Just a Meteor Shower

He was disgusted, the world was ending and only six days before Christmas. It wasn’t like he had anything to be sad about, he had no family, no friends, just an annoying ghost that followed him everywhere he went. In the bathroom, in bed, while he did his taxes, the damn thing just wouldn’t leave him alone! But none of that mattered, the world was ending. Life as David knew it would be over in a matter of hours. The damage was irreversible. David walked in the middle of the road, hoping a car would hit him. And as always, that stupid ghost was following him, telling him “You don’t have to do this, we can get through this together. Come on, just have a little faith.” David ignored it and continued walking, he walked far into the night. It wasn’t until eleven thirty that night that he finally arrived back at his apartment. He turned the key in his door lock and walked tiredly into his room before flopping noisily onto his mattress. Foreboding silence met his ears. 

“You know, maybe you can fix this.” the ghost said, gesturing to the mass-chaos outside the window. “Maybe if you didn’t give up so early then you wouldn’t be in this position.” 

“Shut the hell up.” David threw a pillow at the ghost, half-assed. It passed right through it. 

“Seriously?” It asked. “What’d you think that was going to do?” 

“I swear to God, if you don’t shut up right now, I will throw myself out of that window. Who's going to notice that I'm gone?” 

“You wouldn’t dare.” The ghost whispered. 

“The world is ending, remember? It doesn’t matter what happens now, we could go storm the fucking Capital and nothing would happen. What would they do? Throw us in jail?” David chuckles and shoves his face into his pillows. 

“You know how annoying it is that you are so negative? Honestly, if one bad thing happens you want to lay down and die. Well newsflash, I am dead! And it is crappy. All I do is float around and follow your sorry ass.” 

“You can leave if you want to. Float the fuck out of here then. Go away, I won’t have to deal with you being so annoying all the time. You wouldn't be the first one that left me.” David muttered. 

“Fine.” The ghost said before vanishing through the wall. 

“Fine.” He was talking to an empty room. 

Minutes passed and David began to feel worse and worse. He flopped around in his bed, got up and washed his face in the sink, and finally slid to the floor. What was he thinking? How could he have told the ghost to go away? His ghost. If the ghost could leave all this time, then why didn’t it? When everyone either left him or turned away when he was down, it chose to stay with him. It chose him. And he needed to find it before the world ended. David found himself walking down the street for the second time that night, his eyes peeled for his ghost. It was merely a wispy figure; he didn’t know if it was male or female. Its voice was androgynous so he could never tell. He picked his pace up, jogging slowly down the street. He scanned behind buildings and inspected every crack and crevice for up to six city blocks. The ghost was nowhere to be found. David painstakingly walked back to his apartment. He had had enough. If he couldn't find his ghost while he was alive, then he would find him dead. He didn't care whether he was dead or alive, he needed someone and his someone was that ghost. Instead of going to his room, he walked up to the roof and stepped onto the ledge. One foot off the edge, one foot on the ledge, he teetered. He made his decision and jumped. 

David woke up dazed. Nothing hurt but he was still reeling from the fall. He looked down at his hands and gasped. They were white and wispy. He was a ghost. As he looked up, he saw many others around him. Ghosts just going about their daily errands and other things, cooing at little children on the street and some ghosts were in pairs watching their family members who were still alive. Another thing was he felt connected to them all, like he knew where everyone was at once without it being overwhelming. He realized he could find his ghost. He floated through walls and floors; he finally found his ghost sitting on the very same roof that David had thrown himself off. 

“I can feel that you’re dead.” His ghost whispered, its back towards him. But the thing was, now that David was a ghost he could see the ghost's gender now, could hear his beautiful voice. “Don’t you think that it's weird that a male ghost is following you?” 

“Not at all. I'm just glad I can finally get to know you.”  

“Well, my name’s Leon. I loved to paint and to walk along fountains, I loved to sing at the top of my lungs and to dance in the rain and that’s about it.” 

“I was so depressed when I was alive, I just didn’t want to do it anymore but now I’m starting to realize that I needed to be more open to things and to be nicer to people. Dead or alive. I’m sorry.” David apologized. 

Leon got up and began floating towards David, they held hands and sat on the edge of the roof. 

“You know I always wanted to have a partner. Romantic or platonic but I never got a chance, no one wanted to stay with me.” David whispered. “I wanted a big, nice family. I wanted a two-story house with a white picket fence. I wanted to beat the neighbors every year at who had the better Christmas lights. I wanted to have a happy life.” 

“Well, now you can have me to spend the rest of these few hours of your metaphorical life with.” Leon smiled. David had just one more question though.

"Why did you follow me around? I mean there is nothing special about me really."

"Are you serious? You don't remember me? In the seventh grade you stopped five kids from beating me up. After that we were best friends until the eighth grade and then I had to move because my dad got fired. But life had different plans, I was in a hit and run. You know what's the most ironic about it too, it was those some kids that tried beating me up that killed me."

"Oh my god. You're that Leon?! I missed you, I wanted to ask you to date me, but I was too scared of what my parents would think you know my dad. He always said, "It's Adam and Eve, not Adam and-

"Steve" Leon finished.

They laughed together for a few moments until David nudged shoulders with Leon. “How about we go get some wine and drink it together while we watch the meteor strike Earth.” 

“That sounds wonderful.” Leon said. 

They floated through the floor, Leon had to grab the wine because he had been a ghost for much longer and could touch things. As the first rays of sunshine mixed with the bright fire of the incoming meteor, both ghosts toasted to each other and sipped on their wine. And if neither of them noticed that the wine went right through them, well that was lost when the meteor struck Earth.