Save Your Generation

Seconds fell like sighs from lover’s lips as clothes ripped faster and hands pressed even fiercer. Bruising, reddening, sweaty skin, pressed flush against another in the backseats of cars all over the world. The windows were foggy from the inside for once, barring the outside world from witnessing the desperate actions of the couples inside. It is the perfect time. For some.

Kate sits. Her shoe laces suddenly seem very interesting, as she decides that avoiding eye contact with everyone else will make her invisible, and if she’s invisible, no one will associate her with the mad man standing merely inches away, yelling and swearing at passers by. She rests her face on her bare knees, her skirt hiked high up her thighs and she’s fully aware the whole world can see her off-white underwear. It didn’t occur to her to put on a pair of tights that morning; then again, it had never occurred to her that the end was nigh, either.

She concentrates very hard on the floor, wishing she could just explode! Wishing her heart would just stop beating so valiantly for someone she couldn’t have – would never have – and perhaps just cease pounding altogether.

She told herself that it wouldn’t be long now; there was still time to take that leap of faith.

Kate looked up at the man whom she’d always longed for and shook her head, her lips seemingly smiling as she stretched out her legs in a cat-like manner before standing. Her bones clicked. She’d sat stock still for hours.

“Tom.”

“Not now, Kate,” he shook her off, not even looking at her, “I’m busy.”

She stared at him incredulously, “Harassing the general public? Yeah, you’re busy.”

“I’m telling them I was right, Kate!” still not looking at her, “After all these years of people looking down at the ‘mad man’! I was right.”

“So… we’re all going to die… and you’re proud of yourself?”

How could she ever have fallen in love with such a person?

He finally looked at her.

“I’m not proud,” he said, but Kate knew him better than anyone she’d ever met. She knew every single freckle littered across the bridge of his child-like, button nose; she knew what every variation of smile meant; and she knew every look in his eyes and what they meant.

He was definitely proud.

“Tom… you’ve won, okay? Let it go, please? Can’t we just go home?” she tugged his arm gently but he pulled out of her clutches easily. She felt her heart tear a little more at the edges by his actions.

“Home? Kate, we don’t have a home anymore! Haven’t you been listening to a word I’ve said? We’re all gonna die! What’s the point in having a home when, in about… two hours, we’ll all be ancient history! We won’t even be history! We’ll be completely obliterated. Who’ll remember us!”

He was getting hysterical. Kate flushed. He was speaking so loudly people were beginning to stare. Even during a crisis such as this, people still found the time to be nosey, it seemed. Even children were looking up from their mother’s arms as they rushed by to see what was going on. Tom always seemed to cause a commotion.

She made a shushing noise with her teeth before grabbing his arm and hissing, “That’s it, Tom, I’m going home. I don’t care whether you come with me or not, but to be quite honest, I don’t want to spend the last hour on Earth alone and I definitely don’t want to spend it out here, goading people, on the street. Goodbye, Tom.”

She pushed his arm away from herself, almost in disgust, as she made her lonely walk down the street towards the apartment she had shared with Tom for the past year and a half. She was sure she’d never see him again… and so the tears soon came, thick and fast. She was sobbing so hard that she tripped several times, scraping her knees as if she were back in Kindergarten again. She wished she was back in Kindergarten again; five year old Tom and Kate definitely beat twenty-six year old Tom and Kate. The worst Tom would do to her back then was steal her teddy bear, yet she’d still be smitten with him.
Five year old Tom was harmless; none of the drastic ideas had polluted his mind, he had not yet discovered science or politics. Five year old Tome would never let twenty-six year old Kate die alone.

Kate stabbed the door with her key; she feared it wouldn’t fit, that for some reason the key had morphed in her pocket and was now completely useless, but despite her pessimism she was soon safe inside, gasping for breath as she stumbled her way up the stairs to her apartment. Her knees left sticky marks of blood wherever she fell. She didn’t give a damn.

The first thing she saw upon entering the apartment was the two separate bedroom doors; hers was ajar and she could see her unmade bed in clear view, Tom’s was locked, as usual, but she knew it wasn’t very sturdy. She could easily kick it down. Break his stupid fucking computer. Throw his telescope out the window. Smash his shit to a billion pieces.

Yeah, then she’d feel better. That pompous, arrogant, little prick would have a coronary if he ever found out. But he wouldn’t.

Kate grinned, “Who’d ever find out?”

So she got to work, the door jumping open after two kicks, revealing, possibly, the messiest room she’d ever seen. It was the one with the skylight she’d admired. When they’d first moved in, Kate had seen the skylight and fallen in love with it, but Tom had said “No, Kate, you can have the room with the balcony,” as if she was a child, “I think you’d much prefer the balcony room!” So she gave in. Because that’s what people do when they’re completely infatuated with someone who completely ignores them. You make compromises.

Kate regretted everything she had ever done for Tom. If she hadn’t molly coddled him, perhaps he wouldn’t have turned out to be such a dick head. She fantasized of a Tom that wasn’t obsessed with science as she began destroying everything Tom held dear; ripping his favourite jumpers to shreds with her cat-like claws and throwing CDs and lab equipment against the wall, barely even flinching as the sickening crunch of solid against solid resounded around the room, telling herself Tom would never find out. Never in a million years…

“Kate?”

Shit.

“What are you…” he trailed off when he saw the wreckage.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t think you were coming home…”

“Of course I was coming home. What kind of person do you take me for, Kate?” he said, his eyes strayed from her face frequently to the broken pieces of his expensive satellite which lay by her feet.

“I-I-I’m…” she couldn’t seem to manage sentences as she tried to step around him but soon realized it was impossible, “Look, Tom, I’m sorry I did this. I was just feeling hurt, you know? You’re my best friend, and I don’t think you’re a bad person. I just… sort of hoped you’d never see this… I was acting on temporary insanity.”

She squirmed under his gaze as he looked on in amusement, smiling in the way that make her knees weak and her heart race.

“Kate,” he said, taking her hand in his larger one, “I love you.”

He cupped her face in his free hand and stroked her jaw before pressing his mouth – possessively – down on hers, before her head had even worked out what was happening.

Kate had always wanted this to happen, she’d imagined it in so many different way, different locations, but she’d never pictured it like this. She’d never imagined it to feel this good.

She thought she might die of pleasure, and swayed deliriously on the spot for a moment before crumpling against him, slinging her arms around his neck, lips still connected the whole time.

“Shall we… uh, take this to your room?” Tom gasped, coming up for air and Kate nodded furiously. They were running out of time.

-

She wrapped her duvet around herself tightly, as she leaned her head on Tom’s perfect chest. She marveled at it for a moment, running one hand playfully along it before resting by his collarbone, before sighing deeply.

The rhythmic rise and fall of his chest coupled with the sound of his heartbeat made her feel safe and secure, although she feared what was coming for them.

“How do you think it’ll happen?” she asked.

“What do you think?” he yawned, pulling her closer, protectively. Kate couldn’t help but love the change in their relationship status. She wanted to call her mother, tell her she would not die alone, but knew that would decrease her time left with Tom…

“I don’t know,” she paused, “I don’t think it will hurt, though. When it happens, it’ll just… happen.”

He nodded, “I wish I’d told you how I felt earlier, then we’d have more time… if I had told you when I first started loving you, we’d probably be married with kids by now…”

Her heart fluttered.

“How long have you loved me?” she whispered, curiously, the light from the balcony window hit her skin creating a heavenly glow.

“Since I was probably… twelve, but I thought it was a phase so I didn’t tell anyone… you?”

“Who says I love you?” she replied, playfully.

“You did: ‘Oh! Tom! I love you! Harder!’”

“Tom!” she hissed, a blush spreading across her features, but he stifled her mouth with another kiss. They seemed to leave her breathless, “How long have we got now?”

“About… two minutes… or less… probably much less,” he said, “Can we watch it from the balcony?”

She nodded, climbing out of bed with the duvet wrapped around her, leaving him naked on the bed, as she threw open the windows to the balcony and settled herself on the floor.

“Ugh, Kate,” Tom said, as he followed her, trying to regain his dignity as he snuggled his face into his newfound lover’s shoulder.

They looked out below; the city was buzzing, people were running around the streets, breaking windows, starting fires in a flurry of fear. Tom’s arm crept around Kate.

“It’s coming already,” he murmured, pointing towards the sky at the Sun, which was getting bigger at an alarming. Not bigger… closer.

Tears sprang to Kate’s eyes as the reality of the situation hit her.

“Hold me,” she whispered as the light of the Sun consumed them, she could only see Tom, “and tell me there was nothing we could have done to save our generation.”

Tom sighed, pulling the girl onto his lap and holding her head tightly to his chest, his eyes clenched shut. His voice was strained and he suddenly felt an intense burning sensation, but he choked the words out, nonetheless.

“There was nothing we could have done.”