A Short Story

JK

Long time ago we used to believe  that the future would be prosperous, that when we looked up in the sky we would see more wonders than what we can count: Maybe two moons instead of one, maybe flying cars, or even jetpacks, just as if we were in a movie.

But now we know that our present in 2090 is way much different from what humanity used to believe before.

Everything started to fall apart, little by little: First climate

change started, then pollution got worse, most of the animals got extinct by 2050, we ran out of clean water 5 years ago, hunger and poverty has killed millions. And one of the most common causes of death are because of respiratory illnesses due to the polluted air.

In conclusion, the last couple of years have been a nightmare, governments are a mess, and no one knows what to do, and only a few rich families have the resources to pay for a system to clean their water. The rest of the population is dying, little by little, and there is no hope remaining in their hearts.

Now it is time for us to meet the protagonist of this story, his nickname is JK, no one knows his real name, and no one knows where he came from. He is a mystery. But sadly, he is also only a legend.

People in the towns tell stories about this hero, that used to travel between towns helping with everything he could, giving food to the ones that needed, and fighting with thieves, murderers, and rapists. Building homes and giving medicines to everyone.

It is suspected that he actually belongs to one of the richest families in the world, because many affirm that he gave them clean, pure water to drink, FOR FREE.

He used to be the hope of all humanity, like a myth that parents told their children, so they behaved well. “If you are a good person, JK will come and help us all”

It was a way of providing hope to the poor, and everyone. But five years ago he disappeared, and no one knows why. Some like to say that his rich family found out about his identity and now they kept him locked in his room. Without a chance of escaping.

Some say that it is all the governments’ fault, that they thought he was gaining more and more power and he could try to become a leader, which is why they pursued him and killed him.

Some say that it is something as simple as the possibility of him dying during one of his fights against a criminal. Others say that he died because of a disease, while others affirm that he was captured by aliens!

There are way too many versions of this story for them to be

mentioned completely, but I know the truth. People don’t stay young for forever, he probably could not neither continue fighting nor traveling that much, but there are many ways of helping people. 

You can be a hero for anyone in this wicked world, and what must remain from this story is not that we need JK to have hope, instead, it must be that anyone, can bring hope to humanity.

 - And with that, Joan Key of 50 years closed her book and looked up with hope the lighted up faces of her students.

By Camila Orozco, Step 9.