Lost Cause

     Today started out normal. I woke up around six as usual, showered, got dressed, ate breakfast, got my bag, and left for work. You wouldn't think my day would end up like it did.
I was stuck in traffic on the way to work and ended up being late. When I finally got to the office, my boss was fuming. His face was a tomato, I thought I saw steam coming from his ears.
    "Where have you been? You missed the meeting and the investors backed out!" he practically roared.
Used to his fits of rage, I calmly replied,
"Sir, I was stuck on route 80, and the traffic was terrible. I will have Suanne get your coffee."
Then I went to my desk and unpacked my bag. I was not worried about getting yelled at by my boss, because I was his best sales associate; he could not fire me. Not to brag or anything though. When the clock read 12:25, I went to my favorite cafe for lunch. It was right around the corner from my office, so I decided to walk.
When I stepped outside, the sun hit me full on. It was so bright I went back inside and grabbed my sunglasses, then I headed back out. With my new armor the sun was more bearable and I was ready for my lunch.
I had to keep my sunglasses on because the cafe was completely glass. There was a glass wall in the front, sides, and a glass door. I liked it, but today it wasn't the best.
When I was back in the office, I turned the news on my mini TV. 
  "And we are back!" The peppy news castor cheerfully chirped. She then opened a letter and her once cheery demeanor instantly grew dark.
"I have just received a letter from my producers." I turned up the volume. "I will now read it out loud to you."
    The letter went,
Dear Citizens of the world,
    I am coming to you with grave news. My fellow researchers and I have  discovered that the sun is expanding at an alarming rate. We originally believed that the sun would start its expansion in approximately 500 years. Our new data has shown us that global warming has sped up the process. Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the end of the world.
Then the screen went black.
A moment later an eerie voice called out,
"We are experiencing technical difficulties, and we are sorry for the inconvenience."
I turned the TV off and heard a gasp. When I turned around I realized a crowd had formed. Everyone stared at the blank TV with looks of utter despair and confusion. I slowly turned away and packed my bag. Then I calmly got up and left. I couldn't bear to see their faces for one more second.
When I got outside, it was worse. There were mobs of people running around in a frenzy. It was a madhouse. I pushed through the crowd to my favorite cafe to find it empty. The door was unlocked, so I quickly pushed my way in. Then I called the only family I had, my two best friends, Lucy and Alice.
"Did you see the news?" Lucy questioned, but before I could reply Alice declared,
"It was crazy! The look on that poor anchor woman's face," she paused for effect, "Classic! She looked terrified; it was so funny!"
Typical Alice to laugh at the face of death. She could find comedy in anything. I usually didn't mind it, but it drove Lucy crazy.
"Alice! None of this is funny! How could you laugh at a time like this? The world is practically ending!" she whined. Trying to keep the peace I replied,
  "Guys none of that is important. If the world really is ending we should have a plan."
    "I agree with Beth," Alice stated matter of fact.
    "How do we have a plan when the sun is about to eat us alive?" Lucy retorted.
    "I don't know, but if we are going to go, I'd like to be with you guys," Alice declared
    "Meet me at the apartment," I demanded. We all said goodbye and hung up.
Then, I called an Uber on my phone and waited. When I got the notification my car was here, I was surprised. I had ordered one, but I hadn't expected any drivers to be working in the middle of the apocalypse.
When he dropped me off at my apartment, I hurried inside to find Lucy and Alice waiting for me. They both bombarded me with questions so fast, that all I heard was a buzz, but then I realized it wasn't them.
Suddenly, the buzzing got louder. It was like a swarm of hornets, after their nest had been attacked, protecting their queen. Unfortunately, it wasn't really hornets or bees; instead something much worse. It was the sounding of the first announcement. A loud robotic voice boomed out,
Citizens this is the President of the United States of America asking you to please remain calm.   It seems that scientists have figured out there is one week until the sun touches the world. The government is trying its best to figure this out, and please help us save you.   
    The announcement had the opposite effect of what it was meant for: it made everything worse. Lucy's face was ghost like, but the thing that really scared me was Alice. Her eyes were wide and watery, her jaw hung open like a mason jar lid, and her eyebrows were raised so far, they were practically off her forehead. I knew I probably looked worse, but in all the time I had known Alice she never had been scared, even when everyone else was. I remember one time we all went skydiving and Lucy and I were terrified to jump, but Alice went first with no problem. It shocked me to see her this way.
    "What just happened?" Alice murmured.
I moved cautiously towards her, and we all shared a warm embrace. Sobbing, I barely heard Lucy through the tears,
"Promise we will stay together, and find a way to get out of this, please?"
I nodded, unable to say anything through the tears. I looked to Alice, but it seemed she wasn't aware of what was happening. Her eyes were glassy and she stared at nothing.
"Alice?" I muttered.
"Oh no I think she's in shock!" Lucy exclaimed. I didn't argue because she is a surgeon, and knew what she was saying. We had no time to react; right then I heard a crash, and the next thing I knew the apartment was ablaze!
The home I had shared with my best friends, where we had made memories-good and bad, was quickly destroyed. The fire ate the carpet with its hungry mouth. Swallowing everything in it's path. Suddenly I reacted. While Lucy stared at the fire with awe, I grabbed the fire extinguisher from the kitchen and started a battle. I sprayed the fire as much I could, but nothing worked. The fire was ruthless, eating away at everything. I shook Lucy and she startled, but seem to realize what happened. We raced toward the door, and we were almost out when I suddenly realized something.
Alice was left behind. When I turned back, I realized it was too late and the couch where she sat was gone. The window behind the couch shattered. I saw ash and dust, but no Alice. I grabbed Lucy and ran, like my life depended on it, really it did. I didn't stop until I was almost a block away. Then I collapsed into a pile. I couldn't go on. Not without Alice. She was the closest thing I had to a real family. We were all orphans, Lucy, Alice, and I. Constantly moved from foster home to foster home, but somehow we stayed together through it all. How could all of that be erased with one fire? All of this felt like a nightmare, it just could not be real life.
I saw a human outline moving towards me. It was so dark I could not see its features. As it got closer, I got scared. I grabbed the nearest weapon, a  crowbar. I raised it fiercely. Lucy cowered behind me. Then as the figure got closer, I saw it was Alice. She was alive. She limped towards me covered with ash. I saw tears streaming down her face, leaving streaks of skin in a field of ash and dust.
"Alice? I....We....You were dead. How did you escape?" I questioned.
"The window," She cried in a raspy voice.
Then I remembered, the window had been broken. Leaving no time for chit-chat I ordered,
"We need to find a shower to clean off, then we are going to stop the sun."
I headed toward the pool I knew was around the corner of my block. The pool Alice, Lucy, and I swam in together each summer. I unlocked the gate with my members key and headed into the locker room. Lucy and Alice close behind. I had the best shower of my life. Even though it was rushed and afterwards I had no clothes to change into, or so I thought.
While I was in the shower Lucy had found lifeguards locker room filled with spare clothes. She handed me a sweatshirt and leggings. I threw them on and took my clothes to the sink to attempt to somewhat clean them.
When Lucy and Alice were done, we headed outside. Away from the safety of the locker rooms. Outside there were riots. People crowded the streets. Mobs shouting angrily.
"Come on, we will be safe at the library. The parking garage is close by  we can get my car and drive there," Lucy suggested. I announced,
"We can come up with a plan to stop this mayhem, I know we can find a way!"
Alice just nodded and we were on our way. Barely holding on to each other to keep from getting separated as we walked through the mobs of people. We arrived to the parking garage to find it empty of all, cars even Lucy's, there was just one covered in the very corner. I wouldn't have even seen it as it was covered with black tarp and hidden in a corner, but Lucy pointed it out. Alice rushed over to take the tarp off and I went to the office to look for the keys.
Please let there be keys please, please, please, I pleaded with no one. I tore apart the office to find nothing but lint and gum. Distressed I called out,
"I can't find any keys and I looked everywhere." My voice was squeaky and unlike my own, I realized I was crying again. Then Alice called out,
"I found them! They are in the car over here!"
I rushed over and sure enough in the ignition sat the keys. It looked like they were expecting us to be here. Needless to say it unnerved me. We piled into the car, which turned out to be an old blue Volvo. Then Alice turned the key, there was no change, no sound of an engine spurring to life.
"The engine won't turn over!" Alice exclaimed.
"Can you fix it? You used to be a mechanic before you quit," I inquired.
She nodded, and then jumped out of the car to the hood. Lucy climbed to the front and turned the key the opposite way suddenly the car lit up. The radio turned on to a jazz station, and the headlights flashed on. Alice startled and jumped she then closed the hood and opened the back. When she got in the car she commanded,
"Let's go."
Then we were off. We reached the parking lot entrance to find it blocked by the mob. I was sure we were stuck, and it seemed so did my friends. Suddenly Lucy exclaimed,
"We can go through the employee entrance, it leads to an alley, I used it once when I was running late-with special permission, of course."
She spun the car around and sped off, down a ramp and then up another, all of a sudden we were outside. Then she maneuvered the car through the mobs and down the streets, through back alleys, until we finally were at the library.
We got out of the car and I realized how hot it was 90 degrees at least, normally Octobers in New York had a high of 40. Then again, none of this was normal.
We promptly ran up the steps of the library to find it locked. Lucy then tapped the grand door in a code of some sort and it swung open. She sauntered into the library, like she owned the place, while Alice and I just stood there staring at her.
"What the....." I turned to Alice for some sort of explanation, but she had none and just shrugged. We both walked into the building to find everyone clapping for us. Well, really it seemed more for Lucy. She looked around beaming, then headed up a some stairs to a stage I know wasn't there before. She boomed through a microphone,
"Hello fellows. It is I your leader Lucy and the time we have all trained for is here. We must save the world! Now who is with me?" The crowd went wild and she continued, "I have my friends Alice and Beth here today," she motioned for us to come onto the stage,
"I believe they will be great help for our mission." She handed me the microphone,
"Uh hi. My names Beth," I looked to Alice for support, but she seemed to be silently laughing, great. With no way out of this I kept going, "Okay look I just learned about the sun and it's fiery end, I have no idea how to stop it! I am human, we are all human how do you stop something natural like this? We can't control the sun or it's end, we can only prep. I guess all we can do now is build underground, but trust me we cannot stop this!"
  I looked down at their faces expecting to find defeat or sadness, but instead I saw confusion and  maybe even amusement.
"Uh, I may have um not um told them," Lucy stuttered. For the first time since we had got to this place she seemed nervous, scared even. The crowd surprisingly, was silent while Lucy explained herself,
"I really need to explain myself if you would let me." She looked at Alice and I for approval, but we just shrugged so she continued, "About a year ago I was recruited by a special intelligent agency. They told that one day the sun would explode. They knew this because they had accidentally set it off. I was called in to prepare the world. These people were carefully selected. They are all great people of our society, doctors,  heroes, firefighters, police, and more.
Everyone here will help US save the world!" She smiled seeming sure she had convinced us, but then she noticed I was just standing there. My mouth opening and closing like a fish's, I was shocked.  Who could blame me? My best friend just told me the sun exploding was caused by an accidental set off? I pinched myself, just to make sure this wasn't all a dream. When nothing happened, I was forced to face facts, this was real.
"H-how are we going to stop this colossal accident?" Alice asked, not really to anyone in particular. I had no idea how any of this would work, but Lucy did.
In her most confident voice she started to say, "Don't worry we have plenty of......"
Then there a BOOM! Suddenly everything was ablaze. There was no more time. I watched as the world was hit with fire balls. They shot down like bullets, bringing the ultimate doom to the world. Nothing could stop it, and nothing could save you. It truly was the apocalypse. Then just as soon as everything had caught fire, everything went black.
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    "Here we put to rest Beth Mark. An orphan who never woke up from her coma. May she rest in peace forever in our minds," The priest continued, but no one was listening. In the back row sat two girls. One cried and the other stared off into the distance. They both could not fathom how Beth could have died. They hadn't thought she wouldn't wake up. It was only a bad fall she should've woken up. When the doctors told the girls they said Beth was too far gone. A lost cause.