A 3000-year future

In the distance one could hear the sound of an alarm clock that had been going off for hours. The night had just passed and a new morning had come to humanity's eyes.

At that point, Martha woke up from her deep sleep and started her classic day: she opened the window to make room for some light and made her short coffee without sugar.

It sounded like a classic, normal life, but that was not exactly the case.

In fact, many people who lived in the neighbourhood thought that Martha Stuart was one of the people they could rely on most.

Beautiful, sunny and always helpful, with a smile on her face.

"Good morning Martha"

"You too, Mr. Watson."

She was always kind and friendly to everyone, sometimes giving therapy sessions to people with marital or other difficulties.

I mean, she was perfect.

It seemed like her life was now headed for a bright future. She had a well-paid job and most importantly she had wonderful, lovely children and husband.

"I'm off! See you later!"

Perhaps the only thing many people wondered was why no one ever heard the voices of her family.

Besides, no one ever came to see her and she rarely left the house.

In the afternoons, she could be heard talking and playing with her two children and chatting with her lover.

But she never seemed to get an answer, hers was the only voice in the room, sometimes she tried to imitate their voices.

This was very strange.

Nevertheless, she always returned from work smiling, watched some TV and went to sleep after an exhausting day.

People around her noticed this behaviour for the first time in about two months.

But if you go and look into Martha's eyes you can see more than just happiness and carefreeness.

"I'm back!"

At that moment there was absolutely no one. She was alone, completely.

"Ah... today was tiring, what do you want for dinner Sue? Meat? Alright I'll make it right away. Rui! Don't make any noise! Hi honey, how was work?"

"....."

As mentioned earlier, there was no one there.

"Ahahah, something incredible happened today..."

No one.

He was in fact talking to some soft toys, to whose faces he had attached the respective pictures of his family.

Together they were eating, playing and sleeping.

She was not having a good time, she was completely dead inside, her soul had become an empty, rusty iron bucket, left to rot alone in the corner of the veranda.

But what had led to such despair?

The cause was the sudden deaths of her loved ones, all of them, one after the other.

Paul, her husband, had had an accident at work and shortly afterwards had been declared dead. A few days later came the news of her mother's death, and then that of her father.

She was left with her two daughters, one of whom, Sue, had choked on meat, dying a few hours later.

As they were very quick, things became increasingly suspicious in the Stuart household, until the last survivor, Rui, was taken from her by her aunt and uncle for fear that something else might happen.

In a few months it was all over, completely.

She just couldn't explain why this had happened so quickly. As if some curse had struck her.

Her eyes were now red, she couldn't sleep.

Everything that was happening...

It was definitely paranormal.

She was always thinking things like "where did I go wrong" or "why me".

But the next day something had changed.

Usually Mr. Watson would always come out on the balcony to greet Martha, she too would go outside for some air.

This time, however, he was not there, which did not shock the woman much, because it was not the first time this had happened. The problem arose when he left for work.

As per protocol, many people tended to greet her in a cordial and polite manner. In this case, no one greeted her.

They looked at her badly and almost fearfully, as if they were afraid something would happen to them in standing beside her.

In fact, when Martha tried to take the initiative they all tried to back away by responding as they trembled.

She had actually already understood what had happened, in fact she was smiling, because she knew it would happen sooner or later.

Most likely one of her neighbours went to spill the beans on her innate insanity.

"I'm sorry Martha but we've replaced you, we're very sorry."

She had just lost her job because of rumours. Although aware of the consequences, she was still angry and frustrated. She didn't understand why people were so foolish, why just one 'rumor' was enough to ruin an already collapsing life.

It is very likely that some of his neighbours will have some guesses, because perfection makes everyone jealous.

"Ehm sorry Martha but we're closing."

On his way home she came across a team of volunteers rescuing some elderly and homeless people.

She met his eyes with a girl who was working in the area, her name was Era, from the way they were obviously shouting her name.

"Era! Do something good! You're useless!"

"E-eh... s-sorry!"

Era was actually doing her job very well, the woman who was yelling at her was visibly annoyed, she was also treating the people they were rescuing badly, as if she had better things to do.

"Oi, stop treating her badly."

Suddenly Martha rushed towards the group, so as to 'rescue' the girl.

"Huh? And who are you, scram we're busy here."

"She's doing her job well, I don't see why you should scold her."

In the meantime however, a horde of people surrounded the area as Era tried to stop Martha.

"Oh... you're the famous Martha Stuart."

"..."

"Ahahaa, go back to playing with dolls, my psycho darling."

She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, she couldn't stand being called crazy, even though she really was. Unable to retort, she walked away.

On the way to her house, a noise was heard nearby.

Turning around, she noticed an umbrella at her feet, as she watched Hera run out of sight.

She liked the gesture very much and began to enjoy it.

But then, as fate would have it, he tripped over a tile on the pavement that was too prominent.

She fell into a muddy puddle, getting her face and dress dirty.

In the nearest public toilet, where there were other women coming out one by one in disquiet.

She washed her face and looked in the mirror. At that moment she saw a monster, a figure from a horror film.

She had huge dark circles under her eyes, scars on her face, dirt, shaggy hair and red eyes.

"Aha...ahah...ahaha, WAA, ahahaha."

"Shit...it wasn't supposed to be like this" she said it shakily, almost scared.

Finally, however, she made her decision.

She slit her throat and fell to the ground, her eyes open as the tears continued to fall unabated.

What had she done wrong? What could she do to make it right? All these questions were now useless and superficial. Her life was over, and some of it was good, but today....

It's just a terrible tragedy.