Mileda was walking on the street. She passed through a place called ‘’park.’’ However, according to what she read on books a park should not be like this. She looked around as she was passing and saw some sticks that are painted green, some stable images that have been put there to remind animals, and heard some sounds. The floor was different from regular sidewalk.This was probably because an artist has drawn some green drawings on the floor and this was supposed to resemble grass. She felt as if she was walking through a film set.

     She wondered about her grandmother, her grandmother was a lovely lady. After 65 great years, she passed away last year. She remembered their conversation:

     ‘’When I was your age Mileda, water was something that we never imagined to run out of.  I never thought that I would not be able to see a single plant, flower or something alive whatsoever.’’
     Mileda thought about the photos she had seen from that era. Her grandmother would tell her that back then, some wise people had warned the others but they did not listen. She said they knew the world was going to be like this.

     She was pulled out of her dreams with her friend’s voice

     ‘’Mileda! Hey where are you going?’’ Neal asked

     Neal was her friend from school, they met in their freshmen year at high School and were close friends since then. He was wearing a blue t-shirt and honey color velvet pants. She and Neal would sit sometimes and watch the horrendous red sky. Although they had never seen a blue sky in their life before they knew that red was not the right color.

     ‘’Looking at the sky like this makes me sad, Neal’’ Mileda said as they were laying on the ground

     ‘’Oh, come on now. Don’t say that at least we can breath freely,’’ he said.

     Of course he did not foresee the future, if he had known the situation that they are in right now he would have never said it.

  
      According to their teacher, Mr. Jen, the sky's color was the main reason behind people’s perpetual sadness and gloom. Nowadays it was impossible to see someone actually happy. Maybe sometimes you could hear someone laughing but the real happiness was long gone.

     “Home, you?’’ she replied with cough.

     “Me too, you look bad. What happened?” he asked

     “These coughs are hurting my lungs, I am fed up with them”

     “Did you buy your new O2 Nimbus?”

     “No I couldn’t because my father doesn’t work anymore, so I cannot buy it,’’ she coughed

     O2 Nimbus was a gadget that allows you to breath normally. There were no trees anymore people were having hard time in breathing until a scientist invented  O2 Nimbus. However, there was one tiny problem, not everyone was able to afford to buy it, and if you did not buy it you will just have to live with coughs and asthma all the time.

     They started to walk together toward their neighborhood, a garbage truck passed by them leaving a dirty, stinky steam behind it. They heard a chopper flying above them, looked up and saw the logo, it was the International Water Distribution chopper. Since all draw wells dried up; the government had to initiate a new project. There was a water source in Saudi Arabia, it was the only source that is still available in the world. They were bringing water from there because there was no other option. They saw a squirrel running in front of them, and started to chase it immediately. It has been forever since she has seen an animal for real. They chased it to the City Garbage Disposal Center and stopped chasing it because they could not  go into that garbage it was as high as Mount Everest.

     ‘’God! What the heck is this smell?’’ Neal asked

     ‘’If we don’t leave now, the poor squirrel will die from scent’’ she said, as she was holding Neal’s arm     

     After they arrived to their neighborhood they went their own home. ‘’No matter what Neal, always sees the goodness, integrity and grace’’ she thought as she was going home. Mileda entered the home and found her father waiting for her advent.

     “Hey sweetie, where were you? Dinner is ready, you can help yourself”

     “Hey dad, after school, Neal and I saw a squirrel and decided to chase it, but  we couldn’t catch it of course.”

     “I remember there were some times that you would see a dog or a squirrel at every corner, or you would see some real plants wherever you looked. But we are greedy creatures even though we saw that coming no one did something to prevent it, and look what happened now you can only use a gallon of water a day for your all needs! And I heard they will cut down on sugar as well. Oh boy you gotta be kidding me!” her father got angry and broke the flagon, the flagon divided into million pieces.  

     “Okay dad, simmer down please. I heard they started to plant again, nice times will come again, this not the end.”

     Her father was a nice man, after her mother died he raised Mileda on his own. He was working at two jobs until he got dismissed from both. Mileda knew it was necessary although she wanted to see her father more, she never complained about it.

     ‘’ Okay sweetie I’m gonna sleep now, you have a wonderful night’’

     ‘’Okay dad, good night’’

     After having her dinner, Mileda went to her bed. She found herself thinking about her future. She hoped everything would be nice and got lost among her dreams.