World's End

Our first inkling that something was horribly wrong came on October 1st, 2011. It was the day that Venus, which takes 225 days to rotate around the sun, failed to re-appear once it had slipped behind the life-giving star.

The second clue was not as forgiving, for it proved that Dr. Lovelock had been correct in the 60's with his Gaia theory. His theory proposed that the Earth was a living entity, capable of consciously regulating itself in order to maintain life upon its mineral rich mantle.

Exactly ten days after Venus was lost, a most curious thing happened. All over the planet, hawks, eagles, swans, sparrows, and many other bird varieties landed and bowed their heads. As if in prayer. For a full day, they neither ate nor slept. Nor did any other creature upon the face of the earth dare touch them. This solemn show of solidarity caused a ripple of apprehension to pass through humankind. And although we tried to work and continue on as usual, at a gut level we knew that our reality was about to change. Drastically.

A day later, our suspicions were confirmed. For on that day all fowls took flight, and flying continued until they dropped to the ground dead. And when the last bird had fallen, it happened. From the bowels of the Earth came a horrid scream. Much like the sound of a mother wailing for her freshly lost son at a funeral. All over the world, humans cowered in their homes, hiding like little children afraid of the boogey man. But that was only the beginning...
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"Robin," I said, "where are the children?"

Brown eyes stared into my blue ones. "Mike, they haven't left their rooms since that horrible wailing began." Her eyes looked haunted. "All they do is watch television, and listen to those superstitious fools talk about the end of the world!" Her hands shook when she said "end of the world". She tried to hide them behind her back, so I pretended I didn't see. Like her, I was just as afraid. Unlike her, I was able to keep mine hidden.

"Perhaps they'll start talking about alien abductions next," I said half in jest.

Robin's face completely relaxed. Not an eyelid batted. Nor eye shifted. "You know we don't joke about that Mike. It took nearly seven years of aggressive therapy to get over that night." Absentmindedly, she fingered the crescent shaped scar on her inner bicep. I had an identical scar on my inner thigh.

"Just trying to lighten the mood."

Robin didn't reply. She stared blankly at me.

Rolling my eyes, I left the living room to go check on the kids. Maybe it was my laid-back attitude that was helping me with this.

I reached out to open the door to the kid's bedroom. Like lightning, the death wail of Gaia increased tenfold. Instantly, goosebumps shot up and down my body. My legs turned to rubber, and I fell to the carpeted floor with a loud thump. A sharp pain, like being pricked with a thousand needles at once, shot through my legs. My hand rose again, trembling uncontrollably as it sought purchase on the brass doorknob that would grant entry into my kid's bedroom. As I grasped the doorknob, I heard a sound much like that of ice cubes being shaken in a cup. Something was horribly wrong, and Mother Earth knew it.

There was a loud click, and the door opened. I didn't remember turning the knob. Perhaps my badly shaking hands had done the trick.

Mere seconds later, the emergency broadcast alarm went off. Whatever the news, it wouldn't be good. For Gaia had already made me aware of that.

A newscaster dressed in a black, three-piece suit was speaking. He looked terribly out of place.

"Scientists have discovered the reason that the planet Venus disappeared. Some time ago, we passed to the other side of the sun..." The newscaster shook as he looked at the screen behind him. From that point on, his words sounded like he was talking from underwater. My eyes were glued to the screen. I heard one more word. Galaxy-Eater. I didn't need anyone to explain to me what that was. For I had read lots of literature about it in college. It was the largest floating black hole ever found. And, in a matter of days, Earth would be drawn into its foul, light-stealing, planet-crushing depths.
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Three days later, an already bad situation got worse. A television or radio broadcast hadn't aired in two days. And it was easy to see why just by walking outside your home.

I, and many others like me, stood staring up into the night sky. On one side, stars twinkled merrily and contentedly. Cheerfully giving their light to humanity as they had for millions of years. On the other, there was nothing. A blackness fouler than anything that could ever be imagined. It was death staring you in the face. Mocking you because there was nothing you could do. This was so much worse than the Grim Reaper. For with the Reaper, death came unexpectedly. With the Galaxy-Eater, the questions of time, place, and method were already answered. It brought to mind the age-old question, "What would you do if you knew when you were going to die?" The answer...absolutely nothing.

As I sat there staring at the ever hungry void that was munching away at the Milky Way, and even stealing the sun's life-giving light, I became aware of just how frail we are. And of how tenuous our grip on this life could be.
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1 day later...

The planet's moaning is my only companion now. When Robin learned of the Galaxy-Eater, her poor heart failed her. She died in my arms. When she passed, I felt as if part of me went with her. And since human society had completely broken down, I buried her myself. She now lay, requiescat in pace, in a shallow grave in the backyard. My wife's unexpected death from fright numbed me. But I had to remain strong. For the kids.

Now, I was standing outside. The spectacle of the Galaxy-Eater held a strange fascination for me. I guess this was the odd thrill that storm chasers got.

Suddenly, to my left, someone screamed. Loudly. Turning, I looked up to see what was happening. Big, bright-red fireballs were falling to the Earth. With each impact, Gaia shuddered. Right now, they were far off, but I could see the humongous mushroom clouds reaching skyward with each collision.

Running into the house, I grabbed Lisa and Charlie. My daughters were hysterical, and weeping profusely. Briefly, I thought about running. But where could I go? And what could I possibly do? So I did the only thing I could. I grasped my ten and twelve year old daughters, took them into the darkest, relatively quiet part of the house I could find, and sang to them. It was hard singing over the din of people screaming, Gaia wailing, and asteroids smashing into the Earth, but somehow I managed. Gradually, the weeping became whimpers. The whimpers became sniffles. And before I knew it, my daughters had fallen asleep in my lap. A short time later, I nodded off also.
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My leg was on fire! Jumping up, I looked down. A glow was emanating from the crescent shaped scar on it. What's this? I thought.

Carefully, I stepped over the children and walked outside. A terrible scene greeted me.

Only five of the forty houses that had been in my neighborhood were still standing. The rest had been toppled like a house of cards. Pieces of homes and fences were strewn all over the front yard.

Stepping over a sharp shard of glass, I looked around, trying to see if someone had survived. Nothing moved. Nor was there any sound other than the awful howling of Gaia, and the smashing impact of the asteroids that continued to fall.

For some unexplainable reason, my eyes were drawn skyward. I breathed in sharply, and my eyes grew wide. Directly above me, was a craft not of human design. It was a huge disk. Red, orange, yellow, and green lights moved in a counter-clockwise motion beneath the object. Occasionally, a laser shot out and disintegrated any asteroids that got too close. It had five transparent windows, through which odd-looking beings regarded me.

"We have come for you," said a voice in my head.

"Who are you?" I thought, not really knowing if they would hear me.

"We are friends," said the creatures in unison. "And we must hurry! For the event horizon is upon us! Soon, we won't be able to escape the pull of the floating black hole!"

"The Galaxy-Eater?" I thought.

"Yes!"

"I have to get my children!"

"There is room aboard only for you."

My heart sank. There was no way that I was going to leave Lisa and Charlie to die. No way.

"Then take my children."

"Only abductees are allowed."

I held firm. "They are the children of an abductee."

A brief silence followed my words. During the silence, I caught snippets of what they were thinking. Moira will be saddened...his soul-twin will be honored...noble sacrifice...

"We shall honor your request."

My heart leaped at their words. My children would be okay. Beams of light shot from the ship and hit the house. As I looked on, my two beloved kids were floated outside. Unimpeded by the walls that had protected them from the horror I now stood in. It was the same thing that had happened to me seven years earlier when I had first encountered the visitors. In a matter of seconds, the children were safely inside the spacecraft.

"Goodbye, brave soul!"

"Goodbye...and thank you."

The ship sped off towards the merrily blinking stars. The light from the implant in my leg grew dim, and soon was no more. I was now truly alone. There would be no other ships. I looked into the sky, and saw other spacecraft leaving. After the last one was gone, I had only Gaia's wailing, and fiery-red asteroids to keep me company. Uncaring about what would happen to me, and unheeding of the asteroids that showered the planet, I walked into the house. Did it really matter how I died? The only certainty was that I would die. I intentiously kept my eyes averted from the Galaxy-Eater. When I passed, my pains, fears, and shattered dreams would be my own.
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I came out of my fear-induced trance with a start. It was the absence of Gaia's howling that had penetrated my foggy, fear-paralyzed brain. I shook my head to clear out the cobwebs. Maybe this all was some sort of bad dream.

Walking to the front door and opening it, I saw a scene that took my breath away. It had not been a dream. The nightmare was real.

I dropped to my knees, and prayed fervently that God would forgive my sins.

In front of me was darkness. Total. Pure. And lethal. Behind me, most of the stars were no longer visible. Gaia shuddered as she was pulled into the cold, non-forgiving void that was the Galaxy-Eater.

A pain shot through my left thigh. Looking down, I noticed that my crescent scar was glowing. And brightly. For the first time in days, my spirits soared.

Knowing that the visitors would have a hard time finding me in the smoke and debris, I ran into the house and grabbed my flashlight from the toolbox, throwing everything else against the wall as I did so. The tools colliding with the wall sounded like firecrackers.

Running outside, I spied a fence, which was standing alongside my house. Quickly, I climbed the wooden fence, getting splinters in my hands as I did so, to the top of the house. It was now one of three that still stood.

Switching the light on, I swung its beam wildly back and forth. The beam danced on the thick clouds, but didn't seem to be getting through. The crescent scar began to grow dimmer.

Gaia shuddered again, and my house trembled. I dropped the flashlight so I could hold on. My house of thirty years began to topple. I looked up into the void, then quickly at the fast approaching ground. I closed my eyes tightly because I knew this was going to be painful.

Suddenly, a beam shot through the clouds, stopping me mere inches away from what would have been a gruesome death. If not from the fall, then from the debris scattered haphazardly over the ground.

Within a matter of seconds, I was safely inside the ship. A woman, with the face of an angel, greeted me. Her legs were long and graceful. With small pointy ears, hair cascading down her shoulders, blue-tinged, flawless skin, sea-green cat eyes, and an hourglass figure, she was a vision of beauty. Love radiated from her.

"You," I said excitedly, "you are Moira." I remembered her from the earlier abduction.

"I am," she replied. "But we must talk later," she said to me mentally.

Walking towards a crystal cluster, she wrapped long, elegant fingers around them.

"Help me!" She said.

Rushing over, I wrapped my strong hands around her nimble ones. I felt the strain of the engines as our minds pushed them to their limits. I knew how to do this because my abduction had included flight training. Perhaps they had known about this all along. Perhaps...

Slowly, the ship pulled away from the earth. When we were safely in space, Moira had one of the grays, which were drone workers, take over the flight controls. The grays were the little aliens that we saw depicted on alien documentaries.

"I thought you might wish to see the last moments of your planet."

"That was very thoughtful of you." Conflicting emotions coursed through my body. I was happy that I was alive. Yet saddened that my birthplace was about to be no more. Add to that the recent passing of my beloved wife of fifteen years... In my future, lay uncertainty.

Together, we walked to one of the glass windows. Staring out, I watched in sheer horror as Earth began to break apart. It slid into the darkness not as a whole planet, but in sections. Minutes later, Mother Earth was gone. The voice of Gaia had been forever stilled.
The Mayans had been wrong. The world did not end in 2012. It ended months earlier. The Mayan calendar had been flawed.