1. Countdown to the End of the World

Ethan

Another day in my routine, I thought as I got out of bed. Always the same events. Get up, take a shower, brush teeth, comb hair, brew some coffee, and check phone for alerts and messages, go to work come home, eat, drink, and alternate gaming with binge watching shows. The only break in the routine, if you can call it that, was when Grindr chimed in letting me know I had a new message or a tap. It would be then I would invite some guy over to hook up with before or after work.

I never meet up with someone more than once. I don't do relationships. Not after him. But enough about that. Today started off as it usually did. I did the same thing in my boring life that I always do, but today was different. I saw a Grindr message from some Twenty year old twink who wanted to hook up with me. I told him I do anon scenes only.

He said he was cool with it, but he was wanting a friends with benefits situation. I usually reply We'll see then after I have my way with them, I block them in those situations.

Cool, see you in 15. He texted.

Just come on in, get naked and put the blindfold on. I responded.

I went to take a shower to prepare for my morning hook up like I usually do. But I saw there was a new message from my little twink.

Dude, did you hear the news? The world is going to end. I gotta go see my folks. Sorry.

What kind of bullshit excuse is that?!?! I thought. He probably chickened out or found someone hotter. I didn't really care. Just to see if he was telling the truth, I turned on the news, and sure enough, the little bastard was right.

"Breaking news, the President of the United States has declared a state of emergency. A massive meteor has been confirmed to be on a collision path with Earth. We go live to Joanna Mendoza who is at the White House. Joanna?"

The news then goes to a woman who is at the White House about to attend a press conference. As she is giving out the details, my phone rings.

I look at the caller id and it's Hector, my best friend. Well, my only friend.

"Hey" I answer.

"Hey, are you ok?" He asks. "Have you heard?"

Hector has always looked out for me in college. We've been through thick and thin, I even came out to him. Well more like forced to come out to him but who's splitting hairs. But he has always called to see how I was doing.

"I'm ok."

"Do you want to come over and spend some time with us?"

"No it's ok." I answered. "Really, I'm fine. Be with your family. Your wife and kids need you. Don't worry about me."

"Don't say that. You're practically family, Ethan. You shouldn't be alone."

"I'll be fine, Hector. Seriously, be with your family."

I hung up the phone and started to laugh at this whole fiasco. I noticed tears were streaming down my face. Some people may think I'm crazy, laughing about this so hard I'm crying. But truthfully, I was laughing to hide the fact that I was crying.

The news didn't help either. It was all very grim. The experts at NASA said that the meteor is a planet killer, that it would probably hit somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Everyone, even online, was asking if there was any place to evacuate to. Sadly, there wasn't.

It was clear to the whole world. We only have ten days left to live. While the governments of the world told their people to remain calm and live out their lives as normal, I knew how people really were. Despicable, cruel hypocrites the whole lot of them. The way I see it, a meteor hitting Earth and eliminating all life on this planet is a cruel but well deserved fate for humanity.

With everything going on about the meteor, I didn't even bother coming into work. Normally I would be killing myself to get to work on time so my boss wouldn't get on my case about attendance points. But for today, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who didn't come in. I guess attendance points no longer matter. With the world ending, not a whole lot matters anymore.

That became evident when I heard the cries and screaming.

My apartment complex was always secure and quiet, which was one reason why I loved it. But with the news of the world's end, total chaos ensued, even here. My neighbor next door began sobbing so loud, I could hear her from my bedroom. My neighbor across the hall started to yell and break things. Other tenants began cranking up music, doing drugs, drinking, even looting.

Under normal circumstances I usually appear calm and collected, not giving a shit about anything. Never scared of anything. But it was all a lie. It was a front and nothing more. Truthfully, I'm just a scared and abused little boy trapped in a thirty year old man's body.

I was so scared about what was happening outside that I locked and barricaded the door. As for my patio door, I live on the third floor and the windows are so high up and spaced far apart that unless you are able to levitate, you won't be getting through my window. I spent the whole day watching my series, checking emails, and occasionally Grindr. Sadly, I wasn't really into hooking up right now, but some were. How annoying. Ultimately, I deleted the damn app, and started playing some games.

One of the news reports that came on was talking about bucket lists. Questions like "What would you do?" "Where would you go?" were asked and so many people had answers to them. I asked myself those questions and I didn't have a single answer. One of the questions made me more depressed than I already was, so I decided to turn off the tv. Even then, the question still lingered.

"Who would you like to see?"

I didn't want to think about it. It just made me realize that even though I despise other people, I'm exactly what I hate. Mostly, I have become the one person I hated the most.

It was at this moment that I was truly afraid. I was afraid of what was happening outside my apartment as well as inside my own heart. If there is a heart left.