The Day The World Ended | ONC 2024 LONGLISTER

1| the beginning of the end

It was like any other normal Friday evening. The subway was filled with people returning home from work and kids going home from school. No one suspected that anything strange would happen. Why would they? It's not like aliens will suddenly fall out of the sky.

Mellie O'Hara,—fifteen years old and mad at her older brother because he refused to drop her off at home before driving away to some party—glared at her shoes as she sat between two strangers. She had never taken the subway before; or at least not when she was old enough to remember. Their family did have a bit of a hard time before her father's business became a success.

Mellie glanced at the time showing on her phone and stuffed it in her pocket with a sigh. She pulled her blonde hair into a bun, wiping the sweat off her neck. She wanted to go home and sleep after taking a nice, hot shower. That sounded very heavenly now.

A few feet away from her, in the seat next to the door, another girl of the same age sat with her earphones blasting music. She didn't care about the crowd, she was used to it. The girl, Novah Joshi, leaned her head back against the window, staring up at the ceiling. She couldn't catch her usual train and she was going to hear a very long lecture from her mother on how she should be more aware of time and be careful. Don't scare your mother like that, that's what she will say.

But neither of these two knew none of it would go as they thought. They did not know that they would be two of the only three survivors of this train. 

***

The time was exactly 4.12 PM when the train suddenly screeched to a halt, lights flickering off. Surprised cries erupted from the inside and some people turned the flashlight of their phones to see what was going on. Novah pulled the earphones away and pressed her face to the window, trying to see something. She could only see complete darkness. 

"Can you see anything?" A tiny voice asked behind her and she turned, only to be temporarily blinded by a flashlight.

Novah brought a hand in front of her face, squeezing her eyes shut. "Now I obviously can't"

"Sorry, sorry," said the same voice. "I just—Sorry." The light went away and Novah could open her eyes again. "I'm Mellie, uh, if you wanted to know."

"Novah. And no, I couldn't see anything."

People were trying to pry open the doors. Some were huddled in the seats, a toddler was wailing, and some old lady was praying.

"What the hell is going on?" Novah wondered aloud, shouldering her backpack.

"No idea," Mellie said, the glow of her phone screen illuminating her blue eyes. "I can't get a signal."

There was a loud crash as someone threw a fire extinguisher at the doors, successfully opening it. And shattering glass everywhere. People pushed each other to get out of the train, shouting at the others. Mellie clutched her phone to her chest, feet firmly planted on the ground to avoid getting pushed down. She shrank on herself as people ran past her, pressing against her shoulders and back.

Novah scrambled onto the seat with a curse and pulled Mellie up with her. "Do you want to get trampled?"

Mellie hugged her backpack to her chest and tried not to be pushed down by the crowd. Abruptly, there was a deafening crash ahead of them and blood-curdling screams erupted from the crowd outside. Mellie and Novah tried to look out of the window and this time they could.

A part of the tunnel had crashed. Harsh sunlight was falling through the giant hole. The crushed bodies were visible, limbs and necks twisted at odd angles, blood splattered in dark red designs all over the concrete. 

"Shit," Novah whirled away from the sight, trying not to think about all the blood. 

People were running toward the accident, crying out to them and sobbing. Someone in the crowd was screaming at them to stop. 

Mellie watched in horror as people reached the crash site and the moment people made contact with direct sunlight, skin peeled off their bones. The smell of burning flesh and screams filled the air, clothes catching on fire, skin and flesh turning to ash in an instant.

Mellie dropped to her knees and threw up. Her throat burned and her eyes stung with unshed tears as she retched on the carpeted floor.

"Mellie, what?" Novah was screaming. "What is going on?!"

Mellie breathed through her nose, placing a hand across her eyes. "People...they burned. The sun... Oh my God, everyone is dead."

She sobbed as Novah stared in stunned silence, trembling arms wrapped around her stomach. Screams were starting to die down but the pungent smell of blood and burning flesh still hung in the air.

"We..." Novah gasped out, staring at the sobbing girl in front of her.

"Hey!" A man's voice startled them both enough for them to scream like they had just seen a ghost. A middle-aged man with dark blonde hair was standing at the shattered door, his hands in the air as he stared at them. "Whoa, whoa. Sorry to scare you. You kids were smart enough to stay in here..." His eyes had that faraway look soldiers sometimes get, blood spattered across his plaid shirt. He shook his head and his eyes cleared.

"Let's get out of here, okay? Everyone else—"

"They are all dead, aren't they?" Novah asked quietly, still huddled on the seat. "All of them... Gone..."

"Hey, it's alright—"

"No, it's not!" It was Mellie this time, her hands clutching at her chest, fisting the light pink fabric of her T-shirt. "It's not alright that everyone is dead!"

"If we stay here any longer, we are all going to die too," the man was also shouting now. "so, we have to get out of here. As fast as we can. Look, I can just leave you two here to wallow in self-pity but I don't want to leave two kids to die and feel bad about it later, okay?!"

"Please, stop shouting," Novah muttered.

"Are you two coming or not?"

Mellie stood up, brushing her palms in her jeans. "Yes, yes we are."

Novah stood up as well, sending a shaky hand through her chin-length black hair. "Guess, we are not going home today."

Total word count 1131