Earth, Are You Okay?: 2nd Place, Speculative Memoir

Vivica Vu-Le is the second-place winner of our Climate Change Memoir Writing Contest in the category of Speculative Memoir. This story plays with the idea of escape, and is a fleeting glimpse into a dark, aquatic, and unfamiliar future.

By Vivica Vu-Le

He loves me. He loves me not. I pluck the tiny petals, one by one, and sprinkle them onto our sweet potato field. Where I’m sitting after a long day of pulling sweet potatoes from the ground is covered with pink and yellow confetti from the Lantana flower. This is literally a celebration of if he likes me back.

“Lantana what are you doing?” My mother asks. She peered over my shoulders and looked down at all the petals I plucked from my flower. “Lantana, seriously. Why are you plucking another lantana again? Are you trying to destroy yourself over a boy? Why don’t you pull another sweet potato instead if you still have that much energy?” She jokes. She sits down next to me. “Lantana don’t destroy a little piece of nature. You know how precious lantanas are. They are the only flower that is resilient enough to survive to this day. Not even some plants on Pangea are like a lantana. Do you remember that?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I know,” I replied.

From our history textbooks at school, it was all about the Earth. The Earth from the past. There were plants and animals, types that we could never imagine. But they are all gone now. There are only a few of us humans left on land. Merpeople were taking over this Earth. They only exist because humans artificially created them in hopes that we could still survive on this angry planet.

Now, they control us. While in their hands, we focus on history and look back at the time when the Earth was okay. We are evil. The only thing we could do now is to survive another day. The only thing we could do now is look back at the destruction we’ve made. As the last land to be above water, we named it back to Pangea. Merpeople live on Panthalassa. On Pangea, we are farmers again. We were told that this will make Earth okay.

No matter what we do, we still repeat history. Life goes on like that. The Earth is still not okay.

“Alright, I’m going for a jog now,” I said to my mom. This is the only thing I could do to clear my mind. I throw the half-plucked lantana onto the ground and brush off more petals from my lap and onto the field. A colorful mess. I walked out of the home of the sweet potatoes and stepped onto the bare ground of Pangea.

One step. Two steps. My feet stomp the hard soil. I don’t know where I’m heading. Three steps. Four steps. My feet dig into to the softer ground. Sand. I jog towards the shore and follow alongside its edge. Towards my right is the water of Panthalassa. The waves jumped and danced tirelessly, towards me and from me. The Earth must be okay today.

All of a sudden, a burst of heat and bright orange flame spread across Pangea, heading towards the ocean. Towards me. I couldn’t think as the heat blew at my face. I want to go back home but I know that there will be no one waiting. I was feeling more heated now. Earth are you okay? I thought. I take a step, facing the fire.

“I wouldn’t go there if I were you,” someone said behind me. I turned around and there he was: the one I thought about a while ago. But he is a merman?

 “Geo, is that you?” I walked closer, trying to get a clearer view.

“Geo? My name is Ian.” The merman said, as he swam closer toward the shore.

“Oh... I thought you were someone I know,” I said. “I’m Lantana.” The wildfire is creeping closer towards me, my feet walking closer to the water.

“You should get into the water before the wildfires get to you.” Ian said. He rests his arms onto the land of Pangea, waiting for my next move.

“B-but I don’t know how to swim. Humans are not allowed to swim anymore.” I replied. I looked back at the orange flames and back at the blue waves. Orange. Blue. Orange. Blue.

“Hey, are you there?” Ian slaps his purple tail against the water. Droplets splashed onto my face. The chill of the water rolled down my neck. I gasped. “If your people could swim in the past, then you can too. It’s not hard to learn.” Ian extended his arm towards me.

That’s true. Why were there many histories behind us? Was it to make us guilty? Was it to make us learn? Should I get into Panthalassa? Should I not? Am I risking myself to see my family again? Is water safer? He will at least guide me, right?

I grabbed his hand, and my feet slowly wet. I reached my waist and kept walking until my head was under the surface. The heat around me changed to coldness. A different feeling. I am surrounded by blurs, so I concentrate to keep the bright purple color of Ian’s tail in front of me. When I released my fingers from his grip, everything turned.

I’m already turning into a sinking land.

Edited by Delia Cullity