The Day the Sun Sank

The Day the Sun Sank

They were on top of the world.

An hour before the final sunset, the entire town was begrudgingly on the move. With pockets and packs stuffed with comforting personal treasures, children wrapped in their favorite blankies, family members carrying pictures of those passed, and with some lifting lanterns to the slowly darkening sky, they made their way up the trail. The procession was orderly, eerily tranquire.

The walk was a long time coming. The days were growing progressively shorter and the nights longer. It was a subtle observation by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, caretakers of the atomic clock in Boulder, Colorado, and at first translated into daily milliseconds. But those fractions of a second had grown with the passing hours, days, months and years. What had started as science evolved into social wonderment. 

When the days grew darker, that’s when people’s wonder began to worry. The sun was fading, and the world no longer needed a scientist to warn them of something a simple pair of solar eclipse glasses could show them. A fever of global worry took hold, and soon the world’s governments and their respective media officially ran out of excuses. 

When the line between day and night had blurred entirely, that’s when everyone knew, but acceptance was not quick to come. It took time. But eventually a mom’s birthday is coming up next week, but her family had yet to mention a word of it. That’s when they knew. They knew that it wasn’t just the sun that would die, but every last one of them with it. That’s when hope began to slip, and surrender and acceptance were the only option.  There was a certain stillness filling these last few days to the likes of which humanity had never experienced before. All they could do was wait now. They did so with such great anticipation that it felt as if they were all walking through a haunted house together, waiting for a bloodied up scare actor to jump out at them- leading every last one to their deadly fate.

Every human, at some level, knew deep within that it was only a matter of time. Tonight, if you could still call it a night or an evening or a sunset, it was the sun’s turn to finally set. They knew what to expect for that evening. It was the last evening the world would be graced with any form of natural light, and when the morning would come only darkness would follow.

The town spread out their picnic blankets on the mountain’s peak. Thousands of them. All around. The peak overlooked the entire city and the countryside beyond. The fence was littered with a seemingly endless amount of flashlights, glowsticks, and anything battery-powered that was still capable of producing light. From what could be seen, the city lay empty, and people watched as the last of its residents made their way to the trailhead. Many didn’t think anyone would actually come, yet every neighbor, colleague, and friend had laid down their blanket and made their appearance. 

The world was quiet. There was a certain stillness filling these last few days to the likes of which humanity had never experienced before. All they could do was wait now. They did so with such great anticipation that it felt as if they were all walking through a haunted house together, waiting for a bloodied up scare actor to jump out at them- leading every last one to their deadly fate. Humans didn’t want it to happen, but they needed it to happen. It meant no more waiting in agony. It meant the war of morals would be over, and the final announcement of the winner would be made. 

People were crying. Some were in hysterics, and some sat alone with their heads buried in their hands. Small children clung to their parents, and teachers hugged their students tightly. An older couple sat together side by side, laying in each other's arms looking out at the sky. A young woman held her dog tightly in her arms, tears rolling down her face. A man spotted a client from his business. He went to shake his hand, and the client took a hold of it and pulled the man into a hug. They held the embrace for a long time. 

Through the clear darkness, the rocks slightly gleamed in an orange and pinkish light. The small blazing lantern slid down the sky, as if it was trying to hold on but slipping away with each breath of exhaustion. It was the first time the sun had moved in months, and its withering light was the last that we had. This sunset was not like any other sunset the world had ever seen because this sun would not rise the next morning. In fact, in an hour, the entire world will have fallen into the same exact fate. Tomorrow would be the beginning of their last three days before the frost claimed their last breaths. 

Humanity had driven itself into a destiny of extinction, as if they were on one big suicide mission from the beginning. Smoke filled the skies, and the city below lay gray and lifeless. The last century had been filled with flashing warning signs, but each and every one was outshined by the enticement of wanting more. More food and more clothes. More resources and more money. More land and more construction. More of anything and everything. It was only when there was nothing left that people finally realized it was enough. It had always been more than enough. They had such a longing for bigger and better that they burned the only home they had. The grass is always greener on the other side, but the human race has left themselves with no more grass to envy. They kill, slash, and burn, and then when they notice those around them are only skin and bones now, they look the other way- and kill, slash, and burn again. The rich man grows richer, and the poor man grows more poor. The day the sun sank they both suffered the same fate. 

A young man turned to his mother and father sitting next to him. His mother wrapped her arms around the man, and his father reached over to squeeze his hand. The woman seemed confused, and her elderly age indicated the high likeliness of memory loss. 

“I can’t see anything in this mess. What time is it anyway? Oh, Felix. Grab your phone! This view is to die for.”

“Yeah, mom. It is,”

His mother shook her head. “Never seen anything like it. I need to get out on the town more. Don’t you think Dan?” She playfully nudged her husband with her elbow, and he smiled. It wasn’t enough to conceal the sadness in his eyes. 

“Well Dan? What’s wrong?” He just shook his head. “No, no nothing. I just love you.”

They say a common human fear is the dreaded possibility of dying alone. The question remains now- is it better to die alongside everyone or alongside no one? The eternal night had consumed each and every one of us. Light is taken for granted until everyone is left sitting in the dark. That is when they begin to ask themselves the question, ‘Why?’ A question that can only be answered with, “Because you didn’t listen.” 

A woman sat with her legs crossed on a blanket, holding a child in her arms that couldn’t have been older than four. 

“Mommy, what are we doing?” The child inquired.

The woman’s voice shook as she whispered to her daughter, “We’re just gonna watch the sunset. Look, isn’t it pretty?” 

I looked down over the scene from my spot far away from anyone, not wanting to be bothered during these last moments. It is only when people realize they have run out of time that they really start to think about how they had been using it. How many of these humans have led lives they were proud of? How many regrets and how many apologies that would never be heard? How many hours had been wasted? As they all watched the star slowly crumble, I wondered what they were thinking about. Humanity had run out of time, and it was simply because humans forgot how to be humane.

The daughter turned to face her mother, wrapping her small arms around her. “Yeah, mommy. It’s really pretty.”