The year: unknown. The date: unknown.

After the nuclear fire, the thick blanket of dirt and smoke enveloped the entire landscape. Nothing can be found here, as the buildings are so dilapated that there is no color left on the bricks, and the once-proud pieces of architecture, 100 stories high, now lay in scattered pieces of rubble. As I took in the smells, which was hard to do through the unwieldy gas mask, a sense of death still clung to the area in the form of rotting flesh. The rancid smell overtook me as I climbed over the burned-out shells of cars, as I made my way back to the shelter. As the wind blew off some thick black dirt from the road that was without color now, a flyer was exposed.

It contained the entire cause of the apocalypse in just 5 short words. As I stared at it in wonder, my surroundings became clearer than ever. The sun was completely blotted out due to the immense amount of greenhouse gases that had been pumped into the atmosphere, but a few rays managed to shove their way through. This light was the only reason that I could see anything. As I reached the abandoned subway station that was my shelter, the stifling silence was interrupted only by faintest bark of a dog, as I sat alone, so alone, in my small hole in the ground that once was a bustling subway stop in Manhattan.

As I stared at the flyer, gas mask still on, I carefully observed the piece of paper that had taken everything from everyone. With this one paper, I finally knew the reason behind all the suffering and hardship. The flyer read “Kanye West for President: 2020”.