The Endbringer: Stories From the End of the World

Finale: Reality, Ablaze

On that fateful day, everything was taken from me; my home, my loved ones, my hope. Not a single thing was spared for me. All that remained of my life, of the planet as we knew it... was my memories.

I am Vixon Sterling... I am the sole survivor of The Endbringer.

First day
-Six Days Until Impact-

I imagine everyone else had the same reaction to the announcement. The disbelief of such a thing actually happening, the fear that grew more and more through the message, the uncertainty of not knowing what to do... but most of all, the despair of being able to do nothing about our unstoppable deaths.

My mother told me that it would be okay... that the media is wrong all the time... that there is always a way... But I knew the truth. Her false hope and empty promises only made the pain in my chest grow. We can't escape death... none of us can.

My mom and I live alone. My father passed away several years ago, before I was even old enough to remember him, in fact. She would do anything for me, sometimes even pushing herself too hard. Even though she works restlessly for seven days a week, she never complains. She worries me to no end... but I'm thankful for her.

She never opens up about her problems. My guess is she doesn't want me to lose hope. The thing is, I lost my hope a long time ago. I just never had the heart to admit it...

It's not like we're poor, though. She has a well paying job at NASA, and since she never takes any days off, we have quite a bit of spending money. She's not supposed to tell anyone this, but she's actually on the team that's working to stop The Endbringer. Apparently they're making some kind of bomb to blow it off course.... Or so I've heard.

She follows The same routine every day; she goes to work, comes home late, has cup noodles and goes to bed. My guess is that she has lunch at work, otherwise she'd be all skin and bones. While she does this, I either go to school, or sit at home in solitude. While peace and quiet is nice, I just wish I had some company. Heck, I'd be fine with a mouse as long as I had something with me. I can usually pass the time by watching TV or reading, so it's not all that bad.

My life is nothing but me emotionlessly wasting away my hours... so why...? Why am I so afraid of dying? Why am I scared of losing everything... if I have nothing to lose?

I could not come up with an answer. I held my head as high as I could, given my situation.

--

My mom left for work earlier than usual. She didn't so much as wake me up this morning, so she was in something of a hurry. When I opened my eyes for the first time this morning, I wanted to shut them and drift right back to sleep... but something in my mind wouldn't let me. The beginning of my final days of life, and I felt like wasting time... the thought of it was pitiful. I got out of bed, still feeling groggy and made an effort to start my day.

I checked my computer to see that countless sites have already given up hope and closed down. Most displayed a message like "This page has been shut down. We thank you dearly for your continued support and we wish you luck." It sent chills down my spine, for some reason. These companies gave up hope... should I do it too?

I felt so useless. Everywhere I checked, there was nothing. No websites supporting the possibility of the meteor being stopped, no TV channels that still worked, not even a social media post to give me comfort. My world was crumbling. I could blindly wait and trust NASA to solve the issue, or I could give up and die... Neither options sounded very appealing.

--

The day went by at a snails pace. When you're alone in a house with nothing to do but think, your mind starts to wander to places one would never hope to see.