Freedom of the Wild

Chapter 6 • Winter's gale (3)

As I approached Ang's building, I messaged him to meet me. He came out of his house in a minute. "What? Why are you here?" He asked inquisitively.

"Listen." I said in a rush.
"Do you still remember how we used to talk about deep stuff and about governments and how one day mankind will have its retribution?"
"Of course. What 'bout it?"
"It is finally happening. Amos Yee's final two videos said that the apocalypse is happening tonight, so we need to get ready. And he's been missing too. They suspect its the government."
"Who, his supporters?"
"Yah. Go pack all the things you need for survival. It's time. People will pay the price."
"How can you be so sure? It seems very mythical to me. Although I know it can happen, but I.. I cannot do anything. I need to take care of my parents."
"Forget about them, its survival of the fittest. We need to adapt to the new world. Please, Ang. You're the only one who actually believes my words. And I cannot lose you too." I sighed in sadness and anguish. It was a torment to know that everybody was leaving me.
"Sorry Nick. You have to survive on your own, without me. Who knows whether I might even betray you. I don't know man. You know that our minds change at such times..." His head hung low as he stared at the floor, face filled with disappointment. "Never mind. But you gotta stay alive for me. Okay brother?"
"I will. Goodbye."
My eyes followed him as he went off with his hands tucked in his pockets.

I was all alone now. I was afraid. I thought of my parents, how they were doing in Australia. Would they be affected too? Would the whole world be affected? Or was it only Singapore...

By the time I arrived at home, it was already 6pm. I closed all my windows, wore my watch and slid five ten dollar notes in the smallest compartment of my bag. Sigh. It was hard to realise the harsh truth and to leave this old home of mine. It held many memories. I took pictures of the entire house with my phone. Oh and I couldn't forget my portable charger either. That was important. Then I slid my hands through the straps of the rucksack, and set off. I walked along my neighbourhood, snapping every view that was different. When I was satisfied with my collection, I thought of paying Estee one last visit before I went to somewhere isolated.

My visit was unexpected, but she still let me in her house. "I see you've come to your senses?"
"Of course! I was being silly." I lied.
"Good. What do you wanna do? Or shall we just talk?" "Lets play games, talk and maybe more..." I gave her a naughty wink. We started with Monopoly Deal. It was an addictive game, where each player started with seven cards in hand. Every turn, you drew two cards and had the chance to play three action cards or property cards out. There was money involved too. If you didn't have enough money to pay rent, you had to give out property that was worth that amount owed. We had loads of fun. We played songs by various artists and danced to the music. I pushed all the negativity to the back of my head as I focused on what was in front of me. Dancing with her, as my hand held hers, how we span each other round and round, I was dizzy with love. We took selfies together and made cute, funny poses. We conversed the rest of the evening. Estee and I shared about our favourite moments in life, the horrid, the quirky and those which made us really happy. But memories are of the past...
I cringed at the thought of everything turning into a memory of the past as the whole changed around me. I was jolted back into reality as Estee pushed me into her room. I had never been in here before. It was big and pretty. She closed the door and I looked all around me. It was fabulous. This was at least ten times nicer than the room I had back at home. Then Estee leapt onto my back and I lost my balance, stumbling and falling on her velvety bed. I felt so free, so happy. I was expecting magic to happen and started letting my imagination run wild...

Estee cuddled up in my arms, as I brought her closer so warmth radiated from us. Holding her hands, I brought them up to my lips and kissed them. "I love you." "And I you." I didn't regret a single thing. I managed to feel the perfect moments again before the end of the world. That was all I wanted. She bit her lip as her crystal-blue eyes gazed right into my soul. I just wanted to... Do things to her right now. The urge was to great for me to control myself. I threw myself at her, while she responded with willing interest. I rather do it now before I lost the chance to in the future. Wrapped under blankets, our presence lighted up one another. The moment where fireflies surrounded us like an aura, it repeated itself as we embraced with each other. We rolled down the bed onto the cold, marble floor. We exchanged nervous glances as our passion took over us. Shifting from position to position, I placed my hand on her face, caressing it and feeling its smooth texture. I had to enjoy every moment now, because I knew the future would take everything from me. Then my hand moved to her long, silky hair. I pushed away the strands which covered her eye. Her smile was heavenly. I bent down again to kiss her. We could not hide forever. Our innocence was broken as we did what real men and women did, in the outside world. "...love me like you do, l-l-love me like you do..."

Happiness doesn't last. It was a lie. All lies.
It was time for me to go, after our candlelit dinner of roast chicken which Estee had prepared for us. The night was simply romance, a touch of passion, a pinch of sugar and tastes of one another. The chandelier shook, and the flames of the candles flickered as a slight gust of wind came into the house. I stood at the doorway, not bearing to leave Estee. "Leave quick! My mum is coming home soon and she may suspect us for having our private time alone in the house. See ya tomorrow!" She gave a slight smile and waved to me. "Farewell..." I thought dismally, but I waved back, smiling too.

It was late into the night and two hours away from The End. I booked a cab which took me to the Marina Barrage. I hoped that there would be no one else except for me. Fortunately, that came true and I was alone. The final hour came. I set my timer to 55 minutes, so that I could prepare myself for something I did not know, would happen or not. I laid on the grass, counting the infinite number of stars as I thought of the beautiful things in the world. Butterflies. Rainbows. Unicorns. Pretty girls with their hair let down. The aqua blue sky. Cirrus clouds of fluff. Starbucks, my favourite Caramel Frappe, Chocolate Chip Cream and Hojicha Cream; Grande sized, topped with extra whipped cream. I drooled over those ideas. I love sweet treats too. I used to buy and share them with my classmates in Secondary 3. How I had to starve myself during recess because I was broke. Then I had many crushes too... The times my heart hurt so much but also had so much joy during the love periods. Ahhh~

Beep-beep
So fast? It was coming, the end of the world. The apocalypse to terminate all of man's unearthly deeds. I hope all of society's servants get wiped out. But I hoped that some people would also stay, so that I had company in the broken world.

I stared at my watch as the seconds ticked by. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

I winced as if something would happen and homes would just explode or a meteorite would just hit the earth. The zero never came. I shuddered, keeping a lookout in case it caught me while I was distracted. Sweat trickled down my forehead and onto my eyebrows as I continued waiting. Then it occurred to me. "Your ears may twitch and the massacre would begin." Oh no.

And then it happened.
Before I could even react, an incandescent light exploded out of the night sky like an expanding ring of light. It was so bright my eyes shut instantly, and a huge drone hit my head, the distortion of my senses and a high-pitched whirring echoed in my mind. I felt myself being thrown back, as my ears seared with pain and my hands instinctively pressed against my ears, desperately trying to stop the hurt. A gale of wind pinched at my face and my ears cooled down. The whirring was getting louder and louder. Then I heard the most horrendous laugh for the first time. By that time I was too weak to get up, my senses losing touch with one another until even my nerves stopped sending signals to my brain.

I collapsed into darkness.