Everyone was sitting there. Right in the office. it was the middle of the day. Sun was out. It was the middle of February but it was oddly warm out. Pretty normal day. Some people had meeting and some people were swamped, some weren't. Some people were off getting coffee and some were killing time. Everyone at their desks.
Then it came. The news. Everyone's phone went off. Everyone. Even the desk phones. Everyone found out at the same time. An asteroid. Headed for the coastal US and whatever or wherever it hit, humanity as we know it would be entirely wiped. Everywhere, the Earth and beyond. Even those fuckers in space. Them too. It only made it worse that IT was hitting us. From Maine down to Virginia.
The big one, was here.
Everyone began freaking out. Everyone turned around, mainly to see what everyone else will do. Some think they're going home. Some try. They might get there. Some just sat staring at what other people would do. Because if it's over, everyone's supposed to go crazy right? Some did. Some screamed, fell on the floor, ran around. Flipped chairs, tables. But some just sat and stared at the other staring back.
Like Abby was, at me. I noticed briefly. I stopped, stared back, gave her a sad half-grin, barely that, and a nod as if to say "nice knowing ya." And I slowly got up, grabbed my jacket, threw it over my shoulder and waltzed out. I didn't fly down the stairs, as everyone ran past. I didn't fly out the door and down to the sidewalk either. They were full but quickly empty. It was odd. I avoided the big intersections. The side streets were dead. Thank god. We'd all be though soon.
As I looked up at the sky, walking along, it was still sunny. Warm too. Not a cloud in sight. It was actually really nice. The first day of the year it was over 25F, let alone 65. It was mid February and thankfully, one of those rare spring days that have been popping through a few times a winter the last few years. Thank you New York! Thank you LA! Thank Buddah! Thank Christ! Thank the 80's, Thank China! Thank the Polar Bears! Thank you god for Global Warming! Deniers eat your heart out. I suppose if there were anyone left at the end of it they'd conclude that's what did us in. But there's no way.
As I walked the empty street I heard some steps quick behind me. I turned and clenched my knife in my pocket, with this new circumstance surrounding me I had to be careful. It's all ending, but I'm going on my own terms.
It was Abby.
"Hey!" she huffed as she slowed. She'd been running after me. "Hi there! Want to join?" I said, smiling as I turned back to walk. She walked beside me, clearly perplexed at what the fuck I was doing exactly. "This is nuts huh?"
"Sure is!" I said. "It's fucked up." I laughed. "So, all those hypothetical stories you know? About if we know the world is ending, what we'd all do. Jesus Christ." She was still catching her breath. "You believe in him?" I asked, jokingly. She giggled. "Guess I'll find out soon."
We walked a bit in silence. Everyone going nuts. "Want some gum?" I asked.
She stared at me strange. "At a time like this, you're thinking about gum?"
"Do you want some?" I asked again. Without a word she took some. We walked by a storefront. Totally empty. I stopped. "Damn, I look okay. At least in this window. You know, sometimes you only have to find the right mirror. You know? I don't look great, but in the right mirror, I look okay. You know?"
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" She doubled over laughing, but in a friendly way. I shrugged and smiled at her as I chewed my gum. She was good.
Then we saw a dog, leash attached running down the street.
"Come on!" I said as I began running. She followed. It was a mid-sized poodle looking thing. Or was it? I don't fucking know. It was fluffy. We caught it in an alley. Huffing and puffing. it was scared as shit. "What do you think his name is?" I asked. "Hmm, doesn't matter much now does it. Probably Uncle Kraker now. Yea, I like that."
"Uncle Kraker?" I turned around and looked at her real weird. "Yea."
"Works for me." We started calling it Uncle Kraker and he came real slow and careful, but he came. "You're a weird one." She said. "I didn't really know you too well, I had my ideas, but jesus." I picked up Uncle Kraker, he was super nervous, but we pet him and he calmed a bit. We needed a snack for him. I couldn't feed him gum. The end was near anyway.
"In a good way or bad way?" I asked. Curious. "A good way. I think." She said looking at me. We emerged from the alley. "i knew you. I think." "Really?" She asked. "Well, I mean I had my ideas of you. But I think it was more clear. But everyone's got their secrets. Surprises. I've accepted I've got mine in droves. Rather, that's all I am. I know how I look to the world. But I'm not that guy. I'm pretty layered. Some are ragged and fucked, some are silky smooth, soft and fuzzy, Some are rough and jagged and hard. You know. All of it. But I'm certainly not the guy most think I am, or so I think."
"I think that's spot on, so far." I let Kraker on the ground with the leash around my wrist. I gave it to her. As we walked down the sidewalk with everything empty, it got a bit darker, we looked up. Only a cloud. We heard screams in the distance. A bit off-putting but we kept at it. Kraker had no idea at this point. He had it down. Why couldn't we all be like Kraker?
She stopped and I noticed a bit later. I looked back. "What's up?" She was looking in the window. We went back. "Whatcha looking at?" "You're right." she said. "What's that?"
"I look fucking good in this particular window." She said with a smirk and turned her head to look at me with it. Those eyes.
"SEE! NOW You've got it! You're catching on." I put my free hand out. She grabbed it and we waltzed down the sidewalk together. Abby, Kraker and I.
Eventually we found our way to the double yellow. No cars roamed the streets now. Walking was funner this way too.
"What do you want to do?" I asked her as I looked at her as we walked.
"What do you mean?" She had this natural smile on. it was still perfect out. Oddly.
"I mean, if it's ending. What do you want to do, before you die. Away and on to the next thing? Not like, travelling and bucket list shit, it's a bit late for getting a flight to Tartu or Cairo or something. But I mean, right now, what do you want to do?"
"Hmm, well walk a highway I guess. Route 3s across the trees there." No hesitation.
"Good! Let's." We jogged Kraker right up and over the hill through the woods and over the rail. Not a fucking automobile in sight. Still mid-day. We jumped around and walked and ran and spun in the middle of a damn highway.
"Shit, that was nothing. Now what!!" She shook me by the shoulders and picked Kraker up and spun him too. He was happy somehow.
"Hmm. What else? I'd say rob a store or something, but that's too cliche." She agreed.
"Yea shit. Now where?" "Where's somewhere we could never go before?"
We walked off an exit ramp and into the center of the city again. Right down the strip. It wasn't long, but it was packed. It got a little darker. but we couldn't tell if it was because of the time or not. "How much longer do you think we have?" I asked.
Suddenly we both got very sullen. "I don't know." She responded, looking up. Kraker kept our spirits as elevated as possible. He was still smiling and panting, looking back at us occasionally. Making sure his new friends were still in fact there. The biggest building around. The Raddison. Stupidly expensive place. I stopped us.
"Hey you know, I've never seen a room in this place. I've been in and kicked out for not belonging, like most places I go. But I've never been in here. It's too expensive. Want to see it all go down on the roof?"
"I wouldn't want it any other way." I couldn't tell if she was agreeing with whatever I said out of fear and not wanting to be unhappy in her last hours or because she meant it. Whatever it was, I was glad she was there. This time she grabbed my arm and we went in.
We had to shove the revolving doors hard. They weren't on now. No power anywhere all of a sudden, but the multi-storied windows lit the lobby up and everything around. We went up one floor and found the nearest open room. We went in and looked out the windows on the street. "This must've been killer for bar-hopping and coming back and seeing everything go down. All the drunks and bro's and whores in dresses too short and too bright. The cops riding their bikes and not doing a thing. Stumbling into the streets in front of cars. Driving down the strip endlessly and turning around and coming back down, swerving from drunks stumbling in the roads. Stopping wherever we want, stepping around and in to puddles. playing sidewalk pianos and dropping dollars into the buskers case and watching him solo and curse the bro's request some bro tune. Flasks down our pants and bras. Watching from benches, late night fries and delivery ice cream. making out in alleys. Making out in bars. Strangers, friends, co-workers. Pissing off the waiters. Skimping the bartender and tipping the bouncers. Watching bar bands and more buskers. And coming back whenever you want to watch it all go down. Here." I said, as we sat on the sill.
"You never did any of that." She said. I turned and saw her staring right into my soul.
"You are 100% right." I gave a sad smile and turned back. She put her hand on mine. "Same." She said. I looked back and smiled. Kraker was on the bed. Staring, egging me on. "I know! Shit, don't pressure me!" She looked at Kraker. "What the heck are you talking about?" As she turned back I was an inch from her face. I kissed her.
We kissed and there was literally no time to spare. I gently moved her to the bed and we laid on the beautiful white fluffy sheets I could never afford and she got her hand up my shirt. One of my hands caressed her face and the other was all over the rest. She was a sight. Perhaps she thought the same of me, but who really knew. I tried not to care.
A few minutes later we both got back up. I helped her up and I found Kraker, now sleeping on the floor. he found a pillow. "Good." I thought. Fuckers deserved it. Damn expensive pillows. He got up and we left. i grabbed a pillow for him on the room. "Okay. You ready?" I asked her. She knew what I meant. "Yea. Let's do this." We walked down the hall to find the stairway. We needed to find the damn roof somehow. The elevator wasn't an option. She knew what I meant. We were gonna end it there. However it went down, we'd see it from the highest place on Earth. Ours anyway.
I stopped her in the hallway, got her up against the wall right there in the now dimly lit hallway in that fancy fucking hotel and kissed her again. We were into each other's souls. It was deep. But only because all our walls and barriers were down and had to be. We were all done. What was the point? Years and months of work had passed. They had to. I felt her up and she gasped in a good way. She licked her lips and gave me that look when she could bare to crack her eyelids open. It lasted for far too long but not nearly long enough. She was drunk on me.
We found the stairway. It was a long way up. I didn't even count how many stories. But she didn't care. Neither did I. If Kraker got tired, well, we'd carry him. On the pillow of course. We rain up 5 stories. We jogged up 3 more, and walked what seemed like 10 more. We stopped for a breather on a landing. Uncle Kraker seemed up for anything. Shit, he'd run down, up again and pass us on the way back. She kissed me and we held each other on the railings and walls and stairs. No boundaries now. No holding back. She was down my pants on occasion and I was up her shirt. Down her pants as well. It was classy though. We were connected at the face for most of it all of it. I held her and we looked deep into each other. "How many more you think?" She asked looking up. "To the roof? Hmm, may 3 or 4. Mayb..." The place shook. The emergency lights went out. It shook and it never stopped. it got stronger and stronger. I got deep and philosophical real fast and real hard. "Well Abby, this is it. The big one."
"On to the next thing I suppose." She said. I could feel her slight rolling eyes and tongue in cheek although I couldn't see it anymore. "On to the next great shit show. Whether it's in the sky or in another life." We sat on the cold cement, reaching for Uncle Kraker, he shook too. He leapt off his pillow and onto my lap. Abby slid on over to me and nestled in close. I held her. "Yes, it is a shit show. Isn't it." She said. I nodded. "Yes it is beautiful. Yes it is." I assured her.
"Do you have any regrets?" Her voice was shaking as the whole building rocked to it's core. "Me? Hmm. I thought I did, but now that it's here, I can't think of any. So I suppose not. You?" We spoke fast and a bit nervously and loud now over the noise. The place hummed.
"Ummm. Uhhh." She was so scared. So was I. Scared shitless. She grabbed me tight. I grabbed her back. Kraker was trying as hard as he could to get closer. "I think, maybe, uh. Oh hell I don't know." "That's okay. I said. My hand through her hair. Not that it'd help. But it did a bit.
"We never made it out. To the roof I mean." She finally said. "That's my regret." She nodded, being sure that was it. "Yea, that's a good one. But it wasn't meant to be." I said.
We sat in silence as it shook harder. The sound was deafening. We could hear things collapsing now. This was it. It was hard to think let alone hear.
"I GOT IT! I REMEMBER NOW!" I said. "WHAT! REMEMBER WHAT?" She yelled back, lifting her head to look at the dark mess up at me as if it mattered. "MY REGRET." "WHAT IS IT??" She asked. "QUICKLY NOW!"
"I WON'T GET TO SEE YOUR SMILING FACE WHEN IT GOES DOWN."
The whole place tipped. She got up and stuck her face into mine. I held the back of her head and both her palms on my cheeks. We went sideways.
The last thing I heard was her voice.
"I swallowed my gum!"
I heard the smile in her voice.