Amrita's Dream - A science fiction story

Amrita was an ambitious girl who wanted to achieve her dreams. She was a very simple, sober, and focused girl. She has completed her 12th in Arts with good grades. Recently she enjoyed her long holidays in the Maldives with her parents. She came back to India last week. Her dream was to become an artist. She likes painting and drawing & she wanted to pursue her graduation in art and design. She has contacted some of the colleges to enrol herself. Finally, she got an admission offer letter from a reputed college. She decided to accept the admission offer letter hence she discussed with her parents about her dreams and career planning. She was the only daughter of her parents hence her father first refused as he wanted her to be a social scientist but anyhow he later agreed on one condition that she should pursue her studies further after graduation. Amrita agreed with her father's condition because she was also interested in pursuing a further career in the art and design field. Her hobby was reading the newspaper every morning and she likes spending morning time discussing the news with her father.

One day she read a news article where it was mentioned that planet Earth is in danger and may disappear due to black hole formation after a giant big bang experiment that was planned to carry out on the Geneva border. She was too nervous reading that article and she asked her father, "Papa, is this true? Are we going to die? Is World going to end?"

Father: "No my life, it's nothing like that. I saw in an international news channel that this experiment is safe."

Amrita: "Ok papa."

But Amrita was too tense and she kept on thinking about that article. She went to her room and made a phone call to her best friend Natasha.

Amrita: "Hey, did you hear the news?"

Natasha: "Yeah god knows what's happening here, too many people are going to the temple and doing aarti and pooja (rituals)."

Amrita: "Oh, is it? Are we going to die?"

Natasha: "No dear, scientists are saying that it is as safe as performing a titration experiment. So just chill and take care."

Amrita: "Yeah, thanks buddy, I will have some tea to relax my mind."

Natasha: "Cool, bye-bye."

Amrita said bye to Natasha and disconnected the phone call. She came outside of her room, prepared tea, had it with her father, and went back to her room. She locked the door and kept on thinking about that news article. She finally decided to end her life before the black hole does and she ended her life by suffocation.

Her mother was busy cooking her favourite food 'rajma chawal (kidney beans and rice)' moreover her father was busy doing his pending office work. It was lunchtime and her parents were waiting for her daughter at the dining table. Her mother called her, "Amrita, come for lunch, today I made your favourite rajma chawal". Her father further added, "You always come before lunchtime, why aren't you coming today? Come soon Amrita, I am very hungry now". However, Amrita didn't come outside. Her parents got worried and they knocked on the door but she didn't come outside. Her father panicked and he called his neighbours and they broke the door. The moment they broke the door, her mother fainted and her father was sweating. They saw her body dead. Neighbours immediately called the police and slowly took her body and kept her on the bed.

Police came after half an hour and they started enquiring about the incident. Her father explained that she was tense today the moment she read an article about the big bang experiment. The police inspector was shocked about this incident and he curiously asked, "What is this experiment about?"

Father: "It is about creating the atmosphere which happened during universe formation. Scientists want to study the matter which was formed during the universe's formation."

Inspector: "Oh, but how could it be the reason behind her death?"

Father: "Because it was mentioned in the newspaper that the Earth might get eaten by black holes which might be formed during the experiment."

Inspector: "Oh my god! Is it? Then we must contact the right person."

Then the inspector called his friend who was working as a space scientist. He explained all the incidents to him and his friend said, "The Big Bang experiment is safe and nothing suspicious is there about it, the media should write such sensitive topics carefully and they should contact the right person before commenting on anything."

Inspector: "Yeah, I agree, a piece of fake news can be as dangerous as taking someone's life. This is exactly what happened today."

Scientist: "I am sorry to hear about this, the journalist must carefully research the topic and should not sensationalise the topic without facts."

Inspector: "But the public should also confirm the news before believing."

Scientist: "Public believes in the media, so it is the media's fundamental duty to do proper research before publishing such content."

Inspector: "Agreed, we need more scientific literacy in our country."

Scientist: "Indeed. Listen, my boss is calling, I'll catch you later, bye."

Inspector: "Thanks for your time, bye-bye."

And the inspector disconnected the call and sent the body for postmortem. He sat next to her parents and he said, "It was neither her mistake nor those scientists' mistake. It was true negligence of the media and people. News should be written after thorough analysis and news must be taken seriously only after it is confirmed and came from an authentic source. I cannot give your daughter back but I wanted to give this message to the world that always believe in genuine sources and take the news with a pinch of salt before fact-checking."

Father: "I am a teacher and I will tell this to everyone and I will write about this incident and address people to be careful before believing any news."

Inspector: "I wanted to salute seeing your courage but my duty doesn't allow me to. Anyways, take care, and be strong". And then the police inspector went.

Her parents did all the rituals and after a month, her father published the article in the same newspaper and urged the media and public, "I request the media to write only if the information is authentic and I request the public to do some background research and confirm the news before believing or forwarding it to others. I lost my daughter. Moreover, I can't get her back; however , I don't want you to be the victim of fake news".