Ten Days

“We are so sorry to inform you…only ten days left…” 

The words echo in my head as I sit on my couch. It was such a normal start to the day today. I woke up this morning, dragged myself out of bed, and went on my morning walk. The dew on the grass didn’t look any different than it had any other morning. I passed all the same cracks in the sidewalk and the leaves were the same shades of brown and orange as fall made its way through. I came home and showered with the same shampoo and conditioner. I threw on my favorite light blue dress and I went out to get the same coffee from the same local shop. The barista was sweet, and the coffee was the perfect kind of bitter. I would have never expected this. Then again, I guess nobody starts their day thinking that when they come home and turn on the news, it’ll be telling them the world is ending. 

Ten days. That’s what scientists are saying, that we have up to ten days left before it all comes to a grinding halt. It wasn’t what you’d expect, it wasn’t some uptight guy with glasses in a white lab coat. It was a woman, her brown hair littered with grays laying loosely over her shoulders. She was wearing a black long sleeve crew neck, a crumpled tissue in her hands as she choked out the devastating news. It looked like there were fifty or so other certified scientists standing in support behind her, most of them weeping or holding back tears, and a few just standing there with a blank look on their face. Defeat. There were a lot of words I didn’t understand and something about an anomaly. It doesn’t really matter anyhow, there’s no point now in trying to dig up why or how. 

I’ve sunken into my couch, and I take a sip of my coffee only to realize that it’s cold. I don’t even know how long I’ve been sitting here. I don’t know what to do, or how to feel, or how to make these last days count. I don’t have any family to cling to, my parents died in a car accident when I was only 10. My aunt took care of me well enough that when I was 18 I was able to set out on my own, but we were never really close. She couldn’t look at me without seeing her sister, and it drove a wedge between us.

 Even with all that pain, I did everything I was supposed to do, because I thought it would lead me to a better life. Now I’m 21 years old, living in a humble little apartment, working as a server part-time while I was putting myself through college. I always played by the rules, I never kissed a stranger in a bar, hell I’ve never even been to a bar. I never did anything with reckless abandon, because I didn’t want to ruin my future. It’s a twisted sort of irony. I take another sip of my cold coffee and stare at the muted T.V. screen thinking of all the things I’ve never done. My body starts to shake as laughter bubbles up inside me. My life has been so boring that I don’t even know how to make my last days exciting. Just as I’m on the verge of hysterics, I hear the familiar thump of heavy metal next door. A noise that used to annoy me so much while I was trying to study or sleep that I would bang my fist on the wall until it stopped. Now, I find myself being drawn to it. 

The couch creaks as I stand up and make my way out into the hallway and just stand and stare at the door of the apartment next to mine. My hand is raised to knock, but I don’t even know what I’d say. We’ve only ever seen eachother in passing. Around my age, he had dyed the tips of his hair pink last time I’d seen him, and he always smelled like cigarettes. He was everything I was trying not to be. I wonder how he sees me. My light brown hair is always tucked into a neat bun, usually carrying my books or coming home from work, I don’t think I ever offered him a kind word or even a friendly glance, but I think he might just be the perfect person to help me learn how to live in the time we have left… So I knock. 

He answers with a cigarette hanging from his lips, fingernails painted black, and the square of his jaw tensed. His eyes are a deeper green than mine with flecks of brown, and leaning against the door frame with his flannel hanging off his shoulder I can’t help but notice that he’s quite good looking. He looks me up and down before turning around and walking back into his apartment, leaving the door open behind him. He glances back at me still standing at the threshold, “Are you coming in or what? In case you hadn’t heard, we don't exactly have all the time in the world.” He cracks a smile as I step inside and close the door behind me, and I decide right then and there that this is who I want to help me. 

“Care for a smoke, or a drink?” He asks, holding out his pack as he slouches into his own couch. 

I’ve never smoked a day in my life, not once, but today seems like the perfect day to start, “Yeah actually, I could go for both.” That’s two things to cross off my bucket list I guess, smoking and day drinking, “I’m Allison by the way.” 

He holds a lighter up for me, “I’m Jay.” 

He breaks out a bottle of cheap whiskey and it’s not long before we are sharing life stories, I guess the world ending will do that for strangers. His childhood was definitely nothing to be nostalgic over, and we took turns exposing our most vulnerable memories. We even laughed about how our only form of prior communication was loud music and fists pounding on walls. The whiskey is warm in my stomach as we take turns swigging when there’s a moment of silence, because those moments remind us that the world will soon also be nothing more than something that was. 

“So, do you have any super fun plans for the end of the world?” 

“Actually, I was hoping you could help me with something along those lines.” I say, and pull out a crumpled piece of paper from my pocket. In the moments before getting up and knocking on his door, I’d made a rough bucket list of all the things I’d always wanted to do, but never had the courage, “Would you want to help me cross off some of these?” 

He takes the list from me and starts reading them outloud, amused by the contents of it, “Kiss a stranger, dance on a table, see the ocean, break the law, go cliff jumping,” he stops reading and looks up at me before reading the next one, “fall in love.” He stands up and sighs as he walks over towards where I’m sitting, “I know you said your life was boring, but I didn’t realize you literally lived life like a grandma!” 

I giggle at the way he says it, and before I know it he’s grabbing two backpacks from a closet in the hallway, tossing one in my direction. “What’s this for?” I ask, but he’s already wandering around the apartment gathering random supplies. “Hellooooo,” I wave my arms around, “earth to Jay!” At this he turns back towards me and comes to kneel beside where I’m sitting. His eyes locked onto mine, the buzz in my stomach turning to butterflies. 

“We are going to do everything on that list, so go pack, we’re leaving right now.” His voice is filled with contagious excitement, “Go on! We don’t have time to waste.” 

I’m back in my apartment, stuffing my bag with random supplies and clothes, a hurricane of purpose and determination. I stop for a moment to look once more at the muted news. The world is ending, and for some reason I am smiling from ear to ear, because I am finally going to live. I’m going to do everything I never let myself do, and I’m doing it all with the stranger next door. I look up to see him standing in my doorway, a smile pulling at the edge of his lips reaching out his hand, “Are you ready?” 

The world is descending into chaos, but as I take in the pink haired rule breaker standing in front of me, ready to take it all on to complete my silly bucket list, I’ve never felt more alive. 

“I’m ready.”