The headline flashed across every major news channel:
A WEIRD WOMAN'S PROPHECY
Reporters spoke urgently about the incident, each station spinning the story in its own way, but all of them echoing the same unsettling message.
For three months straight, videos of a strange woman had been circulating online. In every clip, she warned the world that women were no longer safe on Earth—that a great threat was coming, one capable of wiping out the entire female population.
And her solution was even more bizarre:
"Leave Earth."
Throughout those three months, she traveled across America spreading her warning. Most people laughed at her, others treated her like a doomsday preacher, a few believed she might be a prophet—but only a handful truly took her seriously.
Even then, fear held them back.
Leave Earth?
"To where?" they asked.
The debate grew louder across the country—believers, doubters, and neutrals clashing online and in the streets. It became another problem added to the already growing list America faced daily.
Then came the broadcast.
A close friend of the mysterious woman appeared live on TV, trembling as she spoke.
"She's my friend—my roommate. She wouldn't just vanish without telling me or calling her mom!"
The host tried to calm her, but she only grew more frantic.
"Someone took her. Maybe she's been abducted by the people trying to kill all women. Maybe she was right all along!"
Before the host could respond, the screen abruptly went black.
Hazel stared at the dark television. "Luna! Why did you do that? I was still watching!"
Luna's expression didn't waver as she lowered the remote. "I'm sorry, but I'm not getting paid to waste time on sensationalized nonsense. Humans can't breathe outside Earth—period. And you'd know that if you didn't spend all day watching trash like this."
Hazel slammed her files onto the desk, flipping through one carefully.
"That's not trash, Luna. This is real-life shit going down. The sooner you stop being a Thomas about it, the better."
Luna's voice turned cold.
"Hazel. Until there's proof these women are telling the truth, or until scientists confirm humans can breathe comfortably outside space, do your job. And stop chasing clout stories before you get yourself fired."
The office fell silent.
The only sounds were the steady hum of computers, the soft whirring of the printers, and the rhythmic beeping from Hazel's machine as it processed her presentation.
Hazel said nothing—just kept working, shoulders tense.
And though Luna pretended not to care, a thought lingered quietly in the back of her mind:
What if there was a possibility—no matter how small—that humans really could survive beyond Earth?