Author's Note: This story is likely to offend some readers. That being said, be sure to keep any criticism constructive and decent. Be open-minded and realize this is a FICTIONAL STORY with an imperfect character, because we all know that a perfect character would be boring and unrealistic.

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The future isn't as good a place as most expected it to be.

They said the world was progressing out of the dark ages and into the light, but they were and are still...utterly incorrect. This had now been made clear.

Ada Bolanle has thought about this for a long time now. But what she has now found in the abandoned, 200-year-old building, in the middle of nowhere, confirms her theories once and for all.

The 23rd century is not what anyone wants, needs, or can live with. And Ada knows this.

She is now transporting what she has found to the city, recalling that she has a lunch date with her best friend, Immaculee. Ada's heart is thumping with anxiety and stress, as she gazes at her surroundings. The barren, deserted field of dying grass and wilting wildflowers slowly turns back into the big city of overwhelmingly large buildings and threateningly loud noises.

Ada passes a few couples passionately kissing. She spots a cute little girl wearing a short scarlet skirt and playing on her iGlobe. Ada hates the iGlobes. Of course, after her little trip to the lonely, big old building, she fails to find the good in anything of the world in which she supposedly lives.

This isn't life, she thinks, closing her eyes for a minute. Life brings joy. Life brings sorrow. And the life brings greater joy after the sorrow. But life doesn't give pleasures and false happiness and neutrality on all matters. And most of all, life brings ideas. Divine ideas. Controversial ideas! Not reused ideas that everyone is forced by the law to agree with.

Ada arrives at the small coffee shop and finds Immaculee sitting at their favorite table outside by the potted plants. The thing is, "small" is a relative term. Compared to all the other coffee shops, The Little Cafe is very tiny. But compared to an average-sized Starbucks in the early 21st century, The Little Cafe is enormous. It's nearly the size of large, spacious food court in a mall. And that means the outdoor food court is gigantic as well.

That's one thing about the future. Everything's large. Everything's huge. And if it's not huge to the eyes, it is so to the ears and mind. The fashions are loud, the music is deafening, and every person's house is as giant as they want it. Ada almost laughs aloud when she recalls that many crazy people in the early 21st century were so worried about overpopulation. China had passed a law that every family could have no more than one child. And Ada has learned that America was desperate to keep abortion legal. But this is why Ada laughs:

She glances around the vast city and sees all the space they possess. Each family (and the families of this century are actually quite small) has a house ten times bigger than that of the average American in the 21st century. So much room. So few people.

The abortionists back then did not care about overpopulation. They hid behind that reason to trick others into thinking that they were doing a good deed when they murdered their children. Selfish. And they called it choice. If murder is choice, Ada thinks, then so is rape. Both disregard the choice of the other individual involved in the action.

But then Ada remembers that abortionists' main argument for why they are innocent, is that the fetus is not human. Therefore, the act is not murder. That's right, Ada thinks, chuckling. A HUMAN fetus isn't actually a HUMAN. But it is some sort of organism living inside a HUMAN'S body.

Ada wishes the world around her was different. She wonders how desperate she is to escape this fake utopia. Ada shutters and shakes off the thought.

Trying to look and act somewhat cheery, Ada greets Immaculee who nods a "hello" back. Ada quickly hides her new belonging under the table.

"What took you long?" Immaculee asks, leaning back in her chair.

Ada does not have many close friends, mainly because she doesn't find anyone with whom is worth being friends. But Immaculee and Ada grew up together as neighbours and are the closest of friends. Plus, Immaculee is intelligent and sensible, unlike most young people Ada knows.

"Immaculee," Ada murmurs, lowering her voice as she looks intently at her friend. "I told you where I was going to be. Went down to that ancient, forsaken building."

"You were there for hours!" Immaculee explains, though not sounding too worried.

"Days, actually," Ada mumbles, smiling as she recalls the wonderful memories of dashing around the building.

"Ada, stop for one second. You're scaring me, kind of. What is so amazingly exciting about this place?" Immaculee asks, throwing her hands in the air and whispering.

Ada only continues to stare into Immaculee's dark eyes. They are very dark eyes. One can spot the hint of brown in them, but the light in most people's irises seems to have died out to Ada. She can no longer find the twinkle in the human eye.

"It's not just amazing and exciting," Ada is no longer whispering as she slowly rises from her chair. "It's...it's...ENCHANTING!"

The tiny, young Ada jumps into the air, her enthusiasm taking over her body. She hits the umbrella hanging over their table, which is violently knocked off-balance and soon comes tumbling down on top of the two girls' table. Their sugary drinks spill all over them, the force of the umbrella crushes the glass table top, which then crushes the legs of the table. The girls practically are thrown off their cushioned chairs as the umbrella lands on top of them.

Ada lies under the umbrella, wondering what Immaculee's reaction would be. And those few seconds of odd silence and lying there made Ada think really hard.

This world...is so fake, she thought, sighing. It's not happy despite everyone's smiles when they say "hello". If you look closely, there's no light in their eyes or smile. If you look at them when they're alone...they're not smiling. They look miserable. Because they are.

This world is so fake.

Suddenly, the umbrella is lifted to reveal, not Immaculee, but someone who works at the cafe. A plump clerk with a small beard and highlighter pink eyeshadow. His irises are green as lime and his lips, red as a blood moon.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" chirps his high voice with the utmost concern and kindness.

Ada only sighs again, through her nose.

"You're fake."

She mumbles this very quietly while maintaining eye contact with the man. Ada is sure he did not hear her. He only tilts his head in confusion and asks if she needs any help at all.

"Not that I think you're incapable of helping yourself!" he quickly adds, holding out his large hands. "I'm just asking. Do you need an ice pack maybe?"

Ada bites her lip in frustration. She pushes herself up from the ground and begins stomping away. Far away. Far from The Little Cafe.

She strangely doesn't feel like crying, even though Ada Bolanle is known as one of the most sensitive people. She has a soft heart and is quite compassionate. But how can she be compassionate about anyone in this wretched excuse of a society after everything she found at the giant, ancient building.

The building.

Her belonging. Her findings!

What she had found at the barren building!

Ada left it at the coffee shop!

Panting, the Bolanle sprints back to The Little Cafe as fast as her little legs can carry her. When she arrives at the repaired table (everything is very easy to fix in the 23rd century), a crowd is gathered around Immaculee and the gay man.

They are touching and gaping at Ada's strange object.

Ada is practically horrified at the things she is hearing.

"What the hell is this thing?" one grouchy-looking man with a cigarette in his mouth asks. He has a raspy voice not surprisingly.

"Oh my God. It's one of those dumb frickin' 21st century things. I don't know what they're called," a young boy says, before looking back at his iGlobe.

"Holy shit! NO ONE has one of those. Where did it come from?" one of the girls Ada knows well, but is not close friends with, is naturally intrigued by the mysterious, new object. She especially loves following - no - chasing the fashions. She's wearing a sleeveless dress with large, diagonal ruffles all over it. It's a brighter orange than a summer sunset, and her hair is bigger and pinker than a bush of roses.

A middle-aged woman, wearing the biggest earrings and the darkest makeup, looks appalled and confused by the foreign object. The murmur of the horde gradually crescendos into disturbed, curious and disgusted shouts of questions and concern.

"It's Ada's!" Immaculee shouts accusingly, pointing to her friend. Some friend.

All eyes slowly turn to Ada Bolanle. She receives different glares of disapproval, confusion and worry. For a second, Ada again wishes she would evaporate from this world. This forsaken country.

There's a long silence. But then suddenly, a very old woman in a modest, pale blue dress speaks up.

"Ada? Did...did you go to the ancient library? In the empty field in the middle of nowhere?" she asks, narrowing her eyes at Ada, but looking genuinely concerned.

Why do they have to be concerned? There is nothing wrong with Ada.

But Ada knows that there is something wrong with the world. And she doesn't know what to do to save it.

She breathes deeply as she scans the crowd gaping before her. Ada's pink-haired friend, Kofi (which means "born on Friday"), is wide-eyed. Ada can tell even though Kofi is wearing her purple, diamond-shaped sunglasses (it's the fashion). Oh Kofi, Ada says to herself. You're such a nice person. You are. But you, and everyone, need to know something. Need to learn something, for once.

Then Ada raises her head and says:

"There is a place that can bring you back to the past. But it is not a time machine.

There is a place that can bring you to other worlds. But it is not a spaceship.

There is also a place that can bring you into the minds of the greatest thinkers. But it is not a mind-reader.

This place has many doors. Hundreds and hundreds of doors. But none of them have handles. Or locks. Or keys.

Rather, the lock is is the limits of your mind. Your comprehension. And the key is your will. Your determination. And the handle is...your hand. Your eyes. You simply open the door with your hand and look with your eyes. And if you are willing to push your mind out of its comfort zone, you will find comfort beyond this door. You will find knowledge, wisdom, new ideas. New ways of thinking.

This that I have given you all today, is a door.

This door will lead you to truth. To true happiness. Because we all know that we have not been living truly happy lives. And we have been hiding from the truth."

Ada tries hard to hold back the tears in her eyes.

"You all think that the wonderful world in which we live was given to us graciously and righteously. Through righteous, good deeds and the motivation to help people.

But this is a lie.

This country...this planet...has so much space in it because...they soon got tired of the slow process of abortion. So they started killing off the old people, too. And the homeless and the poor. And the ones they called corrupt and evil and selfish. Only, they were the selfish ones! They thought that we could live in peace and love by getting rid of the extra mouths to feed. They thought we were overpopulating. We weren't. We just didn't have everything we wanted. But we had most of what we needed. The main thing we lacked...was compassion. Nobody cared about helping others; they only cared about fulfilling their own desires. And if they couldn't have what they wanted, then it was time to start killing those who got in the way. The greedy ones didn't want to appear evil to everyone else, so they came up with the excuse that they had to kill off some people if the world was ever to be a truly content place. Kill the ones who got in the way so that the others can have all the space. And look at how much space we have. We have so much. So much space that would have been taken up by the children slaughtered in their mothers' wombs.

Yet, we have everything we could ever ask for.

And are we happy?

Look at what I have brought you. Open the door. You will see shapes that are called letters that are forming things called words.

And the thing itself is called a book.

Specifically, a bible.

It will take time, my friends, but we can do it. We can achieve happiness. True joy. Compassion and love for one another.

Because what went wrong in the past was not because of one group of selfish people; It is the selfishness in each one of us that destroys our surroundings."

The End