Regression to High School

Audible from space, Mother Earth was crying out for help. Tears of lava were flowing down her face. Her green vivacious hair that formed the forests had all dried out to its last twig.

Her oceans were sucked dry, her soil was turned unfertile. She was no longer the beauty she once was nearly two decades ago but instead was just a lesser version.

She was all alone crying out in pain and sadness. Her children were all gone. From the smallest fish in the sea to the largest mammal that roamed her lands. They all ceased to exist.

Well—except for one last child.

Shinrai Montaro Yusao or simply known by his former close peers as Shinsao was Mother Earths last companion.

He was dancing along the edge of the rocks that surrounded and created a pathway on the coast of the lava streams.

Making his way through all the bubble pops, his dark chocolate eyes were scurrying back and forth searching for one last miracle. The bitterness of his eyes could be tasted on the tip of the tongue just by looking.

Shinrai stopped once he laid his feet upon a black boulder that was slowly being engulfed by the pool below.

On his waist, attached to a carbon fiber rope was a broken helmet that looked foreign or even alien. Although the glass was shattered, there were signs of it once donning an eye-shield visor that glimmered rainbows.

Concave holes that resembled bullets and dents from blunt weapons splattered about on the helmet. Its main purpose of protecting the head was no longer feasible.

Why did he still carry it around then?

All around the metallic surface area of the helmet were markings that were worn out like the grains of sand in your shoes; hundreds of signatures were signed, each one having its unique colors and style to them.

But they did share one thing in common which was the absurdly small size, making sure to leave room for the next person.

When each person decided to sign their names onto the helmet, they knew deep down that they weren going to be the last one.

Shinrai looked down at his rusting hands and decided—there was no longer a need for them. Pushing the two buttons on his wrist, one by one his gloves came off.

Clank. Clank.

”Theres no more danger. Its over, ” he sighed. His voice was deceivingly tired compared to the rest of his body.

What he said was a small white lie. There was one final danger in the world but it would take so long to kill that the two of them would die in the rising red ocean before either one of them dropped so it didn count.

He disconnected himself from the rest of his spacey battle suit. Pushing his fingerprint against his heart, the suit began to open up. The boots shot out hooks from its sole and kept themselves standing upright as Shinrai walked out.

”First time Ive left you in weeks, ” he smirked. Tapping the shoulder pad, he said, ”See you in a bit buddy. ”

It was a scarecrow, the final one on Earth. Despite resembling a human, it stood in place lifeless.

It served its purpose.

Walking forward, Shinrai stood above a lava geyser ready to blow and spew out natures deadliest flames.

Rummaging through his pants full of pockets, he found what he was looking for. Taking out the pack of cigarettes, he opened it revealing one final stick.

”Five years Ive been saving this vile thing, ” he grinned to himself.

He shouldve smoked it a long time ago but he had kept it in hopes of sharing it with someone else. Whoever it may have been.

Just as he expected, the geyser sneezed loudly and shot out enough lava to burn down an entire rural town.

Standing there with the cigarette in between his fingers, he let a singular drop that came his way touch the tip. Now lit, he placed it into his mouth.

He wouldve loved to say that he enjoyed this final treat to himself but he hated the taste and effects of smoking tobacco. This was all for the dramatic nostalgia of naïve childhood memories.

When the geyser finally came to a rest, Shinrai had inhaled the last puff of smoke. Flicking the butt into the pool, he walked over to his suit and detached the bag hanging from its back.

In there was a notebook which he pulled out.

Hopping about, Shinrai found himself a nice boulder with a wall that emerged beyond the flat platform on which he would rest his back.

Beginning from the very first page, one by one Shinrai began to read out loud every single thing he had written down. Each line on every page consisted of short writings or rather names.

Every time he had to turn a page, he gave himself a minute of pause. The deeper he got into the notebook, the longer his moments of contemplation increased.

Reaching the final page, there were only two names written on them. They were written side by side and below them was a portrait of a woman holding a little boy in her arms.

Shinrai was unable to say the names as loudly as he could the others. He simply mumbled it into his ears, keeping the honor of hearing those names solely for him. Not even the world, sky, heaven, nor hell would be granted the privilege.

Spending an hour admiring the portrait which took him weeks to complete, he reminisced of the wailing the little boy would make if he wasn allowed to roam about every five minutes into the portrait sessions.

They were annoying then but now—to hear them one final time would be worth more than any jewelry in the world.

What he would give up to have his wish granted—no one could measure the extent.

Placing the helmet right by his side, he grasped tightly onto the notebook as he closed away from the portrait for the final time, he could feel it in his heart that his time was coming up soon.

Laying the book against his chest, he closed his eyes waiting for it to arrive.

BIM-BAM!

The powerful chiming of the bell was powerful enough to shake the very core of the Earth. Instantly it brought back memories of the past for Shinrai.

Subconsciously, Shinrai was compelled to look up into the sky. He saw that the Doomsday Clock had turned its hands for one last time after three long years of no movement.

Weirdly enough, other than the very first day of Doomsday, it had never chimed as it did right at this very moment.

Shinrai didn know whether to chuckle at the twisted joke of false hope.

If it was him from a few hours ago, maybe he wouldve gotten up to keep pursuing this lie once again but after concluding within his heart, he no longer cared to extend his long depleted lifespan with pure willpower.

Rolling up his left sleeve, he looked down at his wrist and watched the number ”1 ” which illuminated blue expand towards him. It was a digital watch that kept track of how many heartbeats were wearing it simultaneously.

It took less than a second but for him, it felt like an eternity as he watched the ”1 ” flick up into nothingness to be replaced by ”0 ”.

What a cruel trick from the universe, allowing him to witness his death before it occurred.

Even to the bitter end, Shinrai held tightly onto the notebook. Not a single finger willing to let go like a deceased pharaoh protecting his riches inside their pyramid.

With his last breath, every single name he had read ran across his mind. A few of them were sprinting, jogging, skipping—they all embodied the people they were associated with.

The final two names were all that remained when the final breath dissipated into the wild. Reaching forward, he grabbed their hands and began to walk forward towards the bright light ahead of him.

His eyes began to turn grey. His eyelids closed themselves as though the souls of those he lost were telling him that it was finally time to rest from the afterlife.

Mother Earth, like a broken child, began to tear apart as she was now truly by herself. Saddened by the soul of her final creation drifting away, she was no longer able to hold herself together.

The grounds began to tear apart, shattering into crumbs.

Although she had long lost her vitality, she had always kept her beautiful spherical shape intact. That was no longer a reality as a split rapidly cracked down the middle, breaking the Earth into two halves.

Then came the crumbling of the two parts, leaving behind space rocks whose sole purpose was to now roam the vast emptiness, forever lost.

Heartbroken from the loss of a close friend, the Sun grew weaker at a visible rate. The solar flares that once looked like they could reach the edge of the universe could barely extend forward.

And just like that—all that was left of the star that was decorated in jewels known as the eight planets of the Solar System was a silent death.

It was a sight to witness.

There was no supernova to admire, no neutron star, no black hole. It was certainly an anomaly from the universal truth of stars.

Gigantic as always, the Doomsday Clock continued to stand in place as the first day it arrived. Space in the Milky Way was quieter than ever before. Perhaps humans didn realize it as they were too busy drowning themselves in existential crises but they were far noisier than they were willing to believe.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

The Doomsday Clock betrayed the silence as the three hands began to move backward like a scene from a horror film.

Although slow, it made its way back to the state it first arrived in.

For a moment, nothing out of the ordinary took place as though the significance of the strange occurrence was naught. However just as the clock betrayed the silence, in return so did the rest of space.

Whichever flow the universe was moving in, whatever direction it was heading—it began to reverse. Clockwise turned counterclockwise. Counterclockwise turned clockwise.

Each second that passed, the movement sped up until finally, the movement was just one big blur.

WOOO!

A sudden halt to all movement in the universe.

BOOM!

Like a firework fit for God himself, everything that lived in the field of the universe began to explode; from as insignificant as a meteor to entire planets, stars, galaxies, clusters, and eventually the universe as a whole exploded.

WEEE-OOOP!

As if someone was just playing a cruel prank before hitting the undo button, the universe in a timeframe so short, it had an infinite number of zeros after the decimal—returned to normal.

All the explosions ceased to exist. Planets were revived to life. Black holes continued their roles of eating everything around them.

The universe had returned to before—well not exactly.

As Shinrai was walking towards the light and ready to join his friends and family who were waving at him at the end of the tunnel, the two people he was holding hands with stopped walking.

As he was confused why the sudden halt, everyone else made their way over to him.

Ready to greet them with a large smile, they had already placed their hands on his back, chest, head, and arms, and said to him, ”Seems like it isn your time yet. ”

”See you soon Shinrai! ”

”Don forget about me, okay? Or my sister! ”

”Goodbye, Daddy! ”

”Farewell honey. Ill see you in a bit. ”

Shinrai turned to his side but no one was there, he turned his head back around the other way and they too were gone.

”Wait what? ”

Suddenly he jolted. Shinrai flew out of the bed, the blanket wrapped around his foot causing him to trip and tumble onto the cold hard floor.