Toby and I stood at the very edge of the city limits on a cool August morning. The air was musty and the sky was just breaking dawn, as hues of yellow and pink and purple exploded violently across the endless horizon. I looked up to Toby's eyes and saw a glimpse of sadness.
"Promise me Harmony, to be careful and to take care of this city. It's yours, after all." Toby whispered as he smoothed down my frizzing hair.
"I promise," I said, trying to be strong in front of him. He grabbed my hand down at my side and held it there, tracing the bony skin. "Now promise me you'll be back soon. I don't want to be alone here." My eyes broke open with tears and I fell into Toby's arms gratifyingly, sobbing into his shoulder.
Toby paused for a minute then replied into my ear softly, "I promise. I'll be back as soon as possible, and when I do I will have more people and we won't have to be alone." Slowly, he let go of my hand, then me, kissed my check with his soft lips, and turned away.
"Bye, love," He said as he walked away.
"Bye, Toby," My voice cracked, my face stained with tears.
I plopped down on the ground and watched him walk away down the dusty, broken road, until long after he was out of sight and the sun was
directly overhead.
He's gone. Even though he promised, I know he's not going to come back.
I stood up and ran home.
~~~One Year Later~~~
I wake up to the faint smell of burning plastic and wood outside my shattered window.
Another fire to fight. Yay.
I feel for the thin wire of my glasses against the bedstand, eyes closed. The cold feel of the lenses appear and I put them on, open my eyes to adjust to the light. The smell of smoke is strong now. It must not be that far away.
It's a struggle getting out of bed, because I'm still so tired, but as I've learned, if the fires aren't put out instantly, they could spread dangerously. At the end of my bed is my jacket, which I quickly put on as I swipe a fire extinguisher from under my bed. My jacket smells like cinnamon and Toby's old cologne and the inside is soft and black like the outside of it, stained from the ashes of fires. Wearing it makes me feel like I'm home- not that I even have a home anymore, just this tiny, empty apartment with faded yellow walls and dingy smelling furniture. Maybe it could pass as a crappy hotel.
Holding the fire extinguisher with one hand, I go to my window and make sure the rope ladder is still there. It is, so I drop the extinguisher onto a mattress in the alley and climb down, then pick up the fire extinguisher. I follow the alley to the main street, jumping over an over-turned car in the process.
The smell is stronger than before, I can only hope it's not one of the supermarkets close by. I peer down the street to my left along the buildings and skyscrapers, grand hotels and used-to-be tourist hotspots until I see the source of the smoke.
Please be an office building, I think to myself. I need the drug stores and supermarkets to live.
I break into a heavy sprint, trying my hardest not to drop the fire extinguisher, following the smoke as I run. I pass car, after over-turned car, traces of people everywhere I look.
I stop when I reach the source of the smoke: a crumbling grand plaza-of no use to me.
The building is dying anyways, I don't feel like putting it out. But s Toby told me, it's my city. I am going to protect it, besides, I still don't want the fire to spread.
Unfortunately, the door is locked and kind of hot. No matter how hard I jiggle the handle, it won't open. So I take a few steps back and run at the door, increasing speed until I swing the fire extinguisher into glass with all my might. The glass falls to the floor in a crystallized rain. Some of the pieces have painfully lodged themselves in my arm. I wince as blood starts to flow down my arm. More than anything right now, I want to go back to bed and sleep.
"I can do this. I can do this." I chant to myself quietly. But then I add in a small voice as I grip the fire extinguisher harder, "For Toby."
I realized long ago these words mean everything to me. They make me stronger. Usually I don't think about Toby a lot. The first few weeks after he left, I cried a lot, wishing he was here to help me put out fires and graffiti the city with spray-paint to make it more colorful. He used to brush my hair for me when it would stick up and let me cry on his shoulder when I was sad. Toby was my best friend.
I gather my strength and climb through the window into the plaza and make my way to a long stairwell until the smoke thickens to a pitch black and I hear a loud crackling noise. I think I'm on the second or third floor. I drop to my knees and crawl to the red and yellow flames licking at a door. Painfully, I lift the fire extinguisher to the door-staying as far away from the flames as I can- and spray with my best aim. A flurry of white escapes the extinguisher and lands on the flames.
The smoke is really thick. The fire must have burned a lot more before it shrank and started eating at the door. Waste of time. I was expecting a lot more flames to put out, judging by the amount of smoke. Now I'm seriously mad.
I don't even know why the fires start. Toby thought it be something in the air because they usually spark spontaneously and out of nowhere, but that's the only thing that I can really think of that would explain it.
On my way back, I gingerly pick out some of the pieces of glass in my arm, but there are some pieces that are lodged to far in or are too painful to pick out. I'm in real pain.
I stop by the nearest drug store and pick up two cans of ravioli (my favorite), some hydrogen peroxide, and a lighter. It seems like every time I go into a store to get things, it feels like I'm stealing. I wish could check out just one more time.
It's funny the things you miss when you're alone. I miss showers-even cold ones- and I miss microwaves and TVs and stupid reality shows. I miss the bright city lights and honking horns in the dead of night and my dad who would yell at taxi drivers who would talk on the phone while driving. I miss my dad and the calender collection he had, even though we had to throw it away cuz it took up too much space, and I miss Toby playing video games with me- despite the fact I beat him at every game we could ever play. Most of all, I miss people.
But it's just me and maybe Toby, if he's still alive.
Because I do believe, I am the last person on Earth.
