The World Went Dark

Chapter 2

...Right??

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Suddenly, the noise in the cafe rises again. The buzz of chatter filling the small shop. The man who asked to turn up the volume quickly pushes out his chair, frantically pounding his thumbs on the screen of his phone, walking quickly towards the door.

I look towards the counter and see a woman frantically putting the jackets back on her two young children. Her cell phone resting in between her shoulder and her ear, waiting for someone on the other end of the line to pick up the phone. A couple of other customers are making their way out the door hurriedly, while others are on the phone, presumably contacting their friends or family.

Some people are even just sitting in shock, not saying a word, trying to process the information. I glance back at Kuroo and Kenma. Both of them are staring off into space, Kenma gripping Kuroo's forearm tightly, panic clear in his eyes. So it was true. I didn't mishear.

"Kenma... Akaashi.." I look back to Kuroo, his eyes now down towards the table, "I think we should head back to the apartment."

Without a word, I stand up and go to walk towards the door. Kuroo and Kenma trailing behind me.  The first couple minutes of the walk was silent.  None of us dared to say a word. To our surprise, Kenma was the first to speak up,

"So... what does this mean?" Kuroo and I take a glance at each other.

"I honestly don't know," I replied. "I never thought something like this could actually happen. Catastrophic means it will be deadly, right? Like, wipe out the earth?"

Kuroo finally took this as his chance to speak, a calm look plastered on his face, "Most likely. We don't have much information yet, but an asteroid of that size traveling at that speed will destroy Earth."

I can hear Kenma's breath hitch and his grip on Kuroo's arm tightens. Kuroo glances down at Kenma with an unreadable look on his face. With that, no one else dares to say a word. Even on the first train, we sit in eery silence. And the second train is not any different.

For about the first half of the walk, there were people flooding the roads and sidewalks. All had clearly seen the news and were now on their way home. Most people were on the phone speaking wildly. But after some time, the streets were almost barren. An occasional car would quickly drive past or a pedestrian would hurry by in a sprint. We made our way in the direction of my apartment at an almost painfully slow pace.

When we finally got into the door a little after 6 o'clock, the atmosphere shifted. Kenma seemed to finally relax; however, almost as if they switched places completely, Kuroo sprints into panic mode. Kenma and I watch as Kuroo begins to pace my living room uncontrollably, mumbling incoherently to himself. Kenma finally steps forward and grabs Kuroo mid-stride and pulls him into his chest. Kenma looks in my direction, with a look that's asking 'what do I do?' on his face. I walked over to the couch and sat, motioning for Kenma and Kuroo to do the same.

They slipped their jackets and shoes off and made their way to the couch. We sat in silence for a minute but it felt like forever. Kenma was nervously fidgeting with Kuroo's fingers while Kuroo just stared at Kenma with a blank expression on his face. I felt awkward again and shifted in my seat. Both of their eyes lift up and fixate on me. It was almost as if they were waiting for me to break the silence and say something.  I finally decided to say something.

"So... what now?"

"That's all you got, huh?" Kuroo chuckles awkwardly with a blank look on his face. "You just found out the world is ending in a week and that's all you have to say?"