Stars at the End of the World

“Aren’t you tired?” Aki asked. 

You give a small laugh, “Of course not, I’m not that weak you know.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

The sound of your lonesome footsteps echoes throughout the empty city. It’s been quite a while since you’ve looked at a calendar or watch, time now flows like a fluid, an ever changing mass— no longer linear. Some days you wake up at it seems like the Impact had happened just yesterday, and some days it feels like the world had ended a millennia ago. 

“Do you think our city looks like this one?”

High rise buildings and dominating structures no longer existed. Everything that tried to reach the stars was knocked back down, toppled, and turned into debris. You and Aki were walking directly in the middle of the city, and around you were certainly buildings and old cars, yet it all seemed like nothing— meaningless mementos. Everything was buried in ash and grays, like an old memory left behind by Earth itself. 

“Our city wasn’t even as big as this one, I’m pretty sure it’s wiped out clean.”

“That’s sad to think about huh,” Aki remarked in their sing song tone, “In the back of my mind I still sometimes think that perhaps the time capsule we built somehow survived.”

“A meteor crashes into Earth decimating the strongest standing structures known to humanity and the cardboard time capsule we made with hot glue gun some survives?”

Aki weakly swung their fist against your head, “It’s something that would be nice if it happened.”

You hold Aki closer against your back, you can feel the dampness from their bandages and you decide to pick up the pace. 

“It certainly would be nice, but I don’t think we’re special enough for that.”

You couldn’t see Aki but you could feel their mouth curving into that idealistic grin. “We were special enough to watch the end of the world weren’t we?”

“Maybe,” you replied, “though if we were really special we’d be saving the world right now, maybe in another dimension fighting evil demons that destroyed the world.”

A curious silence fell upon us as the orange glow of the sun gradually faded into subtle darkness. 

“Right there you sounded just like me!” Aki shouted. 

You couldn’t help but laugh. Spending a couple of years with anybody during an apocalypse would surely make you pick up some of their habits as well. I’m grateful for Aki though, their outlandish ideals certainly picks me up from falling into the tempting abyss of the world right now. You simply continue to walk the Earth because Aki would be sad if I left them alone. 

The sunken city, rivers of old wires and lights slowly faded behind you as you entered a grassland. Right behind you was the wreckage of the days gone by, right in front of you was one of the few things that remained from the world you knew.

Aki gave a cry of joy but it was followed by a coughing fit. Against their pesters, you force them to take a swig out of your water canteen. 

“How are you feeling?” You ask. 

“Kind of sleepy,” Aki murmured. 

“You can rest, I’ll wake you up once we get there.” 

“That’s alright, I want to keep talking to you.”

It was strange, the big city clustered with buildings seemed unbearably desolate and quiet and the hill with nothing but tall grass and the occasional breeze seemed packing with the sounds of life. Normally whenever you and Aki would sleep, it felt like you could hear the world turning on its axis. 

But here, the sky was painted a deep blue, no smoke shrouded this night sky— the stars seemed to be just an arm’s reach away. 

“Woah! This place looks like the orphanage’s view,” Aki remarked. 

You nodded. You had met Aki a lot during your orphanage visits you did just for college-sake, you guys got a long well but it was only after the Impact when Aki discovered your body that you guys started getting closer. From that point onward, Aki was the only person you had left in your life. 

You walked with Aki on your back, walking towards the the peak where a single tree stood, and where the stars were the brightest in the world. 

“Do you think the protagonists of the world are getting any closer to defeating the villain?” Aki asked, their voice now softer than a whisper. 

“Who knows, we’ll just keep living our lives.”

When books used to the common items, you often found yourself wandering what the background characters were doing while the main plot happened. You and Aki had no clear dreams or goals in this world, your story was one of an average romance. You met, you talked, you kissed, that’s all. Perhaps without the Impact you would’ve never seen Aki again. Is that love? You supposed so.

“Hey Aki, do you love me?”

“Yeah I do let’s make out.”

Your quiet laughter was probably the first noise this quiet hill has heard in a long time. You had known of this fancy little hill for along time, you just never had anybody to invite to it before the world ended. But now, you wanted to take Aki to this place— light fire crackers— kiss, do whatever the vague dream was at the time. 

You rarely did anything fancy for Aki, and they didn’t have anybody else but you to celebrate with. It was only natural that you should finally pay them back with this one pleasant day. Even with an eternity of wandering and despair, a couple nights of star gazing could’ve at least made them more bearable. 

You hear Aki quietly snoring against your neck, ah you’ll let them be.

“I love you…”

They always had a habit of speaking in their sleep. 

You laid them down on the dewy grass and laid down with them. Your were finally here. The night was speckled with bright white dots— amongst the smoke perhaps this was the brightest place in the world. Old temples and shrines still sat here, all below swirling clouds of the night and shooting stars of the universe. It was like you were sent centuries past, perhaps hundreds of years ago two lovers also looked at the same sky. 

“Hey you know Aki,” You stared into the vast sky, “It’s a horrible thing to think about but I can’t help thinking about if what we feel is love.”

“I’m not a great person. I don’t really have anything special about me, if you had found another body under the debris I’m sure you would’ve never even thought about me.”

A star shoots across the sky. 

The grass gently tickles both of your faces. 

“You could live without me, I’m sure you’d do fine.”

“I don’t think I could live without you though. That’s why you should stop taking hits for me. I’ll recover you just keep staying alive. Keep telling me the little fairytales you wanted to write.”

Another star shoots across the sky. 

“Hey Aki,” I said, “Why am I the only one talking?”

“Hey Aki.”

“Aki!” You cry. 

Their mouth was curve upwards like a permanent kind smile. 

“Isn’t… Isn’t this a little too cruel of a prank,” You laughed as your vision blurred. 

Through the years you spent together, through the kisses, did you ever tell Aki you loved them? Does true love even exist? What is that shit people keep talking about anyway? 

The only thing you knew anymore was that you could no longer live without Aki. You felt a pain so unbearable that you could no longer see or hear anything. You hugged their body and cry out to the universe. 

The universe replies with a lonesome echo.