Crystalend

It was just discovered that a crystal could be used to store data. The crystal was called Crystalend. Crystalend could store mass amounts of electronic data with a very high compression meaning it could hold a lot. The difference from this and other media is that it didn't require a battery to keep the information on it like some other media. It did not deteriorate like other media. CDs and DVDs would break over 10 years. Floppy disks failed rather quickly too. Memory sticks could take a little shock walking across the carpet and lose all information. Hard drives could be dropped. So many media were inferior compared to Crystalend. My dad discovered that the crystal could be run through a priming system to prepare it to hold data and then you could save your data, pictures and videos to it. For many years, in fact, the longest period of in history, no other storage media was better than this. It was very plentiful. Sometimes you could find it in your own backyard literally. In other dry arrid places, it was found everywhere. The government tried to regulate and tax it and found they couldn't. They did however control the devices that read and wrote to the Crystalend. There are only two manufacturers that make Crystalend primer systems now. I used to take pictures and videos of almost anything. I took pictures of the cat, my toys, paper, trees, cars, people, movies on the vwall. The vwall was like what my dad called a tv. You take these four buttons and place them on the wall and it makes a video on the wall. It was great because you could make it as large or as small as you wanted using special paint. I would play back my pictures and videos on the vwall. I took so many pictures and videos I filled up all of my dads Crystalends. They weren't that expensive but I had so many pictures of useless items mixed with good pictures, it was easier to keep all of them. My dad brough home some Crystalend. I put it in the primer, waited for the red light to turn yellow, then green and then took it out. I then put it in the reader/writer. I saved my pictures on it. After a few years, I went back to look at the pictures. I took so many pictures of useless things. I found some Crystalend in my mom's jewelry box one day. She attached it to some metal and made a necklace out of it. I used some pliars and a screwdriver to get it out. When I put it into the reader, it wouldn't work. I remembered my dad had an old primer in his room with a plaque on it. I powered it up and it didn't have all of the red, yellow and green lights on it. It did have a switch on it labeled fix errors. I put it on that setting and pushed the button. The white light came on and then went off after a few seconds. I guess it was done. I took it to the reader/writer and loaded up the pictures. There was my mom and dad. They looked different. I watched some of the videos and pictures. I saw a guy that was taking the pictures. He had a mustache. I always wanted a mustache just like him. I didn't know what I just did. When my dad got home, I showed him the pictures and videos. He really didn't pay attention. I was always showing him these my entire life. When mom got home. I showed her. She thought it was great at first. The expression on her face turned. She started crying and screaming for dad to come in here to see. My dad came into the room and asked mom what's the matter. My dad said he didn't have time right now but my mom insisted. Slowly, my dad's face changed too. Mom said I was playing a cruel joke on her and that I used software to make her look older. My dad thought otherwise. He flat out asked me if I took these pictures. I told him no. I asked mom if I was in trouble for taking her Crystalend. I apologized and showed my mom and dad where I got the crystal and that I was sorry I used dad's primer repair thing. My mom and dad were more confused than mad. My dad didn't know how I did it. I told him, I just repaired it and put it in the thing. Soon after, all across the world, it was discovered that what I found baffled scientists. Time travel wasn't possible. As the discovery of the god particle was about to be solved, the world began to unravel the mystery of Crystalend with data already on it. The tabloids ran outlandish stories of the world's end from the god particle. The stories soon changed. Every continent found Crystalend and used a similar process I discovered. The guy with the mustache. It was me. I wonder if I remember me seeing me in the past, in the future. It hurts to think about it. The tabloids quickly changed from stories of the end of days from the god particle to the end of days of Crystalend. See, the crystals worldwide all ended on the same day. None of them showed how it ended, it just ended right in the middle of the recording. The churched began filling again. The pope became known again. Religion was only 1% of the population. I thought, if I didn't grow a mustache, none of it could happen. I went through life in fear of the end. I met a girl as I got older. She was so much like me. I loved her more that anything. I eventually married her and wanted to start a family. During the years, I shared with my wife that I always wanted a mustache. She encouraged me to do it. I simply said I didn't think I would like it because food would get stuck in it and that it would smell bad. I didn't tell her the real reason I didn't want to grow one like that now. My pride didn't want to share my fears with her because it my show me as a weakling. I wanted to be a strong man in her life. We were coming back from a long second honeymoon. I woke up in the hospital. I woke up with THAT mustache. I freaked out. I was cussing like never before. My wife was right there with me. She always knew I wanted that mustache. I grew a beard when I was in the coma. My pulse rate and breathing patterns had changed. The doctors felt like I would be coming out of the coma soon. After I calmed down, I told my wife the story. She was so freaked out by the whole thing, she feels like I should have warned her. The world still searched the Crystalends for the answer to the future or perhaps a particular crystal that shows something past that timeframe. There were conspiracy theorists that failed on the December 21st 2012 thing. Others failed on the Y2K thing. Seems like everytime someone forecasted the end of days, they were wrong. The majority of people now accepted, there was no predictable way to determine the end of days. The new end of days was December 21st but not 2012. It was to be 2043. Just a few years away. I had a mustache and just a few years. I decided to record my last days with my parents and family. I needed a Crystalend. My daughter brought me one. I primed it and put it into the reader writer. I saved the pictures and videos onto it. I sealed our fate. The Crystalend my daughter brought me was the very Crystalend that was in my mothers jewelry box. My mind began to twist. What were the odds of that? The god particle came into play again. The mystery was to be revealed on January 1st 2054. We'll never know because the scientist couldn't wait. The irony of the end of the world being discovered and named on a media that would become known as the Crystalend.