After the End

Chapter 2: The Stranger I Knew

There were only the two of us now, living in a shattered world that neither of us had chosen. Every time I opened my eyes, I saw him—a boy who looked like he had survived a hundred battles. His eyes were always sharp, his posture stiff as if he was ready to fight at any moment. He stayed distant, barely speaking unless necessary, and never let his guard down. He didn’t trust me. I could see it in the way he watched me, like I was still a threat to him.

Five. That was his name. I had pieced it together over the days we spent in this abandoned place. I hadn’t asked for his name, but when he mumbled something in his sleep one night, the name slipped out. Five Hargreeves. The name brought back fragments of memories, vague and distant. I remembered hearing about the Umbrella Academy, a group of extraordinary children adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves. They were supposed to save the world.

He didn’t know that I had figured out who he was, and I wasn’t sure if telling him would change anything. To him, I was still a stranger, and in his eyes, it was impossible that I had survived the apocalypse. He never lowered his guard, not once, and I could feel the tension between us. It was like he was waiting for me to prove his suspicions right—that I didn’t belong here, that I was lying. But I wasn’t. I had survived, just like him. I had lived through the hell that destroyed everything, even if my body was still trying to recover from it.

The first few days after I woke up were a blur. My health was at its worst—my limbs felt weak, my head throbbed constantly, and sometimes it was hard to breathe. But slowly, I got better. My body healed, though my strength returned slower than I wanted. I was no longer on the brink of death, but I wasn’t sure how much longer I could survive in this world. Every time I tried to push myself too hard, my body reminded me that I had spent too long alone, too long without proper food or rest.

One evening, after what felt like weeks of silence between us, I finally found the strength to talk to him. The air was thick with the stillness of a world that no longer existed, and I knew I had to say something. I couldn’t keep everything inside anymore.

“My life... it wasn’t like this before the apocalypse,” I started, my voice quiet. “I had parents. A home. I was... normal, or at least, I thought I was.”

Five didn’t look at me. He was busy with something—scouting the area, checking our surroundings like he always did. But I knew he was listening. He never missed anything.

“I knew this would happen,” I continued, my words hanging in the air. “The end of the world, I mean. I saw it before it came. But no one believed me. Everyone thought I was crazy, delusional. Even my parents. They thought I was imagining things when I tried to warn them.”

Five finally glanced at me, his expression unreadable. “What do you mean, you knew?”

I took a deep breath, feeling a knot form in my chest. This was the hard part, the part that made people look at me like I was insane. “I have... powers. I see the future. Not everything, just flashes. Enough to know when something terrible is coming.”

For a moment, Five didn’t say anything. His face remained cold, his eyes narrowed slightly as if trying to figure me out. I wondered if I had said too much, if he would think I was lying just like everyone else had. But instead, he asked, “Why didn’t you stop it?”

I shook my head, the weight of that question crushing me. “I tried. But no one listened. No one ever listens to someone like me.”

Five was silent again, but I could see something shifting in his gaze. He wasn’t just suspicious anymore. He was curious. “You said you have powers. You can see the future. So, why didn’t I know about you?”

His question caught me off guard. “What do you mean?”

“I’m part of a group—the Umbrella Academy,” he said, his tone sharp. “We’re supposed to be the only ones like this. People with powers. And yet, here you are, someone I’ve never heard of. Someone with abilities. Why?”

I didn’t have an answer for him. “I don’t know. I didn’t even know there were others like me.”

Five’s gaze darkened, and he crossed his arms, leaning against the wall. “There aren’t. That’s the thing. There shouldn’t be. But now I find you here, surviving an apocalypse that no one else could have lived through. And with powers.”

I met his gaze, my heart pounding. “I don’t know why I survived. I just did.”

Five studied me for a long moment, his expression still guarded. But there was something different in his eyes now, something that hadn’t been there before. It wasn’t just suspicion anymore. It was something else, something closer to intrigue.

"Your visions. What did you see?" he asked, his voice low.

I hesitated, unsure of how much to tell him. "I saw cities burning. People running. Everything falling apart. But there were things I couldn’t understand. Faces I didn’t recognize. And sometimes... I saw you."

Five stiffened, his eyes narrowing. "Me?"

I nodded slowly. "I didn’t know who you were then. I just saw flashes of you, but it didn’t make sense at the time. Now, I think it does."

Five’s gaze stayed locked on mine, his mind clearly working through what I had just said. "You’re saying there’s something about you that’s... connected to all of this. To me."

I swallowed hard, unsure of the answer myself. "Maybe. I don’t know why, but it feels like there’s something more. Something we’re not seeing."

Five turned away, pacing back and forth, his mind racing. "This doesn’t make any sense," he muttered to himself. "There shouldn’t be anyone else. Not after everything..."

He trailed off, his thoughts elsewhere. I watched him, feeling a strange sense of connection to him, even though we barely knew each other. There was something about Five that felt familiar, like I had always known him, even though I hadn’t. Not really.

I wasn’t sure what would happen next, but I knew one thing for sure: this boy, this cold, guarded boy, was the key to something bigger. Something neither of us fully understood yet.

And for the first time since the world ended, I didn’t feel entirely alone.