‘Our Once Beautiful World’ by Ishrat Sattar, Trumpington Community College

Fear. Blood. Tears. Regret. Death. That is how our lives are. We live in a world which was once beautiful. Which once had blankets of meadow. Luscious green grass, a thing called trees which swayed with the wind and watched over us. A thing called flowers and animals. We used to have stars sprinkled across the sky. A sun which gave us light and warmth. Rain which was as clear as glass. Forests, mountains, oceans, deserts, grasslands. All gone. Notice how they were all natural. Now nothing is natural. Everything is man-made. How humans have been corrupted by a dangerous thing called money and destroyed a once beautiful world.

People call me crazy for believing in things like that. For believing that this hell hole used to be a haven. This mess was once beautiful. Here, there is no natural beauty. It’s all artificial. Lip fillers, plastic surgery, make-up, laser surgery. Here, outside beauty is just a mask to hide the fact we are all broken inside. It’s not like I can even afford all that. Only rich people have all that artificial stuff.

We poor people live in slums which once were cities, villages, towns. As I walked down the broken, crumbly roads, edges of sharp stones dug into my rough feet. Acidic red rain stung my grubby skin. The once blue sky was blood red with angry black clouds. In the distance, veiled by the thick smoke, you could see outlines of a castle. Well, that’s what I think what it is. People just think it’s just a pile of from World War three rubble. Others like me think it’s where the Gods live. God’s who could someday bring us hope or God’s who are laughing at us on how us humans ended up destroying our own home. How us humans destroyed our race. Our species. Our whole world. Gone.