Before The End

The Beginning Before The End

I stepped out of the door of the apartment building which was now my home. It was not winter yet but the mornings were starting to get colder. The cold was greater than what I had expected and I ended up hugging myself to feel warm. It was stinging my face but I liked the way it did. I looked up at the sky. The sun had just risen and the purple tint of the night sky mixed perfectly with the organge of the morning sun to form an amazing sight. I sighed to myself. About an year later I would never see something like this again.

I began walking towards the bus stop. After all the messes were settled, the ARC had insisted that we students go back to school and continue until it was 'The End' as we had come to call the last day of Earth. They had promised us a life after all this and we chose to trust them. We didn't have much of a choice not to. They were our one and only hope.

Today school was starting again for the bunch who had moved to New Lavens, my family being one of them. All of this felt totally different for me. Far more different than what I had expected. I was one of those people who had never moved and this made it way more harder for me to get used to the new surroundings. No one I knew well were moved to New Lavens. But I didn't have much expectations. I almost had none. I didn't want anything much from this place.

Even though school wasn't to start till nine I chose to get there much earlier. I didn't like our new place at all. None of our old things belonged there. We didn't belong there. Everything felt out of place and it made me feel uncomfortable and highly depressed. So I chose to always go out or stay at the rooftop, the only place in the entire building that I liked. Today too I took up the chance to leave the apartment and got out early. Even though this meant that I would reach the school much earlier than others would, I didn't mind.

I looked at the time. It was exactly seven. There was no one else at the bus stop. I sat down on the bench and pulled out my earphones to wait for a bus to Reels, the place where the school was.

A few minutes later, I saw a bus approaching. I put down my ear phones and waited till it stopped. A middle aged woman got out and walked past me. I went closer and asked the old driver whether the bus would stop at Reels. He nodded and so I got on. As my eyes searched for an empty seat they scanned by the faces of the others in the bus. The whole bus had an atmosphere of stillness. No one spoke. Some were sleeping. Others just looked at me expressionless and some were busy in deep thought. The cold became even more intense. I finally found an empty spot near the back of the bus. It had three seats and none of them were occupied. So I walked ahead and sat at the seat nearest to the window.

I pulled my earphones out of my bag and put them back on. I closed my eyes. The song playing in my ears made me feel at ease. I opened my eyes, and decided to check my bags for the documents that I needed today.

I looked at the certificate with my name and details written in it. In block letters was my name, Skye Woods and the details about who I am in this temporary world. But in the end to everyone I was just another teenager caught up in the unexpected apocalypse. Just another sixteen year old whose life had changed amongst millions.

I gripped on the handle of the seat in front of me. Everything was happening way too fast. It wasn't that long ago since I had been with my friends in my school skipping classes to hang out at the rooftop. But now I was in a much different place off to a new school on a bus with strangers.

I opened my eyes and looked outside. The bus had already began to move. I watched the buildings slowly move past me. But the bus unexpectedly stopped jerking me forward. The moment I came back to my senses, I raised my head extending my neck as much as I could to see what the hell had almost given me an heart attack.

I saw the bus door open and close. Someone had got in. I could see the top edge of a boy's hair. The dark hair felt weirdly familiar. After a few seconds I knew exactly why. I could hear my heart beat in my chest. It was threatening to jump out.

He hadn't changed from the last time I saw him. The dark hair, the green eyes that weren't bright or shiny but were so dark that you were almost drawn to them. He was now a bit taller but he was still shorter than most people I knew. His skin was darker and his shoulders broader. But I was sure it was him.

As soon as his head turned his eyes met mine. I could feel the bus was moving again but I couldn't care less about it. I was brought back to my classroom two years ago. It was the first day of school and our new homeroom teacher was already in class and was half way through introductions when I suddenly noticed a pair of blue converse near the door. I looked up and a pair of green eyes were staring back at me.

It was the same green eyes and same dark hair in front of me now but that classroom no longer existed. Just like the fact that the classroom didn't exist what was happening now shouldn't have happened. It was supposed to be a different life. That was what I was told. What I believed. But the fact that he was walking towards the back of the bus and had stopped at my seat proved that my life wasn't completely new. I looked around frantically checking if there was any other seat in the bus. But there wasn't. He was going to sit next to me.

He looked at me gesturing whether he could take the seat. I nodded and he sat down.

It felt uneasy. The whole atmosphere was awkward. Yes, I knew him. But we never actually did talk in the past. Ever. But I knew him and I was pretty sure he knew me. I didn't dare to start a conversation. I wasn't ready to drag myself in to the past. Even though it was a tiny insignificant part of that past. I was searching my bag again for the earphone when I suddenly heard my name.

'Skye... right?

I turned to see that he was looking at me.

'Um.. yeah.'

'I'm Luke.'

'I know.