Worn Out Places

A cockroach ran across the shattered linoleum floor of the Laundromat, looking for food in the midst of a structure that could not have been natural. For as insignificant as the insect may have been, it was amongst the few life forms that have come to inhabit the Laundromat along with the plants growing through the cracks in the walls. As the roach stopped and looked at its surroundings, it could not make sense of the washing machines nor the dryers whose uses have been discontinued for decades. Needless to say, the roach could not have any idea of what it was inside of.

            A slight wind blew through a rubber factory in Dublin, Ireland, and a few hours later that same breeze would grace an office building in Gaborone, Botswana. Countless other winds presented themselves to other abandoned structures across the globe, as their purposes had been unfulfilled since the last human had met their fate.

            While humans were alive, it was always assumed that the end of their species would be via war or extreme natural circumstances made by their own doing. This was not the case. For as brilliant and creative as the species formerly known as Homo Sapiens were, they had their own destructive and negative side as well; some would even argue that positive attributions were mere exceptions to their violent behavior. But the flash of a nuclear explosion did not bring about their end, nor by a tidal wave, earthquake or other such disaster; no, the end of humanity was brought about by disease. Not a disease that festered in humans and robbed them of their health (ironically as humans did to the Earth) but a disease that affected their mentality, an inundation of nihilism, if you will. As humans lived longer and improved their rationality and common sense, they all saw that there was no point to life and decided that they would be better off not existing at all. Populations decreased over a period of time as more and more people understood the burden of a higher level of perception. Eventually, with the human populations engulfed in a sense of hopelessness, the last humans perished with the belief that the universe did not have a single care for them.

            The world truly had ended with a whimper instead of a bang, as many expected it to.

            From the minute that the last human ceased to exist, the Earth took control of itself once more. The world was no longer guided by the codes of humanity; instead, it was guided once more by the ways it had been before the arrival of humans: a renaissance of sorts. Of course, the monuments of humanity lasted far longer than their creators, but without a purpose they succumbed to the rule of the planet. Factories, which produced the most technologically advanced devices on the planet, became overrun with plants and animals struggling to understand its place in the new world. Homes, buildings, and other structures soon became the markers of the once proud species, who built themselves up, and destroyed themselves. But without anybody to understand what their purpose was, what was a monument, but a structure that might as well have been built by creatures from another planet?

            A squirrel ran into a synagogue in Buenos Aires, Argentina; a place once beloved by those with the ability to perceive of an existence higher than their own. Running through the aisle and up to the Rabbi’s pedestal, the squirrel happened upon the open pages of a Torah. Not understanding what the symbols meant, the squirrel continued its quest to find food in order to fulfill its most basic animal instinct of survival. The squirrel abandoned the synagogue when it found nothing that could sustain its metabolic needs.

            Days turned to months and months turned to years, all the while the world kept on turning just the same. By and by, evolution continued to take its place as insignificant and small changes were becoming more noticeable. Offspring began to gradually look less and less like their parents as their biological composures became more adapted to the world. The shells of insects grew thicker, birds could fly for longer periods of time without as much need for food, and plants became suitable to fight off diseases that had the ability to wipe out entire swaths of vegetation. Meanwhile, the structures of humans fell into yet more decay as the Earth attempted to recover any nutrients or minerals left behind by humanity.

            Once the worms and microscopic organisms purged the structures out of every mineral that was to be found, the rest was left to nature. The centuries wore on as various insects attempted to extract as much nutritional value from the Lincoln Memorial as they could, but once it was picked clean, it was left to the weather, the winds, and the erosions of time. Honest Abe’s eyes still look out for the slightest sign of intelligence that would appreciate his life’s work.

            The same could be said for the monuments dedicated to Mandela, Washington, Churchill, Susan Anthony, Curie, Cleopatra, amongst many others. Their works, accomplishments, goals, and purposes were cast out of a world that had no higher sense of perception and saw no need for one. The plants and animals saw no reason why the United States Constitution, the invention of the steam engine, or the World Wars should have any bearing on their existence if it didn’t have a hand in aiding their survival. For the sparrow in what used to be Mozambique, the berries on the trees had more significance on it than the country’s independence in the year 1975.

            A catfish swam up in what used to be Boston Harbor in the wake of ships that sank long after their use was discontinued. In the catfish’s limited mind, the ships were an oddity, and something that it could not comprehend. But a school of tiny fish emerged from the porthole on the side, and the catfish saw on opportunity to eat. In a harbor that hosted much political significance to the country formerly known as the United States, the catfish amongst any other sea creature could never behold the importance of the waters it swam in,

            Within one millennium of the last human’s passing, changes still happened across the world. Whatever was left of the mark of humanity was reduced to little more than crumbling buildings and any pollution that took a long time to decompose. Yet, already the Earth had become what it had been prior to the arrival of humans. Only the laws of survival and the universe guided the animals through their lives on the planet, and while some fared better than others, the laws of nature reigned supreme. Plants continued to grow stronger and live longer depending on the amount of water and sunlight they were exposed to. In Moscow, Russia amidst the crumbling of the political building known as the Kremlin, an ivy vine growing for years eventually found its way into the Prime Minister’s office and wrapped itself around the desk and chair where Stalin, Khrushchev, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin once sat.

            Predators continued to hunt prey much as they had done for millennia past, even while humans were still around. A mongoose hunted a mouse in the Marne, Hawks continued to hunt over Hastings, Armadillos searched for food in Antietam, and snakes sought out pray in Stalingrad. Competition continued to flourish in the world based on the principle that only the fittest will survive. Once a plant or animal was able to secure enough food to stay alive and live to pass on its genes, there was little need for much else. No lands to conquer, no riches to acquire, no propaganda, no large-scale attacks, simply nature catering to the strongest and abandoning the weakest, as harsh as that principle may sound.

            The process of natural selection went on for millennia until evolutionary adaptations gave animals new abilities never thought possible before. While the progress of humanity came to a complete halt, nature flourished and branched out in ways that humans never would have thought possible before. Plants took on properties and features that made them grow stronger, quicker, and able to harvest their food in lesser, but more substantial qualities. Land animals grew larger and with more defensive attributions to ensure that their genes would pass on to the next generations. Birds took on otherworldly characteristics that made them the masters of the sky; what was once a sparrow was little different than a pterodactyl. But the most impressive evolutionary advancement took place beneath the waves.

            Groups of fishes began to sprout appendages and grow air sacs within their bodies that would allow them to briefly walk on land. A few more generations later, they had lungs, arms, legs, and a mind that was accustomed to living and surviving on land. A couple thousand years later, they took to the trees, and when they got down they spread all over the planet, despite how far apart the continents began to drift. As time went on, they began to use tools, farms, politics, writing, and language all based on which region of the Earth they migrated to. Eventually, the meekest species of all inherited the Earth and made it their own.