The world is about to end.

I never thought that I would be able to say that, seriously, in my life. All these years there was often news about some shady prophecy which foretold some apocalyptic armageddon, nothing anyone but one or two internet guys seriously believed. This time though there is no place for doubt as the signs are clearly visible, at least for scientists.

If you thought I was talking about something like every volcano in the world explode at the same time or an end-of-the-world sized meteor sorry to disappoint you but it's nothing like that.

From what I understood from TV and internet, the world, the universe is "reversing". By that, I mean that instead of expanding as it should, the universe is retracting. As to why it does that, nobody really knows. A decade or two ago a group of scientists noticed that the stars from some far-away constellation were much more packed than they should and their orbits were totally different than what's what observed a decade ago, which should be impossible. More disturbingly these observations could be made on every far away constellation, and as the years passed this phenomenon seemed to intensify at a really great speed, considering the time it normally takes for even one of these events to happen under normal circumstances.

I saw once a theory about what would happen to the universe after ending it's expansion, the "Big Crunch" if I'm not wrong. It's pretty much the universe retracting, only I never thought it would happen so early and it shouldn't, I guess.

As to when exactly our solar system will be affected it's unknown apparently. The acceleration of the crunching, yeah let's call it like that, that sound cool, being kind of random it's quite difficult to do prediction but considering the trend some say that we should be affected within the next few years, 5 at most if we are lucky.

I'm no scientist so apart from these bits of information I don't really know much about what's really happening, and it's not like it will really change much if I did anyway.

By the way, I still didn't introduce myself ! I'm Phoebe, 23, your average Programmer A, fresh graduate, who works in Company C. I earn enough money to counterbalance my "I want to quit and go do goat raising in the mountains"-feeling and have only my coworker as friends, or acquaintances I should say as our only conversations happen during the coffee break and it's never much more than about work or news.

Putting it like that it looks like I live a pretty boring life and to be honest it's quite true but I'm not sad or anything. As long as I can read some books or play my games that enough for me.

Now that I think about it I will probably not live long enough to see myself becoming 30, a wizard ! I restrained myself all these years in order to get some dope powers and that how the universe help me, by crunching itself !

Anyway, that's not important, I hope so. I should concentrate on my work instead of staring at my black computer screen while looking as If I was mumbling my murder list, which you can rest assured I don't have. Or do I ?

Launching my computer I finally begin to work. As our current project is nearly complete there is only the debugging left to do, nothing too interesting and a bit boring I must say.

These days we create software to manage stocks for companies. Sure there is often some specificities or restrictions but overall the work is vastly the same. Not that I complain, it's pretty comfortable to nearly always have to do the same thing, at least I can laze off without much risk eh.

Well, some hours, coffees and naps later it's time to go home. Luckily I live near my workplace, so I can just walk, which is always one of my favorite moments of the day, I like looking up at the landscape when the sky is crimson, it's very relaxing.

Just as I was about to put my headphones a hand it's way on my right shoulder. Turning around to take a look at the intruder, a woman shape called Danika, the closest thing I have to a best friend.

"Hey Phoebe ! Don't be so eager to leave without me ! Want to go with to this new bar I discovered ? It's not that far and from what I heard from one of my friends their homemade beers are superlicious ! Come on, I don't want to go there alone, I promise you will love it !" she said in one breath.

She's quite the chatterbox as you can see, and considering the long, exhausting and eyes breaking day of work behind us I wonder from where she gets that much energy.

Sighing at her pleas. "You know I don't drink alcohol though ?"

"Pff, that's only a small detail ! I bet they sell beerless beer or something ! Come on, do it for me, your amigo !"

Knowing her, I know there is no use resisting.

Keeping my sigh for myself. "You win, at least let me call my mom to warn her."

Taking out my phone I call her.

"Hi sweetie are you coming back soon ? Tonight I'm making my famous potato salad you like so much !" Mom exclaimed, her voice slightly distorted by my old phone.

"Well, I called you to let you know that I will not be home until I guess midnight. Before you ask why: Danika."

"What do you mean "Danika", don't Danika me !" asked the woman by her side, pouting.

"Nothing don't worry." I answered with a little smirk.

Mom answering me slightly dejected by my statement. "Ah, well that can't be helped I guess. When you come back you will find your salad in the fridge so don't worry, have fun honey !"

"Thank you mom, see you later !" I said hanging up the call, feeling a bit guilty to disappoint her.

Looking at my side I call my friend, still pouting because of me making fun of her. "Hey Dani, we can go now, I hope it's really "not that far" I still remember this one time when had to go all around the city looking for a restaurant while you said it was near"

"Whaaat ? I never did anything like that you must be wrong ! Have faith in your good friend ! Come on, let's not miss the bus !" Danika said, comically outraged.

Luckily we were fast enough to get on as it was about to leave, I guess having an energy battery as a friend has its perks. Unsurprisingly Danika is the sporty type, so she easily caught up with the bus to let know the driver we needed to get on.

At my amazement she did not lie, this time. Only a 10 minutes ride and we were there ! Dani I promise to never doubt you again !

This side of the city is pretty different from what I'm used to, the streets are wider and there's a ton of shady back alleys where you can see at moments forms moving in the shadows. Even though I prefer my good ol' neighborhood, I admit it's refreshing to sometimes change my environment.

The bar is right in the middle of a big street full of lights, if someone told me it was Christmas I would believe them, the facade is pretty good-looking and as it's made entirely in wood it stands out quite a lot, for the best I guess.

The inside looks pretty cozy with all the wood everywhere, the fireplace and for some reason, everyone from the staff wears Christmas sweater. During summer. I expect more the place to sell coffee or hot chocolate than beer to be honest. Well whatever.

"So ! It looks super nice right ?" asked Danika with a glint in her eyes.

"I wasn't expecting much coming from you but yeah, this place is pretty dope if we set aside how weird it is." I shrugged with a smile.

And to be honest the place was in fact really cool. Without surprise, they indeed sold hot chocolate which what I was going for as "beerless beer" was sadly not a possibility.

The night passes pretty quickly, I guess time flies faster when you're having fun. Saying goodbye to Danika we separate our own separate way, us living in totally opposite direction.

I send the promised message to let know mom my awaited return and start walking.

Although I still prefer dusk, the night's sky has its charms. The calm of these hours is pretty relaxing when there is nothing but me and the sound of the cicadas outside on the streets.

It's for these moments that I'm happy I'm alive.

----

Sometimes people say time gets faster as you age, I wonder if that's true. Just like that 3 years have passed. Aside from all the apocalypse stuff nothing much happened I guess that's why I read somewhere that if you live the same routine everyday your brain tends to "forget" things and that makes sense. I mean a day with a lot of new experiences as little they tend to feel longer than one where you do your usual stuff.

During these 3 years, new things have been discovered, one for instance is that we are definitely screwed. Stars that could be seen before just disappeared, just letting total darkness be seen where they should have been. As time passes there are less and fewer lights in the sky.

Even on Earth there are some changes, one being the seasons longer or shorter at random. The previous summer lasted 5 months, one of the worst of my life.

Though there is still no very accurate deadline as to how random the "darkness", or boundaries as it is called, progress, one year is the maximum time we have left and this if we are optimistic. To be honest I don't think I, anyone, really realize what is happening.

From my point of view besides the weird seasons, there is nothing different so when someone tells me I will die soon it's quite difficult to seriously take.

I decided to keep living with my parents, before all this stuff I wanted to go live on my own after getting a job but now I guess it will only be a waste and it's better to be with for our last moments.

When I was younger I thought once about how I would react, what I would do, if I knew I had only a short time left to live. I expected myself to throw my money to do whatever I always wanted to do but the reality is quite different. Sure I got bolder in what I do, like trying things I wouldn't usually do like drinking alcohol (which I definitely don't like) or spend more money than I would authorize myself on miscellaneous stuff but overall I'm acting quite the same. At first, I was really anxious, and still am to some extent but I guess at one point I just accepted it or I like to think I do.

Thinking back on what I did in the past, my life was pretty uneventful as I was and still am quite the reserved person. I regret that.

I always thought that I would change when I get older, I would do crazy things like dancing with everyone during the party (yes for my younger self, dancing at a party qualified as crazy) or going around the world but none of that ever happened. But none of that happened, I always counted on my future self to do what I wanted to do. I feel like I wasted my life doing nothing until it was almost too late.

Well, whatever, there is no use reminiscing the past, I must look forward even when the forward is short.

----

A few days.

That's what we have left.

If in the past I left the impression I was chill about dying, I'm not.

Now when you look at the night sky, it's mostly dark.

Even Mars is no more.

The worst with everything happening is that I can't do anything about it, nobody can. There's no bunker to save us or anything to target with a nuke.

A few weeks ago I quit my job, like a lot of peoples did. Danika left a few months before me.

I spend my days mostly with my parents, we talk, play and stuff like that. They look pretty calm, well my mom does as my father is quite the scaredy-cat or father-in-law to be exact even if I consider him more a father than my biological one.

Each day I feel like suffocating more and more. I try to not show it. Thankfully I have music to calm myself. Now that I think about it, I wonder what I should listen to last, like a "music for your funeral" but it's "music for armageddon". Ah yes I know the perfect one ! This music from Fallout 3 "I don't want to set the world on fire" is quite fitting !

Now we can clearly see things get darker and darker in the sky with our bare eye, even during the day. With mom and dad, we decided to stay outside on our garden as our neighbors seem to do as well.

The three of us are sitting on a couch, all pressed against each other like we are about to fuse, which is in front of a little glass table covered with snacks and drinks.

I don't, we don't, really know what to say, so we stay silent as the minutes pass, each second an eternity. I search for my black phone and play the song. My parents both look at me with squinting eyes to which I shrug.

After a few seconds of silence, mom speaks up.

"I love you both, so much." she told us with a little smile as she looked at the both of us. Although mom is quite the affectionate person usually, this time there is something different in her voice, a certain melancholy.

Suddenly dad takes us in his arms and hugs us without a word, there is no need. I can hear him sob a little, or is it me ? It's not important.

I hold them with all the strength I have as if my life was on the line. The music is about to reach its end.

Looking up, I'm alone. My parents who were in my arms a second ago are nowhere to be seen.

I can only see light as if everything was distorted in a blur, I can only hear the music which seems to get further and further as time pass.

"Mom ! Dad ! Where are you ?" I screamed, looking around me trying to find them. Or anyone. To only see the lights leaving me as if I was on a black hole.

I'm scared, I can't control my breath as I feel my tears pouring on my cheeks.

"Please someone !" I know myself saying but can't hear, as if words were not allowed to leave my mouth.

I'm scared.

Then the music stop.

Then the light disappears.

Then.

Then, there is nothing left.