respect, "Sincerest apologies Dr. Winston. I hardly meant any disrespect when I just stated the fact that our population is due to go extinct in twenty years." She huffed, exasperated and left the room, no doubt to find the woman.

The doctor sighed and sat down near the child's lifeless body. He was the only boy born in his year, 10106. That was eight years ago. He lived for eight years before finally succumbing to the terrible conditions of the planet. It was fair to say that the woman had a right to feel angry and sad, he was her nineteenth try for a child. She had only raised one to adulthood. That was better than most.

I touched the still warm hand of the child, I had delivered him, and I had been his doctor. He was a strange child, very quiet, very quaint. What was it that he said before passing?

"Doctor?"

"Yes Isaac?"

"The ring -- it's coming down isn't it?"

"I don't think anytime soon Isaac -"

"There will be a cure for everyone, won't there?"

"I'm certain Issac -" My voice had cracked here, I choked presently on a sob that threatened to overcome me. But I was a doctor, it didn't matter now. I had to go on with my work. My work. Birthing children to die.

I rose and left the room to my office. I walked into my large white room, I hated the white, it was so pure and so bright. So blindingly white. I sighed as I pulled out the folder for that woman. I couldn't focus. How could I write the report on Isaac's death now? Instead I walked over to Professor H. G. Ella's office. She ran all the services for the mothers and she also ran the joint operation with the NWCS (nation-wide-cure-search) for the RDs (radiation diseases) and was chief executive for the NORP (national outreach program). She was an amazing woman. That much I knew. She was also my sister.

We were not very different, she was three years and six months older than me, but many people used to ask if we were twins. We both had dark brown hair, and dark emerald eyes. With identical smiles and frowns it wasn't a wonder why the question was asked so frequently. But when it came to behaviour, we were different. Vastly, different.

She was always quiet, subdued in a way. She was freakishly smart but never really talked about it. The only way that her friends found out about her brains was when they brought up a topic and asked her about it, even when it was as random as random could get, she always knew what to say.

I, on the other hand, was not very bright. Contrary to what my peers thought, I survived school mostly because Ella helped me, college was my first taste of actual work. I didn't like it much. I was lazy, forgetful and overall a happy-go-lucky kid meaning that I just winged everything.

Now I wasn't.

I raised my hand to her forbidding door and knocked, three times, then waited three seconds before knocking once more. The door opened and revealed my sister sitting on her desk as usual.

Typing frantically on her green keyboard, she didn't even bother to look up rather just briskly saying, "Sit. We need to talk."

"Yeah, we've got a problem Professor..." I started hesitantly as I sat down nervously. She may be my sister, but sometimes I feel as if she is alien to me. She had always been slightly bossy at home, but in a authoritative way, not so much of a dictator than a boss really.

"Tell me something-" She said while pausing for a moment in her typing to wipe her sharp, brown framed glasses. Her dark emerald eyes shone out with desperation, "What will become of this world? Once we're gone?"

"Pro-"

"Tell me why is it so rare to see a child's photo around these halls?"

"I think we-" My sister cut across me once more, her eyes tearing up, "Tell me why all of our three children, healthy and happy, are now dead or dying?"

I buried my face in my hands, "Ella, I wish I knew!"

I heard her sniff and noisily blow her nose in a tissue. "We're all going to die aren't we?" Her thick voice asked. I looked up through my wet lashes to see her eyes flooding as well. I nodded.

She walked over to me and hugged me tightly.

I walked out of the building nearly at twelve that night, my legs and head hurt terribly from the day and I just wanted one night's full sleep.

But that never happened. I lay down in my dark apartment building. One of the many buildings that the Democratic Republic of Ranine offered us. Except, so many of the houses were empty. Unused. Dead. I turned over and tried to not think about the work that was waiting for me tomorrow. Tried not to think of the next woman that would beg not to be impregnated, and another beging to keep her baby, and another, pleading to stay with the dead body for just another minute.

My alarm blared with it's terrible sound at seven sharp. I shut it off and sat up. My wardrobe opened, per usual, and waiting for me were my normal work clothes. Plain, loose, blue pants, a baggy white shirt, some tall boots and of course the frightening, long, white coat that set me apart from everyone else. The badge with "Dr." stood out boldly in its foreboding black. I sighed and dressed quickly. I was exhausted, I didn't have any energy for today.

As I sat alone in my dining room I tied my watch tightly onto my wrist waiting for my coffee and listening to the news as it played above me.

"All seems well in our Democratic Republic of Ranine this fine morning! President V. Marinov has yet to assist the International Radiologists Treatment Organization or the Transcontinental Population Advancement in their fund raising campaign while cutting off all ties to any income source. As he stated earlier this morning, "I will not have my country spending its much needed savings on baseless ideas of human existence on the other side of our planet. We need to focus all our energies right now into increasing our population and regrowing our country now!"

I listened closely to my president's voice. It was deep, commanding, frightening. He made everything that he said sound like a fact. Well known. Even if it wasn't. I worked for the TPA once many years ago. Their claim was not baseless. There was human life on the other side. We just needed to know how to cross the center. I frowned into my morning coffee, the equator ran from north to south. A dangerous wall of energy, beta rays and a hybrid of sarin gases. So far, we have never made it within one thousand miles of the equator before either the equipment melted, or the people died. I sighed again and rose. I tossed my cup into the hole in my wall that transported it into the dishwasher and then I walked to the door. I locked my apartment and left.

My ride was waiting for me as usual, everything was so routine. The thought passed through my head as I stepped onto the silent, floating car. It wasn't that I didn't like routine, I did. It was just that my routine included witnessing a death a day.

I looked out my car window to listen to the megaphones blasting out the deep, dark voice of President V. Marinov. I scowled in displeasure at hearing his speech yet again, it had been playing over for the past month, couldn't he write a new one at least?

I remembered when I was a child, very young, my dad used to tell me and Ella stories about how the world was when he was young. He would sit down in our living room with the screen on the TV playing a fire, spitting 3-d sparks out at us, and tell us that they had found a planet. A small planet far, far away. With life on it. We were so excited, it was the talk of the century. We would go to that planet that we nicknamed "Planet Hope" and study a whole other system of life. We wondered if there would be any humans, and if there would be, if they would be willing to help us save our planet.

As I was drawn back to the present from my memories, I wondered if "Planet Hope" had found us by now.

So, it's been a long time has it not... *looks at the year*

Oh, well not that long... *shrugs and looks back to speech ^_^*

I am profoundly sorry that I did not update as often as I promised :'(... I came down with a heavy case of *shudders* Writer's Block ------* dun dun DUN!* ಠ_ಠ

Anyways, disclaimer; the picture over there is NOT mine, someone way awesomer than mua did that coolio pic.(▀̿Ĺ_▀̿ ̿)✌🏼

I hope you guys like it!!! I am eternally grateful for each and every one of your eyes that cares to glaze over the words that I write *nodding earnestly*.

😊❤😍😍❤❤😊❤😍😍❤❤😊❤😍😍❤❤😊❤

If any of you AMAZING, BEAUTIFUl, WONDERFUL, LOVELY people have anything to ask, add or say about my book, please feel free❣ I value your opinion individually and respectively. And I look forward to reading what you have to say, I LOVE hearing what people think❣❣

I will continue to write in this book, and I am not so sure about the Sketch one... kinda useless tbh.¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyhoots

🦉

love ya'll and Please comment❣

You can vote too... if ya want...

❤😊🤗❤