Breeze awoke. She had been sleeping upon a soft patch of ground in a clearing. The clearing was surrounded by trees. The lovely trees, Breeze would sometimes think, the lovely trees that would be pierced by the wind and waved. The branches and leaves that would move, gently encouraged by the wind, to make light brush strokes upon the air that pushed them. Dawn had come upon the clearing and had awoken her with its light yellow glow that promised warmth and happiness. She rose and went through the woods, lightly treading upon the small path her feet had beaten upon the ground many years ago. The path lead her to a small stream, whose water was clear and refreshing. Berry bushes grew around this stream, their dark blue sweetness pleasing to the tastebuds. She kneeled to the once crystal clear water, slowly drinking the almost pure water. She ate her breakfast of berries, like she had done many times before. She did not have as many as she usually did, though, for the stream was slowly drying out and this had an effect upon the berry bushes. She wondered why the stream, a once was overflowing creek, was drying, and she did not know. She would not let the fear of the unknown deter her from survival, though, so she had decided, seven days ago, that today would be the day she ventured out and went to find food and water.She gathered as many berries as she could fit in her hands and travelled upstream to the great unknown.

She travelled for two days, walking always, except to stop and drink from the stream and eat the berries that grew beside the river. At the end of her two days of travelling she found a strange place. It was and large withering… what was it? She knew it was something from her time before the woods. She didn’t remember much from that time. A barn! That’s what it was! She saw another one, like her, walking through the barren, cracked earth, except he had things on him… clothes! She was starting to remember things now! The ways of the woods had drilled these things out of her, and she was overjoyed to have remembered them. She called out to the man one of the few words she remembered, a word that she even said to some of the animals in the woods, “Hello!” she said with uncertain nervousness.The farmer immediately looked at her and a look of astonishment crossed his face. He said, very loudly, in quite an astonished shout,”Mary, you’re gonna’ want to come see this.”

One hour later she was lying in a bed with clothes on (instead of the leaves she had been wearing) and she had been given a bowl of chicken noodle soup. She ate hungrily and sloppily, and they had to give her new clothes. So here she was lying in a soft bed that felt like nothing she had ever lied in. The farmer (as she learned he was called) then came in.
He said, in a gruff voice, ”There’s gonna’ be some folks that are gonna’ come take you away to a better place than this,” he said.
“But I like it here,” she said.
“There’s many a better place than this old rundown farm, I’m ‘fraid.” he said.
“Why?” she said.
“We were forced to give it up. Some men came here and placed a sign that, basically said, we own it now.”She gave him a questioning look and he explained further.

“We didn’t do what they wanted and now we’re going to have to live without a home for a while.”
“No home!?”
She seemed incredulous at how someone could simply move away from the place they had known all their lives. After all, it had taken her seven days to go away from her clearing. She heard the thunder of wheels on a dirt road. She had never heard something so loud, the loudest thing she had encountered was an old withered tree falling and that was nothing compared to the roar of the vans engine. The farmer held her hand and escorted her to the front door where she was met by a woman in a suit, at which point she put her into the passenger seat. As they drove away she saw single sign it read: FORECLOSED in large red letters.
She remained at an institute for the disabled for the next few months.This institute was on the outskirts of a city. For most, it would've been considered a bore and uncomfortable, but for someone who had been in the woods as long as her enjoyed it. They taught her manners, letters, and how to speak. A few months later, she regained most of the information she had forgotten and then some. In fact, she was overwhelmed by the amount of information. The economy, science, all the people she didn’t know existed. 7.4  billion, in fact. It amazed her that so many people could live on one place and not have any problems. She was released a few months later. The people had found her a job and a place to live. So, she entered the city.

She lived for a week, and one day walking home from work, she saw a group of people. They were in a park that she frequently visited (it reminded her of the forest) and had tents and were mostly just sitting around or holding signs. But, as she walked close to them, a group of police wearing riot gear that came walking down the street. At the sight of them the, the protesters came to attention, facing them in a roiling line of pure defiance. The riot police attacked them, hitting them with their shields and batons, brutally bloodying all of them in the front line. But the protesters still held the line, even as their fellows fell. A police officer saw her, confusing her for a protester. She turned and ran her head spinning in confusion. One of the last images she saw was the police firing tear gas at the protesters. A man stood tall, dressed in a formal army uniform, in the middle of the gas, holding in one hand an American flag and in the other the Constitution. He stood tall, proud, and defiant. After that, she was too far away to tell what was happening. She hoped the man was okay and that the park was untouched.

In the confusion she realized she had taken a different route home. She was in a worse part of town, somewhere she avoided regularly. Everything here was dirty. The streets were littered with trash, unmentionable matter, and poverty. The buildings were barely stable, missing windows, and almost nearly abandoned. All the animals here were injured, and she hated seeing this. As she walked down the street, a person clothed in jeans, a hoodie, a baseball hat, and a rag to cover his mouth, attacked her. She feared for her life, but her survival instincts kicked in. More than once she had to defend herself in the forest. He drew a knife, but before he could raise it, she had bitten him in the arm and started clawing at his face. He was stunned, and she ran.... again. He chased her, but she saw a populated building. She ran in the door and immediately the smell of vegetables and meat hit her. She realized that she had skipped lunch because of distraction and became very hungry. But safety came first and she ducked into a crowd of people. She noticed how hard it was to blend in when she was wearing the nicest clothing in the building, but none the less there was enough people around her to act as camouflage . She noticed their clothes  had holes, were soiled and dirty, and very old. Some gave her envious, hateful looks. Very few gave her compassionate looks. She wondered why they hated her. She was growing very uneasy, and queasy. She couldn’t take it anymore and finally ran out of the building. She stopped to take a breath outside the building. She then backtracked, found her regular route, and found her way to her home.

She walked in the the door of her apartment, and finally felt safe. Spent and tired, she turned on her strange device with moving colors. She sat on her couch and let out a breath of relief. She saw a channel that said “news”. She saw a lake, massive in size and scope and she thought it was beautiful. She had never seen something so wondrous, even in the wild and thought it was very calming. But then the moving picture zoomed out, and she saw the tops of roofs with people standing on them, waving. She saw cars and once she saw a person in the waters, unmoving. She sat there, shocked, wondering how something so beautiful could be so devastating. The news headline said: “Massive hurricane hits New Orleans and leaves 547 people dead and 1092 people injured” Aghast, she turned it off.
Minutes later, she was looking at her face in the mirror. It was still beautiful (the people in the institute had told her that she was “gorgeous”) but her mind and soul were scarred, and she wondered how the people here could live with this and themselves. She longed to go back to her forest and live there. She hated it here. At first, when she was here, she told herself a lie that convinced her to see this as a perfect society. That each time she saw a crime that it was a one time occurrence and that that person would be found by the police and prosecuted for their crime. But no, she now saw the truth. That no one cared what happened to her. The world does not care about one person. Each person only cares about their world, their things, and how much they get. Even those at the soup kitchen shared this view. They gave her dirty looks because she was better off than them. That person who attacked her only cared about himself, trying to take what she had, regardless of what happened to her, to better himself. The riot police who attacked the protesters didn’t care about them, or right vs. wrong-they were just doing their job. In fact, some even enjoyed what they were doing. Even as far back as the farmer, with his foreclosed house, having to live without a home. Tracing it back led to the people who actually owned the farmer's house, the banks, who didn’t care if they hurt people, or even if they killed them. Even her stream in the woods, which was drying up from climate problems, another example of humans’ carelessness. The stream wasn’t even clean, most likely from the runoff from the farmers' farm. Even in the woods, unknowing of the outside world, she was still affected. It seemed like nowhere was safe from this world. So she made a decision. She was going back to the woods, even if they found her, even if they tried to take her back to society, she would go kicking and screaming and fighting all the way.Many years in the future...

A woman was travelling through a once bustling city, which the environment and bombs had almost destroyed. But one was still standing. A large apartment building by the looks of it. The aging woman made her way to it. She entered the apartment building and found a familiar door Inside the door, familiar walls, a familiar floor, and a familiar ceiling. She sat down and started remembering familiar faces with familiar jobs and familiar clothes. Familiar problems, too, but those were gone now. She made her way to the room that still had something in it. Looters apparently found little use in a big bulky bed. She crawled into the big, bulky, familiar bed and remembering that those familiar problems were all gone now, gone forever as nature picked up the pieces and with that final, peaceful thought, she curled up and the last shreds of humanity that the human race possessed, even among the survivors, died.Many years in the future...

A woman was travelling through a once bustling city, which the environment and bombs had almost destroyed. But one was still standing. A large apartment building by the looks of it. The aging woman made her way to it. She entered the apartment building and found a familiar door Inside the door, familiar walls, a familiar floor, and a familiar ceiling. She sat down and started remembering familiar faces with familiar jobs and familiar clothes. Familiar problems, too, but those were gone now. She made her way to the room that still had something in it. Looters apparently found little use in a big bulky bed. She crawled into the big, bulky, familiar bed and remembering that those familiar problems were all gone now, gone forever as nature picked up the pieces and with that final, peaceful thought, she curled up and the last shreds of humanity that the human race possessed, even among the survivors, died.

Many years in the future...

A woman was travelling through a once bustling city, which the environment and bombs had almost destroyed. But one was still standing. A large apartment building by the looks of it. The aging woman made her way to it. She entered the apartment building and found a familiar door. Inside the door, familiar walls, a familiar floor, and a familiar ceiling. She sat down and started remembering familiar faces with familiar jobs and familiar clothes. Familiar problems, too, but those were gone now. She made her way to the room that still had something in it. Looters apparently found little use in a big bulky bed. She crawled into the big, bulky, familiar bed and remembering that those familiar problems were all gone now, gone forever as nature picked up the pieces and with that final, peaceful thought, she curled up and the last shreds of humanity that the human race possessed, even among the survivors, died.