Not to worry, for I am still alive. I'm sorry for not posting in a while, the past two weeks have been a blur of midterms and homework assignments that I've kinda been freaking out about.

But as the Thanksgiving holidays come around the corner, I'm definitely gonna try to put more focus on the blog. But then, once again I'll have to take a break as...finals come around.

Ugh.

Let's not think about that. 

Anyways, what I wanted to write about today was finally, another short story. Now, this story isn't gonna relate too much to the first one that I wrote at first, but I promise, eventually, maybe not in this story, but eventually it will all make sense. Oh boy I'm excited. Here we go.

Long after humanity has gone extinct, Earth is visited by extraterrestrial explorers, archaeologists and paleontologists all seeking to reconstruct human history. What they find is both intriguing and horrifying.

So there were many different paths I was thinking about going with this story based on this prompt, and all I know right now is how it's gonna start, so let's get right into it.

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Star-Date 5674, estimated time since extinction...currently unknown. 

I read the information firing in from the analysts down on the planets surface, fascinated by what I was hearing.

Unknown cause of extinction, but based on scans could be caused by a variety of factors including radiation or pathogens.

The people that lived on this planet had built great things. Their constructions reached towards the stars, and some of their monuments were seriously impressive. But perhaps most impressive of all was their vast storage of knowledge in the electronic storage unit they had once called the internet. 

You're probably wondering how I know so much about this species. Their information banks have been quite useful in helping me understand who and what they were, but I already knew about this species before even reading through the internet. 

Ahh yes, we've investigating this species for quite sometime, since far before they went extinct. Yes, something about the beings that lived on the planet they called Earth has always fascinated us. But now it's time for us to dig deeper, to truly learn about what this civilization truly was.

And today is that day.

 "The biggest flaw in their species", one of the researchers told me as we headed to the surface of their planet, "was that they were incapable of truly bonding as a society. Sure you had those short lived nations, but those never lasted for more than a couple of millenia. For some reason, the biggest enemy to humanity was always itself."

"So that's how they finally went extinct...?", I said sadly, "Some sort of nuclear or biological warfare?"

"Not at all actually", the researcher said, much to my surprise, 'Come, I must show you."

Once we landed on the surface of the planet he took me to a huge mountain overlooking much of the barren landscape. Where I'm sure there had once been lush overgrowth, all that was left was a sad reminder of the past.

"It was here that it started", said the researcher again sadly, "They allowed a dangerous enemy to walk away unhindered."

I looked around at the mountain and checked my scanner which noted that the area had once been a peaceful village.

"What happened to the people who lived here?", I said fearfully.

"A great evil, something they could hardly understand, completely destroyed them. And it didn't stop there. No, it continued to spread, nation after nation, until there was no one else."

"But what could've caused this?"

"Like I said, their worst enemy was always themselves."

My throat grew dry, "It was one of their own."

The researcher laughed, "Not at all actually."

He continued to laugh and laugh and laugh as his face grew hideously disfigured. It was like someone had stretched skin across the empty shell of a corpse. It had no reason to be alive.

I blinked, and suddenly the callous ruins of a village were everywhere around me.

More people started to laugh all around me. The insane fragment that had outlived everyone else. They were far beyond help, too broken to be saved. They all started to laugh in unison. 

I blinked again, and lying on the ground in front of me was a torn scroll, the kind that these people hung up on the wall as a calendar. Written in bold script on the front was the last year that any living fragment of this species had ever flipped to. The year of the apocalypse. 

2020.

I dropped to the ground as the whole world began to swirly, the insane face of the broken society still etched into my mind.

*
*
*
I woke up in my bed sweating.

I looked at the alarm clock and calendar on my bedside.

2:38 AM, November 24, 2018.

But that wasn't the only date on my mind.

I remembered the date of the events I'd seen play out in my supposed "dream". And it didn't make sense. There's no way it could have been a dream.

The year that my dream took place was 2070...

*
*
*

WOOO
That was a ride.
I feel like the end is a little unstable and rough, which I promise you I will smooth out over time. But read the first short story before you read this one, and I hope it will make a bit more sense. But there's so much left to uncover from this storyline, first being who our mysterious 3 narrators have been.(3 counting one from the first blog post, one from the future, and one who just woke up a little freaked out).

And the very specific time I wrote coming from the alarm clock is the time right now, so I'm gonna sleep. But I definitely like where this is going. A lot more to uncover. Next is going to be something travel related I believe. I need to get out of this dark stuff for a while. Also yes, I'm sorry this story got really dark too. The next short story will be a little less heavy on the mind. Hopefully.

Peace!

Wow sorry about the ominous title. But yes, today I am going to be answering a writing topic on what I would do if I had 10 years left to live. 

Alright, you're probably wondering where in the world this idea came from. There I was just sitting in my freshman seminar class, it's about mindfulness by the way, when all of a sudden my professor tells the class to take out a piece of paper and spend five minutes writing what we would do with 10 years left to live our lives. 

So naturally I spent an entire minute thinking about this question. What would I really do?
​

Yes it was very perplexing. If I had ten years left to live I would try to do everything that I have to put off right now because I'm worrying about my future. 

So with that idea in my mind I quickly wrote this out. Just bear in mind, I only had four minutes to write it...

And the countdown begins. 10 years left to live. Suddenly, everything I'd once thought about life went out the window. No longer was it about preparing for the future. No, it was now about living in the present. Honestly, I would spend the last 10 years of my life fulfilling all the things that I've always wanted to do, as one naturally would do, that I've always pushed off to the future. I would finish editing and publish my book, and then do the same for the sequel. I would work on having weekly blog posts, and I would buy that dog I've always wanted. I would spend the first few years of the decade just staying in this equilibrium, also working to save up money for the last few years. I would walk the beaches of my hometown as frequently as possible.

Next, using the money I've saved up, I would first spend sometime traveling to visit all of my relatives in the US. Then I would buy a plane ticket to India and spend sometime visiting more of my relatives. All of the long forgotten promises would be fulfilled as I connected with these parts of my family. Lastly, I would buy one last plane ticket to Kathmandu, Nepal, where I would go back to working in the monastery where I've spent so many summers. That's the place where I would want to take my last breath. High up in the Himalayas, overlooking the world.

So yeah, there you have it. I know it's a bit cheesy and kind of boring, but I know that this is exactly what I would want to spend the last part of my life doing. I wouldn't do anything crazy or stupid, like buy a jet ski or something. 

On a side note, why are jet skis the examples people use when talking about buying something stupid? Right? I mean, look at it!

Wow. Maybe I would want to buy a jet ski. That's honestly a work of beauty.

...

Aakash's blog, where you can go from deep philosophical questions to a nonsensical discussion about jet skis. Let's steer back to the deep parts.

It took me a while, but I finally understand why my professor had us do that activity. For each person, it allowed us to see what we truly want in life. It showed us all what our deepest goals are at the moment. And maybe that will change. I know mine have changed drastically in the past few years. 8 years ago if you'd asked me what I'd do with 10 years left to live I would've told you I want to drop out of middle school and just eat pizza and play video games all day.

Yeah really classy Aakash.

But anyways, at this very moment, with 10 years left to live, I would want to finish this huge creative undertaking that I've been working on for the past few months. I would want to be consistent with this fantastic and amazing blog, no bias, that you are currently reading. And I would want to get out of the hustle and bustle of our fast paced lives and spend a few years really connecting with myself in a peaceful environment.

If my deepest goals in life do change in the next few years, which they're bound to do, the biggest question I'll be asking myself is why? Have I matured in some way?

So many interesting questions from this topic. I'm actually glad I decided to take that freshman seminar class, mostly because it makes me think about life in very different ways.

And that's very refreshing.

Next post is gonna be something travel related...

I'm not saying specifics, but it might have something to do with summer study abroad plans.

That's all I'm saying for now. Also, I will do a part 2 to my short story very soon as well, I just have to find a good idea or writing prompt to stem from. Thanks for reading! Have a good day!

Peace!