The world can be gorgeous. The calming waters of the sea inching up and burying your toes in the dazzling sands on a beach. The sunsets can stop time. The birds can whistle a tune that will be remembered forever. But, the world can also be a dark and dreadful place with fear, suffering, and loss.

I graduated from school seven years ago. I went to school for science and space technology and mastered with a bachelor's degree after four years. Never did I know that the least of my problems would be getting a paper in on time. The world was getting worse and worse to live in. The sparkling waters were turning dull and murky, and the atmosphere gained a dark grey tint. Yesterday, 314 earthquakes happened in the United States alone. 19 of them happened here in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

These earthquakes were terrible... the ground cracking, houses falling, and people dying. Death was more common than ever now. The Earth was paying for the greed and wealth. I’d been worried for a long time that the world wasn’t strong enough for all of this, so using my science and space skills, I’d been building a spaceship. I know, I know. I’ll be the first one to say I was completely paranoid. I was not building a huge, fancy schmancy spaceship with a disco ball and AC. I was building a functional piece of spacecraft that could act quickly in the event that the world ends. People have called me psychotic, crazy and dumb... that everything would be fine and I was wasting my time. My response had been the same to every single one of them. All the signs were there. Half of the waters were gone, and the other half were completely taking over small cities. The sky had been dark throughout the day, and electricity was gone for at least 22 hours of a 24 hour day.

“Karen, come inside and eat,” my husband's tired voice called to me. It was 4:32 on a Saturday, and the sky was pitch black.

“I’ll be there soon... I’m almost done.” The Earth shook slightly, but it didn’t bother me anymore. It should have, but it had become so common that it was almost pointless to worry. I set down my screwdriver and dusted off my hands on my ripped jeans. My porch door was open and inviting me to come towards the warm, orangy white oil lamp illuminating the inside of my house. I passed my dining room table and saw my family eating a spread of steak, scrambled eggs, toast, orange juice and coffee... what we like to call breakfast for dinner. Making my way to the bathroom didn’t take long. I flicked on the light and looked into the mirror. A tired, dirty, worried face glanced back at me.

The wrinkles I had gained since building the spacecraft were insane. My hair was in a messy bun with bunches of hair falling out and lying on the back of my freckled neck. The Earth shook, more intensely this time,  pushing me off balance as I washed my face. Something didn’t feel right. The air felt a bit hotter than it should on a February night. It didn’t snow anymore - it hadn’t in a few years. The last time it had snowed was the year I learned about Apollo 11. Apollo 11 was the thing that inspired me to go to school for space and science technology and made me want to be an astronaut, but that dream never really became a reality.

I joined my family at the dinner table as my water glass shook along with the rest of the house. The shake was much more intense than before and had the effect of spilling the bone chilling clear liquid all over my lap. I didn’t really mind; the building took a lot out of me. Over the course of an hour the air got warmer, the sky got darker, the earthquakes got intenser, and I got more and more alert. By 6:00, I knew something was wrong.

“Something’s wrong, guys!” I yelled to my family members. Jay, who was playing with Jamie, ran to my side, and I explained what I thought was going on.        

“So, you think the Earth is at its end... and we should go to the moon?” Jay asked, scared but excited.

“Exactly. Jamie, run over to the neighbors and tell them to come over with whatever they want to bring into space. I’ve talked to them before, and they said they would trust me completely if anything like this ever happened,” I said, alerting my attention to my child. “Jay, grab the bag. We have to get out of here.”

The Earth shook violently, and I started panicking. I ran to the backyard and tried to finish it as fast as I could. I screwed the last few nails up into the base of the ship, now standing ten feet tall and thirty two feet wide. The ship had everything six people needed to survive for at least a month... maybe more if we ate sparingly. I ran inside to make sure we had everything we needed for this journey when Jamie returned with the neighbors jogging behind. Jay met us at the entrance of the ship.

“What’s going on, Momma?!” I heard Jamie cry. There was fear in her voice. She had never evacuated before... well nobody had. Like I said, people thought I was insane for doing this - but it was a risk I was willing to take for my daughter.

“It will be okay!” I screamed, trying to comfort her and myself. Frantically, I yelled to the others. “Get inside and grab a breathing mask. We are going up!” I followed them into the echoey chamber, perfect for flying. There were chairs and beds attached to the walls. They were all different... just ones I had found on the street with “FREE” signs attached to them. There was a small cube in the center of the room filled with food and a small room off to the side with a toilet and sink. I put a lot of time and effort into this. I wanted to be prepared. I was about to take us into space. I channeled my inner Armstrong and climbed up to the front of the ship. I felt the Earth shake one more time.    

“Fasten your seatbelts!” I screamed. My head was pounding, and I couldn’t breathe. The Earth was shaking so much as I started the ship. I slammed my foot down and clicked a few buttons, and the ship hovered just above the surface. This was the first time I had ever done this. Jamie’s sobs were close behind. There was nothing I wanted to do more than go back and comfort her, but I had no time.

Out of the window, I saw the ground violently shake and my house fall flimsily to the ground. The trees, even the oldest and strongest, fell so easily, it was as if someone had blown them down. People who had escaped the deathly trees falling and the houses being tipped over like dominoes were on the street, wide eyed and terrified. My ship kept rising up... up... up... until we were out of the view of the Earth. Just as I thought we were out of range, all of the space below us turned orangey red. Bits of wood and metal floated up and joined us in the atmosphere. There was only one explanation. The world had ended.

I was shaking all over, terrified. I had decided to fly out to the moon. Now that I was in space, I could put my ship in gear and safely leave the front. I ran to Jamie, and she jumped into my arms. Our breathing masks clashed as we hugged. I held her until we fell asleep.

We had been in the ship for two days now, and it was exhausting. The lack of sleep had tired me, and we were all getting pretty sick of dried fruit. It was amazing what we were doing, but it was really taking a toll on all of us. Jamie didn’t have all of her toys and other forms of entertainment, so Jay and I had been playing with her. The neighbors brought a few books and some notebooks to keep us busy. It had been pretty mundane other than that.

Four days after takeoff, we touched down on the surface of the moon. I felt amazing. My biggest idol of all time did the same thing I was doing. All you saw was me, but behind me was the support of my family and many others. I looked out and saw the sign that the three men placed, reading, “Here, men from planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969. A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.” I stopped dead in my tracks.

“Jay, what is... what was the date?” I asked, turning slowly.

“Um, February 24th, 3969,” he responded curiously. I jumped up.

“JAY! It’s been 2000 years since Apollo 11 has landed in this exact spot!” I squealed. “We have the masks; let's go outside!”

The atmosphere was mostly air now, cold, dark and dirty. We could probably breathe fine anyway. I lifted the hatch up, and the crisp, cold air met my face. It felt soothing after being stuck in a metal tube for four days straight. The whole place was so mysterious; Armstrong once said, “Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.” I had these quotes memorized for years now, but they were starting to make sense to me. I thought about it more and more and realised that I had done it. I had saved my family and some close friends from the end of the world. People called me crazy and dumb, but in the end I was the successful one. It was all worth it, no matter how many nights of sleep I lost trying to build this thing.

I turned my head and saw a white flag, the original flag now bleached from the harsh UV rays.  I was elated, ecstatic and extremely surprised that we were successful. Looking straight ahead of me, I saw something. It wasn’t a natural thing because the moon isn’t bright pink. I jogged toward it, the moonrock digging into my cold feet. There stood a large wooden box, one with a bright pink flag on the top. I slid the top to the ground, and it made an obnoxious thud. Inside was another box with a note on the side. The paper was yellowed; the sides of the note were crumbling in my hand.  I pulled the box from the larger box, carefully plucked the note from the side of the box and started reading.

I see you have found the box that Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and I left for survivors of the world explosion. We knew it would happen eventually, and we are so glad that someone was prepared for this tragedy. We knew that you would probably be confused on what to do now, so we left you a few goodies to help you survive.

I kept reading as I pulled the different items out of the box.

A small box of seeds, a planter and a few jugs of water to keep your food supply hearty. Some blankets and some small hand held air conditioners to help with the massive changes in temperature up here. Last but not least, a few oxygen masks. By the time the explosion happens, the masks might be a bit worn out... but you probably won’t really need them anyway.  Good luck and…

The rest of the letter was worn so much that I couldn’t read it. I set the letter back on the box and took a breath. I just read a letter written to me from my biggest idols of all time. Jay came up behind me and read the letter as well. I sat down, stunned. We were foreign to the moon, but now we could survive. The only thing we needed to figure out now was how. It would be hard, but now there was hope.

-Morgan Dempsey