Nothing about my life was special, I know that deep down. I didn't have any childhood trauma, well aside from that one time some ladies flashed me in elementary school, but I'd like to think that was a good kind of trauma. I grew up with both my parents and two brothers, in a good household, and a moderately peaceful neighborhood.

Though we weren't poor, I wouldn't say we were rich either. They made enough to make sure we got by. I wasn't bullied in school either, and had lots of friends. I was well-liked and accepted among my classmates and the teachers loved me.

But coming to terms with my life to this point, I realized if anything, my personality was to blame.

As adaptive as I was, I lacked any defining features or notable moments in my life that would set me apart from the crowd.

You know, like the sports guy who became a hometown hero by carrying his team to victory. Or the charismatic ruffian who helped out around the neighborhood that the younger kids looked up to and respected. Maybe even being the misunderstood loner that excelled in everything but was extremely socially awkward.

I was too passive for any of that however, and instead lived my life as a passenger, not even in the back of a car, but in the back of a bus. Heck- I was the kind of person you'd see everyday but you couldn't even describe my face.

When I look back, there were moments or decisions I could have made that could probably have saved me from such a fate. But I just didn't have it in me to speak up and grab life by the balls you know. And slowly as I grew older everything I found interesting and exciting became bleak and I came to accept my position in the world.

The friends I used to go everywhere with, I slowly drifted away from. Every day became a struggle, and I found it hard to do anything other than exist. It didn't help that my ex- and first girlfriend left with a big part of me either. So why then did the fate of the world get thrown into my oh-so-ordinary and very tired hands?

"Do you think the world as you know it, should continue to exist?"

I stared into the not as weary as they usually were, eyes of my one and only friend, Ricky. He was an ever-present entity in the park where I usually ate, and I often shared my lunch with him. Though he was a vagrant by profession, I felt myself relating with the middle-aged man more than anyone else.

His shaggy brown hair still spilled over his head slightly covering his pale blue eyes. And he still wore a worn-out trench coat. That I could tell was originally red, but was now stained in the mud and grime his profession demanded. But as his hands rest on my shoulders, unfamiliar striking blue irises stared at me with an lazer-focused gaze.

"-huh" his unusual demeanor and question caught me off guard, but I was desensitized to his antics.

I cast my eyes to the sky while I pondered his question. Rays of sunlight ripped through a passing cloud as I responded to him.

"Hmm... That's a tough question..."

As I was seriously considering his words, I had already unconsciously dismissed his abnormal behavior as just another one of the man's random mood-swings.

"But if I had to answer it, I think I would say yes. At least based on the current state of the world."

I saw him pause to consider my response before curiosity bubbled forward in his eyes.

"Why?"

I paused once more in contemplation, fixing my eyes onto his, before breaking it and refocusing on everything around us.

"You see all this? This peaceful atmosphere? It's a facade man. The birds chirping... the mother and child taking a walk through the park... The old man walking his dog. It's all a lie, an illusion meant to distract us from the fact this world is burning."

I took a moment to let my words settle and for understanding to occur, before continuing.

"In 2022, there's no part of the world where humans exist that death and destruction doesn't come hand in hand. We as a species are chaotic in nature. We argue, we fight, we kill, we kidnap, we rape, we destroy-" I took another break to catch my breath.

"We destroy the planet, ourselves, and our future. Just look at it? Everybody is in a hurry to hop in a spaceship and leave everything behind. So yes, I believe the world should 'end', but more so I believe something needs to be done about us humans, we're a virus to the Earth."

I unleash on Ricky a rant I've been holding in for far too long. The issue of the selfishness of us humans and our rapidly devolving, but still highly conditional morals was a mysterious paradox. Because even as I highlighted so many issues, there was a part of me that wanted to disregard the truth behind what I said, and just continue living my life. A selfishness I knew to be all too human.

"Interesting... So say you had the ability to go about ending the world. How would you do it?"

"Well-" The rest of the sentence got stuck in my throat as I was unable to formulate it. How would I go about ending the world?

"Hmmm- well, I think the reason for all the chaos happening around the world is because we don't have a common goal. A banner we all could rally under, you know. Instead of everyone just fighting for their own self- interest. Because in time immemorial, when the number one shared goal among our species was survival, unity was overwhelming more prevalent than strife. Especially because if division was present, the tribe would break apart and people would starve to death."

The words made quite a lot more sense than I thought I was capable of. I was going good at first, but then I went off topic and started rambling about primitive society. But Ricky still seriously mulled over my words before nodding his head in agreement with them.

"What you say indeed makes sense. So what if you had the power to make this change? No, better yet, what if you were able to be this change? Would you do it?"

"Uh... Sure why not? It's not like things could get any worse than they are now, am I right?"

He chuckled at my words momentarily, before a devilish grin washed over his face.

"On the contrary my boy, things can always get worse-"

It happened immediately after he uttered his last word. Similar to how you don't feel the world rotating and moving, although it does. Or how you don't feel the movement while you're on a bus... That is until you hit a bump in the road... And by God was this one big bump.

My body jolted sideways, and my arms flailed uselessly trying to grab onto something, while I fell to the ground. An intense feeling of vertigo completely occupied my senses, so much so that I didn't notice Ricky's mysterious disappearance.