Inevitable Encounter

Aide Cooper. 

Not trying to freak everyone out, but I believe I am the last human on earth. It's the only logical explanation. Two years ago, a horrible disease spread throughout the whole world, causing everyone to fall to their death. The old man who lived in the back alley of our house said only the chosen one would survive this horrendous outbreak before falling to his death himself. I sometimes visit his body and ask him how he knew that, then smell the fetid odor coming from his body. 

I put the dandelion that I grabbed from pavement cracks down and moved to get up. 

“We should get something to eat. Right, Julia?” I say to my pet butterfly.

Julia is a Mourning cloak, who—weirdly enough—started following me two months ago.

Julia slightly moves her antennae and continues to flap her wings. 

“Looks like a yes to me. Let's go to that drug store near the forest. They have canned fruit and those good energy bars,” I point towards the direction “It's a little far, but I think we can manage.”

I bend down and pick up my messenger bag filled with rope, a first-aid kit, crushed old candy, and water that would last about 4 months.

“Ready for a 30-minute walk, Julia?” I say, looking back at her.

She flies onto my bag and rests her antennas as well as her wings.

“Yeah,” I adjusted my hoodie collar. “I expected as much.” 

We go down the cracked street and walk through water from the broken fire hydrant before taking a turn and stopping at the woman's dead body. 

“Hi, Mrs. Lauren.” I look down and wave. “I know I say this a lot, but I miss you.”

No response. No mysterious voice in the wind, nor does she come back to life miraculously. She just lies there like the dead body she is. I put my hand in a salute kind-of-way to cover my eyes from the sun and move my head to my shoulder to look down the long street.

“Y’know, Julia…” I mutter. “This might take longer than 30 minutes.”

The butterfly flies off from my bag and zooms down the interminable street.

“Hey, Wait!” I break into a sprint. “I can’t run as fast as you can fly. Slow down!”

Being the last person on earth sure is lonely. Lonely enough for me to start chasing a butterfly. ...Or so I thought… 

Oliver Morris.

I have two things on my mind right now. I might be the last living thing (besides animals) in the whole world. And I might be dying. I don't remember much about how I survived when everyone died. My mother injected something into my blood and I passed out. I wasn’t sure how long I was asleep, but when I woke up, my parents we're on the floor. And they weren't breathing. Two years later, I’m sitting against a forest tree, clutching the part of my shirt where my stomach is. If I don't drink blood in a week, I'll go mad... That's because I'm a semi-vampire. I can last longer than most vampires without blood, eat whole foods (Not processed), be in the sun, and I can also see my reflection. But it's not like I can drink dead man’s blood or be next to garlic. 

I cough and reach into my pocket for a small knife. I cut my wrist then put the knife down in a hurry. My mouth starts to water and I move to lick the blood sliding down my arm.  

“If I keep this up…” I say out loud as if someone was listening. “I’ll have less than a week left to live.”  

I grab my duffle bag and some bandages to wrap my arm with. I lick the blood sliding down my arm and quickly wrap the elastic bandages. 

“Maybe I should eat something,” I tell myself. “To keep my mind away from blood.” 

A small sigh comes from me as I close my duffle bag and get up. I wipe the dirt from the back of my pants and put the side of my hand on my forehead to see farther. 

“A drug store isn't far from here. I could walk there in about…” I pause. “Eight minutes.”

I pick up a rock before leaving and start making my way to the store.

“I hope,” I say, tossing the rock in the air and catching it. “There's water.”

Aide Cooper.

 “I… Julia,” I gasp. “I never knew butterflies can fly that fast.”

Julia landed on the handlebar on the door and flapped her wings once. 

“You gotta give me more time, I just ran six miles in 30-minutes.” I pant. Moving to sit down, I put my feet together and pull my knees to my chest. 

As I was just about to drift off, I hear the sound of what seems like a rock hitting the pavement. 

“What the…?” I look up to see Julia flying around a boy, who looks like his parents died in front of him, which—probably—already happened.

“Damn,” He chuckles, then shakes his head. “I'm going so crazy that I'm starting to see hallucinations.” The teen pushes the door open and Julia follows him inside. 

 The sight of another human brings me a feeling of relief, joy, and shock. I quickly stand up and whisper Julia's name.

 ”Julia? Where are you? We need to go, Now!” I peek through the window and see Julia fluttering out and about around him. I kneel back down as I realize how violently I’m shaking. Having no social interaction in the last two years, I’ve forgotten how crazy humanity was. I peek through the window a second time. “Well Julia, You’ll have to catch up to me later. I’ll meet you at the Mcdonalds a few miles west.” I stand up quietly and make a run for it. But in the process, I end up tripping on a plastic bottle, making an abundance of sound.

“Hey! Who’s there?” I look behind myself as Julia delicately lands on my shoulder. His eyes lock into mine.

“H-Hi?” I ask, timorous. 

 Suddenly I see his eyes fill up with hunger. I abruptly stand up and book it. I hear the sound of his feet follow behind me. My fight or flight responses instantly take control of my body as I climb onto a tree branch. He’s quick to follow. I'm left with no other choice but to jump onto a building. My hands grab the sharp edges of the rooftop. I pull myself up as I stagger back on my bottom. I look down and see him quickly pulling himself up the tree. A rush of adrenaline passes through my body as I get back on my feet and jump to the roof next to me. 

“Ouch!” I twisted my ankle once I landed on my feet. I decided to suck it up and continued jumping from roof to roof. But no matter how fast I go, he’s still catching up to me at an outstanding pace. I notice Julia beside me.

“Are you ready for what I’m about to do?’ I ask her as I throw myself onto the roof of a parked car. 

 The car breaks my fall as I swiftly hop onto the front seat., locking all doors and windows. I sigh in relief. It's not long until I notice him in front of the window beside me, His eyes instantaneously hurl up in fury. He tightens his hands into a fist and starts banging on the glass window. Horror and panic kick in as I look for a way out. I check the back seat and spot the car keys sitting on the baby chair. I grab them and insert them into the car. As it starts, I hurriedly thrust my foot onto the petal and drove off. I check the rearview mirror and spot him clinging onto the trunk with his sharp claws. I scream while I rapidly swerve the vehicle left and right trying to shake him off. He grabs onto the mirror and smashes the window to pieces, cutting my face in the process. He gets a grip on the side of my face and hurtles me towards him. Without control, I swing the wheel to the left and slam the car and his body onto a fence. My head plunges onto the door as I gasp for breath. I sit there, in complete shock as I notice Julia fluttering over the fractured car. I crawl myself out of the broken window and land on my stomach. I spot the bruised boy in front of me. I do my best to stand up and grab the bandages inside my ripped messenger bag.

Oliver Morris.

I wake up with the biggest headache in existence.

“Wh-where am I?” I make out what looks to be another human and suddenly my memories come flooding back to me.

“Ah! I'm so sorry-” I start, but someone lays me back down. 

“It's fine don't worry about it,” he assures me. I notice all the bandages covering up my bruises. He must've done this...but why? 

“Why would you do this? I literally almost killed you!” He takes a deep breath.

“I believe grudges are just a product of hatred of jealousy. We’re the only people left alive, what's the point in hating you?” I bring my attention to his eyes. They blossom in the light sunset. We both sit upon the soft grass.

“Welp, maybe we should introduce ourselves.”

Aide Cooper

Julia circles around us as I start.

“My name is Aide Cooper. Everyone I knew and loved died two years ago. I'm currently 15 years old. “ 

“I'm Oliver Morris. My age is 17, and everyone I knew also died.” His gaze follows Julia. “Do you... Know this butterfly?” 

“I… Do.” I stammer, embarrassed for being friends with a butterfly. “Her name is Julia.” 

“Um, Nice.” Oliver looks me in the eyes. “Can you do me a favor?” 

We just meet, and this brown-haired boy wants me to do him a favor? “Yeah.”

Oliver slides against the fence and stands up. I do the same.

“Can you give me your hand?”

I gave him the dorsal side of my hand. 

He flips it over and takes out a small knife from his back pocket.

“Woah Woah, wait!” I cry. trying to jerk my hand back, but his grip was too strong. 

“Don't worry. It's going to hurt as much if you stop moving.” 

I stop moving and close my eyes, bracing myself for anything. 

The sharp object slides across my wrist and I feel his mouth on the cut. My eyes shoot open. 

“Hey- what are you…” I, again, try to move my hand back, but fail. 

Julia lands on Oliver’s fluffy hair and rests her wings. 

I sit against the wall and do the next best thing that comes to mind: talk.

“So, did you always live in Wyoming?” I ask.

His head jerks up and Julia flies off. He frowns sheepishly, blood sliding down his lips. “I'm sorry. I don't know what got the best of me. I… Um, actually lived in Canada and walked north to here. It was Alberta, Canada.”

“It’s okay… I guess,” I look at my wrist. “I always lived here, but I feel lazy knowing you walked here from Canada. I always thought I was the last person on Earth.” 

His face lights up. “Me too!” 

I laugh. “You think more people are living in the world?”

“I hope,” He looks at Julia, who's flying around. “You know, if a butterfly follows you, it means something big is going to happen.”

“Well, I met you.” 

“Yeah, I guess that's true.”

I look at my wrist again, which is now bleeding. “Do you… Have Renfield's syndrome or something?” 

Oliver glances at me then looks down at the cut. “Crap! I didn't know you we're going to bleed that much.” He goes through his duffle bag and throws something at me. 

“Bandages?” I question, looking up. 

He pulls his sleeves up, revealing wrapped bandages around his lower arm.

“Oh,” I say apologetically as I unroll the elastic bandages.

I feel Oliver’s gaze on me as I wrap the fabric around my cut. Julia lands next to me, outstretching her wings and letting antennae rest. 

“Would you believe me if I told you something crazy?” Oliver asks. 

“Perhaps.” 

“Eh, okay.” He breathes. “What if I told you I was similar to a vampire?”

I smile and lookup. “Then I would probably believe you.”

“Aren't you freaked out? I could kill you at any moment.”

“I know... But considering everything that just happened, It would make the most sense. ”

Oliver chuckles. “Haha, sorry. I have an extremely short temper.”

“I can tell…” He takes a few deep breaths, then looks at the night sky above us. Covered in stars.

“No one is stopping us from exploring the world. If we both search hard enough, we’ll hopefully find others living just like we both did.”

“Wow, are all Canadian people this poetic?”

He laughs. “Eh, Not particularly.” 

Oliver stands up and brushes the back of his pants before extending his hand to me. 

“You ready?” he asks, gladly. 

“For what?”

“A mission, to explore and find as much as we can.”

I grin and take his hand. “Of course.” He pulls me up. 

And on that, we walk away from the drug store as Julia continues to follow us. 

Needless to say, if a butterfly follows you, A transformation is bound to happen.