There have been several apocalypse stories.

Sometimes a meteor crashes into Earth.

Sometimes Aliens invade.

Nuclear War.

Zombies.

The end of all life.

But, in this story, the cause of the apocalypse is not important.

What's important is that the end is coming.

The sky is no longer blue.

It's a color nobody has ever seen.

Mostly because the color never seems to stay the same.

It shifts and mixes into itself to make something new.

When you think it goes back into a familiar form, there's something that makes it distinct.

It never comes back the same.

It might look like the smell of flowers for one second.

The next... the taste of rubber.

The world below is in chaos.

People scream, run, panic.

Fires blaze, spreading as if it's also trying to flee the end.

It seems like nobody is spared from the raw panic.

And that's true with the boy on the hill.

His heart races, trying to escape his chest and run somewhere far away.

But the boy doesn't move.

He stays on his hill, waiting.

He doesn't look away from the sky, he gazes into it.

Right now it looked like the smell of fire.

He is trying to figure out what the sky is trying to tell him.

He knows it's just a side effect of the end.

But he feels it has a deeper meaning.

The sound of the rest of the world is far away.

Loud enough that he can still hear it.

But far enough that he can ignore it.

This doesn't rest his pained heart though.

He hears grass rustling nearby.

The wind had stopped blowing days ago, which is why he knew someone was coming.

He didn't look at the approach however, only one person would know where he was.

The steps grew closer.

Eventually, the grass was still, and the sound of grass was replaced with the sound of another presence.

The silence was the loudest thing in that moment.

The boy's heart was beating so fast, nearly tearing itself apart.

Finally, the presence sat down.

They both looked at the sky.

It was blending two colors, too complex and varied to describe in words.

He knew that she wouldn't be searching for the same thing he did.

But she still watched the sky, appreciating the beauty it beheld.

While he examined for its meaning, she appreciated its existence.

He loved that about her.

He loved that difference between them.

The sky seemed to bulge out at them as if pointing at them.

The color of pressure.

Signifying that this meeting was important.

Of course, that's just how the boy interpreted it.

They stared for an indefinite amount of time.

Their silence speaking volumes.

Finally, she spoke.

"So, what's up?"

His heart thudded in his chest.

He could feel his blood pumping through his veins, like water in a hose.

He swallowed, though his mouth was dry.

"It's almost over. Everything."

She nodded.

This information wasn't new, the government had set up a clock that counted down to the end of everything.

But she nodded anyway.

"Yeah, it's pretty crazy."

"yeah..."

The boy's gaze lowered from the sky, now looking at their feet.

Their shoes contrast against the grass.

"If there was anything you wanted to tell me before... you know... then now would be a good time."

The girl thought for a moment.

Her eyes rolled higher into the sky, but not to look at the sky.

"...you still owe me... that movie I lent you a few months ago."

They laughed a little bit.

The joke wasn't that funny at the moment, but the boy appreciated the moment.

She always tried to make light of a bad situation.

It gave him butterflies.

She continued to think.

"Hmm... I don't know. What about you?"

He was afraid of that answer.

Now the pressure was on him.

He knew he was going to say it.

But that didn't stop the feeling of nausea falling onto him.

His breath started to quicken, trying to match the speed of his heart.

His fear was starting to climb, but he wasn't afraid of the bright black sky.

He never was.

"I love you."

The girl was a little surprised, then she smiled at him.

"Aw, thanks man, I love you too."

"No... no not like that. I really... really love you."

Her smile faded away.

She looked away from him, looking at their shoes.

Her eyebrows squinted, she wanted to say something.

The boy looked at her face, even though he was terrified of it at that moment.

It was clear she was thinking, not of what she felt, but of how she could phrase what she felt.

Finally, she looked back at him.

His heart suddenly stopped.

His anticipation doomed upon him.

The sky was getting darker.

Like finishing a book.

The end was near.

He thought he heard booming from above, but he realized it was just the city miles away.

The city that was finally falling.

She opened her mouth.

And words came out.

He couldn't hear her though.

She seemed like she was talking a lot, quickly and with an increasing rush.

Not that he didn't know what she said.

But he couldn't hear her.

He could see her hands moving, they didn't signify anything without her words.

Tears flooded his eyes.

He wasn't sure if he was sad, or happy.

But he felt at peace.

He finally got to tell her what he felt for so long.

And to him, that's all that matters.

There was nothing more he wanted than to cry right there and for her to hug him.

Through the gaps of tears in his eyes, he could see her own falling down her face.

Lips quivering.

She looked like she had moved closer.

Did she?

He felt the light of the sun split through the darkness of the dark sky.

The same sky that was now shattering like glass.

The same sky that was now falling onto the world below.

He wasn't sure if it actually did, his eyes were too clouded with tears.

But he felt its warmth.

Or was it her warmth?

That was how he wanted his world to end.

He wanted to be with her in the end, that's what he always wanted.

Not because he wanted to see her die.

But because death might be better if she was with him.

He didn't want to die.

But he wanted to die with her.

Unfortunately, I am not sure if he ever got that.

I am unsure if she even stayed with him to the end.

He hoped she would.

He hoped that they would die together.

I hope for the boy.

I hope that he gets what he is looking for.

The only thing that I can say for sure is that the world ended.

And along with the world ending.

His world ended too.

The sky looks like fresh snow.

End