Disclaimer: This weeks update briefly touches on a darker side of humanity. Do not read if you are against it. I'm sorry, but I felt it showed how society turned into what it did.
“You want to see what I'm wearing to the wedding?”
“Of course!”
Veronica went to grab her clothes and Candice sat there barely able to contain her excitement. There was a month left to the wedding, and both Veronica and Amelia were on edge. Candice took a look around their living room, as though she was there for the first time.
It was a simple room, with a couch and chair wrapped around a center table, and a radio on the wall. The light from the window spilled perfectly over the center of the table, and illuminated the room brilliantly. From there, she could go to their closed in porch or go down the hall to the dining room or bedrooms. Candice thought it was a quaint house, and she'd like one like it one day.
Veronica came out of the hallway with her wedding clothes and showed them to Candice. Candice gave them a thorough look, and smiled. She looked at Veronica.
“Can I try it on?”
Veronica looked aghast, and Candice started laughing. She told Veronica that it looked amazing and she was jealous. Veronica smiled and thanked her. A knocking was heard at the door.
“Is it okay for me to come in?”
“No, we're not decent!”
“Well hurry up!”
Veronica went to put away her wedding clothes, and Candice opened the door. Amelia gave her a playful stern look and walked past her. Marie hugged her, and smiled.
“Mam!”
“Baldr.”
Candice squatted, leveling herself with his eyes. He smiled and hugged her. Candice patted him on the head and picked him up.
“Did you have fun today with mom?”
“Yap!”
Marie blushed at hearing herself called mom. Veronica came back out and told Marie to shut the door already. Baldr looked at Veronica and waved.
“Ka!”
“Hi, Baldr.”
He let out a light giggle at the sound of his name, and started struggling in Candice's arms. Candice let out a noise and put him down. Baldr promptly started running over to Veronica, but fell.
Marie ran over immediately, but he got back up and sat there with an angry look on his face. She asked him if he was okay, but he sat there stubbornly. Veronica walked over and put her hand on his shoulder. Baldr started giggling at this and Marie sighed.
“I'm home.”
“Welcome home, sweetheart.”
Such dialogues were common not too long ago. We were once called Mankind as a nominative instead of humanity. The male had many physical differences and chemical to the female. Of course, you can learn about this in any biology text book, as all other species kept their male counterparts.
It took a bit for humans to realize something was wrong. By the time we noticed, a male child hadn't been born for 20 years. Every child born was female. Scientists started collecting all kinds of samples to try to find out why. Of course, they found nothing. In the lab, the Y chromosome was being passed on, but never surfaced on the newborn child. Further tests on the child showed that they didn't carry a Y chromosome, suggesting it mutated or got replaced with an X by the body, thinking it to be an error.
As scientists worked around the clock to try to find a way to prolong human extinction, society was undergoing massive checks. Religion was the first thing to disappear. With many of them rooted in the aspect of male dominance, they couldn't continue in an all female world. Many families struggled with the fact that their children were now all “gay”. Gay was a term from the period that defined a same sex coupling.
Wars stopped around the world, as everyone feared the enemy that somehow wiped out their men. No one knew what was happening, but no one wanted to provoke anyone who could be responsible. The world fell into a strange peace, except in the homes of the new generations. Many were lost in those days to abuse, suicide and murder.
It became commonplace for awhile for the girls to be subjected to sexual slaves to many men who didn't understand why there were no more men. They would be kidnapped, brutally assaulted until they succumbed, and raped. It was a very dark time for humanity. It took three more generations before these acts finally stopped.
At this point it has been 15 years since the last man died. Many women do not want to relive the horrors of man's last moments. Music becomes censored, and video is banned. Anything depicting male dominance outside of legend is destroyed. One of the popular phrases of the time was “Men were weak, we are strong.”
The world becomes unified in an attempt to help prolong humanity. Scientists have been able to successfully create sperm cells from stem cells for a long period now, but it wasn't put into practice due to religious ethics. Women everywhere pushed against the revival of men. They didn't want the horrors to be repeated.
Now, I must admit, we may have been wrong to do that. We aren't lords over life. We should have learned that when we almost died out. With the population down to just over several million, we escaped extinction.
Marie put down the paper she had been reading. It was common knowledge that man had been brutal before he died out, but she had no idea. The article was written by the last survivor of that horrible period.
Candice was watching Baldr for Marie, letting her have some time to herself. Marie was sitting on the couch in their apartment, trying to relax. She looked over the back towards their half kitchen, her stomach growling.
She got up and went to the kitchen. It was a simple one, with a range, oven, refrigerator and counter. Nearby was a dishwasher, and plenty of cabinet space. Marie opened the fridge and looked over everything inside. None of it sounded good, so she started rummaging through the cabinets.
She ended up deciding on a BLT sandwich, and sat down with her meal. It had been well over a year since Marie had a night to herself, and she was already bored. She didn’t realize how used to the others she had gotten. The sandwich was finished shortly, and Marie sank into her chair satisfied. She looked around her apartment wondering when Candice would be home.
Their apartment wasn’t very big. It had two bedrooms, but one of them was used for an office. The kitchen, dining table and living room were all technically one room. There was a small hall that led to the bathroom and a closet. Soon, they would have to either move into a bigger place, or lose their office so Baldr had somewhere to sleep.
Marie sipped at her tea, and started to enjoy the silence around her. She finally realized that every day she had to put up with taking care of Baldr. She felt tired, but was thankful for this time. She swore she’d make it up to Candice later. She picked up her paper and continued the article she had been reading.
Before anyone asks, no I was not a victim. I was a lucky one. That doesn’t change a whole lot though. My older sister was one. We found her after everything happened. The police even cited it as suicide. I can’t blame her.
Our new unified “government”, the People’s Council, took the new measures to the data centers of the world as well. Our computers were reset, and the world wide web was heavily censored. Very few people protested against these moves. We wanted to forget and move on.
It took 20 years for us to end this censorship. We decided that it would be better to let the people digest what they want again. The amount of changes required were massive, but it brought us to where we are today. I would like to look forward to seeing how the first male is raised in our new world, but we know I won’t see it. I am the oldest person alive, so it’s not an exaggeration to say I leave him to you.
