Omega

The beginning of a story, from 2016.

Omega

We begin in the past. A young woman is caught up in the trivialities of live as it was. Social media, reality TV, Internet memes. She meets a young man and they have a short affair. Then: environmental threats become chaos, then catastrophe. A perfect storm of plague, pestilence, fire, flood  and  war. 

When the smoke clears, she is the lone survivor. A month passes, then two. She learns to survive. She wanders through empty houses, gathering books, art supplies, tools.  Then one morning, she realizes that she missed her period. Stress? Trauma? No. She is pregnant. She breaks into the town library and begins reading about childbirth. She has the baby - a girl - and names her Omega, but calls her Meggie, keeping the truth from her until she is old enough to understand. The two continue to live in the library.

“What is war, Mother?”

“There is no war, child.”

“”But what was war, then, Mother?”

“War is hate turned into a game where the loser dies.”

“Who would play such a game, Mother?”

“People who thought they could win.”

“The winners don’t die?”

“Yes. Some die in the war, some later. We all die.”

“That’s stupid. It doesn’t make sense”

“None at all, my child.”

“So now what?”

“So now the sixth day of creation is being re-wound, down to the last human.”

“Is that me, Mama?”

“Yes, Meggie, that’s you”.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Live, Meg.. Live until you die. Enjoy the beauty of the world, as only a human can. Glory in the wonder of humanity’s beautiful accomplishments: the books, the music, the art I gathered for you. Mourn its loss.”

The mother dies when Omega is nineteen. Now she must live out her life alone, aware that she is the last of her kind. She surrounds herself with “friends” from the books she reads.

Comment 2016

Can I do this? Suddenly  this is a massive story. I want Omega to die a very, very old woman.  There is so much I want to know about both of them. What is it like to be the mother? To be Omega? This story has been pulling at me for several days now. 

Comment 2023

Just leaving this here. Free for the taking, if anyone wants it. Just name the mother Jo.