Sudden Fiction

Before The World Ends

The porch swing swayed lightly as I took a sip from the mug of coffee in my hands, contemplating my life choices. I had lost all sense of time. I didn't know how long I sat there, staring at the horizon, and wondering what my future held. The view in front of me was breathtaking, but I wasn't in the right state of mind to enjoy the colors of nature.

My cottage looked over a beautiful valley. As far as the vision went, I could see the mountains reaching the sky like giants standing on guard. At the foot of them, I could make out the river flowing like a serpent, twisting and turning, making its way through the rocks, raising its head now and then, as if lapping at the feet of the giants surrounding it.

I stood up and walked towards the porch railing, looking down, I felt like standing at the apex of the world. It was a place where time stood still, untouched by modern civilization, tucked away between the Karakoram and the Himalayas mountain ranges. With a thousand years of history, this place had become my home away from home.

I took another sip of coffee; I was still deep in thought when suddenly, the wood floor beneath my feet rumbled, and I heard the roar of water. I looked towards the North and saw water rushing downstream, butting heads with the mountains. It made its way towards the valley, crushing everything standing in its path. I watched in horror, rooted to where I stood, as the valley disappeared beneath the water that kept rising with no end in sight.

***

I was one of the lucky survivors. My cottage was at a higher enough point that they rescued me before water could engulf it. However, that was only the beginning of an end. All the glaciers around the world had melted overnight. Warnings had been there, but no one imagined that it would happen in an instant. We thought we had time, but we were wrong.

Sixty-nine percent of the world's fresh water was no more. The coastal cities disappeared beneath the ocean, taking with them around forty percent of the world's population. That wasn't all, though. The toxic released from inland glaciers proved catastrophic. The world as we knew it was no more. It was the beginning of an ice-age and survival would be a constant struggle.

It's funny how a few years ago, sitting on my porch and drinking coffee, I had worried about things that didn't even matter. How little we valued things until we lost them! It took the end of the world to make me realize that this moment, right now and right here, is all that mattered. What was or what would be, were inconsequential questions, and what's given to me now, was all that I needed to hold dear?

***

"Rukia!" someone was shouting near my ear, "Wake up already."

Without opening my eyes, I stretched my arms above my head, trying to make sense of things. Hadn't the world ended? Who would shout my name now?

"Come on!"

The voice wasn't going away anywhere, so I reluctantly opened my eyes and looked at my mother who was standing above me, glaring.

"Finally, now get up or you'll be late from school," she said, thankfully not shouting this time. Honestly, my ears were still ringing.

"Ah, I hate waking up so early," I grumbled, rolling off the bed.

"Yes, don't we all know that," she said, sighing. "Breakfast is ready, hurry and get up." With that last statement, she left the room.

I stood up, walked to my window, and looked out. My mother must have opened the curtains, hoping that sunlight would wake me up. I wasn't a light sleeper, though. All I could see were rundown houses lining the street. There were no mountains or a mighty river roaring down towards me.

"So, it was all a dream," I whispered to myself. Even though the dream had turned to a nightmare, but still I longed for the bluest sky I had ever witnessed, the fresh air and that mug of coffee in my hands. Living in one of the most populated cities of the world, in an under-developed country, my life couldn't be further away from the one I had just been dreaming about. "Well, time to start the day," I said to myself. Pushing back the negative thoughts, I tried to bring myself back to reality.

Someday, if fate agreed, I'd like to live somewhere away from here. I would make my home in a place much like the one I was dreaming about. "But minus the flood." The thought made me chuckle. There was still hope. Before the world ended, I planned to figure my life out.