۞

Responsibility, a burden carried by every human involuntarily, well..... It could be voluntary sometimes. However, it is inevitable to not be responsible for a certain thing in the world, as parents are responsible for their children, children are responsible for their education, orphans are responsible for their survival, and adults are responsible for their family and at their respective works. Everyone is attached to something which they take responsibility in. However, at the level of the whole world, responsibility is placed on 'gods'. In ancient mythology, Atlas was a Titan, an elder god who carried the world on his shoulders. Meaning, The whole of the world was on his shoulders, only he carried that burden. Now the question is, how heavy is that burden?

How would you feel if you knew that the existence of every person, and every being on the streets, inside their homes, at work and various locations all across the world were in your hands, a mere human, when even a titan like Atlas was forced to kneel? Surely the burden being heavy would be an understatement. But then again, that is the burden I currently carry. Thinking about it wouldn't that make me a 'god'?

"Guess even after a long while... my clumsiness is still my only weakness." a bitter smile appeared on my face as I stared at the familiar white ceiling of my room, reminiscing the words of my future-self.

Yuri Jericho was the one who theorized Time traveling by building a time machine. Apparently, after the World 'would' end, survivors had made their way back to barren Earth to retrieve data on time travel as it was the only way to save humanity. But alas, the Time machine built was unstable.

My future self-had passed the baton to my current self nevertheless and now, what was I to do? You’d naturally start by visiting social platforms and request an audience with the world powers to explain your previous 'encounter' wouldn't you? And surely, you'd be moved into a psychiatric hospital as nobody would believe your words. Whoever comes out yelling he'd saw his future self-warning him about the end of the world? Not even missionaries and clerics were that bold. No offense, but not even Jesus, the savior, as he genuinely showed miracles and proved his words. But I on the other hand have no proof nor evidence. This must be how Sir Martin Luther king felt when he said '"i have a dream".

As for if I believed my own..... future self's words, I probably would be crazy if I didn't as he had proved to be me by telling me things I wouldn't ever let anyone else know and that I was sure nobody else knew.

What I needed was a plan, if they wouldn't believe me then I had to make them believe me, but how?

I closed my eyes and thought about different ways that I could thread. But it was all blurry as my mind lost focus every time I thought of how the world was about to end while everyone was smiling. Even though I had nothing to lose, I couldn't just let this happen because I was scared, making the entire human race, perish, just like that. Come to think of It, it wasn't much of a burden really, all I had to do was make people believe me, have everyone move to Mars and mission accomplished, the world is saved.

"aarghh!"

 I scratched my head in frustration as I rolled on the bed, my thoughts in turmoil. It was no exaggerating that lies were easier told than the truth as people easily believed lies to be the truth and the truth to be false. Right now, Earth was lying and the scientists believed its lies. Earth had been showing signs of destruction, but at minimal thus scientists believed there was still time, which was all a lie. Doesn't that mean lying was one way to make people believe you?

My thoughts drifted towards the words of Mr. Sri, he had mentioned how people believed nothing of what they heard and only believed half of what they see. This phrase made a lot of sense at this moment as everything was crystal clear. In truth, building trust was absolutely the hardest trial and tribulation of every existence. Worst is, I couldn't point exactly towards how much time I had since there might have been changes in the current timeline. Not knowing anything for sure, I couldn't just relax and wait for the 'right time' as I had no clue of what to do.

"This is clearly a burden I couldn't carry alone, the whole of humanity was in my hands." I couldn't help but mutter under my breath as I thought of who I could share my burden with.

 I deliberated contacting my closest confidant, Mr. Sri and I realized he probably wouldn't believe me as well. If anybody would, or rather, speaking of trust, only one person would stand out amongst all of the people I knew, and that person is...Dan.

"Roberta, contact Dan" I couldn't bare this problem alone. I had to confide in someone, someone I trusted.