Even at the End of the World...

  It all of a sudden started to rain. The weather called for thunderstorms all week but the downpour was so unexpected. By day 3 it seemed as if a month of rain had already fallen. Very bizarre for a July. But we weren’t worried. It kept the 2 of us inside. We were already working from home for the last year since the pandemic started but this time it was something about the storm that kept us in concentration mode. We’d spend most of our days in front of  our computers aligned with our huge bay window that overlooked the trees and beautiful forest in our backyard... miles away from the busy city life that we left behind when we got married 10 years ago.   In front of the window we sat at our table across from each other, coffee, snacks and laptops being a divider and when our work day was finished we’d have a meal, alternating who would prep and cook, then clean. That’s how we’ve been for year's. We’ve become accustomed to being in The same room in silence.  We’d Then use the evening to convene and talk about our day as if we weren’t together for most of it.

  It wasn’t until day 4 of the heavy rain that we became privy to what was actually going on beyond the walls of our home. 

  The city around us was beginning to flood. If it wasn’t for her randomly taking a break that Thursday afternoon and turning on the news that we discovered that in fact it was almost 2 months of rain that had fallen in three and a half days and most of the city was becoming submerged under water. The media stated it as a “possible human extinction event” but we brushed it off slightly. Not that we were non believers, just more skeptics of the news. Something we rarely watched for factual information, but more of an outlet for entertainment. But then on Friday something happened. The rain suddenly stopped and it was Unusually hot. We cranked the AC but to no avail. It seemed as if the ground outside looked like it was almost melting. That an egg had no chance and would turn to char almost instantaneously. 

 I had to check it out for myself. I went to step outside cautiously but was met with the singe of the sun burning the hair on my knuckles as I stuck my arm out to test. I quickly shut the door and surveyed the damage. My hand was almost burnt. I could see the hair on my arms almost scorched off and a blister began to form on my hand. I ran into the kitchen for some aloe and met her looking at me with tears in her eyes. She was standing watching the tv in our kitchen with her hands over her mouth. The news reporter looked just as frantic. I held her close, ignoring my pain and listened intently as they explained that there had been a major heat wave around the world. The earths core was heating up by the day that it was almost melting within itself. According to scientists, the world was imploding and we only had days to go. With No chances of survival, we as humans would just merely dissolve in the heat. That’s if we did not die from the floods, the hurricanes  and the earthquake that would happen sometime before or after. The sky had opened up in major cities and turned a vibrant red. We ran to the bay window over looking our work station and gasped. It was as if the sun had turned into hot lava. A big molten rock about to fall from the sky. I looked over at her and at that moment we knew; this was the end. Perhaps now we were glad we never had children. How would we explain it to them? The news said days but we were surrounded by trees and shrubbery, if they became ignited that would be it for us. But there would be no where to go. 

 As night fell it seemed to give relief. The sun went down in a fiery ball as we watched it from our window. 

 The moon, however, gave us a kind of peace. Some comfort that things may be ok. We finally opened the door and sat on the porch to watch the stars for what may be the last time. It was still extremely hot so we stripped down to our bare and tolerated the heat. 

 Saturday morning everything came to a head. The sun was now expelling huge pellets that it was actually raining fire. The cable seemed to have been burnt out. Phone lines down. There was no one we wanted to call anyway. Both our parents were deceased for years. That was a good thing. 

 We watched from the window and saw billows of smoke arising beyond the trees, people were out there being obliterated. Not being able to run for cover. The terror and chaos must be dire on the other side of the trees. I felt a sense of guilt, though I knew what was coming, I found solace in the reality that id die a happy man, in our quaint, almost cottage like home, with her.

  We sat in front of the window all day and watched the crimson and bright yellow sparks fly like little bugs around our house.  We didn’t panic. We were never the type to.  Why we were so calm was beyond me, maybe because we've always been people to welcome the inevitable, or we were both consoled by the fact that we've always just had each other. Being only children and moving away to a house so secluded that you had to drive 20 minutes from the main road will do that to anyone. Not to mention, the isolation, because you know, pandemic.

We've already felt like we've been the only two people on earth for over a year. 

 That evening I sat with my back against the window and watched her intensely. She seemed no more worried than me. I hugged her tightly as we danced to the sweet serenade of Coltrane playing from my phone. I smelled her hair. And kissed her slowly. She embraced me and smiled. We made love for the last time.

We got up before sunrise Sunday morning and the smoke was so heavy that it enveloped the sky and earth around us. I watched from the window with my arms behind my back and sighed.

“Babe breakfast is ready!” I turned to our table where she had a whole set up. We sat across from each other and ate quietly, eggs, bacon toast pancakes, almost everything in our pantry,  prepared on the gas stove. At that moment I was glad I decided to not argue on the gas or electric. She was In charge of all decor of our place. We smiled and laughed at each other between bite full, eating happily in front of our bay window as the world around us literally burned, loving each other’s company as always, something that would never change, not even during the end of the world.