“It is now June 20th, 2063 8:26 PM. The sun will go supernova and the world will end in fifteen minutes. We won’t insult you by wishing you a nice day.”
“There wouldn’t be much point anyway,” said Marion grimly.
She was an older, grey haired and wrinkled woman. She switched off the radio. What was the point? Perhaps the radio people thought they could comfort everyone with on-the-minute updates on the sun, and some stations were even playing music. Marion had to ask herself why it mattered. Soon there would be no news, or music, or anything else.
She stifled a sob.
She looked around. It was an older house, very old fashioned, and it seemed empty. It had been like that for a long time, ever since the children moved out and got married, and ever since Richard died. It was her final moments, and she was alone.
She looked out the window. The sun was low in the sky, over the other houses. It was red, a bright red, though she didn’t really know if that was because of sunset or because it was dying. All she really knew is that it was supposed to end in billions of years, but here it was, failing, and no one knew why. It was certain though. That thing was about to go and take the human race with it.
Of course, some were trying to escape. Marion looked and saw a rocket flying towards the sky. It rose slowly. The real rockets had launched months ago; the scientists and politicians and their families chosen to fly up and escape, hopefully preserving the human race. By chance her children had been chosen, and they had left the earth, but the elderly weren’t. They didn’t have much longer to live anyway. Even if she had been chosen Marion felt that it was probably pointless anyway. They would run out of food eventually, even if they tried to grow it on the shuttles. The trip would be too long. Besides, the chances of finding something to survive out there was close to zero. They didn’t have faster than light travel or anything like that.
Still, she had to give them credit for trying. Even these poor fools in their makeshift rocket, and even as that rocket failed, falling back to the ground, she had to give them credit for trying. It was more than she had tried. Still, even if they had broken the atmosphere, they would never have outrun the supernova. It was too late.
She wasn’t going to spend her last moments trying to avoid the inevitable, but then again she wasn’t going to do much else either. She had thought about going on a cruise so that she could have fun during her final hours. She looked at the cruise tickets on the table. Unused. Of course the people who worked cruises weren’t working. They didn’t want to do that in their last hours. Some were still working as if that would justify their deaths, but most were at home, trying to come up with something to do since no one was working on the really fun stuff you want to do when you’re going to die.
Marion looked at the clock on her wall. It read 8:33 PM. Eight minutes until Supernova.
She sat on the couch, just waiting. She had this gut feeling that she couldn’t spend the last eight minutes just sitting there. She thought of her family. She looked up at the sky, where those shuttles had left. Her children had children of their own, so they didn’t offer to stay with her. When they were chosen and to leave the Earth and she wasn’t they went. It didn’t take much thought. That was natural, and she didn’t begrudge them. She would have done the same after all, protect her children, but as she looked at their photos on the wall. There was Jennifer with her husband, and her own children. Mike and Bradley were on the wall with their families as well. No, she didn’t feel resentment for taking their children and leaving.
It didn’t make her feel any less lonely though.
Then there was Richard. Oh Richard! She looked at his picture on the wall. She thought he still looked charming in his old age. He had smiled at her during his final moments, while he lay dying on a hospital bed. A smile that said everything will be okay. But everything wasn’t okay. It was wrong! She stared at that picture, knowing that she would die alone.
A tear rolled down her cheek.
Maybe she would see him again. Right now that was the only comfort she had. Marion looked at the clock. It read 8:36, five minutes to the end of the world.
She couldn’t spend her last moments despairing. He wouldn’t want that, nor would her children. Were they up there? Thinking that maybe she was trying to enjoy her last moments?
Maybe.
Still. She felt she had to do something other than wonder. She turned the radio on. Maybe there was a song that could cheer her up.
Click. The radio came on, but there was static. Maybe a few of the stations had given up. She switched to different stations, but there was more of that noise. A few minutes passed by, and still there was nothing but static. Was this it?
Then she heard something. A young man was still on the air.
“…few of the other stations have stopped broadcasting. Well, actually all of them…I can’t blame them really…We have less than five minutes left, but…I just wanted leave off with something that fit the mood. Here you go.”
After a moment, music started playing.
Marion knew that tune. It was a slow violin piece. Very slow. It was old too. It didn’t have any words. Not any official words at least, but a long time ago Marion had made up some words to it, when she was just a little girl. It wasn’t a very good song. Of course, she had only been three. As she sat there, listening to this sad music, she looked at the clock. It read 8:38. Three minutes until the end of the world.
She started singing along with the violin piece.
“Waiting here…for the train…the train to take me home…”
She stifled a sob.
“My love has already gone ahead…my children have left to roam…”
A tear rolled down her cheek.
“It is my time…(sob) my time to go…
She sobbed again.
“I am afraid…but I do know…”
More tears fell down her face…
“The sun must rise…(sob) and that is when…”
She sobbed harder than ever…
“I shall see my love again…”
She breathed heavily as the violin pierced the room.
“The Sun will rise (Sob) tomorrow…
More tears on her face…
“I’ll be waiting then…
She sobbed harder than ever as the violin music stopped.
“To board that train, that leaves tomorrow…To see my love again…”
She continued to sob. By now the clock read 8:41. Any moment now the sun would expload, and it would all be over.
I’ll see my love again.
Tears rolled down her face as she sobbed louder than ever. Would it be true? Would she see him again? She didn’t know. She really didn’t know. She hoped so, but hope was a faint thing these days. She cried harder than ever.
The sun burst! The sky lit up with an intense light! None of it mattered anymore. Nothing, not one thing even mattered now. It was over.
It was all over.

The End

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 06.06.2011

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