With Time

"I forgave you a long time ago. I didn't want to. But hating someone takes a lot out of you."\n\nYou look around the room, see the wear and tear of time and neglect on the ceiling, on the window frames, on the floor.\n\n"When all this became more real... hating you seemed much less important."\n\nThey smile, just for a [[moment|devil]].

The coughing worsens.\n\n//"Please. I see others coming down the street. If they see me, I'm dead. Everyone's gone mad. If they see me, I'm dead, and you know it."//\n\n<<timedgoto "waitatthedoor3" 20s>>

Time passed so quickly in silence, but felt like forever.\n\nYour minutes have dwindled to one.\n\n[[One minute]] left to say anything.\n\nIs that time enough? You're not sure.

They press their fingers to their lips, letting the timeframe settle. You don't know if there's anything comforting to say, so you hold your tongue. You aren't sure you trust your voice anyway.\n\n//"I just want to know,"// they say quietly. //"Before this all goes to shit."//\n\n//"Can you... forgive me? For the past? Or did you?"//\n\nYou don't want to talk about this, not now, not ever. They never were good at timing.\n\n"[[Yes.]]"\n\n"[[No.]]"\n\nBut maybe you could still [[avoid]] this altogether.\n\n<<timedgoto "idkkk" 45s>>\n<<if $plays >= 2>>\s\n\n//The clock ticks 45 times.//\n<<endif>>

The bedroom is upstairs, and you pray the steps don't squeak under the collective weight of the two of you. It's been a long time since you'd been upstairs. Unease settles in your stomach as you rise.\n\nThis was probably the safest place in the house, furthest away from the door and with the windows already boarded up. The end will come, but not from the terrified masses outside.\n\nGod, it'd been such [[a long time]].

//Time waits for no one.//\n<<timedgoto "New Start" 7s>>\s\n<<remember $plays += 1>>\s\n<<if $plays >= 2>>\s\n\n//You know it is always running away.//\n<<endif>>

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The nights have seemed fuzzy ever since news broke. Most of it was over your head, a wave of statistics and graphics, maps and thorough scientific mumbo-jumbo that only made you uneasy. \n\nFor at least three weeks, you ignored the stories. They couldn't be true. Nobody could predict the end of the world. Attempts had been made so many times before, and all for nothing.\n\nBut the news stories continued, the music of white noise in the background, until one day, you realized you believed. You believed and you feared.\n\nYou feared until you understood fear would not matter in the end. \n\n<<display "Safe">>

You still see twinkling eyes. They've long since gone. And since they've gone, you've been wonderfully and painfully alone.\n\nShe didn't need to experience any more of this world than she did. She suffered more than enough.\n\nBut you remember her curly hair and round face.\n\nShe left the world through your bedroom window and you'd thank God if you thought He listened.\n\n<<display "Safe">>

"You came here because you had nowhere else to go, right? You might as well stay."\n\n//"With [[someone]] who can't stand me?"//

Time drips away like droplets from a leaky faucet. "We're getting away from the door," you whisper. "We're going to the <<print either("[[bedroom]]", "[[bathroom]]", "[[kitchen]]")>>." It's the first place you think of.\n\nYou begin to creep along the battered floor, clinging to those old walls, try to become like wallpaper as you navigate through the house. You don't see if they follow, but you know that they do. Just this once, they do.\n\n<<if $plays >= 2>>\s\nBut you pause. Maybe you could consider other options. Nobody knows the house better than you, after all.\n\nThere's the [[bedroom]].\nYou could also try the [[bathroom]].\nAnd the [[kitchen]] is close by as well.\n<<endif>>

The thought crossed your mind that you two could hunker down in the bathtub. Except this isn't a storm or an earthquake. Not really. It's something else entirely.\n\nYou remember the static behind the news broadcasts.\n\nThe asteroid would lay waste to the Earth, and nothing would be left. All of history would fail to matter. The future was only a dream, a wish unfulfilled.\n\nNothing but [[static]].

The two of you huddle down together, close but not touching. You wonder if you'd like to, would like to hold them until time runs out, would like to be held while someone might still.\n\nYou wonder but say nothing.\n\nThey say nothing.\n\nThe crackle of flames outside fill your empty ears. The shades of light dance on your well-worn walls from outside the window.\n\nThere is screaming and it makes you shiver.\n\nYou look at your watch and [[regret]] it.

With Time\n\nBy OathkeeperTT

People think the devil is evil, ugly, everything negative wrapped into one ultimate being.\n\nBut no. Before you stands the devil.\n\nThe devil dresses in silk, smiles with ease, presses their warm body to yours when you most desire it, holds your hand when you're most fearful because they know your fear sustains and paralyzes you.\n\nThe [[devil]] is everything you could ever want, and they will destroy you.

"We're about to die and you're asking about my feelings? What is this, group therapy?"\n\n//"I'm serious. If we're all really about to lose our lives, then there's shit I need to know before I go."//\n\n"And apparently, you and me is important enough to warrant a peaceful passing?"\n\n//"Won't you just tell me? Please."//\n\n[["Yes"|Yes.]] and [["no"|No.]] are both truths.\n\nSo is [[silence|blah]].

//"Are we safe here?"// they ask in a low tone. You turn to where they stand, near the entrance to the room, and watch as their shoulders tremble with every breath they [[struggle]] to take.

//"Please,"// they ask. //"Don't give me this silent treatment bullshit. I just want an answer. \n\nI know I never apologized. I never did right by you before things went to shit. But I've thought about it all the time. Thought about what I could have done differently, what I should have done. \n\nIt sits in my brain, knowing how badly things ended with us. \n\nWe had a good thing.\n\nI just... need to know if you remember how good it was. Need to know if you've forgiven me."//\n\nThe words bubble under your skin. But at this point, would either of you benefit from saying anything? Maybe just [[avoid]] the answer altogether...\n\nAfter all, forgiveness isn't for them, isn't for their peace of mind.\n\nForgiveness is for you, the harmed one.\n\nStill...\n\nA simple [[yes|Yes.]] or [[no|No.]] wouldn't kill you. Not when there are far more potent threats awaiting.\n\n<<timedgoto "blah" 75s>>\n<<if $plays >= 2>>\s\n\n//The clock ticks 75 times.//\n<<endif>>

Silence hangs and swings. If there are words you've wanted to say, they've leapt from your throat and hidden themselves around the room.\n\n//"...Do you not know, or do you just not want to tell me?"// They pause, looking you up and down. //"Was what I did that terrible? Honestly?"//\n\n<<timedgoto "idkkkk" 30s>>

With Time

"Wait."\n\nThey stop at the room's entrance.\n\n"Stay."\n\nThey turn.\n\n//"Why?"//\n\n"Do you have somewhere else to be?"\n\n//"Yes. Alone."//\n\n[[Go.|alone]]\n\n[[No.|convince them to stay]]

You quickly move to the door and look through the peephole. Yes, that's them. The knob gives under the weight of your hand, and you crack the door [[open|Within]].\n\n"Be quiet and be quick," you say through the sliver of space. You can already smell the thick smoke outside.

"With someone who doesn't want to be alone."\n\n<<timedgoto "somewhere" 7s>>

THUD THUD THUD\n\nYour gaze is on your front door. Somehow, you find the silence you craved before. But there's no peace to this. You remain unmoving, watching, waiting.\n\n//"Please, I know you're in there! Let me in!"//\n\nYou know that voice too well.\n\nInstinctively, your palm twitches, moves in the slightest way toward the door, because perhaps you could just [[twist the knob|Open door]] and let them in. You were always poor at saying no to them.\n\n[[But you'd gotten better at it.|Ask to leave]] Your hesitation is noted, is justified.\n<<timedgoto "waitatthedoor" 45s>>\s\n<<if $plays >= 2>>\s\n\n//The clock ticks 45 times.//\n<<endif>>

"You're not welcome here."\n\n//"I know you don't mean that. You never meant that."//\n\nYou hesitate. You certainly hope you meant it.\n\n//"Come on now. Please. Let me in."//\n\nYou've always been bad at decisions, particularly those that don't matter. This one doesn't matter.\n\nEither they will die [[now|Refuse entry]] or they will die [[later|Open door]].\n\n<<timedgoto "waitatthedoor" 45s>>\s\n<<if $plays >= 2>>\s\n//The clock ticks 45 times//\n<<endif>>

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The lights wouldn't stop flickering, so you turned them off to deter outsiders from approaching the house. You miss the silence that used to permeate your home, the stillness that would soothe and comfort.\n\nNow, you can do nothing but hear. The rumbling of the earth outside calls to you, mocks you, reminds you not that it is coming, but that it is here.\n\nYou just want to be alone, for whatever time is left. Your watch still works and you glance at its face.\n\nYou [[frown]].

THUD THUD THUD THUD\n\n//"Don't be like this! How much time do we have left, really, and you'll be this cruel? I don't have anywhere else to go. I couldn't even think of another place. I just came here."//\n\nYou hear thick, dry coughs through the wooden door.\n\n<<timedgoto "waitatthedoor2" 20s>>

"Get away from my house. God bless and fuck you."\n\n...\n\nTHUD.\n\n//"I don't know why you always thought you were so much better than me. You're just as terrible. And even worse."//\n\nThe shout of a mob somewhere in the neighborhood rose over the single voice on the other side of the door.\n\n//"Shit."// You think you hear footsteps rushing away from the house. But in the end, you can hear nothing but yelling and screaming, nothing but very real fear in the last moments of everything.\n\nYou wait for the silence.\n\n<<timedgoto "end" 45s>>

"<<print either("Yeah, we're as safe as we're going to be.", "Safety is pretty much a non-issue at this point.", "It doesn't matter.", "It's the goddamn apocalypse. Don't ask stupid questions.", "I'm not sure...", "...Don't worry about that now.")>>"\n\n<<timedgoto "Moving On" 7s>>

They turn to you, eyes wide.\n\nTime runs out.\n\nWas it enough?\n\n<<timedgoto "end" 10s>>

They slip out of the room but stop for a second at the door. \n\n//"Thanks for... I'm not sure what."//\n\nThey don't wait for a response.\n\nThe ceiling feels like it's lowering, inch by inch, squeezing you between ever-cramping space.\n\nThe clocks tick. Your heart ticks. The world ticks.\n\nYou wait for it.\n\nYou know it comes for you.\n\n<<timedgoto "end" 30s>>

The kitchen is close to the door, so perhaps it isn't the best choice... But where there's a kitchen, one can probably find knives, forks, hell, even a spoon could be a weapon in a pinch.\n\nThere isn't much fight left in you, though. Not anymore. You hope this is the case for most of the others outside.\n\nAs you slip into the room, you realize just how tired you are. Tiredness that feeds into your cells, transforming them like a cancer. But what's left at the end isn't death.\n\nIt's exhaustion. You're exhausted. Endlessly so.\n\n[[Sleep]].\n\nYou wish you could just sleep.

The house shakes.\n\n//"How long?"// they ask.\n\nThose scientific know-it-alls had worked out what they claimed to be an almost exact time of impact. You glance at your watch.\n\n"[[Fifteen minutes]], just about."

"No. Can't say that was on my to-do list."\n\n//"But you let me in."//\n\n"As a kindness. Nothing more."\n\nYou watch the corner of their mouth turn downward. Not quite a frown.\n\n//"...Should I go then, oh kind one? Find a different room for myself?"//\n\nYou bat the idea around.\n\nTheir company would never be your first choice, not anymore. But maybe it was [[better|convince them to stay]] than nothing.\n\nOr maybe [[nothing|alone]] was really what you wanted. You could tell them as much.

They sigh, and the breath mingles with the rumbling of the street and the quaking of the house and the shouting from the hearts of people in fear.\n\n//"Maybe that's why you were the only person I could think of to find today. Because we're unfinished business. Always have been. And I thought...maybe you could..."//\n\nThey sigh again, this time, more quietly.\n\n"I'm sorry," you say, and you think you are.\n\n//"How much longer?"//\n\nYour watch beckons for your attention and you give it.\n\n"Minutes." Too few for you to feel comfortable counting. Your head feels clouded.\n\nMinutes left. Minutes winding down to seconds winding down to little gaps between clock ticks and then time won't matter.\n\n"Good. You stay where you are, and I'll move to a different room. Because clearly, you don't have much left to say to me. And I... I guess I've said enough."\n\nYou think of being [[alone]] and shudder.\n\nYou think of [[staying with them]] in the end and shudder.\n\n<<timedgoto "alone" 75s>>\n<<if $plays >= 2>>\s\n\n//The clock ticks 75 times.//\n<<endif>>

The call of shouts and screams come through the door with surprising clarity. They weren't lying. Others are coming.\n\n//"Oh, God."// Their voice trembles in a way that would have inspired shame if times were different.\n\n//"I can't fucking believe you. Just-- please--"//\n\nTHUD THUD THUD THUD THUD\n\nYour resolve wavers. [[There's still time...|Open door]]\n\n<<timedgoto "waitatthedoor4" 30s>>\s\n<<if $plays >= 2>>\s\n//The clock ticks 30 times.//\n<<endif>>

You bolt the door behind them and press your finger to your lips as they catch their breath.\n\n"Don't. Make. A sound."\n\n...\n\nThey nod, trying to steady their breathing.\n\nThe mob outside grows in noise as they approach the house. You realize how close they are... close enough that they might have seen you pulling the door ajar. Silence is key.\n\nIt's funny, you think, how much you still strive to survive, even when you know this is [[the end]].

You hear nothing but the roar of the mob, feel your house quake a little from its force, from the fear that motivates a group of people to scour the streets and destroy.\n\n//"Shit,"// you hear through the door.\n\nThe mob grows louder until you hear nothing else.\n\nYou step away from the door and retreat to your bedroom. You let your covers swallow you, let the comforter muffle the world that is falling apart outside.\n\nYes, there is the silence. There it is.\n\n<<timedgoto "end" 45s>>

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The last eighteen months weigh on your shoulders like the Earth, sit in your stomach like boulders, leave a metallic taste on your tongue that reminds you of all the blood that's been spilled in a year and a half of chaos and fear.\n\nThe world falls apart before your eyes, day after day, and a small, shameful part of you wishes it would so you could finally rest your head and sleep.\n\n<<display "Safe">>

Trisha Tobias

You don't know. Maybe. You try not to think about it much these days. You hadn't thought of it at all until they came pounding on your door on this final day. Or night. Without looking at your watch, it'd be hard to tell which. It's simply dark.\n\n<<timedgoto "here" 25s>>