“Are you having temperature fluctuations?” said a booming voice.

“Yes,” came a melodic, singsong reply.

“Do you see flashing lights? Hear a constant buzzing?”

“Yes. Yes, exactly! And I have trouble breathing.”

“You have humans.”

A short pause, like a quiet desert at sunrise. “I was afraid of that.”

“Why did you wait so long to come to me?”

“I thought I could deal with it on my own,” said the cosmic singsong voice. “I tried famine, flood, drought, plague….”

“That won’t work,” the booming voice said. “They’ve spread everywhere. Filled your lungs with toxins, contaminated your blood. Without drastic measures, you won’t last 24 hours.”

A racing beat that pounded like an earthquake. “What kind of measures?”

“… Apocalypse.”

A sharp intake of breath that roared like a hurricane. “Not again. It took me years to get over the last one.”

“I’m afraid so. But we’ve had advancements since eradicating dinosaurs. The procedure will only take seven minutes. Recovery time will be a few months.”

“Seven minutes?” said the melodic voice, with a tremble that echoed like thunder. “Will it be painful?

“Yes…very. But you will be rid of humans forever.”

Another pause, like the dead of night. “I’ll do it…”

There was a violent jerk in my stomach and I shot backward through space, past streaks of stars, galaxies and planets, zoomed for a crash-landing on earth and sat bolt upright in bed.

What the hell was that?

Outside my window, a black shadow eclipsed the rising sun, turning the world a cold grey.

And a booming voice echoed in my head.

“Seven...”

The countdown had begun.

i visited your grave yesterday.

unlike the movies, it didn’t rain.

the sun hung high in the clear sky,

kissing us all with gentle light.

but all i want is to be kissed

by you.

it’s been four months.

four months and one day ago,

we kissed for the last time.

but i was angry;

god, i was furious.

i remember screaming at you,

but i’ve forgotten what for.

even though i was yelling at you,

you pulled me close. and

with your fingers of honey

you drew hearts on my bare chest.

you knew i wasn’t really angry at you.

you knew it was something else.

you always knew, even when i didn’t.

i didn’t want to kiss you.

i didn’t even want to touch you.

tears were streaming down my face too

and then our lips touched and our salty tears mixed,

forming a bond i thought would last forever.

i’m so sorry.

i should’ve known.

i didn’t realize how bad it had gotten for you.

when your sister died, i didn’t fully realize how much of a

void that left in you.

maybe it was because i never had a sister.

or parents, really.

i was always on my own, until you.

i thought i was enough for you too.

i’m sorry for being selfish.

i’m sorry for being angry that i wasn’t enough to make you happy.

i’m so sorry that you felt like nothing would ever get better.

i wish i never would’ve let you leave when i knew you were drunk.

i knew.

i thought you were just going to go to a friend to rant about me.

i never would’ve let you leave

if i knew what you were planning to do.

never.

i visited your grave yesterday.