[ WP ] `` In the end , we left the Earth knowing nothing . ''

( tw: suicide ) 
 
 In the end, we left Earth knowing nothing. Mama sat at the window, silently watching as everything we knew and could possibly know drew away from us. What would happen to the trees? The pets we were n't able to bring along because they would not have been an `` effective use of space''? The friends who departed on different ships? 
 
 
 Gia lay sleeping in my lap, her warm, heavy presence the one thing keeping me from asking all these questions aloud. I wondered what her life would be like, to be drinking artificially crafted water and breathing oxygen-adjacent air. She still sucked her thumb and she was almost three. I was glad Mama was distracted or she would have yanked it out of her mouth. 
 
 
 At first, it seemed fun. They made it seem fun. Once the UN made an official statement that they decided to pool their resources together for a mass space expedition, people took it and, as they often do, ran with it. Political pundits debated whether we were explorers or colonizers. Celebrities began toting custom Louis Vuitton brand NeOxygen pouches. MAC collaborated with engineers to develop mascara that applies smoothly in low gravity settings. It really felt like we were on the brink of something new, something exciting. That was three years before we left. 
 
 
 People started asking questions. Is it not the fault of large corporations with a disregard for environmental policies that the Earth reached that point in the first place? Where are we even headed to? Are we going to be able to set up a WiFi network? At some point, the doubt became too strong to combat with a brightly colored advertisement for a bodycon spacesuit. `` There needed to be fundamental changes,'' they said, `` otherwise we would just ruin the next planet.'' Some pointed out that many of the corporations that ruined the environment had allyships with the people in our government. Some people marched in front of the White House, peacefully. Loud, but peaceful. They were greeted with military strength counterinsurgency. Most of them died or were severely injured. I think that's when everything changed. There was a clear us vs. them line drawn as our fellow citizens lay incapacitated on the White House lawn. The government stopped tolerating the questions. There were no more open press conferences, no more friendly jokes at the podium. That was two years before we left. 
 
 
 A year before we left, it was announced with `` great sorrow'' that each nation would have to have a cap on how many people would be able to leave on the ships. We watched on our TV as Gia played on the living room floor. Mama screamed in frustration and broke a vase. Dad covered his face with his hands. Three people per household were permitted to go, and there would be military personnel insuring that that's all who went. Dad was distraught. He drank until none of us could understand what he was saying. He walked over to Mama and draped himself on her. He seemed to be whispering something to her; she nodded and kissed his cheek, staring straight forward. That night, Mama heard the shot from upstairs and simply looked startled for a moment. She went up there after a few hours and locked the door behind her, and said no one is allowed to go in, ever. 
 
 
 We brought two suitcases stuffed full of our lives, with Gia holding three of her stuffed animals in her little arms. 
 

