Credits & Dedications

•  Cover lineart and concept, idea help, Eve design, emotional support - Elliot Summerfield
•  Cover edits - Elbow Davey
• Beta reading, idea help - Connie Reed
• Thank you Cocteau Twins for being my background music for 80% of the time I was writing this
• Thank you to me for actually finishing a project for once in my life
• Dedicated to anyone who has ever had to deal with an evil lesbian situationship. We are God’s strongest soldiers

NOTE: I would not recommend reading this if you are easily offended by themes of sacrilege and/or manipulation. That being said, thank you for reading and have fun! ♥

Never will I forget the day when I woke up to silence.

Typically, when you live in a city, there is noise. Noise everywhere. Yelling, honks of cars, cats^[a] fighting – you name it, it’s been heard outside of my apartment. When you live in the city, you eventually get used to it. It becomes your background noise; the hectic, messy soundtrack of your everyday life. This is something that everyone knows.

Yet there I sat at 6:00 AM on a Tuesday morning to the sound of nothing.

Terror would be an understatement for what I felt at that moment. Confusion wouldn’t quite cut it either. All I knew was that something was wrong. The uneasy feeling spread through me more and more every day, gnawing bitterly at my skin.

At first I thought I had gone deaf, but I had definitely heard my alarm go off less than a minute ago, and when I shuffled around to pull my blanket around my shoulders I heard the way the fabric moved. Maybe I was just insane. In this world, it wouldn’t be surprising. Maybe that was it.

I looked out my window. A cold, empty street greeted me in response. The realization dawned on me that there was no one. And that is when the dread fully settled into my heart. Until this day, it still remains burrowed.

I was never one to believe in God. I don’t know exactly why; I just wasn’t someone who believed in things like that. I wasn’t a firm nonbeliever, though. I was more of an Agnostic, or something along the lines. I don’t really know, because I never thought much about my beliefs. I never put much thought into anything that represented me individually, to be honest. I was always doubtful that someone who was supposed to be so kind and loving would allow all of the cruelty in the world to continue. It was an optimistic way of looking at the world, and one that didn’t quite fit in with my mindset. I saw the world as it was. After that day, however, I became certain that the kind, loving being of warmth and light described by Christians was a lie. Only a cruel, horrible being could subject one to the torment of being completely and hopelessly alone on a planet that was supposed to be bustling with life, without even a pitiful scrap of an explanation left behind. But there was no cruel, horrible being either. If there was, they probably would have shown themselves by now. This was simply Mother Nature’s wrath. Humanity dying out was always something that would inevitably happen. I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon.

For the next couple of days, I stayed trapped in my stupid empty apartment in my stupid empty world. I had looked outside. I had looked throughout the entire apartment. I had looked under what felt like every abandoned car and lonesome bench I could find in the entire area. There was no one. I couldn't even find any animals. The cats that normally fought outside, keeping me up in the middle of the night with their high-pitched wails, had completely disappeared along with the entirety of the human race. Any sort of fauna was gone.

Flora, however, was a different story. Plants were everywhere. There were already weeds growing in the sidewalk cracks, vines climbing every skyscraper, trees sprouting out of nowhere. It would have been beautiful if not for the deep feeling of disturbance I felt whenever I looked outside at the world of silently blossoming greenery. I immediately knew in my heart that something was wrong. It was human instincts. The quietness was bitter and cold and taunting, only serving as a lack of once was.

In those days, I began losing myself. ^{[b][c][d][e][f]}

I feared leaving my apartment because I didn't want to encounter what could possibly be out there. If everyone had vanished, it had to be for a reason^[g]. If I ventured out any farther than I had gone before, I felt for certain that I would meet my own doom, disappearing just like the rest.

I had limited food, limited water, limited everything, and technology refused to work. Electricity wasn't working either, so I was always in horrible darkness, and my food had begun to go bad. Worst of all, I had not a single damn clue what was going on. For all I knew, the entire world had abandoned me and left me with not a single scrap of an explanation.

I was alone, and for all I knew, everyone I had ever known and loved was dead. I was wholeheartedly convinced I was going to die.

And that’s when I met Her. She had come to me less like a knight in shining armor or a dazzling guardian angel and more so something like the grim reaper, or perhaps the angel of death. A strange woman shrouded in mystery. Dark in complexion, and yet somehow seeming to always glow. My light in the dark.

The first glimpse of hope.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

ACT ONE

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

The trunk opened effortlessly with a satisfying click. I nervously looked around me for what must have been the fifth time that minute, double and triple and quadruple checking that there really wasn’t anyone around. It was only about a week into whatever this phenomenon of everyone in my city disappearing was, and I had already turned to stealing from someone else’s car. I knew I was going to run out of food and supplies soon, and it wasn’t like anyone else was there. I still couldn’t help feeling like a criminal doing it.

I ran my hands over a plastic bag of some kind of freeze-dried food, but quickly got interrupted by the sound of steps behind me.

Shit.

“Hello?”

I turned around and my eyes were met with none other than another living, breathing person. Relief and panic flooded through me simultaneously. Thank god I wasn’t the only other one alive, but how the hell was I supposed to explain what I was doing now? What if this was the only other person alive and I had already fucked up our chances of becoming allies?

Immediately dropping the food and shutting the trunk, I turned around and smiled awkwardly with my hands held up to show that I wasn’t holding anything, though it may have doubled as a gesture of surrender.

“Sorry! Sorry, I didn’t realize that you- I, uh- I didn’t mean to steal, I just didn’t know that this car belonged to someone because, well, um-,” I cut myself off, scanning the dark pavement below our feet as I desperately looked for a way to explain myself that was believable without making me look insane. What was I supposed to say?-- that everyone else in the world had suddenly disappeared which led me to naturally presume that they were dead or missing or something that I apparently just hadn’t gotten the memo about, but it turns out that I was actually wrong because there was now a living breathing person standing right in front of me? Maybe I was insane.

I opened my mouth to further defend myself, but as soon as my eyes trailed upwards to actually look at the person in front of me, my train of thought was lost. Or maybe it had less so gotten lost, and more so had flown off of the rails, tumbled down a cliff, landed in the middle of the ocean and then promptly exploded.^[h]

Standing in front of me was, without exaggeration, the most alluring woman I had seen in my life. Dressed in a leather jacket and a white dress that miraculously was still clean, she pushed her sunglasses onto her head and gazed upon me with eyes that seemed to pierce right through me in a matter of seconds. I wanted to look away but I couldn't, in the same way you might feel looking at an optical illusion. Her expression was blank, but I could pick up on a hint of amusement in her dark eyes as she stared back at me.

        “I know everyone else disappeared. You don’t need to explain yourself,” she deadpanned, and I let out a sigh of relief without even thinking. Her voice was soft and angelic with a hint of something else that I couldn’t quite place.

        “Right. Sorry.”

        She just nodded in response, with an obnoxiously charming smirk thrown in for good measure.

        We stood there for an awkward few moments before I decided to embarrass myself even further. ^[i]“Sorry, I- You’re real, right? I haven’t seen anyone in a while, so I just…”

Her lips tugged into an even wider smile. Clearly, she found the state of awkward panic I was in as a result of having zero social interaction for the past week either endearing or amusing, and it was difficult to tell which. “Well, I certainly hope I am.”

I bit my lip awkwardly. “I'm not- I promise I'm not crazy. I just haven't-”

She cut me off early, finishing my sentence. “You haven't seen anyone for a long time?”

My eyes widened a bit, relief flooding into me at the knowledge that I really wasn’t crazy – although maybe it was selfish to be relieved at that. Maybe it would be better for me to be crazy. I’d certainly prefer that over this scenario of a completely empty city being real. I didn't say anything back, instead opting for a nod.

The taller girl laughed – a sound that wasn't far from a carefully-strummed harp. “Did you listen to anything I just said?”

I fidgeted behind my back and looked away with a shameful shake of my head. “Not really.”

“I said I know everyone else disappeared. I have been looking for other people for ages, so,” she paused, eyes slowly moving up to land on me. “This is actually quite a pleasant surprise. Even if you were stealing from my car only a moment ago.”

I laughed awkwardly as she smirked once more. Something about my expression must have made her think that I still wasn’t convinced, because slowly, she walked towards me. Amused at my nervousness, she walked forward and gently touched my shoulder, and it felt like shooting stars and flowers and waves crashing into the shore. She smiled, and it felt like fireworks and birthday cake and the sun. Undeniably, her touch was real. More than real.

“Does this convince you?”

I nodded, staring up at her. Something about her was so intriguing, and it wasn't just her beauty. There was something else there, and I didn't know what it was. Was it because she was the first other living creature I had seen in weeks, let alone the first living human? I didn't know. I stood there like an idiot as I tried to figure out why it felt like I had known this stranger all my life.

We stared at each other for a beat, and then she lowered her voice, adopting a more serious expression. “Come with me,” she whispered.

I blinked, confused. “What?”
        She took a step back and gestured towards her car. “I have been scouring the whole country looking for others, searching for clues about what happened and whatnot. By no means do you have to join me, but it would be lovely to have some company. Plus, I do have plenty of food and resources. More than enough for two people.”

I stared at her, not knowing what to say. I was overjoyed to finally meet someone else; to finally have confirmation that I wasn’t truly completely alone…and I did want some company as well. I had always wanted to leave my city behind. To a lonesome office worker, running away and starting my own life was the ultimate dream. Maybe I would fake my own death. Maybe change my name and identity completely. There would never be a better opportunity than this. And this stranger was mysterious and ethereal and I was dying to know more about her.

In this moment, though, that’s all that she truly was: a stranger. This was a woman I knew absolutely nothing about, and she was already offering to run away together. For all I knew, she could be a serial killer on the run. She could be the reason everyone else was gone. My mind and my heart were on opposing sides, but I knew I had to let my mind win. I was an adult, and I knew better than to go off and travel the world with a stranger.

With hesitance, I forced myself to shake my head. “I’m sorry. I just,” I paused. “I don’t even know you, is all.”

        She nodded understandingly, expression unreadable. “That is alright. I understand.”

        “Sorry,” I said again. I didn’t know what else to say. I felt bad for the fact that she was going to be alone again, and that I was too.

With a final smile, I began walking back to my apartment. It was fine. We could go on our respective journeys alone. I wished the best for her, but I could do this on my own. It was a short-lived interaction that proved to me that there was in fact at least one other human being left  in the world. That was all it was.

In the distance, I heard her start up her car.

And then I was running, and soon it was a sprint, and soon we were face-to-face once more.

“How much food did you say you had again?”

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

We sat in silence for what felt like forever. I was anxious, and understandably so. I didn't want to stare, but I couldn't help looking over at the woman next to me whenever her eyes were focused on the empty road ahead.

We were in a convertible with the top down, which felt inappropriate for the apocalypse. The moon shone down on her, illuminating her hair and skin with a delicate softness; a real life silver lining. She looked put together and calm, which was a stark contrast to the horribly unkempt hair and dark circles I saw when I accidentally caught a glimpse of the rearview mirror. I tried to ignore my reflection after that. It didn't look like me anymore. I felt unrecognizable. I wasn't sure how anyone could think I was anything but insane when I looked so disheveled, yet every once in a while she would still look over at me and smile. I didn't know why.

She looked so cool, so tough, so otherworldly, as if she didn't have a single care in her mind. Yet when she looked at me there was a certain softness in her eyes; some kind of fondness as if she also felt she had known me for years. A softness that cupped my face and brushed a thumb across my cheek gently, saying, It’s okay. You’re not alone anymore. I had no reason to trust this woman and yet, for some unknown reason, everything about her felt safe.

Eventually, I broke the silence, unable to keep the curiosity off my mind. I needed to know.

“Why did you ask me to come with you?”

She kept her eyes on the road in front of her, expression unchanging. “What, do you not want to?”

“No, I just…” I paused, trying to find the words. “I don't understand. I don't even know you. Why are you saving me?”

She simply shrugged in response. “I wasn't about to leave an innocent person to die. Or to be lonely, or whatever you were doing out there.”

I leaned back in the passenger seat, staring at building after building after building. Everything empty. Everything gone.

“Why me?” I muttered.

“Hm?”

“Why me? Why do you care about me, specifically? I'm just a stranger.”

For a moment she looked over at me, and I saw that same softness. In that little moment, time seemed to stand still.

Then she looked away again. “I've been looking for other people for days. You're just the first person I found is all. Nothing special, really.” She adjusted her hands on the steering wheel. “I apologize if you were expecting a bigger answer, but it's the truth.”

I didn't reply. For some reason, I didn't believe her.

“What about you, then? What's your deal? Do you just go around and save people, or what?”

“I've been traveling around and looking for anyone else since everyone around me vanished. Then I saw you rummaging through my car while I was at the gas station. It was almost sort of cute, in a raccoon ^[j][k]sort of way,” she teased. I felt my face grow hot. “You looked so desperate. I wasn't just going to leave you there.”

I didn't know how to respond. I felt as if I should thank her, but something about the way she was speaking about me felt as if it had flown straight over the land of friendly teasing and landed in the ballpark of just plain condescending. A period of silence passed. I crossed my arms, eyeing her with suspicion as I took in the details of her appearance once more.

“You're awfully clean for the literal apocalypse, you know.”

She shrugged. “I already lived alone before. I suppose taking care of myself is just a force of habit.”

“So did I,” I countered.

She didn't continue the conversation after that. We were silent for the next few minutes. Even if I felt like I trusted her, at the same time I logically knew I shouldn't. I was trying my best to be suspicious of her, and I didn't try to hide it. Perhaps that wasn't the best for friendliness, or whatever I was going for. Perhaps it was time to change the topic.

“Sorry. Um, I don't think I asked before – what's your name?”

“Evangeline^{[l][m][n][o][p][q][r][s]},” she answered, and the sun lit up her features right as she spoke. How dramatic. “Eve^[t] for short.”

“Fancy,” I observed. Of course she had some kind of long, elegant name like that. I couldn't imagine her having a normal name, to be honest.

She looked at me expectantly, as if waiting for somethi- Oh. When someone you just met tells you their name, you're supposed to tell them your name too. I was still a little rusty with social interaction. It had been a while.

“Blythe,” I said in response to her silent question. “I'm Blythe.”

Shit, was I supposed to give my last name too? “Blythe Beliphon^[u].” Was I being too formal? Oh god. Why did conversation have to be so difficult all the time?

“Fancy too, it seems. Sounds like a princess.”

I squinted. “A princess?”

She smirked. “Yeah. Like, your majesty, Princess Beliphon. Should I start calling you that?”

I made a face. “...No. I'm not related to any royalty, as far as I know.” I thought of my family, so obnoxiously casual and American. We were just about the furthest thing from royalty.

For a moment, I wondered if they were okay. I buried that thought as soon as I felt a twinge in my heart. My hand instinctively reached to clutch the locket underneath my shirt, and I forced it to land back in my lap. I didn't want to think about that now.

“Reminds me of Bellerophon,” she mused.

“Gesundheit?”

The stranger laughed. “A character from Greek mythology, silly. The one who tamed Pegasus.^[v]”

“Oh,” I said, indeed feeling silly. “I think the name rings a bell, now that you say that. So you’re into that sort of thing?”

She nodded, flashing a perfect-toothed smile. “Mythology is always interesting.”

I let my arm hang out of the empty space that had replaced the car window and leaned into the feeling of the wind blowing through my fingers. The air was so much fresher than I had ever experienced. There was no more smoke to pollute it anymore, and we were out of the city as well. I hadn't been away from the city for a long time.

I closed my eyes and leaned back, speaking again. “Where are we going, anyway?”

She laughed, and something about the sound was so charming and full of life that I completely forgot all about how I was supposed to be suspicious of her. “You sure do ask a lot of questions, huh?”

I stifled a smile. “Tell me! I need to know I'm not being…I don't know, kidnapped or whatever. For all I know, you could totally be kidnapping me right now.”

She shook her head, grinning like I was being absolutely ridiculous. “I am not kidnapping you.”

“Tell me where we're going, then.”

She paused, as if searching for an answer. “Just…anywhere, really.”

“Anywhere?”

“Yeah. Like…,” she paused in concentration again, like she was searching for a word. “A road trip. I do have a few stops planned, though.”

A road trip felt a bit inappropriate for our situation.

“Are you sure you're not kidnapping me?”

She snickered. “I assure you I am not.”

I leaned further back into the leather car seat and crossed my arms, lifting an eyebrow. “Sounds like something a kidnapper would say.”

“What would be the point in kidnapping you? I haven’t seen a single person throughout the whole area. What am I going to do – hold you for ransom?”

I shrugged. “Maybe you're secretly a zombie.”

She sighed in mock exasperation. “I assure you there are no zombies here.”

“Well, it definitely feels like we’re in a zombie apocalypse movie, doesn’t it?”

Eve gave a half-hearted shrug. “I suppose. I’ve never seen one.”

There was an awkward moment of silence before we got back on topic, Eve deciding to speak again. “Anyway, my plan is to drive back to my house, and look for any potential clues on the way. It would make for a perfect shelter, at least for the short-term.” She paused, and then added quietly, “Maybe even the long-term, too.”

I ignored whatever that last bit was supposed to mean. “And how far away is that?”

She sighed and bit her lip. “It’s estimated to take…a little over a week. But I’m not sure how traffic will be with all these empty cars parked in the middle of the road, so that could affect the time.” She swerved around an abandoned pick-up truck in front of us on the road as if to highlight her point.

My jaw dropped like a cartoon character. “A week?! What the hell are you even doing so far out?”

“I was visiting the city when it happened. I like to travel,” she explained, and then frowned. “I certainly wasn’t expecting it to go so wrong this time.”

I buried my face in my hands and groaned. I was being a bit dramatic, I’ll admit, but I’m sure anyone in my situation would be too.

“It’s alright, Blythe,” Eve cooed. Her voice was almost soothing enough for her reassurance to reach me. Almost. “I know my way around.”

“But it’s so far,” I complained, dropping my hands back down to the seat. In retrospect, it may have come off as childish whining, but there was real worry underneath. The question was if we could even survive until then. What about gas? Food? Water? Shelter? What if none of it was available? What then?

Eve looked over at me, a curious shine in her eyes. “Have you never wanted to see the world?”

I paused to think. I had always dreamed of running away and starting a new life somewhere. There was no denying that. “Yeah.”

“And this is the perfect opportunity to do that, is it not?”

I stared down at my hands resting in my lap. “Yeah. I guess so.”

She grinned, teeth as white and shining as the wild spark in her eyes. “Then let me show you it. We’ll be okay, I promise.”

I hesitated, and then allowed myself to smile back in response. “If you think so, Eve.”

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

I lost track of time after that. I don't know if it was one hour or four, but I know that as soon as we started talking, we didn't stop for a long time. It began with small talk: favorite animals, home life, careers, the like.

Eve lived alone. She had done quite a lot of job-hopping in the past because nothing really stuck – the opposite of my own life, ironically. When I asked what she did now, it felt like she was dodging the question. I took it she was unemployed.

I quickly found those topics to be boring after a while, and she caught on. That's when we moved on to theories.

“So…what do you think happened?”

Eve shrugged. “Maybe everyone went on a vacation.”

“I’m serious,” I frowned.

She sighed and adjusted her hands on the steering wheel awkwardly. “Honestly, I don’t know.”

I bit the inside of my cheek, and the mild iron taste in my mouth told me I had been doing so for a while without realizing. The fact that she had no idea either only contributed to the ever-rising anxiety in my chest that hadn’t gone away since that eerily quiet morning.

“I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable scientific explanation,” Eve reassured upon noticing my worried expression. “There always is.”

“Right,” I affirmed, forcing a smile.

“Perhaps there was some sort of an evacuation.”
        “And we just somehow missed the alert?”

Eve frowned. “It’s the only reason I could think of.”

I sighed and sunk back in my seat. “Maybe an alien abduction.”

“I thought you said to be serious.”

“Yeah, I know. Sorry,” I admitted, picking at my nails. “I guess I’m just trying to make myself feel better.”

Eve looked at me with a gentle smile and reached over to put a hand on my shoulder. Normally I would have told her to keep her eyes on the road, but the touch of another person felt nicer than I’d like to admit. “We’ll find out in time, okay? I’m sure of it.”

I nodded with hesitation. “Okay. Yeah. We will.”

We sat in silence for a minute before one of us changed the subject. I couldn’t help but feel dejected knowing we had come out of the conversation with more questions than answers.

We continued to talk until I had been successfully distracted – science, history, music, art, the like. We both seemed to prefer the deeper subjects. I didn’t understand her any more, but I did feel that I knew her a little better. For some reason, every word she said had me hanging on a thread. Everything she said made me want to know more.

Classical music was her favorite, but she liked a bit of everything. ABBA was a guilty pleasure, she said. Nobody should be guilty over that,^[w] I had responded.

She loved Renaissance paintings and romance novels. She had grown up playing in the forest and staring into the night sky. She had always wondered if something else was out there, she said – something bigger and grander than us. I realized I had never really stopped to think about that.

“I’ve never really been able to see the stars,” I admitted, not thinking much of what I was saying. “Only a few times when I traveled, to go to my grandparents’ house and stuff. Too much light pollution in the city, y’know?”

Eve gained a sudden determined expression and began to drive in a different direction, refusing to answer any of my questions when asked.

After a few minutes of driving, we stopped at a parking structure. I stared out in confusion.

“Come with me,” she ordered. I nodded without hesitation. She took my hand in hers and we ran up flights and flights of stairs, passing empty level after empty level until we reached the very top. A metal gate surrounded the empty lot.

Together, we sat down on the void of asphalt. It felt cold and rough underneath me. It smelled like dust.

She told me to look up, and so I did. I didn't speak for a minute. I only stared.

“There are so many,” I said eventually. My voice was quiet.

“How many, do you think?”

My eyes scanned the sky. “Hundreds. Thousands, maybe.”

She smiled – something I wouldn't have even noticed if it wasn't for the moon shining on her face and illuminating her features, lighting up her lips in a gentle silver. I sat still and wondered how the end of the world could possibly feel so peaceful^[x].

I looked back up at the sky when she noticed me staring. I forced myself to speak before she could get the chance to point it out. “When I was little, I used to think that the stars were dead people. Like, their…souls, I guess. Their spirits.”

A huff of air came out of her mouth – some sliver of a laugh, I suppose. “That's ridiculous.”

“I know,” I chuckled in response. “I couldn’t even see the stars. I thought it was just because no one had died yet.”

Eve continued. “Stars are burning balls of light and gas, helium and hydrogen, hundreds of light years away. Most of them are already dead – just little burnt out imprints of the past that we only see because our planet hasn't caught up with them yet.”

Wow, way to kill the mood, was what my mind said sulkily. Instead, what came out of my mouth was, “Doesn't that mean I was right in a way, then? The souls of dead stars, with their memories still in the sky. It's almost like a…memorial, or something. Like the universe's way of honoring them.”

“You’re poetic,” she smirked, yet I swore I could see some intrigue in her eyes beyond the sarcasm.

“English was my best class,” I responded, evoking a chuckle out of her.

I didn't know why, but I always felt a sense of accomplishment when I made her laugh. Maybe it was because of how ethereal she seemed next to me. It almost made me feel self-conscious, like all my flaws stood out boldly against the blinding light of her perfection. I had never had a friend so different from me before.

We both fell silent after that. I disliked the feeling of emptiness that the quietness gave off, so I spoke again as soon as I came to a realization. “Have you noticed there's more stars than there usually are? Like, a lot more.”

She didn't have much of a reaction. “It's because you're from the city, where there's lights everywhere, blocking out the stars. Out here is far away from everything. It's probably a lot more stars than what you're used to."

I decided to be content with that answer. It probably was best to leave out the fact that I had been to rural areas before that were devoid of light pollution but still didn't have a sky nearly as bright.^[y] For now, I pushed all of my worries aside and decided to focus on the moment.

We stayed there for a long time. Eventually, the silence had become peaceful rather than uncomfortable, and so I closed my eyes and listened to it. A world with no honks of cars, no sounds of people, no dogs barking or police sirens or airplanes flying overhead^[z]. It was a world I was unfamiliar with. In a strange way, though, it felt relieving.

I don't know how long we were there for. After a while, we got up and walked back to the car. The convertible had its top down, so we could see the stars and take in the nightly summer air.

 I didn't realize until then that I had never let go of her hand.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

The next morning, I woke up to silence. The droning car engine was the only consistent sound I could pick out. It was something I was still getting used to in this new, empty, confusing world.

“Morning,” chimed a voice next to me, and I turned to see my travel companion wide awake and still driving. Her hair was out of its usual braid, but aside from that, she looked completely normal. Nobody looked that perfect in the morning, though, prompting me to wonder if she had even slept at all.

I groaned and sat up from my car seat, which I had adjusted to recline as far back as it could go. As I forced the seat back to its usual position, I caught a glimpse of myself in the rearview mirror, and my fingers immediately fled up to my head to fix my tangled, inky mess of hair. I looked like a total wreck.

I tried not to let my embarrassment show. “Can’t we go to a hotel or something?”

“One step ahead of you, darling,” she replied dazzlingly, gesturing to our surroundings. The town we were in appeared to be small – and abandoned, obviously – but a large hotel stood out as it approached us, the building appearing to be surprisingly high quality. As high quality as an abandoned hotel can be, at least.

“Thank god,” I breathed out in relief, stepping out of the car as soon as she parked it.

We walked in together and looked around the lobby. The plush, velvet-covered seats, once clean and well-kept, were now coated with dust and leaves, clearly devoid of use for days if not longer. I carefully stepped over a flower growing out of the floor and walked towards the elevator.

“Blythe,” she called, and I turned around.

“You know that won’t work, right?” Amusement was clear in her voice. “We don’t have electricity.”

“Right,” I responded in a muttered embarrassment. In my head, I cursed myself for being tired and stupid enough to forget something so significant.

We walked up flights and flights of stairs. I sighed as we took a break for a few moments, my legs aching.

“Why can't we just use one of the rooms on the lower floors? It’s not like anyone’s in them anymore.”

She smiled and answered nonchalantly with, “The top floor has a balcony,” as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I groaned as we climbed yet another flight.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

Hesitantly, I turned an unnecessarily fancy shower knob. To my surprise, the  water sprung to life with only a few seconds’ delay. It became warm fast, too, which was even more surprising – how was there water with no electricity? I was glad, but it didn't make any sense. I made a mental note to myself to ask my companion about it later.

Instead of worrying about the inconsistencies of the hotel any further, I sighed and picked up a bottle of hotel shampoo. The strong scent of artificial vanilla filled the shower as it poured out of the bottle and into my hand. For whatever reason, my muscles ached and felt tense. It’s not like I had been too physically active for the past week. Maybe the stress of being one of the two only people that appeared to be alive was finally getting to me.

I still didn’t know why me and this odd woman were the seemingly the only people who had survived some kind of unexplained mass extinction. None of it made any sense. How could the entire human race just disappear like that? No bodies left behind, no clues. Nothing. And why, out of every human being, was I the one who survived? As cliché as it sounds, there truly was nothing special about me. I was nothing more than another lackluster adult living in the big city and working a nine-to-five job. I certainly didn’t have the skills needed to survive an apocalypse. Hell, I was barely surviving my regular life before. I knew so many people who would have been much better candidates than me. Yet here I was, living when I wasn’t supposed to. This whole new life was surreal, and I loathed it.

I carefully wrapped myself in a white towel and stepped out of the shower and into the hotel room. Despite how much she had seemed to want this room, my new roommate was nowhere in sight. There were clothes piled on the bed – whether they were placed there by her or if the hotel had provided them in every room was unknown to me. I went into the bathroom and put them on anyway, and was surprised at how well they fit me, both in size and style. All dark, muted colors – perfect for a dark, muted sort of world.

I stared at myself in the mirror when I was done. I searched my own eyes, riddled with exhaustion and dullness that had manifested into eyebags and undilated pupils. I stared at my lips, pale and chapped and undeniably suffering from dehydration. God, when was the last time I even drank water? I looked at the blemishes that had appeared on my face, unable to figure out if they were from stress or my complete lack of caring for myself for the past several days. My hair was wet and yet still tangled and matted even after being enveloped in coconut-scented conditioner, as if it was cursed to always stay that way. My body looked thin and frail, like my sickly pale skin was struggling to hide a skeleton underneath. I pulled my jacket further around me to avoid looking at it.

Eventually, I didn’t recognize myself, and the image felt less like a reflection and more like a stranger, staring through my eyes into my soul, mimicking my every action.

My hands were shaking, gripping the sides of the inappropriately clean porcelain sink. My nails had been bitten down to the quick. My dark nail polish had chipped and flaked off into unattractive geometric shapes. I hadn’t realized until I looked down. My throat hurt, and my eyes welled. There wasn't a thought in my head that pushed me to start crying; it just happened. No breaking point, only instinct.

I wiped the space under my eyes until the skin was red and sore in a futile attempt to get the tears to stop. They kept coming. I gave up and let myself cry, accepting it wasn't something I could stop.

Everyone I knew was dead. My parents, my friends, my cousins. Aunts and uncles, co-workers and acquaintances, ex-lovers and enemies. Everyone was gone, and there wasn't even a clue as to why. Everyone had disappeared, and this girl I was traveling with was acting like everything normal. How was I supposed to not be terrified? The entire fucking human race had vanished overnight, leaving me alone to face the revengeful wrath of Mother Earth. My life had changed completely overnight, and now I was trapped in a nightmare I couldn't wake up from. Realistically speaking, I was completely doomed. My only hope was a complete stranger whose true intentions I knew nothing about. She had invited me to come along with her, and yet every time I talked to her she felt a world away. Did she even care about any of this? Did she even care about me?

I turned on the sink, splashing ice cold water in my face and letting it drip down. I didn't want her to know I was crying. She would probably look at me weird, wondering why I was sad that all my family and friends and everyone I had ever known was gone for what was most likely forever. Did she even have attachments of her own? Was she just that skilled at hiding her emotions, or did she truly have not a single ounce of grief?

I dried my face and took a deep breath in and out, stepping out of the bathroom and back into the hotel room. I sat down on the bed to the left and pulled my locket out from underneath my shirt. I flicked it open and stared into the picture inside – a faded baby picture of me and my mom. Her holding me up with that beautiful smile. I stared at it until I felt numb. I had started forgetting what her face looked like.

I closed it and rubbed my thumb over the fake gold that had dirtied over the years. The ever-so-slightly raised B on the front was a texture that had become comforting and familiar. I used to rub it whenever I felt like I missed my family, because my mom had told me it would help. That we were always connected through the heart – whatever cheesy thing every mother tells their daughters. I missed them more than anything now.

Dad would know what to do. Mom would hold me and wipe away my tears. Charlie would tell a joke so stupid it would make me laugh. If I still had them, maybe I could get through this. But I didn’t. I didn’t have anyone except for Eve: a girl my family would have told me not to trust.

Everything felt so wrong. The world as I knew it was essentially dead, and here I was sitting on a foam mattress, shivering within the protection of a velvet comforter. I didn't deserve this luxury, especially not now. Shouldn't we have been doing something? Looking around for any traces of something that happened, planning out how we were going to survive when all our rations were gone? Even if there was nothing to be done, I still carried guilt with weight heavier than a boulder. My chest tightened and twisted painfully as I wondered, why did I have to be the one to survive? again and again like a mantra.

Then, there she was, the golden girl of the hour. Stepping off the balcony with a cigarette in hand, still dressed in the same outfit as before. I didn't even know she smoked. Her expression was completely deadpan. She took notice of me after a moment – she hadn’t even seen me at first, which I didn't blame her for, considering how impossibly still I was sitting. My whole body was painfully stiff.

“Hey, princess,” she greeted with a tone so light and casual it made me feel angry. How was she so okay with everything? Nobody in their right mind should have ever been okay in this situation, no matter how well put together they are. It wasn’t right to be okay when everything around you was wrong.

A mumble escaped my throat before I could stop it. “Do you even care?”

She turned her head towards me, cupping an ear. “What was that, dear?”

Within a second the anger had grown from a bud to a blossom, like the flowers that were taking over every man-made object in sight. “I said, do you even care?”

She paused, expression falling, and I immediately felt guilty. Her voice went quiet, and yet it still felt like there was an edge there. Maybe I was imagining it. “You think I don't?”

I failed to steady the shake in my voice. “From the way that you're acting, I’d say so, yeah.”

Her eyebrows furrowed in thinly-veiled exasperation, confusion turning to anger right before my eyes. “The way that I’m acting?”

“Y-You don't-,” I stammered, trying to find words to explain how I was feeling without sounding whiny and childish. “Everyone I know is dead, and it's like- it's like you don't even give a shit. You care more about having a five-star hotel all to yourself than you do for finding out why the entire population is gone!”

I didn’t know why I was lashing out at her like this. I normally wasn’t one to argue. I went along with everything that was given to me. I obeyed orders when they were given. This person was the only chance I had at staying alive. Truthfully, I had no idea what the hell I was doing.

She reached out and gently touched my shoulder, but pulled back quickly when I flinched. She said my name. I didn't look up, instead continuing to stare down at where my shaking fist clenched the luxurious bed sheet like a lifeline. She said it again, gentler this time.

“I do care,” she said, voice hovering just above a whisper. “Just because I don't show it does not mean it's not there. I care about the world and what is happening in it.”

Slowly, she reached out and cupped my cheek with her hand, thumb brushing along my cheekbone with gentle precision. “I care about you.”

I leaned into her touch unthinkingly, as if it was just automatic. How long has it been since I've been touched by another person at all? I wondered, but I didn't really want to know the answer.

“I'm sorry,” I murmured. I squeezed my eyes shut firmly so she didn't see the tears that were starting to form. Everything was terrifying, and my mind didn't know how to process it.

“It's alright. I'm sure this is hard for you – losing everyone, losing everything,” she comforted. “I don't blame you for being stressed.”

“I shouldn't have lashed out at you, though.”

“It's alright. Stress does that to people.”

I didn't know what to say, so I sighed and curled up on the bed.

Eve gently brushed my hair away from my face. “Let's forget about it all for now, okay?”

“I can't,” I mumbled into a pillow.

“Try,” she responded simply, as if it was the easiest thing in the world. “We can worry later. For now, you just rest. You look exhausted.”

Taking time off to myself when the world was ending felt selfish. I felt like I was letting down everyone who had died. Having the weight of billions of souls on my shoulders really was exhausting, though, and it was no use arguing any further.

“Okay,” I agreed, giving up. My voice sounded hoarse. My throat hurt from holding back tears.

She smiled with satisfaction and laid down next to me. I heard her sigh behind me and felt the warmth of her breath on my neck, and my eyes fluttered closed. Maybe it was okay to rest if only for a little bit.

She traced shapes and lines across my arm with her finger, as if mindlessly doodling on paper. “I do appreciate you, you know. I know I don't show it often, but I do.”

She smelled like flowers, but in a way that wasn't artificial like a perfume. It seemed natural, as if she herself were a rose in human form^[aa].

“Thank you,” is all I could manage to say in response.

“I mean it,” she pushed. I guess it didn't sound like I believed her. “I was so lonely before. It truly is nice to have another person with me.”

I nodded tiredly. “I'm glad too. I don't know where I'd be if I was still on my own.” I could guess, though, that I would probably be dead. It was depressing how codependent I had become. Could I even take care of myself anymore? My personal hygiene said otherwise.

“It's weird,” I whispered. “We only met a day or two ago, and yet I feel like I've known you my whole life.”

Somehow, I could tell without looking that she was smiling behind me. “Funny how that works, isn't it?”

“Yeah,” I mumbled back in reply. “Guess it's kind of hard to not be close with someone when you're the only two people left in the world.” I chuckled. “Literally.”

Her voice softened. “Don’t say that. There could still be others out there.”

“I doubt it.”

“I told you not to worry,” she scolded gently. I noticed that she had stopped tracing lines on my arm. I heard her shuffle around, sitting up.

“Okay, okay,” I murmured behind a poorly-covered yawn.

“It's getting late, and you're tired. Sleep now, Princess Beliphon,” she said softly. I couldn't help but giggle at the stupid nickname, and she did as well. “We have all the time in the world.”

I guess she was right about that part. No deadlines anymore. No danger. All the time in the world, I repeated to myself dreamily, ignoring the shame that came with it.

With that, she climbed into the bed opposite to mine and turned away from me. She sighed as she pulled the blankets over herself, getting comfortable.

I breathed out and closed my eyes. For the first time in years, I fell asleep with someone else in the room.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

I woke up bleary-eyed and confused. It took me a moment to remember where I was. Eve was gone.

I didn't know what time it was, but it was light outside, and I had the knowledge that a lot of time had passed, in the way you do when you fall asleep and have no dreams. Maybe I did and I just forgot them. I didn’t know.

Slowly, I rose out of the ridiculous king-sized bed and walked into the balcony. I leaned my arms on the railing and took in the morning air. It was already so much cleaner than before. I didn't think it would take so little time for the earth to start healing from the bruises humanity had placed upon it. It was like we were never there in the first place.

I think what I hated most was the silence of it all. There were no birds chirping, no sounds of traffic or distant conversations. That was what really made it terrifying. But if you closed your eyes and listened hard, you could hear the distant sound of a gentle breeze blowing through the grass and the trees, and that was better than nothing.

Slowly, I breathed out something of a sigh and forced my eyes open. It wasn't time to be sad and mopey. I could do that later. Right now, there was work to do.

Carefully, I left the hotel room and peered down the hall. The clean, carpeted floors felt inappropriate next to the eerie atmosphere of dozens of abandoned hotel rooms, one after another. Doors left open. Beds unmade. I stepped over flower petals and vines that had grown over the hallway floors. I have no clue how they managed to get inside let alone so high up in the building, and the incurious part of my mind decided it was best I didn’t know.

I picked up on a smell and immediately increased my pace, soon flying down the stairs. It smelled like burning. Shit. I had to find Eve. Frantically, I ran through the hotel’s lobby and into some sort of mini cafe. I followed the source of the burning through a door with a sign reading EMPLOYEES ONLY in bolded, blazing red letters – and to my relief, there my companion was.

Hectically, I called out, “Eve, we need to-,”

Eve was making pancakes.

I squinted. “What the hell.”

She looked over her shoulder and smiled casually. “Morning, Princess.”

I looked around. “But the- The burning smell, it was…”

“Oh, I forgot to flip them!”

I watched in horror as the perfect, faultless Eve wedged her spatula underneath a pancake and flipped it over to reveal a charred, pitch black pancake that appeared to be about to crumble into dust. “Drat, I think I burned it.”

I failed to stifle a snort, and soon, I had to reach out and steady myself against the counter to keep myself from falling over into a laughing heap.

Eve turned, looking completely innocent, eyebrows knit together in genuine confusion. “What?”

“You don’t know how to cook pancakes,” I observed in shock between wheezes.

“Nobody’s perfect, Blythe. We all have our flaws,” she retorted, placing a hand on her hip in mock offense.

“Jesus,” I sighed, shaking my head. “Let me show you.”

I reached over to the stove and started giving her directions – the right ingredients, which she had miraculously managed to mess up as well, pouring the batter onto the pan- no, flip it like this, not like that…

Eve had managed to make a mistake in about every step of the process, and I noticed her cheeks flushing red. In some weird way, it was nice to know that there was something she didn’t know how to do; something I was better at than her. It wasn’t that I was jealous or competitive, but rather that I was indulging in the relieving realization that she wasn’t really as perfect as she came off. She was a person, and she was on the same level as me.

Sometimes, when someone is your savior, it’s difficult not to put them on a pedestal. This was the one piece of wisdom I had picked up throughout my life. It was hard not to feel self-conscious next to someone like Eve. Her constant polished, put-togetherness; her hair never a strand out of place even on the windiest of days; the way she moved with such grace, and how each word she spoke felt carefully woven together with threads of silver and silk…All of it did nothing more than emphasize my awkwardness, highlighting the way my words stumbled over each other and ended up a tangled mess. But she found it endearing, I guess, or at least amusing, which gave some sort of comfort.

It really wasn’t that deep, though. It was just pancakes^[ab].

We sat down and ate together, after we finally ended up making something decent. Eve poked at her food with her fork, awkwardly looking down. I put down my fork and slowed my chewing, zeroing in on her face.

“Are you rich?”

She squinted up at me. “What?”

It dawned on me how weird of a question that is to ask. “Sorry, I just mean, like…” I paused to swallow back both my food and my words. “You clearly have never made pancakes before, or…probably any food, judging by that burnt monstrosity back there.”

I vaguely gestured in the direction of the trashcan where the ashy remnants of the failed breakfast lay. Eve muttered a complaint grumpily, but I continued anyway. “It doesn’t seem like you’ve even eaten them before, either.”

Eve looked down at her barely touched food.

“And you have this whole thing about you, like…you’re clearly not from the city. Or anywhere around here, really. You’re much too fancy for that. Like you’re above everyone, or something.”

I smirked at Eve’s flustered facial expression, enjoying the rare satisfaction of catching her off guard.

“Okay, stop. I am not rich,” she shot back, irritated. “I’m simply not from around here, just like you said. And I’m…not very used to people, I suppose.”

“Really? Where’s all that smooth-talking charisma come from, then?” I grinned and leaned my cheek into my hand as her flustered expression grew.

“That’s just how I am,” she gloated, quickly regaining that Eve-like composure. “Naturally a ladykiller.”

“Except there are no ladies around to kill,” I responded dryly.

“Except for you.”

Now it was my turn to get flustered. Was this friendly banter? A threat? Flirting?!^[ac]

“A-Anyway,” I stuttered, clearing my throat. “I guess I shouldn’t judge you. There are different cultures and all.”

“Right,” she responded in lackluster fashion. Suddenly all the flow of the conversation had died, as if I had hit a nerve, although I couldn’t figure out what was bad about what I said. Eve’s mysterious aura was much more frustrating than enchanting sometimes.

As she finally began to eat her breakfast, she fiddled with her hair. It had come out of its usual braid, brown waves cascading around her shoulders like a waterfall. It didn’t even look messy.

“Here, I can help,” I offered, standing up and walking over to her hesitantly.

She turned around and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “What are you doing?”

“Fixing your braid?”

I took her turning back around as an okay, gathering her hair in my hands. It felt like silk around my fingers.

We sat in silence for a while. Within that moment, I forgot all about the situation we were in. There was no apocalypse or grief. There was only us.

I looked up to see her setting down her fork on an empty syrup-stained plate. “What did you think?”

She stood up and pushed in her chair. “Not my usual thing, but I can see why you enjoy them.”

“Wait,” I protested. “I haven’t tied it yet!”

“It’s alright,” she responded calmly, taking her braid and smoothing it over her shoulder. “It has a way of staying in place.”

At this point, I had come to accept the ominous things she said without question. “If you say so.”

“I’ll be in our room,” she said, walking off towards the stairs.

She hadn’t looked directly at me at all in those minutes, I realized. I wrote it off as overthinking.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

        Soon, we were back on the road. The hotel was a perfect place of shelter, but we had to keep moving. At one point, we broke into a closed gas station to steal food and fuel. The gas pumps used a generator, so they were still functional without electricity. That might just be the luckiest thing to happen to us the whole week – besides being what were presumably the only two people alive, of course.

It was a nice day out. The summer air was warm but not too humid, and the flowers

actually looked more beautiful than threatening for once. The sky was a perfect, bold blue with wispy clouds swimming by. I'm sure there would be birds singing as well, if they still existed.

Eve suddenly pulled over and parked the car. I looked up to find we were quite literally in the middle of nowhere.

“Eve, where the hell did you take us?”

“It's a beautiful day outside,” she replied, as if that answered my question.

“So?”

“So, we should take this time to relax.”

I frowned as I followed her into the field we had parked next to. It was pretty beautiful,

had to admit. “We don't have time to relax.”

“A bit of downtime is not a sin,” Eve reassured me as she sat down. She gently ripped a dandelion from the ground – still blooming and yellow – and twirled it between her fingers absentmindedly, smiling. “After all, we have all the time in the world.”

I reluctantly sat down next to her. “Yeah, I guess you're right.”

She smiled and plucked another dandelion, intertwining the stems. I watched as her hands moved, adding more and more little flowers to her chain.

I laid down and rested my head against the grass for a minute as I watched. Then, I rolled onto my back and looked up at the sky. It was bright, and a little painfully so. I buried all my thoughts in the back of my mind as I watched the slow, monotone movement of the clouds. After a few minutes, Eve reached over to place her newly-made crown of daisies and dandelions in my hair. I let out a single bark of laughter as it flopped over my forehead, clearly too big. She laid down and turned her face towards the skies as if to join me, mimicking my position.

After a few peaceful, silent minutes, I felt the anxious urge to make conversation. “Do you see anything?”

Eve made a small noise of confusion in response.

“In the clouds, I mean.”

There was another beat of silence. “I see clouds,” she deadpanned.

I tittered, a mild surprise lining my voice. “Did you never look up and see things in the clouds as a kid? Like that one,” I pointed to a puffy white cloud in the middle of the sky with a large hump on its left. “That one is a snail.”

“But it's not a snail,” Eve corrected, as if I genuinely believed there to be a mollusk in the sky.

“Jesus, do you have no imagination? It's about the shape. Like an inkblot test.”

Eve made a little hm sound as if considering it, and I wondered how strange her childhood must have been for her to have missed out on experiences that I assumed were universal.

We sat in awkward silence for a while before she spoke, pointing upwards. “That one…sort of resembles…a mushroom?”

I grinned excitedly. “Yes! And that one next to it is, like, a weird squid!”

“I don’t see it,” she said, and she almost sounded sad about it.

I hesitated, and then reached over and grabbed her wrist. I lifted it up and traced around the shape on the edge of the cloud – a sort of lopsided triangle pointing to the right.

“That’s like the head. See how it’s pointed?”

I moved her hand, adjusting my grip a little further up her wrist. “And those are like the tentacles, see?”

She paused, and then burst into giggles. “This is so stupid.”

I let go of her arm, letting it hit the ground with a thump. “You just have no imagination!”

“Whatever.”

The soft grass moved to tickle the side of my face as I turned my head to look at her. She was already staring at me with those tender honey eyes, eyes half-lidded, arm resting unceremoniously over her stomach. The sun highlighted her features in gold as she blinked at me slowly like a cat^[ad]. We didn't say anything. We didn't need to.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

        The top was down on Eve’s convertible. I leaned out of the window to run my hands through the thick wind. I was grateful that it was summer. Surviving in the winter would be much harder, but I honestly didn’t know if I would even last until then.

        Eve looked over at me, and I guess I must have had a distressed look on my face, because she asked what I was thinking about.

        I paused to think something up. “How I’m going to jump out the car if we see another billboard with Walt Calloway’s stupid face on it.”

        “Who?”

        I stared at her. “The governor? …Of the state?”

        She shrugged. “Never heard of him.”

        “Wow, you really aren’t from here.”

        She smiled, now turned back towards the road. “I’m somewhat of a traveler, I suppose.”

        I sat up, sensing a way to finally understand her more. “Where are you from, anyways?”

        She winked smoothly like a movie star. “That’s a secret, love.”

        Nevermind. “Is anything not a secret with you?”

        “No, but I could tell you one. I suppose I trust you enough now.”

        I widened my eyes excitedly. “What is it?”

        She smiled sheepishly, acting uncharacteristically embarrassed. There was a long moment of silence as the tension built itself up. I bit my tongue in anticipation, wondering what she could possibly be hiding from me.

Then, she spoke. “I’m scared of the dark.”

        “I wasn’t expecting that,” I laughed, caught off guard. “Especially not from you.”

        She looked offended. “Well, there’s no reason for it, it’s just…unsettling!”

        We were quiet for a moment before I, for some reason, decided it was my turn to share. “I can’t ride a bike.” A beat of silence went by. “...Or swim.”

        “That’s not that bad,” Eve replied nonchalantly.

        I smiled playfully, feeling challenged. “And I’m scared of horses.^[ae]”

That got her to laugh, a rare flicker of surprise shining in her eyes. “Really?”

“They’re terrifying!”

We shared a laugh, and I began to feel more happy than embarrassed.

A minute passed. I leaned back on the leather seat, closing my eyes and listening to the wind whipping by my ears.

“I’ve stolen money before,” Eve admitted after a long period of silence. Her tone was quieter and more solemn. I opened my eyes and looked over at Eve, who was now wearing a more guilty expression.

“So have I.”

She met my gaze with surprise, but didn’t say anything.

“It was…for cigarettes,” I explained. “I was addicted. I quit after it got that bad.”

She mustered a sorry smile. “Well, now I feel guilty for smoking around you.”

“It’s fine, really.”

“I’ve been, um,” she started. “I’ve been with many different people. In the past, I mean. Many partners – sexual, romantic. Or both. None of them ever felt right, though. Until this one person. They’re…not here anymore.”

I immediately felt a pang of guilt. “I’m sorry, Eve.”

“It’s alright,” she sighed, a small smile forming. “I have you now. As…a companion, I mean. Finally someone to travel the world with. Even if it’s…not quite the same.”

I looked down at my hands, unsure of how to respond. I was silent for a while.

“At least there’s no one else to judge us anymore. We can tell our secrets to the world, you know?”

Eve grinned. “Look at you, being optimistic! How rare!”

“Oh, shut up. I’m just trying to…to lighten the mood, or whatever.” I propped my elbow^[af] up on the side of the car and leaned my head into my hand, looking out into our zooming surroundings. “So…where to next?”

She smiled. "You know I don't plan these things out. We stop when we need something."

She was right. We had only ever stopped for shelter, food, water...and laying and looking up at the sky in various places, which was apparently needed.

An idea popped into my head. "How about the next place we see that looks like someone could be living there? Like...think about where you would take shelter during the apocalypse."

"Places with food and shelter?"

"Exactly! Malls and restaurants and hotels, and...places that are safe and guarded."

"Private property," she said.

"Yeah, that could work."

"No, look."

I followed her pointed finger to the sign hung on a rusted metal gate in the distance. PRIVATE PROPERTY. NO TRESPASSING.

"Does that mean someone owns it?"

"Probably nobody that's still around."

"But someone else could be living there," I argued.

She paused, shrugged, and unbuckled her seat belt. "Might as well explore, right?"

Eve wedged her foot in between the links of the gate, easily pulling herself up and over. I began to follow her. That's when that familiar anxious feeling came back.

"Are we sure this is safe?"

"You're the one who wanted to come here," she retorted, and I had to admit she had a point.

I pulled myself over the gate without any further protests as she waited for me. Without hesitation, we began to follow what was left of a path. We walked for a while, and I wished we had brought water from the car to protect against the blistering hot sun. Eventually, we reached some kind of cement abandoned building. Bits of debris were littered around the ground.

She turned to look at me over her shoulder. "Holding up?"

I nodded.

She smirked teasingly. "We can turn back if you're scared."

"Shut up," I retorted, pushing past her.

I mustered up some courage and grabbed the knob of the front door. I rattled it, but it didn't budge.

"Dammit," I spat.

"Locked? Here, I can-"

I picked up a cinder block from off the ground. Holding it in my hand, I eyed the window of the building.

"What are you doing?"

I hurled the cinder through the window. The high-pitched complaint of breaking glass pierced my ears. I ignored it and stepped back, kicking out the last of the remaining glass.

Eve stared in awe.

I grinned. "How's that for scared?"

I climbed through the window and unlocked the door from inside, opening it for her.

“Ladies first,” I teased.

"I must admit I’m impressed, Bellerophon," Eve said with a smile as she entered the building. "I suppose I was wrong about you."

"Damn right you were," I remarked, trying to keep up my temporary show of being cool and confident. In reality, I was absolutely giddy that I had impressed such a cool person.

We walked through the building. It was entirely empty, to my surprise – no furniture, let alone people. However, it was littered with graffiti on the back wall. I stepped up to read it.

God save us, dripped down in bright blue letters underneath a large cross. REPENT NOW, read another. I wasn't an expert on graffiti, but it didn't look that old. Maybe it was my imagination, but I could have sworn I could still smell the paint.

"How people can still preach about their religion in a place like this is beyond me," Eve muttered, a look of disapproval on her face.

I traced my finger around a messily-drawn cartoon skull. The rest of the walls contained your average, standard vandalism. Swear words, a couple penises, unintelligible words, R + D in a heart, explosions, that one cool S people would draw in middle school...

"Who do you think R and D are?"

"Ricky and Dicky," I deadpanned.

"What about this?" She pointed to another set of letters – EOTW^[ag].^[ah]

I paused to think for a moment. "Eggs on the way?"

Eve chuckled and stepped over to another corner to explore it. "Hey, look."

I turned around to see her holding a can of green spray paint.

"You want to vandalize this place more?"

She shrugged. "Well, clearly, there's nobody here."

I sighed. "Fine, whatever. What do you want to draw?"

"Write," she corrected, shaking the can and then writing in giant, perfect letters: EVE.

I coughed at the smell. "We're probably gonna get lung cancer and die from all these toxic fumes."

"You worry too much," she critiqued, offering me the can. "Live a little."

I took the can and wrote under her own letters - BLYTHE. The paint dripped steadily down the wall.

She took the paint can back and drew a little horse with wings next to it.

"What's that for?"

"Pegasus," she explained simply. "Because you're Bellerophon."

I smiled and snatched the can from her hands to draw a Christmas tree next to her own name.

She squinted. "What's that for?"

I grinned. "Christmas Eve!"

"That's so stupid," she laughed, lightly pushing my arm.

I pushed her back. "You're stupid!"

She pushed harder, and I landed against the wall. I felt my heartbeat quicken as I looked up at her looming over me, and I quickly fell silent.^[ai] She stood there for a second, looking down at me with wide eyes. She quickly stepped back and smoothed out her hair, embarrassed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to be intimidating."

That wasn't why I froze^[aj], I thought. "It's okay."

Then, for some reason I will never know, I spoke again. "You didn't look intimidating, you looked pretty."

Eve paused for a moment as I felt heat rush to my face. Then she grinned and struck a pose. "Thank you. I know I am."

I rolled my eyes, going along with her joke. "Whatever. Let's go back to the car."

"Yes, ma'am," she teased, making me feel more embarrassed. I didn't mean to sound like I was bossing her around.

I followed her out of the building. As she walked away, I turned around and eyed the back wall one more time.

REPENT NOW, it ordered.

For whatever reason, I sneered and gave it the middle finger, feeling a surge of power run through me as I did. It was an action that was entirely like my normal self, and it made me feel good. "Like hell I will."

Eve turned around to call for me. "You coming?"

"Sorry," I shouted back. I ran to catch up with her.

As we navigated our way through the branches and overgrown plants, I smiled. There was no one there to boss me around anymore; I didn't have to obey a single other being. There were no higher-ups – in fact, I was the highest up I could be. Talk about a promotion! I sighed and drank in the fresh air, completely free of the pollution that once controlled the world.

At long last, I was free.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

Eve swerved into an empty gas station to refill her car’s tank and stock up on materials. They had become quite a great resource on our journey, as they had just about everything you’d need. CVS was even better, but we had to go into the city for that, and that meant navigating around hundreds of empty cars stopped in the middle of the roads. So for the most part, we stuck to the more rural areas.

As I began to wander through the aisles, Eve crouched down under the front desk. I thought she was going to steal money out of the cash register at first, but to my relief, she was only searching through what was tucked underneath the desk. I wasn’t quite sure why I still cared about things like that. It’s not like there would be anyone around to catch us.

“Princess,” she called after a minute. Excitement flitted in her voice as she popped her head up over the counter. “You need to look at this.”

“I'll look if you call me by my real name,” I drawled as I looked over, crossing my arms.

Eve obliged, but not without a dramatic sigh in advance. “Blythe, look.”

I walked over and knelt down next to her. My eyes followed the beam of her flashlight to an old, dusty crate. She shuffled through dozens of thin square cases with chipped, worn down colors – records.

Eve laughed as she pulled out a torn, dusty poster of Bob Dylan. “Isn’t this amazing?”

I smiled. “It is.”

Together we shifted through the records in silent excitement. I didn’t realize until then how long it had been since I had heard any music at all.

“There’s a record player here for them, too,” Eve commented.

“I guess they got pretty bored here,” I joked in response, though it really was the only reason I could think of for a record player to be in such a mundane place.

My eyes were drawn to a cracked, blue record cover with a painterly jar of flowers in the center. I took it into my hands, and realized that there was no title or artist name. Eve picked up on my curiosity and reached over to gently take it from me, flipping it over to inspect the back.

“It’s French,” she commented. “It appears pretty old, judging by the quality…”

“Do you know any French?”

“Bien sûr,” she responded with a satisfied smile. For some reason, I didn’t feel surprised – at this point, what couldn’t she do?

Together, we walked over to a record player, and Eve watched as I prepared it and placed the needle down.

“You know how to use it,” she observed quietly, her eyes fixed on the spinning of the disc.

“Well, yeah,” I said sheepishly. “I’m into this kind of thing.”

She tilted her head. “What kind of thing, exactly?”
        “Music. And old technology, if you’d consider this old. Or technology,” I explained with a quick laugh. “I have a collection of cassettes in my apartment.”

“Wow,” Eve murmured. “I certainly didn’t take you to be a hipster.”

I opened my mouth and prepared a snarky response, but was interrupted by the crackle of the record springing to life. Eve and I exchanged a grin of excitement as the slow, passionate music echoed off the walls.

Eve turned off her flashlight and tucked it away, leaving us submerged in quiet shadows. We stood there for a minute or two, enjoying the music. It was a nice moment of calm amongst the usual stress of my life.

Eve outstretched her hand towards me. I could hear the smirk in her voice; that playful, amused tone I had become so familiar with. “Care for a dance, m’lady?”

I blinked as my eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness. I could just barely make out her shadowed hand as I took it in my own.

“Fuck, I can’t even see.”

“You don’t need to,” she said softly, interlacing her fingers with mine. Her other hand found its way to the small of my back, where she nudged me closer gently.

“Not scared of the dark anymore?”

She shook her head. “This is different.”

We stood together in silence for a moment as the record sung.

“I’ve never danced before,” I admitted, worrying I’d ruin the moment with my clumsiness. “I don’t know how.”

Eve continued anyway, of course, adjusting my arm to the right position. “It’s easy. I can show you.”

She guided me forward slowly. Each time she took a step back, I took a hesitant step forward, filling each empty space. I fell into the rhythm eventually as we moved to the beat of the crackling music.

All I could see was the vague glow of Eve’s eyes in the dark, and the highlight of her lips. She smiled at me. “See, it’s not so bad, is it?”

I blinked up at her. “What, dancing?”

She chuckled and raised her arm to spin me, and I followed along. Our bodies fell back into position right after, with me having finally adjusted to the pattern we were following.

“No, silly. This,” she explained, temporarily removing her hand from my shoulder blade to gesture vaguely at the air around us. “Could this have happened with hundreds of people around?”

“To be honest? Yeah, probably,” I answered curtly, knowing full well her question was rhetorical.

“But not here,” she pointed out. Our movements slowed, now falling into a gentle, back-and-forth sway.

“Not here,” I repeated in agreement. I sighed and allowed myself to move a little closer. I didn’t dare rest my head upon her shoulder, though. Instead, I kept my head tilted away, eyes fixed on the void ahead of us. A laugh escaped me. “In a stupid old convenience store.”

“What better place is there?”

I stifled a shriek of surprise as she suddenly dipped me backwards.

“Sorry,” she laughed as she pulled me back up.

I giggled out a quick, “It’s okay.” We stopped dancing, but we lingered in that position for an extra moment – her hand on my back, her fingers in mine, her eyes half-lidded dreamily.

I stepped back. “We should go.”

“Right,” she said, helping me carry the food and pint of water that I had found.

The drive after was quiet.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

I pointed to something in the distance, struggling to see in the evening light after the sun had set. “What’s that?”

Eve looked up. “Appears to be a radio tower.”

My eyes widened. If it could still work, we could send a signal out into the area. I didn’t know how far it would reach, but if there was anyone out there, surely they’d be able to hear it if they were within range of a radio. If it was a government radio station, we could send an announcement everywhere in the area. But that was only if it was even possible for a radio to work in the current state of the world, which wasn’t likely.

I had gotten into the habit of asking Eve anything I didn't know. She was much smarter than I had initially thought, and knew a surprising amount about science and technology.

"Is there any way a radio station could still function? They need electricity, right?"

She shook her head. "They use the energy of their own electromagnetic waves, so the only power a radio needs is its own."

My eyes widened, and I felt my heart begin to beat faster. "So it could still work."

"Theoretically, yes."

"Eve," I said, leaning forward and grabbing her shoulders. She quickly slammed on the brakes. "We have to try. Please."

She looked at me for a moment, as if deciding. Then, she nodded.

It was difficult to not break into a run on the way to the station. It was the first time I had felt excited in a long time. I savored the way it bloomed in my chest and made me feel alive. It was a good feeling, and one I wasn't exactly used to.

"Blythe, we still don't know if it will work," Eve warned. "I already spent a while looking everywhere I could for survivors before we met. I don't think there is anyone out there. I'm sorry."

"We have to try," I repeated, looking ahead.

"I just don't want-," she started.

"I'll be okay," I reassured, cutting her off. We stepped into the tower and began to climb the stairs. "I know I shouldn't get my hopes up."

She nodded, realizing that I understood. "Just go into this level-headed, okay? Think realistically."

"I'll try my best."

A tape recorder laid on the table.

Eve looked at me and raised her eyebrows expectantly. “Ready?”

I nodded and lifted the recorder to my mouth, finger hovering over the record button. I thought for a moment about what to say – I needed something short and simple. I clicked the button and spoke into it. “Anyone out there?”

Then, I lifted the recorder up to the station’s microphone and played it.

Click. Anyone out there?

The radio crackled in response, as if in confirmation that it was on and working.

        “It’s  been sent,” I said, punctuating my statement with a shaky exhale. “Now all we have to do is wait.”

And we did exactly that. I rocked back and forth on my heels nervously.

"There's no way we're the only ones,” I said as if it were a proven fact. “There has to be someone out there, don't you think?"

Eve was silent. We waited another minute. I replayed the recording.

Click. Anyone out there?

"Maybe the signal isn't strong enough,” I said.

I played it again. Click. Anyone out there? Then again, for good measure. Click. Anyone out there? Another time. Click. Anyone out there?

Another minute went by. Crackling, static, silence.

"Blythe, maybe it's time to give up."

"No, let's wait just a little bit longer. We can't leave so soon."

And so we waited.

Click. Anyone out there?

And waited…

Click. Anyone out there?

        And waited…

        Click. Anyone out there?

        And waited…

        Click. Anyone out there?

        “Blythe,” Eve said softly, concern present in her voice.

        I ignored her. “Let’s just keep waiting.”

        She bit her lip and looked away. I kept my eyes on the radio, as if I could summon the voice of someone else if I stared hard enough. I pressed play again and again.

        Click. Anyone out there? Click. Anyone out there? Click. Anyone out there?

        Please, I thought. Even my inner voice sounded pathetically desperate. Please… Please…

        Every beat of silence felt like a stab to the heart. I stood and hung onto every sentence as if my life depended on it. I prayed. I told God that if he exists, to please just send me any little sign that there are others out there, please let there be other survivors, please just do this one thing. I told him I would repent; I would start believing in him and never doubt him again for a second. I would never ask for anything ever again. I just wanted this.

        Click. Anyone out there?

        Eve put a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Blythe, we should-”

        “No!”

        I pushed her hand away with more force than I had intended. She flinched at my sudden outburst, looking surprised, and I felt a twinge of guilt. I tried to mutter an apology, but nothing came out of my mouth. She turned away. I turned back to the radio. I held my locket in my hands and prayed to it silently like a rosary. Eve said nothing.

We kept waiting. I didn’t know how long it had been. A minute? An hour? A day? I didn’t care.

Click. Anyone out there?

The radio crackled in between empty, lifelong seconds of silence. My own voice on the tape recorder seemed to be mocking me.

I didn’t know I had started crying until my vision became one big blur. I looked at Eve like she was my only hope, and she was.

My voice broke, and my throat stung. My voice was quiet as I struggled to force my words out. “There’s no one out there, is there?”

Eve looked at me with pity in her eyes. She shook her head. “I’ve looked.”

I screamed. I punched the radio with every bit of strength I had in my stupid, pathetic body and threw it at the wall. I watched it crash and break. I threw the tape recorder on the ground and stomped on it as hard as I could and listened to the sounds of its destruction. I slammed my fists against the table and shouted. No words were there. There was only silence. Everything empty. Everything gone.

I crumpled to my knees like a decaying flower. It was all for nothing. This was all life would ever be. Everyone was gone. Everyone was dead, and I would never see them again.

I missed my mother. I missed my father and every family member and lover and friend and acquaintance and enemy I had ever had. I missed every living, breathing, moving being. I was all that was left of the human race.

This is how it ends.

This is how the world ends.

Not with a bang, but a whimper^{[ak] [al][am]}– a silent, lonely existence for the rest of time.

I was alone. Forever. Nobody was coming to rescue me. There was no god to give me a miracle. This was it and all it would ever be.

I wanted to scream again, but all that came out of my mouth was a choked sob. I curled up on the ground like a pathetic animal. I closed my eyes and shook and wished I had been the one to die instead of everyone I had ever known and loved. I pressed my head to my knees and wished for death. But this world would never let it be that easy, would it?

I felt Eve's warmth around me, her stroking my hair and holding me tight. I didn't know how long she had been there. All my surroundings had vanished.

We didn't speak. There was nothing to say. Eve held me close to her chest and I felt her slow, steady breaths. I opened my eyes. Her eyes stayed still, staring ahead at nothing. She had been whispering words of comfort earlier, I think, but I hadn't processed any of what she said. Now, she was silent.

She had already realized and accepted the fate of humanity a long time ago, I realized. I was the idiot who desperately clung to my hope like a lifeline. How horribly, terribly human of me.

She helped me up to my feet, and I was surprised to find that I could still stand. I felt like all life had been drained from me. There was no energy left. She let me lean against her until I could finally stand again.

I stepped outside and unclipped the chain of my locket from the back of my neck. I looked down at it, and then back up at the rest of the world. We were high up. Above it all. I wiped my tears from my face and let myself become numb.

I threw it into oblivion and watched it shatter on the ground. I stood, still and silent and looked over the railing. I could just barely make out the beaming face of my mother upon the desert floor.

Eve walked up behind me and put a gentle hand upon my shoulder. Her voice was solemn and monotone. "Let's get out of here."

I nodded.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

        The days that followed were bleak and gloomy. The summer sun shone overhead as if to mock me. My body felt heavy. We stopped at a new hotel. I don’t know how long I laid completely still in that bed. I laid on my side and stared at nothing. In retrospect, Eve probably thought I was dead at least once.

“You can’t lay here forever,” she urged gently, placing a hand on my shoulder. I didn’t respond.

        She sighed and looked away, sitting down next to me. After a long period of pure silence, she spoke again. “I know a place around here that may make you feel better.”

        “Nothing can make me feel better,” I mumbled dejectedly. I didn’t care about places. I cared about people. I just wanted to see a single living creature again.

"Come on," she said with a voice so sweet and gentle it actually made me turn around to look at her. "Trust me, Blythe."

God, how could I refuse? I took a long look at her, and her eyes were full of so much sympathy. I hated how she was pitying me, but I guess I felt pity for myself too. I took her hand, and she pulled me up and off the bed. I leaned against her. I hadn't stood in such a long time. My legs felt weak and wobbly, and I think my arm had fallen asleep.

        “I don’t…I don’t know if I can-”

        “It’s okay,” Eve assured me before I could even finish my sentence. She scooped me up in her arms with such little effort that I couldn’t help but swoon. I looked up to her with widened eyes. She smiled down at me. What a cliché we were.

        “Just relax, I’ll carry you there.”

        I listened to her and let go of the tension in my body, curling up into her. She carried me out of the hotel and into the car, then placed me into the passenger seat. I sloped against the wall like a ragdoll and closed my eyes. I didn’t even bother putting my seatbelt on as I heard the engine roar to life.

        I felt the car jerk downwards. Were we going down a hill? For a moment, I wondered where she was taking me, and then I realized I didn’t really care.

        A few minutes later, I felt the car roll to a stop.

        “You can open your eyes now,” Eve sang, as if the reason I had them closed was to not spoil the surprise, and not because I was utterly exhausted.

        I opened my eyes and looked around. Eve opened the car door nearest to me and helped me out. I took her hand and looked around.

        We were standing on a beach, with a small waterfall roaring nearby. The sky had faded from its usual clear, obnoxiously happy blue to a gentle, calming pink. The waves lapped at the sand rhythmically – over and over, thus was the endless loop of nature. It was beautiful, but there were no calls of seagulls, no children playing, no lifeguards lazily watching from the chairs. It was empty; devoid of life, just as everything else was in this verdant wasteland.

        “You mentioned you love the beach,” she explained, offering me an uncharacteristically anxious smile. I felt bad that she had been trying so hard to make me feel better, and it hadn’t amounted to any results. I continued to stare at the waves instead of saying anything. I didn’t feel like I could ever be happy again.

        Eve read me with little effort. “You’ll feel better soon, I promise. I went through the same process, you know.”

        I didn’t really believe her, but I didn’t say anything. I just stood there and took in the sight of the waves and the breeze through my terribly unwashed hair. The smell of the ocean surrounded me and calmed my head, turning my feelings of pain into more of a numb sadness. I guess that was a step up.

Eve lifted up her dress and took her shoes and socks off, laying them by the shore. "Come on," she said, tugging me into the water unexpectedly.

I felt the uncomfortable feeling of my jeans sticking to my skin and water filling up my shoes. At least it felt like something. Eve giggled as she pulled me in, and I smiled for the first time in days.

"At least it's quiet now," she pointed out.

I didn't like the silence and the complete lack of everything, but I did agree it was peaceful. I was angry at the universe for having everything end up this way. I was willing to do anything to get the people I loved back. But if all I could do now was lean back, accept my lonely fate, and enjoy the silence, then that's what I would do.

All I said in response was, "I guess."

I ran my fingers through the sunlit water. It felt cold yet refreshing. Eve had given up on

holding her dress above the water and was now letting it soak as she walked deeper into the ocean. It was up to her knees now. She looked out at the horizon, the sun causing her silhouette to glow.

"I'm scared I'll forget them," I admitted quietly.

Eve turned around, and I was surprised that she even heard me. "You won't," she said, and the firmness in her voice made me believe her wholeheartedly. "We’ll go back to my house and do something to honor them, okay?”

I nodded. "Okay."

We stood there in silence for a while after. I waded forwards and stood next to her. The water reached a little higher up my legs than it did to her. I looked at the water and the sky.

We had the whole world to ourselves.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

We were in the middle of nowhere again. The colored lines grazing my vision turned back into open, empty fields as the car slowed and then stopped. Overgrown grass and flowers lined the side of the road. Trees loomed in the distance beneath an apathetic sun.

“There’s somewhere I’d like to take you. Follow my lead,” Eve ordered, slipping her hands over my eyes so as to not spoil whatever surprise location we were going to.

“This is really suspicious,” I muttered as she helped me out of the car.

“Don’t worry, darling. It’s going to be fun.”

Eve released her hands from over my eyes. For some reason, I almost felt disappointed at the loss of physical contact. My body felt a bit more cold.

“So this is where you wanted to bring me?”

We stood in what looked like the hybrid of a forest and an amusement park. It wasn’t always a forest, clearly. It looked like the space had been completely cleared before. But Mother Nature had begun to take back her creations, as evident by the flora creeping up the structures. Once-colorful rides now stood still, flowers and leaves crowding rusted metal and worn-off paint. It was surreal. It felt like time was frozen. But I guess that’s how the outside world had always felt since this whole thing happened.

It was a small park. There were roller coasters that twisted and tangled, not looking all that safe in the first place. Patterned horses and carriages sat perfectly still on a merry-go-round that looked like it was probably haunted. Vines winded and curled around the poles as if decorations. I had a feeling this place wouldn’t last for long anyway, had it been under more…normal circumstances. Everything looked old-fashioned. What my eyes were drawn to, though, was the gigantic ferris wheel at the center of the park.

After a moment of silence, Eve spoke. “What do you think? It used to be a tourist attraction.” She sighed, and I couldn’t tell if she was recounting fond memories or if it was because of something else. “It was abandoned a long time ago, though.”

I made unwilling eye contact with one of the creepy-looking porcelain horses. “There’s no way any of this stuff still works.”

“No shit,” Eve chuckled, her tone changing quickly to something more upbeat. It was always fun to hear her swear. It caught me off guard every time. “I think it’s more fun this way.”

I didn’t quite get what she meant by that. She grabbed my hand, and the warmth returned as I let my fingers slip into the spaces between hers. Surprised, I immediately turned my head to look at her.

She grinned down at me, a hint of mischievousness in her eyes. “C’mon, let's go up.”

“Wait, wh-”

And then we were running. I didn’t agree to it, but I wasn’t about to let go and get left behind. I wanted to stay with her. When we stopped, I was face-to-face with a large piece of rusted metal. I looked up to see the plant-covered ferris wheel looming overhead. Eve stepped into the bottom seat and soon began climbing into the next.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Climbing it, genius. Have you forgotten we can do quite literally anything we want now?”

I rolled my eyes, but was unable to suppress a smile. She offered me a hand, and I took it. I tried my best not to look down as we climbed. Just because we were the last two survivors on earth didn’t mean we weren’t immune to death.

“M’lady,” Eve said with a mock bow as she took my hand to help me into the last seat. It rattled as I stepped into it, and a shriek escaped me. She immediately grabbed my shoulders to steady me.

“Don’t worry. You’re okay,” she told me, and for some reason, I believed her completely.

She turned away from me to look at the view. I was glad she did, because I knew I would have been lost in her eyes forever if not.

A light breeze blew her braid – it stayed in place, of course, just as she had said. I stepped forward to join her.

The sun was an orange ball melting on the horizon. Cotton candy clouds painted the sky around us.

 I turned my head to look at Eve.

The golden light cast an aura around her and kissed her olive-colored skin. She looked like an angel. She whispered, “Isn’t it beautiful?”

“It is,” I said, unable to tear my eyes away.

I froze when her eyes met mine. “You’re not even looking,” she laughed.

My heart was beating faster than I could ignore. I stared at her as something clicked in my brain. Her smile faded into something more serious. She took my hand and sat down, leading me to do the same. This time, she didn’t let go.

I searched her sunlit eyes. “Eve, I…”

She reached out and lightly brushed my cheek with her thumb, something in her expression softening. I leaned into the touch, letting her cup my face.

“I know,” she whispered.

I don’t know who leaned forward first. My lips fit into hers like they were always meant to be there. It felt so right that I thought for a moment that maybe destiny isn’t such a far-fetched concept after all. It was gentle at first. Then I pressed my lips into hers harder, not realizing how bad I had wanted this until now. She was soft but firm; gentle but strong; cold yet warmer than anything I’d ever felt. She was everything, and I wanted all of her.

It didn’t last for longer than a few seconds, but it felt like a thousand conversations had been spoken in that moment. We pulled apart, and she looked at me like I was something truly beautiful.

We talked and kissed for a long time. I didn’t know when the sun had set and when it had turned to dark, but she wasn’t scared at all. Her breathing stayed the same. I leaned on her chest and felt as if the piece of me that had always been missing had finally been found.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

Lush, green hills rolled by the open window. Baby blue skies and foam-like clouds, like the edge of the sea. I didn't know where we were. I didn't care.

Every time I looked at Eve, I felt a little burst of happiness. I hope she felt that same bliss. I hated being stuck in this miserable world with nothing and no one, and so many stupid fucking plants. But at least I was stuck with her. When I thought about that, I realized there really was nobody else I'd rather be stuck with. Meeting this strange, smooth-talking stranger who couldn't cook and who nerded out over ancient, outdated myths^[ao] was the best thing to ever happen to me. She was my favorite person on earth, whether there were billions of other options or just her. Maybe the end of the world wasn't so bad after all.

She looked over at me and smiled. I couldn't get last night out of my head. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing," I lied. I giggled like a schoolgirl with a crush immediately after, making it much more obvious.

"Smiling and giggling over nothing? I think you've finally lost it, Belle..."

I broke out into a grin. "Fine. I'm thinking about last night."

She went quiet, eyes now back on the road. She spoke after being silent for a while.

"I have been thinking about it too."

I brightened. "Really? Can...can we talk about it?"

"What's there to talk about?"

I stared. There was a painfully long beat of silence before I mustered up the courage to speak. "We kissed, Eve. Please don't tell me that means nothing."

"Why would it ever mean nothing? Of course it had meaning," she said, confused. "I kissed you because I love you. Is that not what people do when they love each other?"

I felt my breath catch in my throat. "You love me?"

She laughed. "Of course I do. Was it not obvious?"

I leaned back into the car seat, trying to calm myself down. "I just didn't expect you to say it so soon."

"Why wait? If I love you then I’ll say it.”

I smiled. “I love you too.”

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

“Here it is,” Eve said with a hint of anxiety in her voice as we arrived at what was presumably our final destination. “Home base.^[ap]”

I glanced up at her house, and was astonished by how overwhelmingly normal it was. It was the complete opposite of what I had expected from her. Something about the house felt off. I couldn’t place quite what it was.

Eve tilted her head like a curious puppy. “Is something the matter?”

“No,” I lied. “I just hadn’t expected your house to be so normal.”

“Hey!”

I grinned as Eve delivered an all-too delicate ‘punch’ to my shoulder. She grappled with her keys, and I followed her inside.

It was the epitome of a typical, middle-class home. We were greeted by a furnished living room with a couch. Everything looked weirdly new, as if it had never even been used.

“Well, at least you weren’t lying about not being rich.”

Eve’s smile fell just a little. “You…you don’t like it, do you?”

I shook my head frantically. “N-No, it’s great! It’s just…everything looks so new.”

She smiled nervously. “I like to clean sometimes.”

“Well, you’re really good at it,” I commented, sitting down on a green linen couch. “Your place makes my apartment look like a dumpster fire.”

“Thank you. I’m sure it’s not that bad, though.”

I shot her a doubtful look, and she laughed.

I looked around the room. I could make out a small blue bathroom in the corner from what wasn’t already covered by the open door. A few generic paintings and pictures hung on the walls – flowers, wild animals, and one of two ships on the water.

“You said you don’t live with anyone else, right?”

“Yes,” she answered, raising an eyebrow. “Do you think I’m lying?”

“No, it just looks like somewhere a family would live.”

She sat down on the couch next to me, posture all too formal compared to mine. There was a beat of silence.

“You must get lonely here,” I said quietly.

She bit her lip and looked away. “I suppose. I tend to ignore matters like that.”

“Well, you have me now!”

I grinned and threw my arms around her neck, causing her to make a shrill noise of surprise. We both laughed and fell back on the couch together. She wrapped an arm around me to thread her fingers through my hair, and I adjusted my head onto her shoulder.

“You’re right about that,” she mumbled.

She kissed the top of my head, and I smiled and closed my eyes.

For the first time in a week, I slept with no nightmares.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

        Eve’s house was near a forest, and it was beautiful. More beautiful than what you’d typically think of when you picture a forest. Vines looped around the trunks of thick trees that towered to the heavens. Patches of wildflowers surrounded what appeared to once be a desire path. The sun was filtered through a canopy of leaves, creating patterned patches of light upon moss-covered logs. It was surreal having no animals around. There should have been flies buzzing, cicadas singing, birds singing, and maybe a frog or two. Instead, there was nothing but the sound of lime green leaves crunching underneath my feet.

We were usually together, but as she stayed inside reading and tending to her miraculously-still-alive houseplants, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to explore a bit on my own. I had actually grown to enjoy roaming around now that there was no one else to worry about.

I reached a clearing in the woods: a small meadow surrounded by trees where the sun could finally have an area to call its own. Strangely enough, it was almost a perfect circle. Thriving flowers covered just about every square inch. The unkempt, overgrown grass reached up to my shins, and I felt grateful for the new absence of ticks in the world. That was certainly one thing I’d never miss.

In the middle of the clearing was a large marble sculpture. It was an abstract shape, and yet appeared to be old, judging from the dusty crevices and cracked surface.

Resting on the base of the sculpture was what appeared to be several offerings. There were coins, dead flowers, a half-melted candle that was no longer lit, and a small wooden carving of a naked woman with long, flowing hair. Though all of it was interesting, what caught my eye the most was a carefully-folded piece of paper held down by a rock to ensure it didn’t blow away in the wind. Curiously, I crept forward and unfolded the paper, holding it up to look at it.

I was greeted by an ink portrait that looked all too familiar. I couldn’t place my finger on it at first, but when I squinted, I realized it just barely resembled Eve. The bright eyes, the Greek nose…Though it may have been a stretch, it was a little too much of a coincidence to be ignored.

When I had arrived back at the house, Eve was sitting in an armchair in the living room and reading what appeared to be quite a hefty book.

I called her name to get her attention, and she looked up. I held out the drawing in front of me, and her shoulders dropped.

“Do you know what this is?”

Eve sighed, putting her head in her hands for a moment. When she looked back up at me, she looked embarrassed.

“Oh, well…I didn’t want to tell you about that because it’s quite humiliating. But I sort of have…fans?”

My eyes widened. “Fans?”

She nodded, biting her lip. “See, I gained a bit of a following after I was in a newspaper-”

“What?!”

“An interview,” she explained quickly. “I was paid to talk about my job when it was relevant to a controversy going on where I lived at the time. They published a whole article about it with a picture of my face, and some people became…very obsessed with me, for whatever reason.”

“I thought no one read newspapers anymore?”

“Well, you’d be surprised,” she laughed. “It’s mainly the older audience.”

        “So you had stalkers,” I frowned, feeling a pang of guilt for being so suspicious about something she clearly didn’t like talking about. I could see why she didn’t bring it up now.

“‘Stalkers’ is a bit of a strong word, but yes, I suppose. It’s why I moved so far away from city life. A few of my fans found my house out here, though, and they started delivering ‘offerings’ to the woods next to it.”

I grimaced. “That’s creepy as hell.”

She sighed. “I know. But as soon as I started ignoring them, they tapered off, fortunately.”

“Wow,” I murmured, dumbfounded. “I’m really sorry that happened. Sounds terrifying.”
        She waved a hand dismissively, smiling. “Oh, you’re sweet. I’m alright, though. It was many years ago.”

I sat down and looked at her with curiosity. “There really is a lot I still don’t know about you, huh?”

She looked down guiltily. “I apologize.”

“No, it’s fine! It’s good, actually,” I laughed anxiously. I paused before speaking again. “I like learning new things about you.”

She looked up at me and smiled. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

I looked away, feeling my cheeks grow warm. I hated how easily flustered I was around her.

She took notice and moved closer to me, tilting my head up so I looked her in the eyes. I felt my heart skip at least two beats as she looked right through me with those golden brown eyes. She tucked my hair behind my ear to see my face. We sat and kissed for a long time.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

“What does that ladder go up to?”

“The attic, stupid.”

“Oh. That would make sense,” I said, shifting on my feet awkwardly. “Can we go up?”

Eve paused, considering it, and then shook her head. “It’s dangerous.”

“Well, that never stopped you before,” I pointed out, thinking back to her usually fearless attitude.

“Blythe, do not go up there,” she warned, her voice growing much more serious at the drop of a hat.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” I forced out quickly, surprised by her sudden change in tone.^[aq]

“It’s alright,” she assured, regaining her relaxed smile immediately. “It’s just really dangerous. The floorboards are unstable, and you could fall easily. You know it would kill me to see you get hurt.”

I nodded.

“You understand, right?” She stepped forward to stroke my face affectionately.

I leaned into her touch on instinct. “Of course.”

She smiled warmly – God, I would never get over that smile. “Thank you, Blythe.”

I still couldn’t get over the feeling she was hiding something from me.

        If you’ve watched a single movie in your life, you can probably guess what happened next. When I was sure she was asleep, I snuck over to that mysterious ladder and carefully tested my weight against the first rung. Like I thought, it held, but creaked underneath me. I looked back at the sleeping Eve in the distance and chewed the inside of my cheek. With as much bravery as I could muster, I pulled myself up the ladder quickly and climbed into the attic.

        It was dusty and dark, though there was one small window shining enough moonlight into the room for me to make out a large figure covered with a white sheet. Cautiously, I walked forward and pried the sheet off, revealing another marble statue.

This one was much larger than the one in the forest, and depicted a holy figure – a naked woman with braided hair with a hand raised to the skies. She was some kind of an angel, I think. Large, feathered wings spread out around her. Her body was littered with an abnormal amount of detailed eyes, and multiple halo-like rings surrounded her head^[ar]. The longer I stared up at the woman’s face, the further my heart sank. It looked like Eve. Too much like Eve. Much more unremarkably like Eve than the drawing in the woods, in fact.

“What the fuck,” I whispered, feeling my heartbeat quicken.

        “I told you not to come up here,” an all-too familiar voice behind me growled. I jumped and whirled around to face her.

        “I’m sorry, I just-”

        “Do you not trust me? Is that it?”

        I shook my head frantically. “No, of course I trust you! I just…”

        I trailed off. We stood and stared at each other. We were a few feet apart, and for once, neither one of us dared to move an inch closer.

        I lowered my voice and forced fake confidence into my demeanor. “Eve, what is this?”

        She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose with closed eyes, as if irritated by my question. “I already told you about my fans.”

        “N-No, that’s- there’s no way they’re that devoted. There’s no way some regular person carved an entire marble statue of you because of a goddamn news article, Eve.”

        She shook her head aggressively. Anger was fervent in her eyes, roaring to life after being passive for a long time. She tilted her head down to look at me. I felt a chill run down my spine against my wishes. “Fine.”

        She offered a hand to me as she descended the ladder, and I took it without thinking. I still had trust in her, even if I was confused and terrified. I climbed down after her and then followed her down the stairs to the living room. Neither of us exchanged a word.

        Suddenly, the surroundings started to change. I swiveled my head around frantically as I watched the mundane walls flicker and then fade into church-like stained glass windows.

My heart beat fast. “Eve, what is this? What’s going on?”

She looked down at me with cold eyes. She said nothing.

“That statue – that was you, wasn’t it?”

She hesitated, and then nodded. “Yes. In a sense.”

I took a step back. My eyes darted around to the sudden new surroundings. I realized for the first time that there no longer were any floors above us – just tall pillars holding up a marble ceiling, and that goddamn statue in the middle. Had I been hallucinating? Was this a dream? What the hell was going on?!

“Who are you?”

She sighed. “You know, I truly thought we could have lived like this forever. But you just had to go and let your curiosity get the best of you, didn’t you? It’s a shame. I thought you were smarter than this.

Well, I suppose there’s no point in hiding it anymore. I am God.^[as] I created this world. I created you and every being on earth, living or dead.”

“No, no you’re not. Quit fucking with me, Eve. I’m serious.”

She stepped forward and ran her thumb over my cheek. That same gesture that used to calm me down and make me feel loved now felt cold and condescending, and that shot even more fear into my heart. “You know that it’s true in your heart, though, do you not?”

It did feel like the truth, and I hated that it did. It made too much sense to be false, and yet I pushed that realization as far away as I could. I felt sick to my stomach.

“Come with me,” she said, and it felt more like an order than an offer.

She took my hand, and I tried to pull away. I felt terrified. Painful tears erupted, threatening to spill down my cheeks. “No. Please, Eve. Don’t.”

My surroundings started to fade into black as she kept a firm hold on my wrist. It was just us, and I didn’t know where she was taking me.

“It’s okay, Blythe,” she said, using her other hand to hold mine in what was supposed to be a reassuring gesture. It felt more like a threat. “You will come to understand soon.”

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

ACT TWO

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

        “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

I turned to face my companion. Asteria could tell I was confused by the look in my eyes; I didn’t even need to say anything.

“The earth,” she specified.

Her black hair pooled out around her, no gravity present to hold it down. It blended into the darkness around us, serving as an interrupting void between the stars.

Her eyes crinkled up in amusement as she cocked her head to the side. “Evangeline^[at]?”

“Sorry,” I said, brushing my own hair behind my ear. It was not uncommon for Asteria to have to pull me back into reality. After all this time, I still got lost in her beauty far too frequently. I didn’t know if there would ever be a time when I wouldn’t be. “It is beautiful, I agree.”

She smiled and linked her fingers through mine. It was an action that had been done probably millions of times by now, but it still made my heart rush every time. Asteria gave me feelings I got from nothing else. Not one star in the sky could compare to how illuminating she was. To me, at least. She was everything.

        I looked down upon our creation with her. Swirling greens and blues, wispy clouds covering where creatures roamed in this newfound paradise. Our very own planet. I wondered, sometimes, if this made us mothers. Were we the Mother Earth the humans spoke of, controlling the elements to our very will? ...No, I wouldn’t say so. We were something far greater than that.

“What is your favorite part?”

Asteria put a finger to her lip as she ruminated on my question. I knew she loved the earth – maybe even more than I did.

Her pale skin stood out against the inky background. Her droopy eyes were full of appreciation as she looked down at the planet.

“Flora,” she answered, finally. “The plants, the flowers, the trees. They sing in a way that is different from the animals. Silent, yet always there. Ever-present.”

I smiled and wondered how such poetic language came to her so naturally. “Ever-present,” I repeated, and we shared a smile.

We stayed there for a long time. We sat in silence and looked over our world. It had

been thousands of years, and I still wasn’t bored of her. I don’t think I would ever be.

My vision blurred, and my ears rang. My legs shook and then gave out under me, and I fell over onto my hands and knees. I squeezed my eyes shut tight and wished to wake up.

        “My apologies. I’ve never taken a human here before,” Eve said above me.

        I opened my eyes and was met with stars. We stood in some sort of void. The floor felt solid below me, but there was no floor. Were we floating? Where the fuck was I?

        I felt nauseous, and my words were spilling out of me like the vomit that threatened my throat. “What is this?”

        “My true home,” Eve answered nonchalantly. “The realm of the gods.”

        There were multiple? I sat up into a kneeling position. My head was spinning, but Eve standing over me the way she was made me uncomfortable, so I stood up. I didn’t want her to feel like she had power over me, even if she really was God, or whatever the fuck was going on.

        “Eve, I need you to explain what’s happening,” I ordered, trying hard to keep my voice steady.

        “So demanding,” Eve sang back chidingly. I hated how she acted like everything was still normal; like we were still friends, or whatever we were. “Fine, I’ll tell you.”

        She turned away, her back now facing me.

        “As you know, I am God – or a goddess, rather. I exist on this plane, though there are higher ones. I have gods, and those gods have gods, and so on. It goes on infinitely.”

        She began to pace as she talked. I stared as my mind raced to process the information I was being told. She stopped for a moment to look at me.

        “Apologies, I forgot it’s a bit…impossible for the human psyche to comprehend.”

        I narrowed my eyes. I hated the way she was talking. It didn’t seem like she was trying to be condescending, but it certainly came off that way, and every word felt like a painful stab to the heart. I wanted to tell her to shut up, but I stood frozen. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I was terrified. Who wouldn’t be?

        “Anyways,” she smiled, continuing. “That doesn’t matter. My partner, Asteria, was assigned to create the earth. Later on, I was…promoted, to put it in your terms. I joined Her in ruling the earth, and helped shape new people, animals, terrain…concepts, even. We don’t typically measure time in the way you humans do, so I am unsure of how long we were together, though I would pinpoint it at about…five thousand years?”

        I stared. It was incomprehensible to me that two people could ever know each other for that long, let alone even be alive that long. How would time be for them? Was her life fast or was it painfully slow like mine?

        She sighed and looked off into the distance. Stars reflected in her eyes and gave light to her side profile. She was still so, so beautiful, but it wasn’t the same. It would never be the same. Of course she was the most gorgeous girl I had ever seen. She wasn’t even human.

        “She was my everything,” she sighed. She turned to look at me, and the confidence in her voice began to break. “I loved Her, Blythe. I loved Her more than the waves love the sand; more than the mountains love the sky; more than ^[au]blood loves the battlefield.^[av]”

        I hated how I felt a twinge of jealousy at her words. She never used language that poetic with me. I hated how I still cared about Eve. I hated that I still loved her. Yet I had to wonder if the only reason why I did was because I had to. Was it really romantic feelings, or just the love of a disciple towards their god? It sickened me to think of.

        “And then She was taken away from me,” she whispered. Her face darkened, her voice changing suddenly from loving to cold. She let her words hang in the air before taking a shaky breath in and continuing. “We visited the earth frequently. Some people figured it out and began to worship us, although we had quite a diminutive following. One day, Asteria visited while I was away. Some followers of a different god recognized Her, and they…”

        Eve turned away from me and put her face in her hands. She forced out a muffled exhale and made a sound I had never heard from her before. It sounded like a sob.

        It took Eve a minute to collect herself the best she could. Her voice was weak as she took her shaking hands away from her face. She continued, though I could tell she most definitely didn’t want to. “They killed Her. I ran right to Her side, but I was too late.”

        She paused, and then spat, “Of course I was too late,” through gritted teeth.

“I struck them all dead where they stood. I did everything in my power to get Her back. Everything,” a chill went down my spine as she whispered the last word. Her voice was weak and shaking, but her eyes were piercing – full of pain and grief and powerful, godly rage. “We didn’t even know gods could die. But She did, and they murdered Her. All over a god that didn’t even exist.”

        Her shoulders shook as tears spilled over and streaked down her face. Her once-perfect eyes were now red and puffy. Seeing her cry made me feel something like a void in my chest, and it grew with each and every sob.

        “I just wanted- I just want Her back, Blythe. So I created you^[aw],” she admitted, words full of guilt, as if she knew what she did was wrong. “I modeled you after Her. A little, human Asteria. I gave you memories of a normal life like any human would have. I suppose a god’s personality didn’t translate perfectly to a human, though. You came out much more snarky than intended. Oh, but I love that about you, Blythe. Every human needs their flaws.”

        My breath caught in my throat. I felt sickened by her words and how casually she was saying them. “What?”

        She looked back at me with pity. “I’m sorry.”

        “No, no, don’t say you’re fucking sorry. I need an explanation, Eve. I- I have a family and a job and I have-,” my eyes darted frantically around as I tried my best to rack my memory. “Well, I’m sure I had friends at some point. I know I did. I had to.”

        “Name them, Blythe.”

        Everything was going so fast, and I needed it to stop. I tried to think of their names. I tried, and I tried, and I tried. It had somehow never even occurred to me. They were just their roles in my life – mom and dad, friends and family, coworkers and boss. I never thought of them by name, but it wasn’t possible that they were all fake. Why would Eve do that when she could have given me real loved ones? She was God, after all. It didn’t make sense. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. I knew it wasn’t.

        “Charlie. My brother. My little brother. His name is Charlie.”

        “And your mother’s name?”

        I thought back to the image in the locket. Her bright, smiling face – there was no way it could be a lie. It felt harder to recall that memory now. God, why the fuck did I throw it away? Why did I do that?!

        Her name. I had to remember her name. She had one. Of course she did. Everyone did. But I couldn’t think of anything. She was just Mom, and she had always been just Mom. What was her name? What the fuck was her name? Why couldn’t I remember? This wasn’t happening. I was in a nightmare and if I just focused hard enough, I would wake up. I had to wake up.

        “Blythe?”

        “Shut up,” I snapped. My vision was blurring and I felt dizzy. I hated this. I wanted to forget everything and go home. I hated this. I hated this. “You’re lying.”

        “Denial is a regular response to grief,” Eve said simply. It was a laughable failure of what was supposed to be comfort. “I have seen you go through it before. You will-”

        “You don’t know me,” I spat, even though I knew she did. I didn’t care.

        “Think of one memory you have with your family. Did you ever spend Christmas together? What about other holidays? Birthdays?”

        I hadn’t realized until then that I had been crying. “Stop,” I begged her. “Please.”

        I sat down and tried to control my breathing. Eve sat down next to me. I hate her, I thought, and I hated the immediate guilt that came after. I hated the knowledge that I didn’t really hate her, and that I never truly could. I hated the possibility that the only reason for that was that I had been programmed to love her. ^{[ax][ay][az][ba]}

        I closed my eyes. I drew my knees up to my chest and hugged them tightly.

        “I know it’s a lot to process,” Eve said.

        “No shit,” I muttered bitterly.

        She sighed in response. “I suppose I should tell you why everyone disappeared as well.”

        I didn’t respond. I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to know.

        She told me anyway. Of course she did. “I was blinded by anger after that. I had seen century after century of torture and war. I had seen more death than you could possibly imagine. I had seen our creation – the symbol of our love – turn into bloodthirsty, horrible monsters. I had seen them kill their mother. I had watched as they never got worse. Humans never learn. They repeat their mistakes, over and over and over. They kill themselves in all kinds of foolish ways. They drill into the flesh of Her beloved earth and harvest it for their own selfish gain, never stopping to think about who and what they hurt. Never stopping to think about the future they are destroying.

        “And so I made them disappear. They had killed Her, and so it was only fair. I was merciful, really. I wouldn’t even call it death. I made them vanish, and I had never felt peace like that until after they were gone. I suppose I was not aware of the full length of my power, because I accidentally erased every animal as well. Anything with blood, a brain, or a beating heart is now gone. I left the plants and every piece of nature that had been there before. You- She^[bb] loved them the most, after all. I sped up their growth, for nature to reclaim what is rightfully hers. I had created our perfect paradise. An entire world to ourselves, with no more bloodshed. A place to explore to our hearts’ content. Isn’t that beautiful, darling?”

        I squeezed my eyes shut. A mix of shock and disgust was swirling inside me. I looked straight at her and spoke with every piece of bravery I could muster. “You’re a monster.”

        We shared a long look. Her face was unreadable, but I could tell there were a million different thoughts behind her eyes. Finally, she spoke. “You will come to appreciate it in time.”

        I kneeled over and cried. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

        “You can put an end to your own suffering, Blythe. Join me. I can make you a goddess. We can rule over our quiet paradise together. We can go on a million more adventures and do anything we want. We can love greater and better than we ever did before.”

        I wiped saliva from my chin and looked up at her. My throat felt tight, and my stomach hurt. I forced myself to my feet. I wobbled a bit, but steadied myself. I breathed.

        “I could never enjoy another second on earth knowing it’s a graveyard of billions of innocent people you killed.”

        Her eyes narrowed. I felt her grow cold. “Fine, then. We’ll stay here.”

        And so we did.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

        I had wandered off in some unknown direction. Here, there was not an up nor down nor a north or an east. There was space, and that was it. I wasn’t sure if time even passed here. It certainly felt like it did, though.

I had distanced myself from Eve. I wasn’t afraid of getting lost. If I thought about where she was, I could feel a tug in one general direction. So many little things like that were signs that I was bonded to her; ever-present reminders of the fact I was her creation and nothing else. I was a doll branded with her name.

I sat and thought for a long time. That was all there was to do here, really. I couldn’t wrap my mind around how the gods had spent all of their time here.

I wondered if Eve had ever truly loved me for who I was, or if she only saw me as her replacement Asteria. I was her successor, and nothing more. She may as well have called me a defective clone in that horrible ‘explanation’ of hers^[bc][bd][be]. All I wanted was to be my own individual. I didn’t want to be tied to someone else forever. I didn’t want to have to fulfill the purpose of someone I had never even met. I didn’t want any of this. I just wanted to be a person.

I wondered if Eve ever would love me for who I was. I couldn’t be Asteria. I hoped that she knew that, even if it was buried deep beneath layers upon layers of complex grief. I was meant to be her, but I wasn’t her. I was me. I didn’t want to be anyone else. I just wanted to be Blythe. But even that name was given to me by her. And that surname – Beliphon. Had she only given me that so she could give me that stupid nickname? Was everything in our entire relationship merely a set-up?

I was Pygmalion’s^[bf] sculpture. I was made of wire and clay, and I was self-aware when I wasn’t supposed to be. I was breaking. I was a shattered promise and a lie. And god, was I tired.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

Dear universe, what the hell are you supposed to do when your dream girl turns out to be literal fucking God as well as the murderer of the entire human race? And, arguably worse than that, what are you supposed to do when you find out she created you as a rebound for her dead ex-girlfriend who is also God? Please help. Sincerely, Blythe Beliphon.

That is the letter that I would have sent to the universe if it had a PO box. Unfortunately, there was no paper in the god dimension. There wasn’t much of anything, really. Just stars, and stars, and more stars. If you looked down, you could see the planets. We were closest to the earth. I wondered if that was how Eve and Asteria watched it from above. If you were looking at it, you could sort of manipulate it with your mind. It could be rotated all three hundred and sixty degrees, and any place you wanted to look at could be magnified. It was strange, and I wasn’t really sure how I was moving it with nothing but my mind. I think it was some sort of holographic model? I didn’t really question it, since I was already in a dimension that was never intended to be comprehensible to the human race.

I had spent hours upon hours searching the earth. I had looked in every crack and crevice for any scrap of humanity remaining. I was forced to let go of that tiny scrap of hope I had remaining that maybe – just maybe – it was only our country that had been deprived of human life, and there was at least one more person on the other side of the world. As I had expected, there really was nobody else. I don’t know why I even looked when I could have allowed myself to blindly hold onto that hope forever. I guess I was hoping that Eve was bluffing. She wasn’t, though. Of course she wasn’t. She was always right, wasn’t she? She knew everything. She was God.

In that moment, as I scoured the empty, overgrown planet for any remaining traces of my race, I realized I truly was the only remaining human. Before, I at least had thought that Eve was human too, but just that was apparently too far-fetched to be true. And if I wasn’t created naturally; if I wasn’t nursed and cradled and born from the womb of a mother, was I even human at all? Was I artificial intelligence trapped inside a body of flesh and blood?

 Somehow, it was even lonelier here than it was on earth.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

I don’t know what I was expecting to happen, really. I thought that, maybe, I would never see Eve again. I envisioned her abandoning me in this empty place, and it didn’t feel all too unrealistic. It wouldn’t be the worst that she had done.

Even after all she had done, though, I had a feeling I would come back to her. I was literally made to love her; it wasn’t of my free will at all.

That was when I was confused when she came to me instead. She was completely disheveled, looking nothing like her usual put-together self. It was as if she had on a mask the whole time, and had dropped it the second her secret was revealed. Her eyes were tired. Dark circles swamped the spaces below, – did she even need sleep? – her hair was messy for what was likely the first time ever, and her voice was hoarse and shaking.

“Blythe,” she said.

I didn’t even want to look at her, but the desperate sound of her voice made me look up out of pure instinct. Something was wrong. We made eye contact for a long time. For the first time ever, I was the more collected one out of the two of us. Eventually, she spoke.

“What the fuck have I done?”

I looked at her in utter disbelief. You wiped out millions of species, is what I wanted to say. You killed mothers and children and family pets because you were too immature to know how to handle your own grief, is what I wanted to say. You made me feel like I was special when I was just a reflection of someone else to you throughout everything we ever did together, is what I wanted to say.

Instead, I let her collapse into my arms. I wasn’t expecting her to run into me like that, and it knocked us both to the floor when she did. Yet my arms stayed around her, and it wasn’t out of obligation. This time it was something else.

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed into my shoulder. “I’m so, so sorry.”

I held her as her tears stained my shirt and didn’t respond. I didn’t forgive her. At the same time, though, I didn’t want to shove her away. As much as I hated to admit it, I missed her. I missed everything about her, and I wanted her to stay.

It took Eve a long time to be able to properly form a sentence. For a while, the only sounds she could make were sobs and whines and muffled, broken apologies. Eventually, her breathing had slowed to the point where she could speak.

“There were good people too,” she said. She leaned back from my embrace and I looked into her eyes. The light that was once there had gone out. “There were good people, and I killed them.”

I nodded coldly. “There were people fighting tooth and nail for a better world. There were people who would have accepted you or anyone with open arms. There were babies who hadn’t even seen the sun.”

“And I killed them all.”

She buried her head in her hands. I knew I was being cruel. I couldn’t tell her it was okay. It wasn’t okay. Nothing was. She had failed her very purpose as a god, and I had to make sure she knew it.

We sat in silence for a long time. Eventually, she looked up.

“What do we do now?”

I failed to suppress a scoff. “You don’t know?”

She shook her head, and I felt a twinge of guilt.

I tried to think of where we could go from here. There had to be something. She was a god. She could do anything, couldn’t she?

“Can’t you just bring them back to life or something?”

She shook her head again. “I tried. I don’t know how. I think…I think I didn’t just kill them. I erased them.”

I swallowed as her words sunk in. So it really was undoable. This was it. “What about your higher-ups? You can’t get them to do something?”

“It doesn’t work that way, Blythe. They are to me what I am to you,” she explained, pausing to correct herself. “Not you, I’m sorry. They are to me what I am to most people.”

I blinked. “A god?”

“Yes, a god. Invisible. I know of their existence, but not how to communicate. They do not answer prayers. They pay no attention to me or my realm. To them, the entire universe is…an ant colony.”

I sat back with a sigh, waiting for her to speak. I’m sure we will figure it out, or maybe just an It will be okay. Instead, there was silence, and the realization settled in that neither of us really knew what to do. Eve’s usual confident, all-knowing attitude had evaporated with her tears, and it made me feel uneasy. I guess you could say I felt defeated as well, but it felt like I had already given up a long, long time ago.

“I truly am sorry, Blythe,” Eve whispered after an agonizingly long period of silence. I ignored the way my heart twinged at the softness of her voice; at the way she said my name. “I never meant to make you feel like a replacement.”

“I don't,” I lied. My mouth felt bitter.

She looked at me for a long time, and I looked back. Her gaze was soft and sad and guilty. My gaze wasn't anything. I was just looking. Slowly and hesitantly, she brought her hand up to my cheek and held it there. I resisted the urge to lean into that familiar warmth. I sat still. I didn't pull away.

“I can’t forgive you.”

She nodded, a hurt yet understanding expression painting her face. “Will you stay?”

It wasn't a command; it was a question, and a bit of a beg. I tore my eyes away from hers to view the twinkling, starry abyss below us. Those two things didn't look all that different, I noticed.

 I wanted to stay. I really, really did. It wasn’t because there was nowhere else to go, and it wasn’t because I needed her. Albeit true, it was not why. I wanted Eve, too. I no longer felt controlled, as if programmed to love her – no, this was a different feeling. She had hurt me and hurt everyone else I ever loved – if I truly had ever loved them at all, that is. It was hard to know which parts of my memory were fabricated and which weren’t. She had desolated my home. She was a murderer, a monster, a serial killer – only far, far worse. She was a grieving, broken-hearted girl with the abilities of an omnipotent being.

A tear slid down her cheek as she drew her knees up to her chest and stared out into the infinite horizon. “I regretted it the second after. I questioned why I had done it. Why I had erased those creatures that had once brought me so much joy.”

I looked up at her. I said nothing.

“I wish I could take it back,” she trembled, voice wavering and cracking. “I want them back.”

She was so imperfect for a god. She was immature and didn't realize the power she held. She had let her rage take over, leading her to make terrible, impulsive decisions. I found it ironic how purely, rawly human that was.

“You still did it,” I said.

“I know.”

“And it can’t be undone.”

Her face twinged in pain she had given up on hiding. “I know.”

I sighed and stood up. After a long moment of hesitation, I extended my hand to her. She looked up at me with surprise.

“Come on. Let's go home.”

Something in her face softened as she looked at me – weak, soft, and lonely. She wiped a tear from her face and sniffled. The corners of her mouth folded into a sad smile, and she nodded.

Eve took my hand.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

There was something about Eve that kept me tethered to her, and it wasn't just the fact she was my divine creator. It was that mysterious allure about her that kept me always wanting to know more. It was that precious, beaming smile of hers, and that angelic laugh. It was the way she cared, even when she didn’t want it to show. I could always see how she tried to be the cooler, more level-headed one, and yet it was obvious she was head over heels for me. I found it kind of funny that I didn't see through that facade sooner. I guess she was pretty good at acting.

I didn’t want to be in love with her, but I was. I was in love with someone I had only met this very month. If that isn’t going too fast, then I don’t know what is. But then again, it always felt as if I had known her my whole life, and I suppose I technically had.

I was still upset with her, and I didn’t know if I would ever forgive her for what she had done. But I could tell she was scared and lost and confused, just as I was, if not more. I had to have some pity for her for that. I could tell she appreciated that I didn’t completely hate her, in the way her gaze softened apologetically every time she looked at me. I could tell she genuinely regretted everything she had done. It was too late, though, and regret wouldn’t change anything. Regret won’t change anything – I kept telling myself that so that I wouldn’t feel too bad. I couldn’t let myself forgive her. I had to hold onto my rage for the sake of all the humans who had lost their lives. I was all that was left of them, and I couldn’t disappoint.

“Blythe?”

We stood at the shrine in the center of Eve’s “house.” Her statue loomed over us, casting a shadow along the floor.

“You look scared. Is something the matter?”

I took a breath in as steadily as I could and forced a shake of my head. “I’m fine.”

Eve gave me a glance of doubt, but didn’t dwell on the matter any further. She had been extra fearful of making me mad ever since our fight. I hated seeing her scared of me like that, but there really was nothing to do, when I was still mad at her.

Eve stepped up to the shrine. It was gigantic and holy and looming, and it sparkled in the glow of the rising sun through the colored glass. As she stood in the middle, approaching her holy statue, the light lit up her silhouette and cast a halo across her head. She looked like an angel. I heard her breathe out a slow, steady breath and could tell she was focusing on something.

She turned around and outstretched her hand to me. She smiled that confident smile of hers, but I knew her well enough by now to tell there was fear behind it, too. “Ready?”

I took her hand and nodded. “Ready.”

A stream of information hit my head at once. The closest thing I could compare it to is having thousands of memories from thousands of lives all uploaded into your mind at once. I saw everything, and I knew everything. I felt everything – the joy, the suffering, the love, the hate. I felt things I had never felt before and heard indescribable sounds. Colors were exploding inside and around me. I was a nebula. I was the universe. I was All.

I doubled over and clutched my head. I think I screamed. My vision was blurry, and my head felt like it was underwater. I squeezed my eyes shut and desperately wished for it to stop. I could just barely hear Eve call out for me. I think she was trying to steady me. I don’t know. The hands on my shoulders were difficult to tell apart from the thousands of other senses I was feeling across my entire body. I shuttered and tried to process the overwhelm happening. I was drowning in information. I couldn’t breathe.^[bg][bh]

Then, it subsided. I stood up and let out one solid, steady breath. Eve took her hands away from me, but kept them raised, as if expecting me to suddenly faint at any moment.

“Damn. Is this really how you feel all the time?”

“It is all I’ve ever known,” Eve laughed. “Welcome to godhood, Blythe.”

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

        The first phase of our plan had been completed. I had successfully become a goddess. It was strange feeling this way. It made me regain some empathy for Eve. I couldn’t believe that she had to feel like this all of the time. It certainly made things more stressful and confusing. There was the weight of the world on your shoulders, knowing the crushing amount of responsibility you had to deal with quite literally all of the time. But then again, she was used to it, and I was a mere human not meant to process this level of information.

        The next step was to essentially repopulate the earth. Recreate every animal, the first humans, make the world livable again, restart civilization – no pressure or anything. But two minds were better than one, supposedly.

        “Remember we can take as long as we need,” Eve said, placing a hand on my shoulder in an attempt to reassure me. “We have all the time in the world.”

        “Literally,” I tacked on, because we really did have all the time in the world.

        She smiled with amusement in response.

“Where do we start?”

Eve extended her hand in front of her, palm facing upwards, and I watched as a single small, white butterfly formed in her hands out of nothing. It paused for a moment, sitting still in her hand as if processing the life it had just been given. Then, it flapped its wings, and we watched in mutual silence as it flew away into the horizon. Something about it felt so pure; so innocent; so fresh. I felt hope blossom in my chest.        

“How do I do it?”

Eve took my hands in her own, guiding me. “Just think. Decide it.”

I closed my eyes.

“Generally, it is good practice to have your palms facing upwards. You invite the power of the heavens to you that way,” she continued, and then paused. “That’s what Asteria always said, at least.”

She moved my hands for me, and I let her. I conjured an image in my mind and focused. I made the conscious decision to place it into reality, as if flipping a switch.

I felt a sudden warm, furry pressure in my hands. I opened my eyes to see a small, brown bird looking back at me with beady black eyes. I smiled down at it, amazed that I had conjured it with nothing other than my own mind. Something akin to fondness bloomed in my heart. Was this how it felt to create something you were proud of? I hadn’t realized I had never had that experience until this moment.

“A cape sparrow,” Eve mused. “What an interesting choice.”

“Is that what it is? I didn’t choose it,” I said honestly as the bird hopped up onto my finger to perch. “I just thought of a bird, and there it was.”

“Your subconscious plays a role when you conjure,” Eve explained. “It fills in the gaps of what you had not previously considered. I suppose that is why you never stop surprising me.”

I shifted my eyes away from the sparrow to look at Eve. “I surprise you?”

“All the time,” she smiled. Her eyes sparkled with a genuine love that made my heart swell.

I watched as the sparrow hopped off my finger and took flight for the first time in its newly-granted life, soon joining the butterfly on the horizon.

“We are going to make a new world,” Eve said. She brushed her fingers against mine, asking a wordless question. I allowed our fingers to intertwine. I felt the muscles in her arm relax. “And it’s going to be beautiful.”

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

“The last thing they need is names.”

Before us stood the first two humans of the new generation; the start of the new dawn of humanity. Our very own Adam and Eve. Those names would cause some confusion, though, so we decided against it.

“Maybe,” I started, hesitating. “Maybe the first step to independence is letting them choose their own.”

Eve considered my words carefully before she replied. “I think you’re right.”

She stepped forward and gazed upon our creations. Gently, she reached out and cupped their faces. “I promise to do things right this time,” she whispered.

Then she pressed her fingers to their foreheads individually – the spark of life. The first gift from God to Man. Their eyes opened, and the sun cast a golden glow upon their irises like the birth of a flame.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

“It is finished,”^[bi] Eve sighed, prompting me to wonder if she would ever stop speaking so ominously.

“What is?”

“The plan,” she said with a little laugh, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “We did all we promised. We restored humanity. We restored the animals, and everything is set in place for their evolution. We can rest now.”

I nodded. That was one way of putting it, at least. Even if there was nothing more we could possibly do, it still felt inappropriate to rest.

She offered a hand to me. “Shall we return now?”

I blinked at her. “To where?”

“The realm of the gods, of course. Where else would we go?”

I took a step back, refusing her hand. I watched it drop to her side.

“I don’t want to be a god anymore,” I disclosed firmly. It was stressful, and it felt wrong. I didn’t deserve it. I was meant to be a mortal. I was never meant to hold this amount of power. Possessing such a thing brought with it a constant uncomfortable feeling that I had been looking forward to getting rid of once and for all.

Eve nodded, which surprised me a bit. I had expected her to put up more of a fight. “Then I don’t wish to be one either.”

That surprised me more. “What?”

She approached me, taking my hands in her own. There was a glint of determination in her eyes. “Make me human, Blythe.”

“I don’t know how,” I admitted, and I was worried she didn’t really mean it. What if she regretted it later? Would the world really be okay all on its own with no god?

“A god can become mortal if they truly desire it. But another god must choose to grant their desire. It has never been done before, but I know it’s possible. We grew up with tales warning against it. I want it, though. I want to be human.”

My eyebrows knit together in worry. “Are you sure you want this?”

“More than anything,” she whispered. “Please, Blythe.”

She rested her forehead against my own, and I let her. And fuck, who was I to say no to her when she breathed my name with such a gentle, begging cadence?

“You just have to choose it, the same way you conjure. I’ll do it to you too. That way, we can become human at the same time,” she explained. “It will be alright, I promise. You can do this.”

Her reassurance actually worked to ease my anxiety a bit. I pulled away from her to nod. “Okay.”

Eve closed her eyes, and I followed along. I got close to her. I focused on her hands in my own and her breath on my face. I thought about making her human. Mortal, like me. And how I wanted to be mortal too. I thought about being human together, and living out the rest of our lives together. I focused on the warm, happy feeling that thought gave me. I wanted it. I wanted her. I wanted to heal together.

I don’t know who moved first, but we were suddenly locked together in a kiss. I knew that it wasn’t part of the process, but it just felt right. It was even more passionate than it was on the ferris wheel, because there wasn’t any uncertainty anymore. We knew we loved each other, and we knew we would be okay. My heart thundered in my chest as the kiss was deepened, and I felt a warm feeling in my chest that grew with every second. It felt like there was light erupting from my body – and I could feel it coming off of hers, too. Something was leaving and changing. We pulled away ever so slightly from each other if only to breathe.

I opened my eyes and was met with the same colorful world, complete with a newly dumbfounded Eve. I felt different. My head was lighter, and thinking felt easier. All of that overwhelming information that had previously been flooding my head had gone, and I couldn’t remember a single bit of it. It was relieving. I felt as if the biggest weight in the universe had been lifted off my shoulders. I was normal again. I wondered how Eve had dealt with all of that for so extraordinarily long.

“I feel…clean,” was the first thing she said.

I smiled at her. I wasn’t entirely sure what she meant, but I knew there was a new brightness in her eyes that I had never seen before. That was when I knew I had made the right decision.

“And stupid,” she added.

        I laughed, caught off guard, and she giggled with me. I threw my arms around her neck, and we kissed again. We were stupid, ignorant, happy humans, and there was nothing better to be.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

The mountainside was quiet yet lively; lonely, yet teeming with agape love. Eve laid next to me, her usually-braided hair let loose. It had taken the form of a wavy, caramel-colored puddle around her head as she rested in the grass. I wanted to run my hands through it. I wanted to kiss her skin. I refrained.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

I smiled, tilting my head. “What is?”

“The world. I thought all was lost, but we restored it all – the animals, the people, the life. We healed a wounded planet. Isn’t that beautiful?”

I tried to keep smiling, but it was hard when I couldn’t get past the fact that me being there for her was never a conscious decision; that I had been created by and for her. It was a difficult thing to accept. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure if it would ever get easier.

“Blythe?”

I moved my head to look at her. She had begun to blur, and I soon felt a single tear streak my skin. I didn’t even know I had been crying. I didn’t know when it had started.

She outstretched an arm and gently wiped the tear from my cheek. “I’m sorry,” she breathed. “For everything.”

“I know,” I said, and I did know. I knew she was sorry. It still didn’t fix everything. The world was healed, sure, but it wasn’t perfect.

Eve sat up, and I joined her after a minute or two. We looked out into the distance instead of each other. Maybe she just didn’t want to face me, or maybe I didn’t want to face her. Maybe it was both.

“It will take me a long time to forgive you,” I admitted.

Eve nodded as if she already knew. “I can wait.”

I leaned my head on my shoulder and closed my eyes. I could hear the calls of children and parents. I heard the songs of birds and the bark of wolves, still yet to be domesticated by man. I heard the crunch of leaves and the whispering of soft summer breezes blowing through our hair. I heard the heartbeat of the girl next to me, and I felt her gentle breaths. She was nervous yet safe, and she was human, and she was alive. We were alive.

Never again would I wake up to silence.^[bj][bk]