Last Night Chapter 1: The start of the Finish "Wake up Danny! Danny, get up! It' important!" Danny opened his eyes, pulling the lingering dust out of the corners of his eyes, and stared up into the face of his lttle brother, Chris. He wondered what he had done to deserve being woken up at whatever time it was. A slight shift in the position of his head towards the alarm clock on the desk to the right of his bed told him it was eleven minutes past four in the morning. "What do you want Chris?" Danny blurted out, aggravated at having been aroused from his soothing slumber in his cosy bed. "There's sirens going off everywhere and there's loads of noise! I'm scared Danny." Chris whined in a melancholy voice. Danny sat up in bed, suddenly alert. Now that his senses were active, he could hear sirens very clearly. They were as loud as foghorns on a chilling winter's day, and as penetrating as a beam of light scathing it's way through ultimate darkness. Danny groaned as he shifted his legs out from under his bedcovers, leaving his bare legs dangling over the bed. The sound of the icy cold sirens, bleak and emotionless, forced Danny to get out bed and grab a pair of trousers from his littered floor and quickly put them on. He then scoured the floor for a shirt to wear and when he spotted one draped over a pile of schoolbooks he snatched it from it's place of rest, then hastily put it on. Danny then looked at his brother, only to find he was already dressed. " Do you know what the sirens are about Chris?" Danny enquired. "No, should we find out?" Chris answered, more than only a hint of fear in his voice. "How are we going to find out? It might be dangerous." Danny replied. "Well we can't just stay here, we have to do something." Chris retorted "Ok, let's go downstairs and we'll figure something out. That way we're less likely to wake Mum and Dad up." Danny suggested. "Anyway, how can Mum and Dad still be asleep with all this noise?" Danny asked. "I don't know, but they are pretty heavy sleepers aren't they." Chris added. "Right, let's get downstairs then and see what we can do then." Danny said. The two brothers crept out of the bedroom, endeavouring to be as silent as possible. They avoided the creaky floorboard on the thin brown carpet in the hallway and snuck stealthily down the stairs. When the two of them reached the lounge door they turned the handle at a snail's pace, so as to not make any sound. When they stepped foot into the lounge, they gave each other a worried look and then Chris marched up to the television and switched it on. Chapter 2: Revelations The television blared out at a loud volume, making the children jump up in shock. Danny leapt over to the television and quickly turned the volume down to a reasonable level. The two of them stopped as they heard the announcement on the television read by the news reporter. "The asteroid was not detected because scientists didn't check the many space probes and telescopes early enough, due to the fact that they simply thought that a disaster of this magnitude was improbable, no, impossible. This event is one of cataclysmic proportion, and it was never thought that this would happen. For those of you who have only just joined us, an asteroid that is nearly twice the size of Earth was detected at roughly two o' clock in the morning, and it is on a colission course with Earth. Various scientists and world leaders debated what to do about it, and they have come to the conclusion that nothing can be done about it. The asteroid is too big to be affected by any weaponry that we could launch against it and it will hit our planet at about half past seven in the morning. That is in three hours and twenty five minutes. When it hits it will destroy everything in a five hundred mile radius with the impact. If you live in Great Britain or most of Europe then you will be killed instantly. However, it does not stop there. Following this impact there will be tidal waves and earthquakes, the impact will cause magma to rise from the ground and spread everywhere. Buildings and any structures within a one thousand mile radius will crumble and cause serious damage. As well as this, the force of the asteroid hitting Earth will send our planet reeling out of it's orbit and our planet will almost certainly be split into many pieces. These pieces will then collide with each other on their galactic journey. In short, I am sorry to say, the chance of anything surviving, wherever you are in the world, is minimal. Please, do not panic. Panic will only make matters worse in this situation. I suggest that you spend the last hours this planet has left with your loved ones and saying your goodbyes to everyone you love." Danny did not need to hear any more. He hurried to switch the black messenger of death off and turned to stare at Chris, tears already forming in his little brother's eyes. Danny didn't know what to do. He always thought that in a situation like this he would be level-headed and calm. When you got down to it though, Danny was just as panic-stricken as everybody else. Danny didn't want stay with his family, cruel as it may be. Danny didn't want to die looking at everything he ever loved and ever cared for. For Danny, being made to look at everything his life had ever known and then have it taken away from him in a fiery instant was truly cruel as well as twisted. Danny needed to get away from his house. "Chris, can you go and wake Mum and Dad up?" Danny requested. "Sure, I'll be back in a second." Chris stammered, his freckled face masked with tears that formed rivers down his small cheekbones. Danny looked at his brother, and in that instant he realised how much he loved Chris. He embraced Chris delicately, afraid that he make break his small brother, and he never wanted to let go. He knew he had to though, and so he hugged his brother for a few more precious seconds and then let him go. Chris stepped back and stared into Danny's brown, soulful eyes and in that second something special passed between them. Without saying a single word, they both said to each other how much they loved each other and how much they were going to miss each other after the worst had happened. Then Chris turned around and left the lounge. As soon as Danny heard Chris enter his mother's and father's room, he slowly walked out of the lounge and turned right when he entered the hallway into the kitchen. He picked up a piece of paper by the radio on the counter and then grasped a pen. He hurriedly scrawled a note: 'Dear Mum, Dad and Chris. I've gone out and I'm not coming back. It's not because I hate any of you because I love you all dearly. I just can't stand to sit down and die here. Just remember that I love you all with all of my heart. If there is an afterlife then I will be with you soon. Goodbye.' Having written his goodbyes, Danny bolted to the front door. Chapter 3: Loner Danny quickly slid all of the locks on the door so that he could be free of this place and when he flung the door open and rushed out to his front garden he felt as if an immense burden had been lifted from his soul. He breathed a sigh which turned into steam before his eyes, swirling around him until vanishing without a trace. The sigh contained anguish as well as relief. Danny walked to the edge of his small yet luxurious garden and opened the black, cool gate. It squeaked as the hinges turned, the whiny screech cutting into Danny's subconscious and lacerating it meticulously, much like a surgeon's blade. Danny knew that Chris must have heard the gate squeal, and before he was completely out of the garden he whirled around and glanced up at his Mother's and Father's bedroom. He mentally recoiled at the sight of Chris staring wondrously out of the window at him. Chris' eyes glistened with sadness and Danny felt like he had betrayed his brother. Danny nearly shouted to his brother to come with him, but then he decided against it. Taking Chris with him would remind and haunt him even further of what he was about to lose in life. Danny turned his back to Chris and ran to his left, down the hill towards somewhere, anywhere. Danny ran as fast as he could. He ran past shops, houses, people and buildings. Everywhere he went he was plagued by the madness and evil of mankind. Every way his eyes looked and everywhere he ran he could not escape the panic that everyone had been struck with and was being spread quickly. Outside a newsagents a tall man clad in a leather jacket, dark sports trousers and a baseball cap came up behind an old woman hobbling down the road and struck her across the back of her head with his closed fist. The old woman's face lit up with shock as she stumbled to the ground. Once she hit the floor the man snatched her walking stick from her feeble, withered hand and relentlessly drove it into her back and stomach until she stopped screaming and just curled up in a ball and cried. Danny turned the other way and witnessed two teenage boys ravaging shops. They carried bricks with them and when they reached the next shop, a small hardware shop, they hurled their bricks at the windows until there was only a vestige of glass left and then clambered through the opening. When they emerged from their den of sin they carried large mallets and grinned sadistically. Danny ran onwards, seeing grave images of death and destruction everywhere. In the street a group of fourteen men were brawling, using whatever weapons they deemed fit. Danny saw one of the men get his face crushed by a brick. He staggered backwards until he sagged against another man who promptly punched him in the back of the head. The unlucky fool fell to the floor, trampled on and stamped into the ground while the rest of the men fought on. Petrified, Danny kept running until he came to a main road. He recognised it as Cromby Road by the roundabout in the middle. But there were far more interesting things than the roundabout that Danny saw. Cars were swerving here and there, not caring for which lane they were in. The drivers were rushing to a place that they thought would be safe, either unaware that everyone would die or just trying to survive anyway. Cars smashed into each other and there was a sickening crunch of metal against metal. Danny just stared blankly at the horrific carnage that he had been presented with, his mind numbed by all the atroscities that he had been present at. But still Danny ran. He ran through alleyways, past more despicable acts, past woods, past a river and he kept running until he could not possibly run any more. He placed his hands on his knees and bowed his head inbetween his legs to recuperate. Once his breathing shortened he stood up straight. When he gazed around him he sharply stopped breathing in surprise. He could see all of the buildings in his town, they stretched for as far as the eye could see. They were surrounded by bright, fuzzy lights and distant noises. There were faint bangs and the incessant droning of car horns. At first the lights were mesmerising but after being caught up in their ethereal beauty for fifteen minutes Danny saw them for what they really were. They were huge fires that encapsulated the buildings, trapping whoever should remain inside and condemning them to be judged and sentenced by fire. The fires were undoubtedly caused by men and women who had been on a rampage of destruction and had somehow managed to spread a mass of fires. Danny had noticed that when mankind needed each other, when compassion and purity mattered most, mankind destroyed everything. People had chosen not to help each other but to take advantage of the panic the discovery had caused. Mankind had always been like that really. Always raping and ravaging Mother Nature and her beautiful creations. God, Mother Nature, science, whatever you wanted to call it, mankind just snatched and stole whatever it could from what was presented to it on a golden plate. Humans were the most selfish species, and Danny had just come to realise it. Humans were like a plague on this precious, delicate planet and perhaps they were getting what they deserved by being wiped out. Danny stopped reflecting and walked away from the burning buildings, repulsed by mankinds perversity of this planet. He found himself taking a relaxed stroll through a park full of thick, fluffy bushes and freshly mowed grass. The smell of the fresh grass was invigorating for Danny, touching places and awakening emotions he didn't know existed. In this park Danny felt completely at peace with himself, and he broadly smiled as he carried on walking. Danny walked through the park for what seemed like minutes, but it was really an hour. Danny came to a halt when he looked at what was ahead of him. Chapter 4: Rest in Peace Before Danny lay the most beautiful place he had ever seen in his life. It was a vast field of lush green grass with daisys numerously dotted around it. There were frequent mounds, fairly large but smooth, as if it was not a real field but some hand-crafted piece of beauty. The field seemed to stretch to the edges of the universe. Danny set foot on the field, and to him it was the most important step he had taken in his life. Danny delicately stepped across the plush green carpet and walked towards one of the elongated mounds. When he reached it he carefully sat down on it, so as not to damage the wonder that Nature had preserved for him. This place was pure, free from the suffering and despair that civilisation had bestowed upon itself. The ground was amazingly soft and Danny was so relaxed. He lay down and rested his head on the floor, feeling himself slowly yet pleasureably drift off to sleep. After a few minutes of resting he fell into a beautiful sleep. Danny awoke with a start, instantly sitting upright. What time was it? Had he missed the end of the world? 'Don't be stupid!' He told himself. Maybe they had got it wrong? People make mistakes, they could have made some kind of miscalculation. Danny looked at the sun to guess what time it was. The sun was big and bright in the sky. Must be about one o' clock, judging by the position of the sun. It looked quite a lot bigger than the sun though. Danny thought nothing of it. He cocked his head and surveyed the rest of the sky. There was not a cloud in sight, and the sky was a creamy blue. It was going to be a good day. Danny then cast his eyes upon the sun again. Again? Danny turned his head and saw the first sun. He then looked back at the second sun. It was then that Danny realised that the first sun was the asteroid. But he did not panic. Panic was pointless. There was nothing that could be done now. Danny just sat there and watched the ball grow and grow until it was so close that he could hear it rushing through the atmosphere. Before Danny was completely obliterated and blown into billions of pieces of dust that were swept into the air, he remembered the famous quote by T. S. Eliot. "This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but with a whimper" He laughed. Danny ended with neither. He ended with pride, honour, manhood, integrity, compassion and maturity. The last thing Danny saw before he died was a bright light. Then there was soothing nothingness, and finally Danny was at peace.
Copyright © 2002 Adam Brelsford |