The seventh day - Countdown

After a nearly sleepless night, in which I had pretty much relived my whole life, I woke up. I had slept longer than expected, it was already after 12 o'clock. Joe had just woke up too, but we were both not very talkative. Although I was quite absorbed in my own thoughts, I tried to talk to him.

After all, this was the last day together. The very last...

"Joe?" I ask carefully, after five minutes he still hadn't stopped to stare a hole in his couch. Now he has managed to avert his gaze and to focus on me. An innocent "Hm?" is everything he brings out. I get up from my seat and sit next to him.

"Are you... okay? You're so quiet," I ask, though that's a really stupid question. How would he be 'all right'? I take his hand and sit cross-legged, looking up at him because he's taller than me, even sitting down. "I..." he sighs slightly. "I'm a little scared, Charlotte," he says softly, looking down at me, his eyes almost seem to be... seeking for help.

His sight immediately made me weak, gentle, and I put my arms around his stomach. He pulled me closer and put his chin on my head, which was resting on his shoulder. "That was all too much... suddenly," I murmured against his chest. I felt how he nodded and I pulled my legs closer to my body.

He was stroking my arm over and over again, it had a calming effect and for a moment everything felt okay.

"I keep asking myself the same question, you know?"

I look up at him in confusion, memorizing his face like so often in the past few days before answering. As if every moment could be the last with him, the last time I'm allowed to look at him. That's the way it is. Nobody knew when it would happen, neither did we know what exactly would happen. "Which question?"

I suppressed my thoughts and concentrated only on the small circles he painted on my kin using his fingers and waited for his answer.

"Whether it's good or bad, what's happening here."

Yes, I have asked myself many times already. After a while, I decided. "Good." My voice sounded uncertain, but I meant what I said. His eyes were on me again, he didn't quite understand me, I supposed.

"You know, I probably never had the courage to praise my feelings, to run away from home, skydive or get a tattoo, that would have never happened, and I didn't appreciate things enough... But who can really determine what's good and what's bad? "

He thinks for a while, about what has happened since the announcement of the message, before he quietly kisses my forehead. In that brief moment, I felt protected, as if our extinction were not nearly sealed.

Love is beautiful, dangerous. Your judgment is more limited and yes, it's true that you wear a kind of pink glasses. Because you can only see the good and ignore everything bad, it hides hints to danger, pain and sadness.

And that's exactly what I needed now.

We stayed that way for some time, telling ourselves that all of this wasn't real, while we already knew the truth. We waited for the end of this era, the entire humanity. Waited on our death. At first, time passed much too slowly, then it couldn't have passed faster. That's how it always seemed to us, but time always passed at the same speed.

And finally the time passed too quickly, now that we had what we wanted, now that we did what we hadn't dared before. But that's okay.

Because we were here, we were allowed to be a part of this miracle, this beautiful world. Be grateful for what you have and dare to seek your dreams. Who knows, maybe they will come true? But only if you do something for it. Because life takes place when you leave your comfort zones, overcome your inner bastard, let your heart decide and just do what makes you happy.

It is your life. And you only have one. Enjoy it, because you are here. Here and now.

THE END