Here is an image of Momma, Papa, Haewon and our little brick house.

Momma had just given birth to Haewon, he was almost about two months old now. She and Papa slept beside him every night, even though gramps warned them not to for Haewon’s safety. The house was newly renovated and painted to welcome in the birth of little Haewon. Colours of dainty yellow, ocean blue and baby pink warmed the house and brought an abundant amount of joy to everybody’s face every time they walked inside our little brick house. Momma had told me that the blue and pink represented peace and harmony, while yellow balanced the two out. Yellow was warm like the Sun and it made people feel protected, which was what my parents had wanted to convey to us. They wanted us to feel safe and protected at all times, even when they weren’t around. But colours were just colours, they couldn't protect you. They could only make you remember things. 

Papa enjoyed building and creating, and his favourite thing was to inhale the scent of things that he had built. I could remember it distinctively; the cupboards always smelt like fresh, cedar wood and cinnamon spices from Momma’s constant cooking. I’d wake up every morning, run outside to the backyard and asked Papa what he was building that day. He was always building something; he could never quite sit still. After helping Papa with his inventions, we’d walk in the kitchen and a waft of different scents would welcome us in, oregano, cinnamon, basil, ginger, all sorts of things that made our kitchen bloom with flavours.

I remember the rugs. The rugs were newly imported from Peru; Papa had gotten a discount from his friend who owned a little rug shop downtown. When I touched it, it felt as if I was petting a bear, and I was a little bit sad, because I hoped it wasn’t true.

But at that time in my life, everything in the world was full of vibrancy and delight that I didn't stop to think twice about anything else. You could see the love that the people of EXODUS had for their planet. Neighbors helped one another, and the crime rate was considerably low. Jobs were for everybody and anybody, there was no discrimination in the world. It did not exist; it was abolished a hundred years ago. We were taught in school to love and nurture those around us, that our skin colour should not stop us from being who we are.  

The World, five years ago, was much more than it was today.

Here is an image of EXODUS today.

There is no Momma, no Papa, and no Haewon. Just an empty house with wooden boards drilled over the doors and windows for protection, if they can’t see you, they won’t know you’re there. There was no longer any singing, dancing, or laughing around the house, just a blanket of silence that enveloped me often at night. A companion that I had learned to accept over the year after Haewon passed away. The colours that once brought so much warmth in my heart, had long faded and grown dusty, like a plant that had been forgotten and withered away from lack of care, the house no longer held its shine. Try as I might to keep my parents memory alive and their house clean, I just didn’t have enough courage to love the house the way it deserved to be loved.

It became too difficult to return home after the death of Haewon.

I would come home on the 5th and 22nd of every month, to eat dinner in an empty house. Those were the dates that I had lost my family. My parents and Grandma were rushing home to us when a bomb had dropped on the city; it intended to kill the plague, but instead murdered half of the population. The city was outraged, but nobody did a thing to stop it. There was no funeral; nobody was able to identify the bodies. It was wrecked and roasted for the Nightcrawlers to feast on at night. Mind you, that was one of the lowest point of my life. I was hit with the devastation of losing my family and having only my baby brother left.

Haewon was only one, and I was trying to live my life as a normal teenager. Instead of being his sister, I took on the role of being his Momma. I knew nothing about babies, I knew nothing about cooking, I didn't know anything at that time. Yet one thing was certain, I was not going to allow my baby brother to starve. I fed him, changed him and when he was asleep I'd make my way to the training center. I'd spend about two hours there, then head home. I did this back and forth for five years, never once growing tired of my routine. I felt bad for leaving Haewon home alone, but the training center and the outside world was not a place for a child. I raised him as best as I could, yet even then... I still lost him. 

All I had were photos, and my memory of the people I loved most.

But memories eventually fade, one day I won’t remember them the way I remember them now. I will forget what they wore on the day I last saw them, I will forget the last words we exchanged to each other and I will forget the sound of their voice. I won’t remember their laughter, or how we all loved singing…

They say when a person dies, the first thing you’ll forget about them is the sound of their voice. Haewon had been gone for a year, yet every night I could still hear the sound of his voice tell me, “I love you, Mia.”

“I love you, too, Haewon,” I would say. He wasn’t there, but I still hear him, with such ringing clarity.

“Goodnight Mia, I miss you so much!” he would reply. And I’d tell him the same thing, and then I’d fall asleep, without a worry in the world.

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The New World was barren and dusty; grass had long stopped growing on EXODUS. As if the world knew that it was coming to its final end, it had given up on any source of life. My entire neighborhood was abandoned; my house was the last one with any signs of human life. Cars lined the street, their windows dirty from all the accumulated dust over the years.

Nowadays, I spend most of my time at the training camp. Although I call this place a training camp, it was more than just a singular tent where we all train under. It was actually a three story building, taking up a large quantity of the land. It was built 72 years ago by the military, to train people into Hunters. The Government invested 2.5 billion dollars into the Hunter Organization, but when the Plague came, there was no longer any form of money supporting the organization. Instead, everyone who now trained here was here voluntarily. As long as there was still some bit of electricity running in the world, we were going to be alright.

The reason why the Hunter organization began was so people could be prepared for the plague, they had to be prepared to kill and defend for themselves. We all knew it would happen one day, it had been foreseen by our great ancestors that this outbreak would occur. Not many people believed that it would happen, but fortunately the military had taken action.

This was a place to train yourself, not for you to feel secur