By: Arvee Fantilagan.

“THANK YOU.”

By the time I got outside, a crowd was already clogging the street, mesmerized by the booming heavens.

“YOUR CIVILIZATION HAS BEEN EXTREMELY INFORMATIVE FOR THE PAST FOUR BILLION YEARS. THIS EXPERIMENT WAS A SUCCESS.”

Gasps erupted around me.

“PLEASE CHERISH YOUR REMAINING TWENTY-FOUR HOURS.”

Screams rang out. People scampered away.

Pandemonium.

I drowned in thoughts of my now unattainable goals. My dream family. My experiments—

I raced back home. There was one thing I could do, at least.

I opened the lid of my terrarium and shouted at its tiny bustling society: “THANK YOU. YOUR CIVILIZATION—”

© 2025. Arvee Fantilagan

Arvee Fantilagan grew up in the Philippines, lives in Japan, and has more of his works at sites.google.com/view/arveef. He hopes to write a better bio someday.

Posted March 4, 2025.