Eight Minutes

Six minutes left: Remi

I get up, even if there's no point in trying I've never been one to give up. I have to try, even if everyone else says there's no point.

Clyde is staring at me, trying to figure out what I'm thinking. I don't really know myself.

"What are you doing?" He asks, raising an eyebrow at me like I'm a small child thinking that my toy has come to life. "Remi?"

"I don't have any ideas yet, but there's no point in just sitting around waiting to die!"

"Remi, I trust you, but there is nothing we can do! It would take ages to get out of our solar system and we only have..." He glances at the nearest alarm, narrowing his eyes to see the ever decreasing number, "five minutes and thirty eight seconds."

"It just seems so hopeless." I say, resting my forehead against the cool class of the bus shelter. "They can't just leave us here like we have some sort of disease, there's nothing wrong with us."

I notice how the conversation is going round and round in circles.

"Who's they, Remi? They don't exist! We are all trapped, every single person is going to die. Full stop."

"It's such a big full stop." I say, almost to myself but I can sense Clyde listening. I do have a tendency to just talk about nothing. "I mean, always little full stops are dotted around, you can't avoid them but this is such a big one!" I mutter to myself for a few seconds then look up to see Clyde yawn.

"Boring you am I?" I ask, teasingly.

"No no, of course not! I woke up at three in the morning this morning so I'm just a bit tired!" He replies.

I smile and almost forget that the world is going to be destroyed in...four minutes fifty-six seconds.

"I'm going to miss you Clyde." I say, struggling to form the shapes of the words through my sudden tears.

He smiles painfully, "Ditto." He manages then hugs me. I lean my head on his shoulder, soft on his dressing gown, and close my eyes. "I wish time would just stop. Right here. At least we'd still be alive."

"It doesn't work like that." He argues, "If we stop one clock another is just ticking away to out death."

I reluctantly pull away from him, "Yeah, but what harm would stopping one clock be?" He stares at me, "Um, illegalness?"

I continue, "More importantly, what fun would stopping one clock be!"

He rolls his eyes, "Nah, I'm good."

"Aw, come on Clyde! The police have way better things to do than run after us!"

He bites his lip, "Ugh, fine, but if we get into trouble I'm putting all the blame on you!"

"Fine!"

"Fine."

We stare up at the nearest alarm, now at four minutes twenty seven. It's high up on the wall of our house, fixed in between two lamps. It hurts to look at the timer, slowly ticking down.

Clyde gives me a leg up and I cling onto a pipe. Pulling myself up with the help of Clyde, stretching his arms out underneath my foot, I take a deep breath and get my knees onto the pipe. Sliding my fingers down the wall until I find a spot where my fingers fit into a crook I pull myself up until I am standing up on the pipe.

Clyde cheers from below me.

"Be careful though Remi!"

"Why?" I laugh down at him, "What's the point?"

He laughs and shakes his head at me.

I turn my head back to the wall and shake the alarm.

"You need to unscrew it!" Calls Clyde.

"But I don't have a screwdriver!" I say, my jaw aching from laughter. I have now completely forgotten about the whole, world-going-to-end-in-four-minutes thing.

The alarm doesn't seem to be coming off. I settle for whacking it with my fist, breaking the stopwatch. I tried.