I sat on the forest floor, making a new sign for the third protest this month. Airifiena and Prvannia were making signs with me, while Sri was using her bugaboo to convince the townspeople to help. Although the townspeople aren’t helping, we have each other, which is good enough for me. The last forest in the world is going to get destroyed. How could they not care about this forest?

“Done!” said Prvannia, showing us her sign.

We smiled at it, knowing that her crafty hands were being put to great use. 

“To the edge!” I exclaimed.

We all walked for a solid ten minutes before sitting down at the edge of the forest. While we held our signs and sang, people pointed fingers and snickered as they walked by us. We sat for the rest of the day until sunset, feeling embarrassed about being the only ones who cared. But we went home, prepared for another day tomorrow. 

March 24, 3097. Inspection Day. Every year, the same day, the government comes to make us remember they are the boss, not us.

“I no longer care what they think. I am not letting them control me.” Airifena, Prvanina, and Sri all nodded in agreement.

“We need to protest!” we all exclaimed. 

We got our signs and sat at the edge of the forest again, watching the big black vans 

role into our small town. At around 2:30 pm, they came to us asking what we were doing here. 

“Protesting,” we said.

  “Against what?” 

“The Factory,” we responded.

 I let out a sigh, and the man dressed in black called the other three men over. 

“They sure are something,” one said. Another, however, pulled them aside and whispered, “How could we let this happen? They will destroy our government if we aren’t careful.” The men in all in black nodded in agreement. All four came back over.

“I have never hit a girl until now,” the one who started our conversation said, laughing, and hit us with his nightstick. 

The whole town was watching. Blood seeped from our noses. People looked up at our swollen faces, and the big blackish blue circle on my left cheek. Everyone stared at us in utter shock with their jaws open. 

One person stopped gawking and said, “Attack!”

“If they hurt us, we hurt them!” my mother said with a smile. 

Everyone attacked the four men in black who were standing with night sticks. 

After a sickening battle, the men laid on the ground, not moving. It was late at night now and everyone departed home, smiling as they walked. Dinner was already prepared, my favorite. 

Sitting down my mom said, “Honey, let’s protect that forest.” My dad nodded along in agreement. 

March 25th. It was a bright sunny day. I walked out the door, greeted by the whole town standing at the edge of the forest, and smiled. I have been waiting for this moment for so long. But my smile quickly faded as five big black cars passed by the big dirt road, separating my family and the rest of our town. The people in the car quickly got out with big guns the size of my head. 

“I heard that you killed four of my agents.” A person wearing black shades got out of the car. 

The mayor, I said in my head. But aloud I said,“How dare you–you monster destroying our town! Putting a factory in the only forest in the world left? How could you, you dum-dum?” 

Everyone yelled in agreement. We ran like a herd into the sea of soldiers.They laid on the ground like yesterday, their pale white faces contrasting the dark brown earth. Everyone then looked at each other, then the forest, and back again. We all gathered, going into the forest. I saw a donkey laying on the ground, sleeping and waking up, as we all passed. The donkey joined the herd of people. We sat there for days and days protecting our forest.

 Finally, we got a letter. February 23, 3098, the letter read. This factory has been assigned to Lot 572 in District 5, due to complications we cannot disclose. 

We all looked up at each other. This was it. This was the end of suffering. 

The End