How would you spend your last day?

The world was going to end in twenty-four hours.

There was no stopping it, no escaping it, no delaying it. The end was definite. Humanity's reign was finally coming to a close.

We found out mere minutes ago. But it had been two hours since everyone had gathered to watch a comet pass by in the night sky. It was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime event and I suppose it still delivered that on that much, even when it all went wrong.

The burning rock of dust and ice had appeared like a shooting star one thought only existed for wishers in fairytales. But then that speck of light with an ion tail that would even make a pixie envious, suddenly became a bright blinding light that could rival the sun.

A catastrophic collision forced the comet to change its path. What was supposed to simply dash over our sky would soon be hurtling down from it. The impact would shake the earth to its very core. I felt an urge to try to comfort it to tell it not to worry and that it would be alright. But I didn’t want to lie either.

In a matter of hours, everything on its grand surface was going to be eradicated and it would soon go with it. I briefly wonder if the earth could speak would it be happy or sad about its demise? Some hadn’t treated their home as well as they should have. Yet, others had worshipped the ground they walked on more than anything else. Still, the earth was so very old perhaps it would be at peace with the end.

However, the same couldn't be said of many of its inhabitants. Every ounce of colour had drained from the news anchor's face when he found out what message that he would relay that night.

The prevention measures had failed. It truly was the end of the world. Say your goodbyes.

The experts had despaired that the only information they could provide was a timeframe. Their word was absolute in that it was over and nothing could be done.

A minority was in denial about our doomsday, perhaps because they would have preferred to schedule it after their holidays. The majority accepted it after seeing it occur with their own eyes and due to the undeniable fact that the comet only appeared to be getting bigger and bigger as the clocks ticked. The only question was what to do now?

There was no Noah nor Ark this time. Every spacecraft available had taken off but they were unlikely to get far, especially when there was nowhere to go. It seemed even though our unfathomable ego died with our failure to conquer space, our desperation to survive was as inextinguishable as ever.

What they had left behind was chaotic, to say the least. Although the earth was about to die the night had somehow never been more alive.

For the first time since its creation, money didn’t matter. After all, nothing would after today. Hence, most workers didn't clock in. The rich's bargaining chips had become worthless, leaving them to watch as the artificial power they had clung to for so long crumbled in their pristine hands like sand through fingers.

Lawlessness was rampant for better or worse. There were those that took revenge some justified, some not. But the vigilante dream was also alive with capes and all.

Still, retail workers couldn’t care less if the shops was robbed on a paid day never mind during the apocalypse. The only thing they went to work for were the dresses and coats they had been eyeing all month. If they were to go out then it would damn well be in style; was the attitude plenty had adopted.

Therefore, almost everyone in the city was dressed to the nines. Too expensive, too colourful, too gaudy, too bold, self-consciousness didn’t matter any more. Not when there would be no nights spent awake dwelling on embarrassment.

Weddings went ahead in all their chaos leaving guests practically giddy from the sweetness of buttercream and in a daze from intoxication. Some shows, plays, concerts and the like were cancelled but many still wanted to put on their best performance yet. For the grand finale, fireworks shot up into the sky to wave at the comet arriving.

The beauty of humanity shined on its final day but it was inevitable that its ugliness reared its head too. Still, I couldn't tell you all that happened, I had already had a lifetime of bad news. So much so that if I had been born a sponge my pores would be clogged full from the grime of it all. It may be doomsday but I wanted to finally be ringed clean to truly be able to breathe fresh air in my final hours.

By sunrise, there were quite frankly an absurd amount of planes in the sky. At least half of them went up not knowing how to land a plane but at last, they didn't need to know. They had gone from paper planes in tiny hands to soaring in one of mankind's outstanding creations. But that was just one check on the bucket lists in full swing.

Then there were others who chose to carry on as normal. The hobbyists stayed home and picked what they enjoyed most whether it be writing, gaming, painting, or sewing in order to take their mind away from it all. The extroverts went out since there were still some restaurants and diners that stayed open in order to serve their regulars on the house.

Where it was raining they played in the downpour with no worry of ruined clothes or getting a cold, only a nice hot bath afterwards to warm red noses. Where the sky was clear there were block parties, smoke from outdoor barbeques, and dancing to drum beats that travelled through the streets.

Doors were left open with laughter, music and the salivating scent of plates upon plates of various dishes escaping outside from the family gatherings. As usual, the kids would run off together to play and argue over trivial things, remaining forever curious as to what the adults talked about when they were not around.

As for the kids who preferred school to home they still went and brought comfort to one another in a silent acknowledgement. Then they played a game in the main hall and felt more like children than they had in a while; being as carefree as they always should have been.

Some believers would go to pray to their god. Even once abandoned churches still crumbling and smothered with moss had lone worshippers wandering in. The carpets of mosques were freshly vacuumed and the statues of temples were pristinely polished ready for any visitors too.

As for me, I had no plans to meet up with anyone or go anywhere in particular. My friends all had those that they cherished more than me. My mother had long left this world and I stopped speaking to my father long ago. Hence on my last day, I kept myself company and went for a walk.

First through a park to find nappers in hammocks and strollers with headphones on. It seemed the lucid dreamers and daydreaming walkers knew it was too late to change their unsatisfactory reality and decided to spend their time in the worlds of their creation. If their imaginations made them happiest who was I to blame them?

I spotted an old friend of mine in the neighbourhood just over the road from it unloading his shopping from his car which made me pause.

"Mike!" I called over to him.

"Oh hey! Haven't seen you in a while, bud!" he beamed back at me.

"What are you doing tonight?"

"Oh, the usual more or less. Watch a movie with the missus, cook us a nice meal, hopefully a juicy brisket if it all goes to plan, then it'll be our bedtime."

Mike answered with such a jolly nonchalance that I felt obliged to ask, "Don't you know it's the end of the world, bud?"

"Of course I do" He heartily laughed. "It'd be hard to miss."

"Don't you want to do something special then?"

"This is special!" he exclaimed with a grin. "Don't you have any idea how long my brisket takes to make?"

"Still! You said it yourself, isn't that basically the same old routine?"

To my surprise, a soft smile spread across his face. "I've liked my life, Alex. Why would I spend it differently on my last day?"

Since his wife's car wasn't home therefore I could only assume she felt the same and had gone to work like usual. She'd most likely be back in an hour. Her heels flicked off the moment she stepped through the door.

A bottle of wine and a nice foot massage that she had once been too ticklish for would help wind her down. The aching knots in his back from sitting all day would then be undone by her tender hands.

They would chat and laugh whilst they ate until their stomachs were full and dishes clear. A gentle kiss goodnight would be their parting gift before tucking under the covers to cuddle. They would be wiped out before they could wake up.

Next door to them was a lady with six feline friends. Some looked at her choice of companion with pity in their eyes but I looked at her and saw nothing but fondness and contentment as she looked at them. I don't think she would have chosen it any other way.

I ended up following one of them until I found out that the bookstores and libraries had been ransacked until their shelves were bare. The robbers were apparently either desperate to read that book they had been meaning to get around to or they just had to know the ending of a story that had gripped them; even when they were experiencing the end of their own. It was there that I met Cherry.

Ironically enough, I wasn't the only loner with no one to call. Thus, we got to talking and skipped the small talk since there was quite literally no time to lose.

"Do you regret how you spent it?" she eventually asked whilst we were cosied up under a long blanket in the kid's section of the library. After all, it had the comfiest cushions, a soft floor and a grant window beside it that sunlight shone through lighting the dust in the air.

"Nah, no point in that now, is there?" I replied, hugging Georgie the dinosaur plushie that was left out. "Still, I lived. I think that's enough."

Cherry turned to look at me as a smirk graced her lips. "Do you really believe that or are you just saying it to make yourself feel better?"

"I mean it... After all, it's the only thing I can say I'm absolutely certain I was born to do."

A snort of laughter escaped Cherry as her smirk turned to a soft smile. "Can't say that's untrue."

I smiled with her, happy to have made her laugh even if it was just a little bit.

"What about you? Any regrets?" I asked her.

"Well, I s'pose one would be that I never got to fall in love," she said as her smile had a twinge of melancholy. "I always wondered what it would feel like to love someone so deeply and to feel loved wholeheartedly back in that way."

"Haven't you read about it? I'd say it's a pretty well-documented phenomenon," I responded in jest.

With the countless books, poems, songs, films, and paintings, there seemed to be no end to the displays of love. One would think after millenniums we had just about covered everything there was to say about the damn thing but apparently not.

"It's not the same to read about it and to actually experience it, you know. I've never even been kissed."

"You do still have eleven hours left," I said, looking at my cracked phone for the time to which Cherry chuckled.

"You offering?"

"It wouldn't be the way you want it," I said, my smile never fading. "But if there's any time to finally give dating apps a go I'd say it's now."

"Nah, I'll be stubborn to the end me," Cherry declared, unphased by my answer and back to her smug grin.

"So you like the old-fashioned way," I noted, idly looking around.

"Go on then," I said, nodding over to the lone readers dotted around at the tables on the other side of the room. "It only takes a day in romcoms you know."

Cherry laughed again. "S'pose it does," she said and stiffly lifted up her side of the blanket before forcing herself up.

"See you around then?" she said, making it my turn to chuckle.

"Oh right... See you never then I guess," she corrected herself in tune perhaps a little too merry for her morbid farewell.

"Goodbye," I said and only then realised how strange the word felt, how final it was, how rare it was to use.

My mind wandered to think about all the words I hadn't yet used or learn as Cherry walked away. I didn't see much point in staying longer but picked up a dictionary on my way out.

Turned out the word 'balter' meant to dance clumsily which was pretty much the only way I danced anyhow. Perhaps it was the bird singing in the paths trees but I did feel in the mood to balter and headed home to pick out my favourite records.

With my vinyl spinning, I took a long, hot shower. It was the first time in forever that I paid no mind to the water bill or how the steam that soothed my tired muscles would peel the paint away from the wall.

It was odd to think that in merely a couple of hours, we would finally have an answer to the age-old question; if there was any life after death. I had set up camp in the belief that there wasn't many moons ago, but I was never arrogant enough to declare I was right. Doubt crept into my mind but there was nothing to be done about it now.

I don't think I was too terrible enough for hell if it did exist. But how would I arrive in heaven? Bare as the day I was born or as I am now dressed and scarred? I grabbed my mother's favourite pair of fluffy socks just in case it was true and she might like them again.

I didn't feel like cooking much, therefore I simply toasted a few slices of olive bread and slathered them in butter, relishing the saltiness of it as the grease dripped down my chin. I washed a handful of strawberries and once more marvelled at how nature grew such delightful things as the juice flooded my mouth. It felt slightly criminal to do but I then took a mug of tea with me to head down to the beach and watch the last sunset.

As I passed by the pier I reminisced on my very first date that began there and ended with a cotton candy kiss and bright carnival lights that only heightened my illusion of love. The lovers that I'd had since then had come and gone into my life like a flock of birds in a summer sky. I wondered if any of them would think of me now if they even remembered my tender kisses across their skin or the affection I held for them.

In the end I only really had myself and I think I was okay with that. Perhaps if I had been younger I would have wept, maybe if I was older I would have smiled, but in my ripe age, I simply sighed.

My memories of solitude varied. At times the clutch of loneliness squeezed my heart as salty tears dripped down into fruity wine and snot pestered my lips. Then there were moments of serenity from freedom of expectations alongside the peace of silence when I was alone yet not lonely.

But it wasn't always like that. I’d laid on chests protecting hearts full of adoration for me, wrapped up in blankets with tired eyes fixed on TV screens. I’d shared oranges with peel and pith under my nails during picnics with thieving ducks. I’d giggled too much during late-night shopping trips in pyjamas with friends so dear to me it scared me.

I even thought back to the time my hands had once been chubby and could hold no more than a clementine. At least I tried to, but they were no more than a haze.

A moment later a mother walked past me cradling her baby in her arms as she rocked them to sleep. I wondered if my own mother could recall the feeling of holding me like that when I was so small and something so utterly precious. The regret of never asking her crawled into my mind but I fended it away.

In my final hours, I didn't want to despair. I wanted to look at something beautiful. So I watched that giant flaming star that I never grew tired of and watched it sink into the sea. Then the little starlights returned and I laid back on the soft sand to be in awe of them.

It wasn't as if the last day was the only one that counted. No, when I thought back to the thousands of days that had gone by, I was glad to have lived.

Twenty-four hours had passed. We went out the way we came, with a bang.