This is Where it Ends

I woke up once again to the smell of mold and in an enveloping darkness, but it still feels like I'm dreaming. It's been what I can only guess has been a day since I've been hiding in my basement with an old padlock keeping the door shut tight. I've considered myself lucky to have lasted this long, but now I see no point in carrying on. I don't know when, I don't know how, but I can remind myself one thing: I'm going to die down here.

I've heard footsteps upstairs and pounding on the door. On multiple occasions someone, something, has been trying so desperately to get in. I've wanted so badly to open that door for many reasons. I need to eat, I've been starving for days. I need to drink, I can't wait any longer. It could have been another survivor, searching for anyone to help them, and perhaps help me in return. Or, best case scenario, it could mean the release of death, waiting for me to open up.

Once, when the footsteps and pounding stopped, I quietly climbed the stairs and leaned down to look under the door and glance through. What I saw, I wish I could erase from memory. I saw a face, contorted and lifeless, it's body just out of view. It's eyes opened and seeming almost desperate, staring into mine. I remembered this face, I remembered this person, I remembered the day I lost them. My brother, my closest friend. He had risked his own life to protect me. And, like a coward, I had left him and fled, locking him and that... thing that attacked him out of my hiding place. He may have took a stand for me, but I can't help but torture myself with the fact that I betrayed him. I left him in the end, I let him meet this fate, and now his pleading eyes were here staring into mine, reminding me of what I've done. 

I can't take this anymore, I don't deserve this. A coward like me doesn't deserve to survive when a hero like him will step forth and give his life. Today, I'm ending this. The world has met it's doom and now I'll be meeting mine. If or when the pounding returns, I won't curl up and quake in fear. I'll open the door and welcome whatever destiny stands behind it. Our world has ended, most lives have ended, and I'm joining them as soon as I can. I leave this first and final entry of mine as my final accomplishment on this dead earth. This was my story, and this will be how it ends. My final stand, my final breath, will be here and now.