The End of the World

NASA has predicted that in 15 minutes, the sun will have reached the red giant stage. While temps have already forced all humans underground for centuries, in this stage, the Earth will change orbit even more than it has in the last 100 years, and all life will burn up.

We'd been glued to our ocular feeds for the last 12 hours and on video calls to our loved ones for the same amount of time. Xian and I had been touring the globe, helping humanitarian efforts to relocate humans underground as part of the evac teams.

Suddenly both of our feeds went dead. The silence in the room was filled with the buzz in our ears of disconnection.

"This is it." Xian reached for my hand. We'd been working closely together for years and grown close, but he'd never touched me like this. I looked into his deep brown sad eyes. Suddenly I wanted to kiss him and I blushed.

"Did you say all your good-byes?" I asked him, squeezing his hand and looking at how mine fit into his.

"All but one." He pulled me close and kissed me.