"Wake up!" Kel shouted, shaking his brother, Hero, awake.
"Eh..Huh? Did I oversleep? What's wrong?!" Hero blinked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
"No, and nothing's wrong, but" - he gestured with his hand to the direction of the front door and smirked - "you need to get up. Mari's here for you~"
"Oh!" Hero felt his face heat up a little at the thought. He really liked Mari, and she liked him too, so they had somewhat of a parental role to everyone else in the friend group. However, the two could never officially be together because Mari's father wouldn't allow it.
"Fix your bedhead first, I'll tell her you're on the way down!" Kel grinned, exiting the room. He could be heard running to the front door.
Hero smiled to himself a little, grateful that his little brother was helping him out. He quickly jumped out of bed and got dressed, tidying his hair a little bit and rushing out of the door, not wanting to keep Mari waiting. He briefly wondered what she could've wanted, but it didn't matter to him much.
He left his room to find that Mari was sitting in the living room, waiting. She got up with a smile when she saw him. "Hero!"
Hero couldn't help but smile back. "Hey, Mari! Good morning." He was about to ask about why she was visiting, but she interrupted by grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the front door. "Come on!" Mari laughed.
"Woah, woah, wait- What exactly is happening? Where are we going?" Hero stammered, hesitantly allowing Mari to drag him along and out the door.
"A date! I'm taking you for a date. We'll discuss it on the way! We can do whatever you like! But I had an idea for the afternoon so we need to stop by my place and pick up something I forgot to bring."
"Wha- A date?! But- Mari- Your dad-" Hero stuttered.
"Don't worry; today, it's only us! The rest of the world falls away. It's the last day on Earth!"
Hero was confused about what Mari had said, he wasn't sure if she was making a reference, pretending, or implying something deeper.
"Mari...? What do you mean? That was a joke, right?"
Mari nodded. "Don't worry! But we can imagine that we're the only ones left for today, then it will be even better. I wouldn't mind if you and I really were the only ones left in the world." She giggled, to which Hero blushed.
"M-Mari, don't say things like that! It's... Embarassing..."
Mari chuckled some more. "Aw, but you're so adorable when you're embarassed!" She insisted, gently poking Hero on the tip of his nose before turning around and continuing with the walk until she reached the front door of her house.
"I'll be right back; just wait out here."
Hero nodded, waiting as she told him to. He noticed a lack of people outside, which was somewhat surprising in their neighbourhood on a day as nice as today. The sky was cloudless, just a bright shade of - actually, the sky didn't even look like the sky. Before Hero could realise that anything was wrong, Mari was back, carrying a large box which looked extremely heavy.
"Let me carry that for you!" Hero insisted quickly, taking the box out of her hands - and his suspicion was proven to be correct, it was indeed extremely heavy.
"Careful!" Mari warned, as Hero flinched a little as all of the weight of the box shifted into his arms.
"What did you put in here, an anvil?" Hero joked.
"Two anvils!" Mari joked back with a wink. "Nah, I'm just kidding. You'll see soon enough! No peeking."
Hero simply laughed nervously in response, not entirely sure what was happening or what to say. "Where are we going?"
"Hm, well we're too young to drive, but we can't walk carrying the entire box the whole way, so... I guess we'll have to go to the bus stop!" Mari suggested.
Before Hero could finish processing her words, he realised that they were at a bus stop - and a bus was arriving.
"Ah, here's one now!" Mari exclaimed as the bus driver pulled over for the two to board.
They quickly made their way down to the back seat, Mari sitting close to the window as Hero sat beside her and carefully set the box down on the seat to the opposite side of him. The bus was completely empty of passengers, and come to think of it Hero hadn't really looked at the driver at all - it really was like they were the last ones left.
"Isn't it a little strange?" Hero began.
"Hm?"
"Just how quiet of a day it is. It's almost post-apocalyptic."
Mari shrugged a little. "It's our day, like I said; the rest of the world falls away. Treat today like the last day on Earth."
"Mari, you're... You're acting strange. I'll still see you tomorrow, won't I?"
But Mari didn't respond. Instead, she rested her head on Hero's shoulder, gently moving her hand to intertwine their fingers as well.
"Whether you see me or not, I'll always be with you." She mumbled eventually, closing her eyes as she snuggled into his shoulder more.
Hero couldn't help but blush a little. He wasn't entirely satisfied with this answer, but it was clearly the only one Mari was going to give, so he decided not to push the subject any further. Besides, Mari looked so peaceful there, and feeling her gently pressed against his side was a huge comfort. He just wanted to stay in that moment forever, the moment where they were both safe and comfortable, on a beautiful day.
After a while, they finally arrived at Mari's chosen destination - a huge park covered in flowers, lined by trees. It was similar to the park they usually went to with their friends, but it was like a slightly distorted version of it with a few differences.
"Okay, now we open the box!" Mari said, clasping her hands together happily. She then carefully opened it, pulling out a disassembled telescope, a picnic blanket, and a smaller box with snacks and drinks.
"I hope you're hungry!" She giggled, setting up the picnic blanket and beginning to unpack the food she'd brought.
"This is wonderful, Mari! But you really didn't need to go to the trouble of-"
"Oh, quiet, you!" Mari half joked, picking up s sandwich and stuffing it into Hero's mouth to stop him from talking, before laughing.
"But seriously, don't worry about it. I just want us both to have fun today. Okay?"
Hero wanted to respond, but found himself occupied by the sandwich in his mouth, so he just gave a solid nod.
"Good!" Mari giggled, then laid back, watching the sky.
After Hero had chewed and swallowed his food, he laid down as well, looking over at Mari. She really was beautiful. The glimmer in her eyes which always gave hope to those around her, the gentle and reassuring smile she always had, her soft skin and her long flowing hair - she was as beautiful on the outside as she was inside. Hero felt so lucky to be able to even know her.
The two laid in a peaceful silence, undisturbed. There were no people bothering them, no bugs swarming, no aggressive winds - it was all perfect, and Hero eventually fell asleep.
The sun was setting by the time he woke again. Mari was sitting closer to him, watching him sleep peacefully with a smile on her face as she gently caressed his.
"Morning, sleepyhead." Mari greeted once again. "You slept like a baby."
"O-Oh! I'm sorry!" Hero quickly sat up, covering his face. "I didn't mean to sleep for that long! I'm sorry. I didn't want to ruin the day for you, now we've lost so much time because I fell asleep, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have fallen asleep, but it was so peaceful and I-"
"Shh." Mari hushed him. "Don't worry, you didn't ruin anything. Today has been perfect, and it's not done yet. You have nothing to apologize for, Hero." She assured him, giving that gentle smile once again.
"Gosh, you must be a fallen angel..." Hero whispered under his breath, sitting up beside Mari.
"Take a look." Mari gestured to the telescope, which she'd set up while Hero slept.
Hero curiously crawled over, peeking down into it.
"Woah... It's beautiful." He gazed at the stars and the moon, catching a glance at a shooting star out of the corner of his eye.
"A shooting star!"
Mari nodded. "There'll be plenty more shooting stars tonight; you were lucky enough to see the first one!"
Hero sat back with Mari, feeling a little awkward but still wanting to show affection towards this girl. He gently wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"Something is missing." Mari pointed out quietly.
"What do you mean?"
"It's just... I realised neither of us have ever actually said those three words to each other."
"We haven't? I mean, I've definitely thought it a lot, but you're right. Never out loud." Hero confirmed, curiously.
"Well, maybe tonight is a good start; I love you, Mari." He confessed, feeling his chest buzzing with electricity and excitement.
But Mari did not look happy or satisfied. Instead, she appeared to be crying.
"Wh-What's wrong? Was it something I said, Mari?" Hero asked frantically, concerned.
Shooting stars began to pour down into the night sky, light bleeding into their vision of space.
"No, I'm happy, I really am... Thank you, Hero. I love you too. Please don't ever forget that."
"I won't, Mari. I promise I'll always be by your side! No matter what..."
Mari shook her head. "You can't. It's too late. I'm sorry... Please stay alive, and stay safe. I'll wait for you, Hero."
"What?! Mari! You aren't going to die! It's okay. D-Do you want me to call someone?! What can I do? I don't want you to be hurting! If you're going somewhere, I am too!"
"You can't. Please, don't follow me fot a very long time. I want to wait for you to live out a long life. You're allowed to move on. It's alright." Mari gave him a small, apologetic smile as the ground below them began to shake.
Hero held Mari close, squeezing her tightly as the sky got brighter and brighter and the ground below began to crumble.
"I love you, Mari."
"I love you, Hero..."
A flash of white.
~
Hero's eyes immediately shot open, as he sat up and found himself struggling for breath.
It was just a dream.
"Herooo! Are you awake?" Kel could be heard yelling out.
"Yes, I am. Whyyy?" He called back.
"Dad is taking me to get a haircut, and Mom needs your help with shopping today so you have to get up!"
Hero sighed, almost forgetting about his dream.
He got ready to go, then left the house with his mother. That's right, today was the day Mari and Sunny were going to do their performance! Everyone was going to go and watch that evening, so of course Mari was going to be fine.
After hours of shopping with his mother, Hero finally arrived home, and found that Aubrey was waiting there, along with Kel - they'd all planned it out to go and watch the recital, and now was the time. Hero planned to cheer the loudest for Mari and Sunny.
But instead of a nice evening surrounded by friends and peaceful music, Hero got sirens, ambulances, panic and screaming from next door...
She was gone.
Mari was dead.
There was nothing he could do, but live that nightmare.
Perhaps it really was the last day on Earth.