It starts much, much earlier but for now it starts with a girl being born.
And it ends with the End of the World.
A very simple cause and effect. Diana Quainton is brought to this Earth by two very normal, loving, unassuming parents. Diana shifted the realms and possibilities of the world, the beginning to an end. The catalyst if you will.
The sun is gone. Diana isn’t sure if it was consumed by the glittering teeth in the sky, or simply out of sight (out of mind).
She was sure that she would be the main cause of The End. A very logical conclusion for having the world in her palms. She could feel it every once in a while, a stirring in the back of her head. A tug in her gut. Each time the skies turned a stormy gray whenever she got mad or irritated, when it snows up to several inches because she wanted it to. The simple luxuries of a snow day for school despite having the view of the ocean from her bedroom window.
It’s always there. The thought— knowing that, oh, I could truly end everything and kill everyone.
Now, picture a wide shot.
A panel, if you will. A panel of two girls amongst the apocalypse. Picture the sunless dark sky. The gaping maw of void and teeth up above. The splintering reality. Family members and loved ones disappearing in the blink of an eye. Picture the scene.
Can you see it?
Good. It might hurt, just bear with it for a little while longer. It’s important, trust me. You see Diana Quainton and Claire Middleton, standing next to each other. There is a swirling vortex in the ocean of their small beach side city, known for Nothing Happening. But now things are Happening. And then you see Diana wave down a taxi in the midst of carnage and wreckage. Picture all of this. It’s a wide shot, got it? Getting wider and wider, covering the array of Pacific Ridge’s streets and the people running and fearing for their lives. The world trembles as another dimension collides into it— further splintering reality, and the scene zooms out, further and further, as the two girls are lost to the scene, disappearing amidst the destruction of the world..
Okay? You just pictured that? To a T?
you sure?
good. she can’t hear us here.
things have to Happen, and so this will have to be quick. now read carefully. Okay? Okay.
let’s go back to the beginning.
to the very beginning.
dot to dot. pixel to pixel. to the very first one of them. to the very first blinking, insertion point on the white space of … well, space. let’s go back. together. let’s do it. don’t be scared. we can all agree that it all started with a big, big bang.
we can all agree that first there was Light, and because there was Light, there was Shadow. we can all agree that there is always a reciprocal reaction for every action, and because of that, there is Life. we can all agree that with Life comes Fate and comes Time, and that Fate is
Time and Time is Fate. we can all agree that this is all just … Happenings, really. coincidental things that happen to bump and twist into each other. Happenings in the white, white space. white that is less of a color and more of the lack of one and most importantly, white that is a Space. A Room. An Expanse. white that is the creasing, folding, twisting fabric of the Universe.. and then, in all that white, begins a song.
(it can start with a whimper or with a bang.)
It can be a chorus of violins, or a keyboard synth, or even bass guitars—nevertheless, it’s a string orchestra stitching itself into silk. thread by thread, loop by loop, mode by mode. desperate to kiss, to entangle, to be, all at once in superposition. birthing particles so in love with each other, so overjoyed with the very act of being that they can do nothing but … sing. of course they do. there is always a song, you see? there is—always —a song. and isn’t every song a stor—
—shit.
shit shit shit shit. We don’t have—oh, no. we ran out of Time. So sorry. Okay, picture a—a, er, maybe a wide shot … or an overhead shot? No, no—closeup is better. closeup shot. It’s a taxi, the inside of one. picture a close up shot of a taxi with now two girls inside of it, Diana rummaging through her wallet for bills to pay the kind man that is so graciously picking them up. okay, good. Now find her—
Imagine her.
She’s in the car, with her.. friend. picture a taxi. hurry up! Just imagine a taxi, the taxi driver! —the ones on the streets, the ones you’ve seen on TV, we don’t have time for accuracy. okay yes, you got it.
Focus. Can you hear that? Can you hear the crackling of the radio as it flips from station to station, small bursts of words and music blasting from the speakers? Listen to that, to the Gods trying to give warnings, the Other Universes, the begging lives of billions of people who don’t— can’t die yet. yes, perfect —you got it.
oh, she’s looking. she’s at you— no, it’s me. I’m sorry there’s no Time—
“Annoying Narrator,” Diana mumbles, swatting and killing a fly near her ear. Much better.
“This is the worst, I can’t believe—” Claire bites at the fingernail of her thumb, doing more shaking than the rumble of the Earth.
Diana momentarily ignores the mental breakdown of Claire as she finally fishes out two fifty dollar bills and hands it to the taxi driver. “Take us to the beach please,” she says because she has good manners. “And there’s extra to bring my friend back to safety.”
The man barely looks at the bills as he pockets them. He presses his lips together, dull brown eyes staring out the windshield. The roads are blocked up with traffic, or floating up in the air, or glitching out of existence.
“It’ll be a hard drive,” the Taxi Driver says.
Diana just smiles. “That’s okay. Just get us there as fast as you can. Before the world comes to an end preferably.”
The radio blasts “Hit the road Jack” then to“The World We Knew”. There’s a bit of Nirvana in there as well. It’s an odd mix for the end of the world but Diana likes it, and Diana dislikes most things and everything.
Diana sits back in the taxi seat, gazing out the window. The darkness stares back at her, the gaping maw revealing more teeth. “You should’ve just stuck with your family.” Diana’s face stuck in that passive neutrality of hers as she glances over to the blonde next to her.
Claire, after speed running both a mental breakdown and on the thin tightrope of both acceptance and hysteria, stares at the back of the passenger’s seat headrest, fists balled up in her lap. “Would it have mattered?” Her words are a quiet hiss.
“No.” Nothing matters at this point. Nothing Mattered in the beginning. Things Happened because it Needed to happen, nothing else to it. “But it would have been nice, wouldn’t it? You would be the last.” Diana’s parents already died, turning into nothing but frayed separate pieces of reality before her eyes.
No amount of willing turned them back. For all of her infinite powers, she couldn’t save her parents.
Diana rolls down the window of the taxi, heavy winds immediately ripping through the car. She sticks a hand out and assembles a broken down road path for the taxi to take. “Please follow this lane, it’s much faster.”
“My parents have each other.. My little siblings, but what about you?”
“What about me?”
Claire is making that face again. Diana knows it without even having to look, having been together since they were children. Next door neighbors. If Diana caused the imbalance of the world when she was born, then Claire is the gift of the Universe.
They both assumed that they would be each other’s destruction. Claire doesn’t have powers like Diana does, or the same strength— she just has the Universe looking out for her. Always on her side.
If there’s a will there’s a way.
The Theory was: One day, Diana goes Beserk. Claire is there to stop it. Only three choices, Diana wins and ends the world like she was inherently supposed to do. Both of them die and the true balance of reality is restored. Claire wins and the world is restored. Hooray! Simple enough, right?
“No, it’s not simple.” Claire hisses, eyebrows furrowed and green eyes narrowed at Diana. “Stop saying that and downplaying catastrophic events!”
Diana just shrugs. “You’re just being overdramatic, this day was coming anyways.” “The End? Yeah, but this—” she gestures a hand all around, to the unraveling of the world. “This isn’t right.”
No. It’s not right at all. This is supposed to be Diana’s doing. It’s what she was meant for. But the closer they get to the beach, the more the tug in her stomach gets sharper— that yes, this is it. Her purpose.
And how utterly dreadful it is.
“I.. was wrong.” How weird it is to be wrong. How weird it is to be anything at all. “Th— That’s why you have me,” Claire says, and it’s weird for her to sound… oh, what’s the word? Scared. Pretty Claire who got everything she could ever ask for before she could open her mouth. “To steer you right.”
But never for this.
The taxi pulls to the stop on the red sand, angry thunderous lightning blinds the sky, dimensional rifts bleeding and overlapping to their world. The Taxi Driver tips his cap at the two girls. “Good Luck.”
Diana pushes open the car door, it swings open nicely despite the horrid wind speeds. “You too,” she tells the god. She tilts her head slightly, pausing briefly. “They won’t like that you did this..”
The God hums, “that’s fine. It was fun anyways.”
Claire mutters something under her breath and steps out of the car. The sand on the beach is bloody sand, reaching their ankles. The swirling vortex of the water screams of the damned.
“I’m going to miss the ice cream stand,” Claire says mournfully, untying the laces of her Converse shoes, tension bleeding from her shoulders, acceptance taking its place. The ice cream stand that would sell the most delicious treats on the hottest days.
Diana kicks off her own shoes, watching them scatter on the beach. “I’m not going to miss anything.” The sand tickles at her feet, slowly sinking into it.
“You could be at least a little sentimental. It’s the End, y’know?”
Diana hasn’t felt much of anything ever since she was a kid. Just boredom and detached curiosity of the mortal life she was forced to live for seventeen long years. The Universe shakes again at another collision, and Claire winces. She takes a breath, “we’re the last ones left.”
“That fast?”
Claire just nods, wiping away a tear before it could fall.
“I told you. Stay with your family.” The waves lap at her ankles, there’s not much left of the World. Not enough Time anymore. If anyone deserved it, it would be Claire. She never asked to be a part of this twisted destiny.
The blonde scoffs. “And what? You’ll kill yourself?”
“Yes.”
She storms further into the water, snatching Diana’s hand, almost making Diana flinch as tingles run up her arms. The Imbalance and the Savour. “You’re always doing this. Always pushing me away, dammit. We’re— we’re supposed to be for each other. Whatever happens, it’s the both of us.”
Diana was wrong. The thought leaves a sour acrid taste in her mouth, wrong. Diana isn’t supposed to end the world, she’s supposed to save it from its undoing, and Claire? Claire is the tether to Diana. She is the universe and everything that embodies it. She is the reminder of who Diana is saving.
“Can you handle it?” They’re at waist level now, the water steadily rising. Claire chokes out a small laugh as Diana wipes away a shimmering tear on her lashes. “Gods no, but I have to, right?” She pulls Diana closer, and Diana stares into those green eyes that have only ever understood her in fundamental ways that no one could begin to comprehend. But Claire has always been a bit soft. So human, so much in fact Diana doesn’t mind dying for it.
“I won’t fight you,” Diana says calmly. It’s hard to go against Claire. It’s hard to go against the wishes of the Universe. “Think of it like baptizing.” Diana hums, a small smile tugging on her lips as she crosses her arms over chest like a Bride of Death. A beautiful offering.
The gaping maw above laughs at them, devouring the stars and planets, carbon gasses. Soon, it’ll devour them.
“We don’t have much Time—”
“I know,” Claire gasps as she lowers Diana into the water. “But I, I— can’t. I know it’s what I’m supposed to do but..” Claire cries and the sky shudders, the water churns. Diana feels the cold water lapping at her skin. Oh, how Creation and Destruction looks the same.
“Let’s meet again.” Diana says suddenly, the words rising unbidden from her mouth. She doesn’t do emotions and.. Feelings, never have, but at the very least she could offer some to the girl who owns it all.
Claire nods, swallowing thickly. “Yeah,” she laughs wetly, “yeah, I would like that.”
Claire holds her underwater, the suction and gravity of it all makes Diana sink deeper into the dark inky depths of a void with teeth. The sky and ocean reflected each other, reality destroying mouths eating away at their world from both ends.
And just as the water fills her lungs, choking, Diana sees an outstretched hand, wisps of blond hair. She smiles as their fingertips touch.
The sky and ocean’s lips meet each other. Their lips lock together, tasting and reveling in each other, inhaling and melding together. But they’re both greedy beings, the tender kiss grows hungry, devouring for more, too many teeth eating away at each other.
The scene cuts.
Time does not backtrack, exactly. Flipping back a page does not change nor backtrack the Happenings itself. It’s not a circle. It does not move back or forth. No beginning nor end, only is. Imagine the ending of it all. Let’s do it. Together.
(After all, it’s already happened anyway, right?)
Blank white space no more. The space is so overfilled, so full and brimming, so jammed with the debris of life that it goes BANG.
Visualize it: THE END.
The Space. The Universe has gone with a tender devouring kiss, and what’s left hovering amidst all that colorless darkness is … an empty house. Shop’s closed, everybody’s gone out for eternity. Lights turned off, no one answering the bell, newspapers and overdue letters are left to gather dust on the WELCOME doormat.
Most stars are dead. We’ve known this for a while. What’s left of them is light, reaching us throughout time and space, a shining echo of what once shone. And what’s beyond listens. It always does. Yet still, it never answers.
(but sometimes, sometimes, it sings back. It has a song of its own. Myriad of songs.) What’s beyond listens. A finger running through the granulated, staccato sands of frequencies by frequencies. It listens to the screams, the laughter, the sobs, the hummings, the crash, the BANG —it listens to everything that has been said and everything that wishes to have been said throughout humankind. Isn’t it beautiful? Stars may shine, but people—we sing. We just won’t shut up. Not even after mass extinction. Not even after the decimation of the Universe itself.
So the being listens to a conversation between two small boys in a distant, much later world.
“Hey, how come you’re not playing with the other kids?”
The boy sitting under the shade of the grand tree that overlooks the school on the hill, squints up at the boy that suddenly came up to him. The sparkling bright sun reflecting off his golden hair.
The boy shrugs his shoulders, flipping a page of the thick and heavy book in his lap. It digs into the meat of his thighs. “I dunno,” the boy says, looking away and to the dizzying amount of words on the page. Too many words for a kid his age to be reading. “I don’t want to.” He says simply.
“You’re weird,” the blond points out with a ham before inviting himself to plop right next to the other, invading his personal space as his chin sticks out to read the words on the pages. “What’re you reading?”
“A story…”
“..about?”
The boy sighs. “A story about a girl with powers to destroy the world.”
Green eyes blink at him. “Is she a villain?”
“No.”
There’s a hum. “That’s weird.”
The breeze blows, rustling the grass and raining a few leaves down on the two. For once there’s silence until the blond perks up, a smile on his rosy freckled cheeks. “Hey! Let’s be friends, I’m Charlie,” Charlie looks at him with wide eyes, and he feels like he’s being warmed by them. Just like the gentle rays of the filtered sun through the tree leaves.
He’s quiet for a moment. “Daniel,” and Daniel shifts the book over so they can both read it, sharing the weight of the heavy book.
Kayla Long is an aspiring writer of the ripe age of 17. She lives in Detroit Michigan, always had a passion for stories, writing, and reading. If it was words on pages, then she devoured those words like her favorite food. She started writing in 2020. She wrote a little beforehand, but she didn't start taking it seriously until then. She fell in love with writing, and she posted some of her works here and there. Kayla's family is very supportive of her dreams, and her father, who recently passed away, was her biggest fan. Kayla's biggest dream is to publish a novel and have a fandom no matter how big or small. She just wants a community that will treat her characters kindly.
"Sunset | Ocean - 5" by Chris D 2006 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
