Do You Ever Wish to be Someone Else?

Chapter 4: “Voluntarily Abducted”

There I was, standing in the middle of the empty city. Why there weren’t any people in Paris at this lovely summer day, you can find out in the previous chapters; at this point I want to focus on the story at hand.

I stood up in front of this gigantic space dish (presumably a ship), using the Eiffel Tower as a resting station. At this time, while I was admiring the view, a big door opened and a little green fella’ came out of the ship. Instantly, the door closed behind him. Moving rapidly, he came to me with a couple of strange objects in his hands.

“Yo! What’s up, Z!?” the little alien cried out loudly with a huge smile of his face. After the fact that all mankind was gone, this situation was the strangest in my life.

“How on Earth do you know my name? And why did you decide to ruin the beautiful tower?” I was kinda angry, but also interested. It still didn’t feel real at all. ‘Why am I the only one here and why, or actually HOW do aliens actually EXIST?’ was what I asked myself, staring at the green – for the lack of a better understanding at the moment – thingy in front of me.

“I can explain all of this,” it was as if he read my mind, “and yes, I just read your mind…”

“Can things get any weirder?” I murmured quietly.

“I know your name because you are the Chosen One,” he continued, “for centuries our civilization waited for the prophecy to come true and finally - here you are. It is such an honor to stand in your presence. We have to go now, follow me.”

After a short pause, asking myself thousand of questions, which I would kindly share with my new friend in the next few hundred chapters of this book, I finally followed his gesture to walk towards the elevator coming down from his ship. We were both quiet, but my curiosity prevailed:

“What are those?” I shook my head downwards, pointing at his hands, which, by the way, had six fingers… that let me thinking of yet another mysterious problem: this guy was similar to the fictional Martians – small and green, but instead of three long fingers, this one had six normal ones… and his eyes weren’t so big, and he had an ugly nose, and looked more humanly than I thought and alien would look like… God, I’m totally confused!

Little Pesho smiled next to me on our way up (yeah, I decided to mentally call him Pesho, at least until I figured out his real name, if he actually had one), probably because he heard the nonplus dominating my head. He raised one of the objects a bit higher, pressed a few buttons and the magic happened: the Seine River widened its channel nearly twice its size, all the buildings disappeared and the surroundings became a beautiful natural scene, full of green trees and wild animals; the view from the middle was just amazing – so beautiful and alive. In a few seconds, all this began to change and slowly disappear. On the old the place of the Notre Dame, a small settlement of a group of ancient-looking people began to build up a living place. As we were going up, we stopped and focused our attention on the process of the formation of Paris itself. However, that wasn't all of it...

Do You Ever Wish to be Someone Else?

Chapter 5: Makes you think, doesn't it?

So, there we were - on the ramp leading up to the ship, having the amazing view of the region in our sight. I was amazed: in only a few minutes, the whole history of the city flashed in front of me, including battles and events, unknown to mankind. This slideshow continued until we reached the present day, occupied of tall buildings and harmful gasses… and even beyond: I guess it was only a few years later or maybe a decade, but the scenery was devastating – a huge blast swept away the whole valley, leaving no sign of human existence, no sign of any existence at all! I just stood there with my jaw open from amusement, but also grief. Yet for another few seconds, the view rewinded itself and we were back on our way to the ship. I turned slightly around and looked Pesho with the same inadequate expression. He probably did all this only to show me how people on Earth destroyed themselves and how our days of coexistence were over; to show me the future ahead… maybe this is one of the reasons for this whole alien invasion, if that’s what it was. Still, this only raised another bunch of questions in my head that waited for their turn to be answered.

“It’s a universal remote control,” he said, knowing that this was my smallest concern at the moment, “I can literally control the universe by just pressing a few buttons… I know it’s hard for you now, but everything will come to its place when the time is right, you have my word.”

Even though I wasn’t too sure what I was supposed to believe in, I continued walking up with the green guy. Man, I got even more puzzled than before, wondering what’s gonna happen once we got into the ship… this entire day has been like a whole new world to me, and I’m sure it won’t be over any time soon. Pesho looked at me again and tossed me one of the other items that he was carrying.

“Open the door, please,” he said with a little smile, forming at the cornet of his mouth. He obviously wanted to make me feel better; I don’t really know how this would help, but I spent a moment exploring the thingy, full with strange inscriptions and buttons on it. Something that caught my attention was a text of smaller size near the bottom of this other remote control. Oddly enough, it said ‘Made in China’. I wasn’t in the mood, but I started laughing, anyway. Did aliens actually have a sense of humor? Having a second look on the object with celestial origin, I found the right button; and guess what - it had a space ship door illustrated on it. I pushed it and the door in front of us opened without making the slightest sound or vibration. Damn, this was really some hi-tech science-fiction alien engineering. I started walking forward, stunned by the detailed hallway, leading to the inside of the ship. “Welcome to your new home, or at least that’s what it will be for the next couple of weeks,” Pesho said with shades of pride and delight in his voice.

This was officially the moment, when the exploration of a new world began.

Money… is it really worth it?

Money – the currency of the world, the ultimate object of exchange; used by everyone for everything. Nowadays money is accompanied by covetousness and greed with the desire to have more and more, as it is the source of a “good and meaningful life”. However, that is not the case for a great deal of people in the world.
The struggle for success, measured by the amount of money one has, has created a huge income gap between those on top and the ones living in poverty – the ones used for the benefit and luxury of the others. This is a serious social problem that affects every individual. The problem itself comes from the existence of money and even though the world aims for improvement of the standards and way of live, the problem has only gone worse. In 1960 the Income Gap between the rich and the poor was 30:1, while in 2008 it rose to 92:1.
Also, this is a serious political issue, because it’s the people on the top who decide how the whole system operates, how the money is used, and how this benefits everyone and not only a certain number of individuals. The government and the political figures have a major call in determining the benefits for the people. An example would be President Bush’s decision to spare $161.8 billion for the “War on terrorism” (responsible for 1900 deaths internationally per year, 68 of whom Americans), while the funds for the fight against heart deceases (from which 450 000 Americans die annually) are only $3 billion.
It is the understanding of only a small portion of all people that money is not (or should not be) the most important factor in people’s lives. It surely creates many advantages for the ones who are abundant of it, but this profit is with the cost of other people’s misery and suffering. The great difference of classes and living environments is caused exactly by the fact that money is what determines whether one lives “happily ever after”, or has to struggle to “just be”. The world as it is today has the ability to give equality to everyone, but this would mean that sacrifices would have to be made by the ones who control the world, the ones who control the money.
Money should not be a goal that has to be reached, or even surpassed; money should not be what guides people’s lives.

Driving…

Driving a car is quite an interesting experience… especially if you still don’t have your license. I’m currently in the process of getting mine, but I’ll come back to this later. First, I’d like to take a little detour. You know what it’s like when somebody says you can’t do that, it’s not allowed – you instantly get this uncontrollable urge to just do it, or at least try it. Here, in Bulgaria, riding the bus without a ticket is a common practice and thus resulting in a constant look-out for the suspicious looking agents of the public transportation, also known as the inspectors. Some do it because they lack the money, some think it’s not worth the money, but others just like the thrill and turn the boring ride into an adventure. Same thing goes for drinking. I recently turned eighteen and now can legally drink alcohol, but I’m telling you – it’s just not the same. Oh, I miss the good old times that I had to sneak into the clubs, find someone to order me a beer, or try to get my hands on an ID of someone who is of age.
Anyway, back to the driving. The first time I got behind the wheel of a car was back in 2001, the summer before beginning fourth grade, when I was almost 11 years old. My father took me and my older brother to our grandparents, and then way out of the small town where traffic was extremely rare. We learned the basics and with time we got better, we had a route around the town, we changed cars, and later on we even got to drive within the town, always accompanied and guided by our father, of course. However, as everyone knows, when you do something illegal, you’re just bound to get caught. Whether you go for a free ride on the bus, be young and careless enough to get drunk, or drive without a license, it all ends the same. Luckily, having a well known and quite influential family in a small town where everybody is familiar with each other helps a lot… this took care of a potential “bump on the road”, so to speak. So, as I got to be of age it was time to get myself the license to drive… I mean, officially.
Long story short, I know a guy who knows another guy whose cousin used to live in the same already well known small town and now happens to be a driving instructor in Sofia. He acknowledged my ability to drive, picked me up and dropped me back at home each and every one of the few times we drove together, and, most importantly, he dealt with all the paperwork… he’s a great dude, indeed. All that is left for me now is to study a bit for the theoretical exam and, as he said, “it’s already settled, so just come on time for the practical exam”, both of which are coming soon.
Well, it was fun, but being able to legally drive is one of those things I anxiously look forward to. But of course, there’s a problem… I don’t have a car…