• I couldn't believe it. The scientists had confirmed it. The world will end this year. I will never forget the day I woke up and saw it splattered across the newspapers. I remember the panic, the confusion, and the chaos. I remember when I went to school that day the younger kids crying and hugging, I remember the teachers talking in private little groups in the halls. All the friends wouldn't leave each other's sides, they would remain stuck together wanting to spend their last couple months together. That day the crime level went up. It was as if people wanted to get everything over with before it ended. Before everything ended. I remember clutching my mom and crying. I remember that evening when our family ate dinner together. We phoned all our relatives and talked for an hour each. I remember going to bed that night and thinking about it. I didn't want to die at 14. But I knew I had no choice. It was over. It was going to end. We had nothing we could do about it. I remember crying myself to sleep. Nothing could prepare me for what was going to happen.

    I remember the next morning. I remember how I woke up hoping that yesterday was all a big scary dream. I dragged myself downstairs and looked at my mom. Her eyes were puffy and red. She had obviously been crying. I sat down and said, "I don't want to die."
    Mom just looked at me sadly and shook her head.

    "Neither do I." She said.

    We clutched each other and had another good, long cry. I don't remember much about the rest of the day. Or the next couple weeks for that matter. I just remember starting each day crying.

    The day that changed my life was the day of Nov. 1. The end of the world was only 60 days away. That was the day the government announced that they had a plan. A plan to save us.

    They explained to us that they had known the world would end for a while. They explained about Area 51, the famous military base wasn't used to hold aliens like those dumb rumors said, but it was used for experimental aircraft. Aircraft that was like a planet of it's own. That would float in space and could hold 2,000 people each and that would last for 5,000 years. I remember the light feeling that floated through the air and touched each person. A wonderful feeling in the pit of our stomach. The feeling was hope. Little did I know that all my hope would be crushed.

    I remember going to school that day. Every one was so happy. People were acting like their old selves again. There was laughter filling the halls. Laughter. I hadn't heard it in so long. It was wonderful, better than I remembered it. It was light and airy like bubbles coming from a mountain stream. It seemed to hit the walls and bounce around echoing in my head. I remember that was the first day I had laughed in 2 weeks. My friends Natasha and Fiona were happy. We laughed together just for the sake of laughing together. That was the first day in a long time I went out with my boyfriend, Jakob. Everything seemed wonderful until I woke up the next morning.

    That wonderful day was still embedded in my memory the next day when I ran downstairs. There was Mom sitting at the kitchen table holding the newspaper, staring at it in shock.

    "What’s wrong Mom?" I remember asking her. I watched her gulp and blink.

    "They can't build enough ships in time. Only some people can go. They're charging people for seats." She said, still shocked.

    I remember yelling, "They can't do that!!"

    "Apparently they can. Tickets go on sale online at 10:00 am today. They are only on sale for today. If they have any left they will keep going until they sell them all."

    "Well then you better get on and try to buy some!" I yelled.

    I remember getting on the school bus not sure what to expect when I got home.

    When I got home that day I ran into the kitchen and yelled "Did you get the tickets?!"

    I remember Mom turning to me and, eyes brimming with tears, and saying, "No."

    I remember hugging Mom as we cried. There was no reason to be happy anymore.
    The next day I found out half of the school got tickets. The people who hadn't stuck together and away from the laughing, happy kids who had. It was strange to see the school so divided. People who had been best friends were not speaking. The amazing, wonderful laughter now sounded like an overly sweet, disgusting, thing that only some people could have. Laughter sounded so different coming from these wonderfully lucky people. I knew I would never laugh again.

    The next week dragged on forever. I stayed in the background and watched everyone. The end was in one more week. The asteroid that was supposed to smash into Earth and kill us all was closer.

    The countdown had begun.

    Mom and I cried together a lot. On the day before the end I remember watching all the lucky people with tickets board the ships. There was a special viewing platform with telescopes and a special TV so we could watch then take off. Such a privilege. We get to watch these people take off into space and save themselves as we watch an asteroid that would end the world come ever closer. The ships were scheduled to take off when the asteroid came into sight and float near Mars to watch the earth explode. Wouldn't that be nice to watch? Mom, my friends, Jakob, and I all shared a TV. Suddenly a loud voice came over the speaker.

    "Asteroid in sight. Ready for take off."

    We all watched the ships take off. On the TV screens we watched it shoot through space. It was near the moon when we spotted the asteroid. It was coming too fast! It wasn't supposed to be here already! We watched it zoom closer. Some thing was wrong. It was in the path of a ship. And it wasn't just any ship. It was the ship from our town! We watched it come closer.

    And then we watched them collide.

    Silence.

    That was all that could be heard after that. Just silence. Then a little girl started to cry. The asteroid was gone but 2,000 lives were lost. No one could believe what had happened


    EPILOGUE
    And now here we are, two years after that horrible incident. The world hadn't ended but 2,000 lives did. What would have been worse? Watching this horrible tragedy was a lot worse than just hearing about it. It had dug under my skin and was imprinted in my mind forever. I will never forget it. People I knew had been on that ship. Every single one had died. Some times I think about them and I know that they are still here, watching over us and protecting us.

    And the end will never come.

    THE END