Chapter 1
Needens
Silence… well, at least no one is screaming anymore. They’re all gone.
I slowly rise from the ground and look around. Where am I? The world is still. No form of life—except a camera hovering above me. I move away, but it follows. A new friend, I guess.
Bodies are everywhere.
Birds are gone. Animals too. Everything.
The camera pans over to a very, very beautiful house.
How was it spared? Why does it look so… comforting?
I walk through the gate and shut it behind me. A garden greets me—though now, the flowers are either dead or smothered by stubborn, overgrown weeds. Still, I can tell it was once lovingly tended.
Not far off stands a mini barn. Wooden signs hang, each carved with different animals—fat, happy-looking ones. Odd, but somehow sweet.
I step inside the house. My breath catches.
It’s marvelous.
Big windows stretch across the walls, filling the space with soft, dusty light. One bay window overlooks the forgotten garden, stacked with books, a blanket, and a pillow. Cozy. Lived-in. Loved.
My eyes drift around, until they land on the stairs. They’re calling to me somehow.
I ascend, but then I stop—
Possessed by a strange, aching feeling.
Like watching a sad romantic movie on a rainy day. The kind where the love was so good, it didn’t matter that it ended.
Happy-sad, I guess.
The camera nudges me again. I roll my eyes.
“Okay, okay. Let’s go then.”
We’re at the top.
It’s a loft.
It’s clean, organized. Peaceful.
Everything is in its proper place—
Except the bed.
Is there someone in there?
I walk closer. I pull back the duvet.
A face.
Then two.
They’re lying together—one tucked into the other’s chest.
Grey hair, dark skin, freckles kissed by years of sun.
They’re smiling.
Not a big grin. Just a small, quiet smile.
The kind that says, “We did it.”
The kind that says, “We lived everything we dreamed.”
Tears roll down my cheeks.
I remember it all now.
That’s me.
I turn to the camera to speak, but suddenly…
You’re there.
Standing beside it.
Smiling.
You’ve been with me the whole time.
The disaster happened five months ago.
But the beginning? That started long before. About five years, I think.
They told us not to worry.
The scientists. The government.
They said they had it under control.
They always do.
An asteroid was coming.
“Needens,” they called it.
It was supposed to hit North America.
But the ripple… would reach the whole world.
People panicked. Riots. Crime. Despair.
Some said it was a conspiracy to reduce the population.
Some gave up entirely.
But not us.
We had already lived 75 years together.
I didn’t accept the news.
I lived in denial.
Because we had so much.
We had everything.
We spent every moment together—
Adventuring until our bones protested,
Watching thousands of movies until our glasses prescriptions changed monthly,
We built our dream house.
Watched every wish we whispered come to life.
You recorded it all—camera in hand, forever.
We kissed.
Millions of times.
There wasn’t a single day we didn’t say “I love you.”
And we meant it. Every single time.
When they claimed they’d found a way to stop the asteroid, I smiled.
“I told you it wasn’t going to happen,” I said.
And then I cried.
Not because I believed it.
But because I wanted to.
We stayed in bed after that.
Too tired for adventures now,
We rewatched Entergalactic,
We replayed all your camera clips.
I made you promise to let me fall asleep to the sound of your heartbeat
And wake me up with a kiss on the forehead.
You laughed. “I already do that every day.”
But you promised anyway.
And you kept that promise.
Every single day…
Until one day…
You didn’t wake me.
Now I’m back in the present.
You step forward, smiling softly.
You set the camera down beside the bed—
Just like you did the night Needens hit.
You reach for me,
Take my hands,
Pull me close—
And you fulfill your promise.
