The End of The World and The Prince

It started with snow.

              It was an unnatural snowstorm that dropped over seven feet of snow, causing all forms of communication to stop. According to the news before it cut out, it was snowing everywhere. It took the snow almost three weeks to melt and when it did, I was startled to see in the city of Atlanta, I was the only one left.

              I can’t tell you when in the three weeks it happened, but everyone just vanished. It wasn’t just in Atlanta. All over the world people and pets disappeared without a trace. All that was left was wild animals and buildings.

              I packed up some supplies, locked up my house, and traveled. I wasn’t sure at first what I was looking for. Maybe I was looking for others or maybe it was clues to what had happened. I traveled north first, and once I reached Canada I headed west. Once I got to Seattle without seeing a single person, I gave up my search.

              By the time I made it to Seattle it was summer, and I decided to stay. While in Seattle I stayed in my mother’s two-bedroom house. The once bright yellow house had dulled. My mother’s prize-winning garden was now a mess of weeds and half-hearted flowers.

              I spent two weeks cleaning out the weeds from the garden, cleaning the dust from the house, and trying to get my mother’s home back to what it used to be. But the work was for nothing, the dreary feeling of the house continued.

              It was on my third week in Seattle when I saw him. Eyes the color of the sea and hair that was black like the night sky. He was taller than me, by a good foot and a half. When he spoke, he seemed to have a European accent that I couldn’t quite place.

              “I thought I was the only one.” He said to me.

              I had just gotten some groceries from the local store. “Where are you from?”

              “I traveled here from New York, before the snow I lived in Europe. I was in New York visiting.”

              “What happened?” I asked, hoping he had some answers.

              “I went to bed one night and when I woke up in the morning and everyone was gone. They couldn’t have left; we were snowed in.” The man’s excitement had faded. “After the snow melted, I went out looking for people, but I wasn’t able to find anyone until now.”

              I told the man my story, how I traveled from Atlanta and how I made it to my mother’s house only to find it empty. “I need to find a radio, but I have yet to find one.”

              “Why do you need a radio?” He questioned me.

              “Because if there are others, they might look for others through radio waves.”   I began walking back to my mother’s house.

              “What’s your name?” The man followed me.

              “Gemma.”

              “I’m Alec.”

              “Alec, like that royal guy that was on the news before all this happened.” I joked.

              “Exactly.”

              “Wait, you’re prince Alec of Monaco?”

              “Yes, I was in New York for a photo opportunity with my nation’s allies.”

              I swore under my breath. This was worse than when I thought I was the last person on Earth. Now I was dealing with a party boy prince. This was the same party boy who nearly got kicked out of Canada because he was too “disruptive”, whatever that meant.

              “We need to get you back to Monaco.” I decided. “Maybe Monaco wasn’t affected like Canada and America was.”

              “How do you plan to get there?” The prince asked in an annoyed tone. “Do you think I wouldn’t have gone back already if I could?”

              “I can fly a plane.”

              The prince laughed. “You.”

              “I was a pilot before this.” I grumbled. “What about me makes you think otherwise?”

              “Nothing.”

              “A plane would have the radio I need anyways.”

              “Then what is stopping us?”

              We had reached my mother’s house now and I was walking in the front door carrying the groceries. “How do you suppose we get a plane?”

              “We go to an airport and get a plane.”

              “The plane will be locked.” I said and then closed the door in Prince Alec’s face.

              I put the groceries away and then opened the front door to see the prince sitting on the porch, his head in his hands. I sat down beside him, realizing I needed to rely on his help. We sat quietly for a few minutes and then I spoke.

              “Look, we need to work together.” I told him. “We need to look past the assumptions we have of each other and figure out a plan.”

              “What assumptions?”

              “All I know of you is that you’re a party boy prince and all you know about me is that I’m a woman.”

              “Woman pilot.” He corrected me.

              “Come in and help me with dinner. We can get to know each other over dinner, that way we can trust each other.”

              We got up and made dinner. With the power not working, all the perishables went bad in the stores. All I was able to make was pasta and sauce for dinner, but the prince didn’t complain. I lit the stove top burners and cooked what I had. I don’t know what came over me, but I apologized to the prince for such a measly meal. The prince in turn tried to reassure me that this was the best meal he had since all this started.

              We were silent as we ate. He broke the ice. “Monaco wasn’t spared from this tragedy. If they were, they would have come looking for me already. I stayed in New York a few weeks, in case someone came looking for me, but they didn’t.”

              I sighed because I knew he was right. “What do you want to do?”

              “I was thinking about heading back east or to California. Maybe find some abandon farm and learn to grow things. Maybe even learn to hunt for food.”

              “I better go with you. I grew up on a farm, so I already know how to grow food and hunt.”

              “Are you sure you want to leave your mother’s house? It has so many memories for you, doesn’t it?”

              I thought for a second. “It just isn’t the same without her. I’ll grab some photos and things that remind me of her, but I can always come back one day. It’s not like this is my childhood home.”

              “Let’s go there.” An idea popped into Alec’s head.

              “What?”

              “Let’s go to your childhood home, you said it was a farm. You’ll know it better than anywhere else and you can still feel close to your family.”

              We traveled to my childhood home, back on the East coast. The house was nearly run down, but with some hard work it looked good as new. The farmland was still good for growing. Alec was a quick learner when it came to farming. By the time we harvested our first crops, we had fallen in love.

              It was a nice life, just the two of us on the farm. This nice quiet life lasted five years, but then they showed up.