Chapter 1: Reborn

My name is David O'Malley. I am eighteen years old, I am an American, and I'm a foreign exchange student in Japan. I have a mom, a dad, and two brothers, and I used to live in America. I believe in Jesus, I am an Anime fan, I like spicy foods, my favorite movie is Star Wars, and once I am back to normal, I will go back to America to find my family.

That's one of the things I've been repeating to myself since I've become like this; I was turned into a stone statue, along with everybody around me. And to make matters even worse, I keep blacking out every few hours! And when I wake up, its like the whole world has suddenly changed! It's like the streets are breaking up, buildings are falling apart, and everything around me is suddenly shifting! I don't know what's going on, or why everybody in the world was suddenly turned to stone!

And I don't know if it's just this country; what if everybody in the entire world was turned to stone?! That means everything that we know and love is disappearing, and everything we've taken for granted won't exist anymore! Everything: Cars, lightbulbs, microwaves, stoves, all the little things we've didn't really care about are suddenly going to be nothing more than a memory! And what about my family; what if they got turn into stone?! What if they end up getting broken into millions of little pieces?!

Okay, calm down… calm down. I have to calm down; if I panic, I'll just black out again. Aside from repeating my name and the little facts about myself, and acting out scenes from Star Wars to keep my sanity, I keep thinking back to that moment. That one moment that changed the course of the human race. And all I can think about that particular moment is just one thing: why did it happen?

I guess its best just to review what happened on that particular day. I mean, considering the fact that I've been turned into stone, its not like I'm going anywhere at the moment. So, for now, before I end up blacking out again for who knows how long, I'll just talk about what happened to us. And that bright green light that appeared out of nowhere…


So again, my name is David O'Malley. I am eighteen years old, and I am an American. I have brown hair that's long and curly, fair skin that's somewhat peach colored, and blue eyes. I guess I dressed pretty casual: Black hoodie, maroon colored t-shirt, dark blue jeans, red and black sneakers, nothing out of the ordinary. And, I'm a foreign exchange student in Japan; after I graduated from high school, I earned a scholarship for this Japanese university. I was taking classes there, and I am planning on being a writer after I graduated. At least, that was the plan… before this happened.

The day started as usual: I got up, got dressed, made myself breakfast, brushed my teeth, and then headed for the university. I took my morning classes, had lunch with my classmates, took my afternoon classes, and then I went home. That's when this whole thing started.

I was walking home, listening to my music on my earphones, when this green light appeared. I turned around and saw the green light coming from the horizon, and I took out my earphones so I could hear what was going on. Then suddenly, the green light started coming towards me, and it was getting brighter and brighter! It got so bright, I had to put my hands in front of my eyes to keep from going blind. Then, my hands started turning to stone, and before I knew it, I felt my whole body lock up as it starting turning to stone!

And then that was it! I was stuck! I was turned into a statue; I could still see and think, but I couldn't move or do anything! Before I knew it, the whole world had gone dead quiet, except for the crashing sounds of cars and other things falling apart at the moment! I even heard a plane go down somewhere in the city! But after all that, there was no noise! No music, no yelling, nothing! It was as if the entire world had just been turned off…

A million questions entered into my mind: What was happening? Was I going to be stuck like this forever? Did just Japan get hit, or did the entire world? How long was I going to be like this? Would I ever get out of being a stone statue?

Either way, I couldn't do anything. I just was stuck, with my hands over my eyes. My clothes, phone, backpack, and everything else was still there, but it seemed as if the entire world was frozen. Then I suffered my first blackout, and it was as if somebody had flicked a light switch, causing my brain just shut down. When I awoke, the world seemed different, like everything was starting to fall apart. A couple of minutes passed, and I blacked out again. Every time I woke up, the world looked different; buildings started looking decrepit, the roads were torn up by the vegetation, animals roamed free, and then there was a tsunami at one point, and I ended up getting washed away to some forested area! After that, I was now face down in the ground, and I couldn't see anything. And that's where I've been up until this point.

Oh no, I feel another blackout coming. Again, my name is David O'Malley. I am eighteen years old, I am an American, and I'm a foreign exchange student in Japan. I have a mom, a dad, and two brothers, and I used to live in America. I believe in Jesus, I am an Anime fan, I like spicy foods, my favorite movie is Star Wars, and once I am back to normal, I will go back to America to find my family.


Move.

MOVE!

ARMS MOVE!

Oh, it's no use; my arms aren't going to move.

But they must!

MOVE, DARN YOU! ARMS MOVE! COME ON!

Oh man, I'm about to black out again.


He told me enough. He told me you killed him.

No, I am your father.

No… No… that's not true! That's impossible!

Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

NOOOOO! NOOOOOOOO!

Oh great! I'm about to black out again! That's what I get for yelling out movie lines!


Man, I'm about to go crazy if I don't get back to normal.

MOVE!

MOVE!

COME ON, MOVE! PLEASE MOVE! BREAK FREE! I DON'T WANT TO BE LIKE THIS ANYMORE! MOVE! PLEASE GOD, MAKE ME MOVE AGAIN!

Crack.

Huh?

Another crack.

It's working, the stone is breaking off of my arms! My arms are free! I can move my arms!

I then pressed down on the ground with my hands and arms, and I could now move! Suddenly, I started feeling movement in my body, legs, neck, head, and everything! The stone began shedding off of me, and I let out a triumphant roar as I finally broke free from my stone encasing!

But… where the heck was I now?

I was in a huge forest, with lots of trees, grass, and vegetation surrounding me. It was a clear, sunny day, with no clouds in the sky. If I had to guess what season it was, I would guess that it would be spring. That would explain why the vegetation was so green, and why it was warm out.

As I stood up, I looked at my arms, and then my chest, and I realized that I was naked! My clothes were gone; they must've deteriorated over time! But, how long was I like that for my clothes to decay like that? There was no trace of anything, as my phone, backpack, clothes, wallet, and everything was gone!

In a weird way, I kind of felt like Adam, when God created him. Only difference was that I was naked and I knew it, and I wasn't in the Garden of Eden. But, being in the lush vegetation, and no sign of any kinds of society, I felt like the only man to have been created in some strange, new world. Now if God created a girl from one of my ribs, I'd be pretty happy. But for now, I better just try to find some clothes. Or at least, make some clothes.

I went over to some foliage and some vines, peeled them off the tree they were on, and made them into a rudimentary loincloth. After making my clothes, I began walking through the forest.

"Hello?" I called out, only to hear my voice echo back. "Hello? Is anybody here? Hello? Am I the only person left here?"

Then a thought entered my mind: What if I was the only person left in this world? What if everybody got destroyed while in their stone forms, and I was the only human being left?! That thought scared me, and I shook to clear it from my head. There had to be others that were alive, there just had to be! And even there weren't, maybe God would provide a way for there to be people again.

But then, another thought entered into my mind: if everything got wiped out, that meant all forms of media got wiped out! Movies, tv shows, books, music, clothes, games, you name it and it was gone! And what if the Bible got wiped out as well?! That honestly scared me, as I only remembered certain things about the Bible; I should've studied it more!

No… no, there had to be a copy that survived. Somehow, someway, there had to be a Bible that survived all of this. Maybe there was some vault, or a time capsule, or something that prevented a Bible from being destroyed? Or maybe, what if there was some guy who remembered the entire Bible, like in The Book of Eli? And what if he somehow got out of the stone, and was writing the Bible down? It was only a theory, but I had to hold onto it.

Anyway, after thinking such things, I decided to get a lay of the land, and to find out where exactly I was. So, I began climbing one of the humongous trees that was in the surrounding area. After a couple minutes of climbing up vines, pulling myself onto branches, and hugging the trunk in order to avoid falling, I made it to a high branch, and got a good view of the land. And to say the least, it was breathtaking!

There were no buildings, no roads, no electric poles, no electrics wires, no nothing! Just trees, blue sky, and a river! A clean, clear river was running through the forest! Realizing that I hadn't had anything to drink for… I don't know how long, I decided it would be best to go down to the river, take a drink, and then just follow it upstream. Unfortunately, my sense of direction is somewhat off, so I hope that it doesn't affect me.

After climbing down the tree, I began making my way down to the river. After a couple minutes of walking, and going down a couple of hills, I made it! I ran forward, knelt down, dunked my face into the river, and began drinking for all I was worth! After a couple of seconds, my thirst was quenched, and I just knelt there, panting for breath.

I then looked down into the water, which showed my reflection. I still looked the same, but then I noticed something weird. I looked at my hands and arms and, much to my confusion, there were these weird, black markings all over them. They looked like cracks, but they were kind of interesting. I looked in the water again, and noticed that I also had those same markings on my face. And despite washing my arms and face in the river, the markings stayed, meaning I was stuck with them.

I was about to follow the river upstream, when I saw two statues. Quickly, I ran over to them, and saw that they were stone people, just like I was at one point! It was a boy, probably about my age, and a girl, probably a few months younger. They both had looks of horror on their faces, and I could understand, cause that green light scared me as well. Also, the statues were naked; their clothing must have deteriorated, same as mine. But it was alright, as there was nothing visible.

"Hello?" I asked, feeling kind of silly that I was talking to these statues, even though they used to be living people. "Hey, if you can hear me in there, you have to fight in order to move. You got to will yourself to move, and the stone will break off of you. I mean, that's how I think it works, cause that's how I got out. Either way, if you and your friend get out, just follow upstream, and I'll be up there."

I began walking upstream, not knowing why I told them that. Though it kind of felt creepy, as I began walking away from the couple. I didn't want to leave them there, but what choice did I have? I couldn't carry two statues, and what if I accidentally dropped one of them? What if getting broken ended up killing you as a statue? I wouldn't want somebody's death to be on my conscious; I couldn't live with that.

Everything felt so surreal; I had been thrown into a world where everything was set back as far as the stone age. I either felt like I was first man to be created, or I was the last living man in an empty world. I didn't know, but all I could hope was that there was somebody, anybody, that was still alive. But what if I was the last one alive, destined to just be me and God?

Still, I guess that wouldn't be so bad. Besides, it is a nice day today. The sun was shining, there were… no birds singing, which is weird. Where are all the birds at? I don't know, this is just too weird for me.

So, if there are no more buildings, that means I'm gonna have to build some shelter for the night. Unfortunately, I'm no builder. But maybe I can manage to build some kind of log house or something like that. First things first, I'm gonna need an axe, and then I'm gonna need to chop down some trees. Which means, I'm gonna have to make an axe. And if I remember correctly from those survivor movies, you can make one using a stone, a stick, and some vines. Yeah, I can build one, its pretty easy!

So maybe I'm not a trained survivalist or anything like that, but perhaps I can make it out here in this strange, new world. I'm not going to be killed off that easily! It's going to take a lot to get rid of old David O'Malley, that's for sure!

"Well…" I said to myself. "I guess all I can say right now is… GOOD MORNING, WORLD!"