The Last Canvas

Collapsed World

Tanya Mclave walked down an abandoned walkway in clothes that were too tight and skin that was too clean to be hers. The blazing afternoon sun shone through the thick veil of smog illuminating the unofficial border between the ruins of the First Viewers and the pristine neighborhoods of the Outlookers. Her feet were already aching from the miles she had to walk in those god forsaken heels but she was determined to get to the news casting station that was just a few blocks down in Outlooker territory. She was here to do one thing, spread knowledge. There were a number of reasons as to why America had slipped into such ruin, but it all came down to the ignorance of knowledge, and the only way to stop the madness was to make people listen. 

As she rounded down the shiny clean street, people stopped to watch her. It was very rare for someone with her dark honey skin or her short curly hair to be in the Outlookers territory without them being directly employed by the President. They looked at her as if she were a piece of food in the middle of a First Viewer’s riot and she hated it with every pore on her body.

She rounded the final corner and saw the famous barbed fence that supposedly protects the news casting station from First Viewer terrorists. When the fence was put up it was meant to be a metaphor for protecting our media from the “misinformed stories” that would paint the Outlookers as bad people. It was only a few years later that the narrative  turned to accusation because of the newscasters that would cover headlines about the proverbished life of the First Viewers. The day that the President called out those “terrorists” was the day that First Viewers well and truly lost their voice.

“Don’t you know the health risks of walking out here without a mask on?” A tall blonde woman said while walking towards Tanya.

“I lost mine” She lied.

“Well alright. I think that someone’s handing out new ones inside. I just need your name and why you’re visiting the news station today.”

“My name’s Emily Vonhine, I’m here for an interview on how the president’s reign has affected general life for the public.”

“Oh yeah you’re that chic that just got put into office a little while ago.” She gave Tanya a look that made her feel out of place. “Just go in through those doors and take a right when you see the sample table.”

She already knew where to go. She had studied the floor plans for hours beforehand. Yet she played the part of the gracious confused woman. “Thank you so much.”

She took a few steps forward and made a show of her trying to look around for the doors. Then she walked toward her last attempt to change what the world had become.

The inside of the building was fancy, but not more than the other Outlooker facilities she’d been in. She’d played a number of different people in her lifetime, put on millions of different faces, but it never changed her roots as someone who had an unceasing meaningless hope for the future. That’s what had brought her to go on her missions for the Underground. Today very well could be her last day as another person, because today was the day that she would put everything on the line in a last push to the minds of the people.

She walked past the booth of new air purifying masks that were handed out to random people. The old ones being discarded like common street trash while 6 million First Viewers had died just this year alone. The disregard for human life made her stomach roil, though she knew that it was from utter stupidity that the people here were throwing away such precious resources. 

She reached the sample table and kept going straight. Past the endless offices of useless broadcasting executives, towards the production control room. She could feel the almost microscopic disc in the front pocket of her shirt abnormally well as it bounced up and down. The technology was old, being the only ones the Underground could get their hands on, but it would fit its purpose. 

The room was darker than it would be when the program would start running. The technology in the room was far more advanced than she’d ever seen. There were computers that were like the ones she’d seen in the Underground, yet they had evolved to a point where there were no screens necessary for their function. There were only small circular projectors dispersed around the tables. There was one larger disc at the front of the room that was the central point for the production’s media output. 

The sound of her heels clicking echoed a loud rhythm throughout the room as she walked toward the largest disc. Her heart pounded so hard that she was sure that people nearby heard it. She pulled the object that was no bigger than her smallest fingertip out of her pocket and placed it on the center of the computer. Light started to flash in sporadic pulses until an image appeared in front of her. The image seemed to be a part of the next broadcast, it depicted a greenhouse full of meats growing off various different plants. The likes of which would feed a community of First Viewers for weeks. Her eyes widened at the realization of how much more was being kept from them.

“Hey what are you doing in here?”

She turned around to see a security guard shining a light directly at her. With her back hand she tapped the computer, shutting down the image. “Sorry I got lost”

“Typical.” He scoffed, “Get out of there before you do something stupid.”

She walked as fast as she could with her shoulders caved inward. The hallways were crowded with the afternoon rush of people getting in to work. Everyone bumped into each other as they raced the clock, shouting phrases across the halls. She straightened her skirt and squared her stance as she went into the throng. 

Her feet thundered down the marble tiles as she turned to find herself in the studio. There were huge cameras hovering over the floor by some invisible force, all pointing toward two empty chairs. A dark brown haired man with blue eyes and pale skin stood in front of her having a white powder dabbed all over his face. He was the one she hated the most here. Drewor Gardison stood in front of a camera each day and came up with new ways to spew hate against the First Viewers. Saying they’re all terrorists who seek to cause violence against the Outlookers any chance they get. Spreading conspiracy theories about how they’re all pedophiles and felons. Through his actions he caused millions to die at the hands of Anti-First Viewer groups. 

“Who are you?” A man with a scraggly beard and blonde hair said to her.

“Emily Vonhine, here for an interview.”

“Ah yes, well we’ll have to give you a touch up before you go on.”

He led her over to a back corner where three different women fussed over her face at the same time. Giving her bigger lips and bigger eyes, because “no one would listen to her if she didn’t look good”. Meanwhile Drewor and his co-host sat down in their cushy chairs and waited for the show to start. 

“Five, Four, Three, Two,” The director mouthed the last word and pressed a button on the camera.

“Good afternoon America, and welcome back to Afternoon Sunshine. Where you’ll find all the news you need.”

“That’s right Drewor. Today we have a very special program for you. First up we’re going to have an interview with Emily Vonhine, the new congresswoman in the House of Reprisentatives. Then, we’ll be exploring the possibility of a new type of rain? Did I read that correctly Drewor?”

“You most certainly did Kate…”

Their words trailed in Tanya’s head as she rehearsed the instructions that were written for her weeks prior. She didn’t need to do much, just stall for a few minutes until the disc kicked in and took over for her. The newscasters wouldn’t know that she was the culprit at first, and those first moments after the disc would stop would be the only time that she’d have to escape.

“Now without further ado can I get Emily Vonhine to come up here please?”

Her head whirled to the broad fake smiles of her interviewers as she stood and brushed herself off. She plastered her own toothy smile, as she walked up to the new chair that was rising out of the floor.  Waving to the camera, she strode across the stage with as much confidence as she could muster.

“Afternoon’ America.” She said as if just the name sparked unpresidented joy inside.

“How are you doing Emily?” 

“I’m doing amazing Kate thanks for asking.”

“So I heard that you’ve been working closely with what the benefits are of having President Umbrye lead our fine country. Is this true?” Drewor asked. 

“Why yes it is. Ever since our president stepped into office twelve years ago, all life has changed for the better. Our economy has skyrocketed to the point where almost everyone is expected to make at least $400,000 a year, the tolerance for protests against our country has gone down to zero, and our overall control over the people has never been greater.”

“Now when you say protests against our country, you do mean terrorist attacks correct?” 

“Oh of course, my mistake I must have slipped up.” Tanya said in a subtly pointed statement.

“Now I understand that election day is coming up again Emily,” Kate said in an effort to redirect Tanya back on track. 

“Yes, yes that’s why I’m here to tell America how they don’t have to vote again this year. Since the population didn’t vote last time, life under the President’s rule has never been better. Or if you’re really that set on voting go ahead and vote for Umbrye, because he’s going to win either way.”

The newscasters overdramatically laughed at that, and Tanya joined in. On the last election day of 2046 all of the ballots in First Viewer territory had either been taken away, or replaced by fakes. Meaning that the only votes who counted were the ones in Outlooker territory, and since so many people found it unnecessary to vote, the ones who did filled in a spot for Umbrye. The supreme court judges he appointed deemed there to be such an overwhelming amount of votes for him that he was put in office for a third term and all who weren’t rich straight white men like him suffered the consequences.

“Alright well it’s been really nice tal-” Kate was interrupted by the frantic waving of the producer. “Um-”

All of the sudden the lights went out and a huge projected image appeared behind them. In the image was a young girl, no older than ten, separated from the world by a barbed wire fence weeping over a dead body. There was a caption over the image that read ‘Umbrye’s correction camp for the treacherous’. During his time as president Umbrye had started to lock people up for going against his rule. At first he had only locked up people who had committed actual crimes against the government, but as time went on he started sending more and more people to the correction camps for just being believed to hold an idea against him. It didn’t matter if they were men, women, or children. 

The screen changed and showed around twelve different people lying in the dirty streets in the center of First Viewer territory, starved down to the bone. It was almost impossible to tell which were dead and which were alive because they all had the same hollow look in their eyes. The caption read ‘the hungry terrorists’. 

Drewor stormed down to the producer. “What is happening here? Why haven’t you fixed it?”

“We’re trying as hard as we can but-”

“Well try as though your job is at risk.”

The screen switched a bit faster this time to a thirteen year old girl leaning against a wall in a broken down alleyway. Blood was spilling down her legs and a huge belly weighed her down. Her face writhed in pain as she stayed there utterly alone. The caption read ‘No means you’re an incubator’. One of the policies that got Umbrye elected had been his want to make abortions illegal. This led to millions of women dying unnecessarily from childbirth, children dying from a lack of resources that the proverbished mother can’t provide, and females having to carry their rapists child. 

Most of the room was in a frenzy, running around trying to figure out how this was happening. Yet some had already given that up completely, mortified at the screen in front of them, and Tanya could see others glancing over their shoulder or at least having to do a double take.

The screen changed to a big group of people grabbing at their throats, slowly dying without an air purifying mask. Then to a diverse group of people holding hands as they’re shot down for protesting the death of black people. Then to a sea of rainbow flags being torn apart as government officials ran their cars through the throng of people wanting to have the right love. Then to towns being bombed for coming close to change. Then to the sea that was rocking back and forth with trash and dead animals.

Each time the screen shifted the images went faster and faster, until they stopped on a picture of the world from an outside view. The oceans were darker and the land was brown. There were no more ice caps and no more places that weren’t in ruin. The atmosphere around the earth had a yellow tint you could see from space, and was littered with satellites and floating trash. The caption read ‘Umbrye’s world’.

As the picture started to fade away the lights came back on. Almost all the room had stopped at the end. Either in hate or newfound understanding, it was hard to tell. 

“Cut the cameras,” Drewon said.

 For a moment no one did anything, they all just stood in silence.

“I said cut the cameras!”

The director scrambled toward the screen and pushed the button to turn it off. It wouldn’t actually turn off though, not until everyone had seen what they needed to see.

Tanya made to stand up but was pulled back down by a strong grip on her arm. She turned toward Drewon.

“You.”

“Can I help you Mr. Gardison?”

“You did this.” He glared at her with all the wrath in the world.

“Mr. Gardison! I am a congresswoman! What an awful accusation!”

He smirked. “I saw how your eyes lit up. It wasn’t a coincidence that you’re here on the day that this happens is it, Emily. Or whatever your name is.”

“I caught her sneaking around in the production room,” the security guard she saw before announced.

Her heart started beating out of her chest as the room turned menacing.

“Did you think that you could change something? Nothing has changed. Umbrye will rule until he dies. So the only thing you’ve done is given yourself a death sentence.”

“I’ve had a death sentence since I was born.”

She pushed him back with her knee and pushed her palm up under his nose, breaking it in a split second. She got up to make a run for it, but only made it a few steps. There, ringing through her ears was the blast of a gun. The assailant had only shot her through the arm but it wouldn’t matter because of the poison lacing all federal guns. She’d be dead in only a few minutes. Her face turned towards the camera that was still rolling  as everything seemed to slow down. She fell to the ground, still facing the camera as she started seizing in pain. A bloody faced Drewon came into her line of sight, shouting something she couldn’t make out. She looked the camera dead in the lense as she felt herself starting to black out.

“My name is Tanya Mclave.” She said before everything disappeared.

Transformed World

Tanya Mclave walked down the concrete forest of the American city capital. People from all walks of life waved at her from across the street, and she waved back. Today was a good day. The blue sky smiled down on her, the new spring breeze kissed her throat, and her lab had made a breakthrough that would revolutionize the food industry. 

The plants growing on the outer workings of the giant skyscrapers around her ruffled in the wind. As the population grew in the last decade, most places were required to build skyscrapers so that everyone was accommodated. Following this initiative, there was the concern that it would cause new pollution setbacks, so it was enforced that every building have vertical gardens to counteract the effects.The huge jungled towers had become the most famous attraction for tourists in America.

As she rounded the corner she saw one of the crowned jewels of the city. The big news casting building was surrounded by miraculous diverse gardens that swept from the ground all the way to the roof. Huge stained glass windows bedecked the walls with countless swirling colors that danced about in the afternoon sun. As a place where people were able to amplify their voice, the architects who built it thought that it should be glorified so that everyone would feel safe speaking their truths. 

A stunning young woman walked up to Tanya. Her blonde hair and green eyes were highlighted by the delicate red dress she wore.

She towered over Tanya as she said, “Hello there Miss, my name is Tia. May I help you with anything today?”

“Thank you Tia. I’m Tanya Mclave, I’m here for an interview. Could you possibly show me where the recording studio is?”

“Of course. Follow me.”

The inside of the building was just as stunning as the outside. The windows shone splashes of color through every corridor, and the lights hovering above reflected in all the spots the sunlight missed. Wafts of sweet smelling scents floated past in sporadic waves. Every angle of the long hallway felt like a piece in an art museum, and every step felt like a lifetime.

When they arrived at the studio a young man rushed up to her with a tray of hot cups in his hands.

“Would you like some coffee ma’am?”

“No thank you,” she said back.

 Coffee was a bit of a rarity in this world. Although when President Tamica became President she worked very hard to close the wage gap between the upper class and lower class, there were still a few things that differentiated the two. One of them being the rare coffee bean that used to be as common as bread. 

“Come this way.” Tia said as they walked toward a dark skinned woman in the front of the room. “Rachel Montie, this is Tanya Mclave.”

“Oh Dr. Mclave it is so good to meet you,” Rachel said as she enthusiastically shook Tanya’s hand. “I’ve heard of all the great things that you and your team have done.”

Rachel beamed from ear to ear as Tanya said, “Likewise Ms. Montie. I’ve heard so much about the news casting station and I’m so glad to be finally seeing your vision in person.”

Rachel waved over a young man from the corner of the room. 

“Daniel, this is Dr. Mclave, I want you to take good care of her. She’s very important.”

“You have nothing to worry about Ms. Montie.”

Daniel walked with Tanya away from Rachel Montie and over to the corner he had been in before. 

As Daniel touched up her makeup she waited anxiously for the program to start.

“Five, Four, Three, Two,” The director mouthed the last word and pressed a button on the camera to get it to start rolling.

“Good afternoon America, and welcome back to Afternoon Sunshine. Where you’ll find all the news you need.”

“That’s right Rachel,” Her male co-host responded. “Today we have a very special program for you. First up, a story on the upcoming pride month and how LGBTQ+ rights have changed over the years. Next, we’ll have a very special interview with our very own Dr. Mclave. Lastly before we cut to the weather, we’ll talk about the election day that’s right around the corner and where you can sign up to get your voice heard.”

“Now John, we know that LGBTQ+ rights have been widely appreciated for a long time now, but did you know that there was a time when they couldn’t even get married?”

“It seems crazy Rachel but it’s true.”

“Almost 35 years ago, in 2015, gay marriage was legalized in the U.S. Since then, a lot of great strides have been made to make life better for our fellow brothers and sisters. In 2020 life seemed to be moving backwards for gay rights, where LGBTQ+ marriage was being debated yet again after only Five years of legalization. Luckily for us the debate was overturned and deemed as unconstitutional. For many years afterward, members of the LGBTQ+ community lived in fear of their rights being illegal again. Then in 2034 we had our fist openly gay president and everything seemed  to be looking up again. Under his administration, the gay panic defense was officially illegalized, and the deaths of LGBTQ+ people from hate groups started to plummet. Now we have had many different LGBTQ+ people as president and put into positions of power. The LGBTQ+ community has never been more accepted, appreciated, and loved but we still hold a pride month every year to remind us of the hardships we had to go through to get to this point.”

“What a beautiful segment and tribute to the LGBTQ+ community. Now can we have Dr. Mclave up here please?”

Tanya smiled a big broad smile, as she walked up to the new chair that was rising out of the floor.

“How are you today Dr. Mclave?”

“I’m doing very well, thanks John.”

“Now I understand that you and your lab partners have made a breakthrough, would you like to explain it to us?”

“I would love to. To put it into simple terms, since 2013 scientists have been able to make purely lab made meat but they were never able to make the meat in an efficient way. My scientists for years have been trying to make efficient lab grown meat for years, and have finally come up with a way to grow meat on plants.”

“Wow that is an amazing development, would you tell us your predictions on what the effect on the world will be from this development?”

“So as we all know the meat industry has been one of the biggest contributing factors to deforestation, climate change, and water depletion for the longest time. Under President Tamica we have changed how much meat we eat from 40% of all food, to 20% and we can see how much that has helped us by just…walking outside each day. Once we get this new technology out into the world though, I think that the amount of consumption of animal made meat will drop all the way down to 5% and then to 0%.”

“Wow, so the results will be overwhelmingly good.”

“You are correct.”

“Now this meat, does it taste like real meat?”

“It is made to taste, smell, and feel exactly like real meat. We actually did a test run on it the other day and found that none of our test subjects could tell the difference between the animal, and the plant grown.”

“That is amazing! Well, I hope that I can get some of that new meat soon.”

“I’ll make sure that you’re one of the first to get some John.”

“Good. Well we should move on to our next segment before I get too hungry. Before you leave, is there anything you would like to say to all the voters this year?”

“Of Course. Although I’ve loved having Laraun Tamica as our president, make sure that you are using your privilege of voting because it’s a gift. Whether you’re voting for Tamica again or another candidate, let your voice be heard.”

“Inspiring words from an inspiring woman. Well, thank you for coming up here today.”

“Thank you for having me.”

As she walked off the stage she felt increasingly light because she knew she had made a difference.