Selena Maderson sits attentively as she peers out into the velvet black sky. She’s looking for the world due to collide with hers. All she can make out are stars beyond her own moon. “Surely there’s been some mistake Mama, nothing seems off… the telescope’s set to the correct coordinates right?” she says exasperated, having been searching for 2 long hours.
“Selena, darling, we've received triple confirmation from 3 space agencies. Planet V should be exactly where you’re looking.” ‘Ma says matter of factly. Sighing at her mother’s words, Selena takes another look out into the void. Two crescents flash to life right dab in the middle of her vision.
“Looks like we just had to wait for the sunlight to hit the system” ‘Ma says assuredly as she wipes a bead of sweat off her forehead. There it was, proof that Selena’s life would indeed end at 11:42 AM tomorrow, she would give anything to be wrong right now, for everyone to be wrong.
“How did we not see it coming, how does a whole planetary system even sneak up on us for God’s sake?” Selena’s voice shakes as she presses her hands to her face.
“God knows how, even with such a strange approach angle and physics-breaking acceleration it doesn’t make sense, it’s like it popped out of a wormhole just beyond the outer Solar system.” ‘Ma adds on.
“So that’s it, the end of civilization as we know it. We either collide with the damn rogue planet or we get flung out of orbit into the cold of space?” Selena mumbles as tears start to flow from her eyes. Her mom wraps her arms tightly around her and pulls her in
“It’s ok honey, it’ll be ok, tomorrow we’ll meet Papa again.” She brushes a tear streaking down Selena’s face.
Selena’s mind flashes with last minute ideal scenarios. What if they caught a rocket ride out of Earth and to another habitable planet? What if they sent all Earth’s nukes and weaponry to Planet V, maybe they could redirect it? What if this was all just a bad dream she’d eventually wake from in the morning? Selena’s mom, now on the verge of tears, is saved by a knock from the observatory's door.
“Lena it’s us, we’re going to the beach if you want to come!”, trust her friends to make the most of a moment like this. She looks up at her mom as if to ask for encouraging permission, and before a second can pass her mom says
“Go, let’s make sure we have no regrets when the time comes.”
“I love you.” Selena responds slightly choking on the words. With one last squeeze she lets go of her mother and runs to the door, wiping her tears as she goes. She throws open the door with a loud bang and there stand her beautiful, wonderful friends. There’s Andrea, her aura radiating warmth even on this cold night. She was always the sun in her cloudy sky. Whenever she needed to see things in a more positive light Andrea was the torch . And there’s Kai, his smile brilliant, as he waves at her to come out. Kai was always her champion. Whenever they were in a tight spot he made a way out. Lastly there was Marcus who is unusually calm tonight, he’s usually responsibly obnoxious. Where Andrea lights the way, and Kai carves the path, Marucs makes the journey fun. This group made her childhood magical, if anyone could make tonight feel a little lighter it’s them. She holds out her arms and they all fall into one big group hug, quite the unusual occurrence for quite the unusual night.
“Yea let’s hit the beach, I’d love that.” Selena responds. They set out towards the seaside.
“Did you see it in the telescope?” Marcus rasps.
“Yea there’s definitely a new planet in the night sky.” she says with a shrug of her shoulders.
“No chance it’s an illusion, maybe a glitch in the Matrix?” Kai laughs at his own ridiculous question.
“It would have to be the fucking best illusion of all time to trick every telescope on and off Earth, kinda like your dad's toupee.” Selena blurts out, laughing for the first time since the announcement. The mood lightens slightly as everyone giggles at her little jab.
“I think it’s rather poetic, Earth dying from another Earth-like planet crashing into it.” Andrea says as they head down the pathway to the beach.
“Of course you think it’s poetic Andrea, what don’t you think is poetic.” Marcus teases. Smiling off into the distance Andrea elbows him lightly “For what it’s worth I wouldn’t want to be anywhere other than here for the final days on Earth.”
“Really, out of all the places you’ve been to you’d rather be here? Not at the beautiful beaches of Bali or the cliffside views of Hawaii?” Selena asks skeptically.
“Sure those places are beautiful but this place feels like home, and that’s what matters! I have my family and you guys here.” Andrea declares. An understanding silence spreads throughout the group for a moment. All of them are back from College for the first time since they graduated High School. It isn’t exactly easy making new friends after spending the better part of a decade in one very tight-knit friend group.
“Speaking of family, how about we get all our families together at Cliffside park tomorrow one last time?” Kai asks with a hurtful smile.
“I like that idea,” Marcus says contently.
“Yeah, why not, if we’re going to perish, why not perish together.” Andrea sings, winking at Kai.
“The waves will probably be crazy, high tide is already absurd here. Add an extra nearby planet and the waves might even reach the top of the cliffs–” Marcus trails off as he notices water hit his feet. “No way, the water’s all the way up here.”
They had still been 6 minutes away from any record tide waterline in the county’s history, and still 10 minutes away from where the beach usually is. To their surprise, the seawater has covered up the vast majority of the sand path that goes to the beach.
“Welp there goes our beach plans.” Selena says, almost not believing what she’s seeing with her eyes.
“How far of a swim do you think it would be to actually make it out to the ocean?” Kai asks.
“A good 13 minute swim give or take.” Marcus says pragmatically as he skips a pebble down the water-filled path.
“We could cover that.” Kai replies with a dash of hope in his tone.
“I don’t know guys, isn’t Solari beach known for its whirlpools during super high tides?” Selena asks. A round of exhausted sighs bounces through the group.
“How…how about we break into the Avery’s hotel pool instead?” Selena exclaims, saving the mood and hopefully the night. Before anyone says anything Kai breaks out into a dash back towards the road.
“Last one there has to eat rotten fish eggs!” An electric vibration fills the air as Andrea and Marcus run after him. For a moment Selena lingers staring back at the moonlit water that fills the path, then back at her friends running away. She’ll never get to experience this again. A bittersweet melancholy starts to boil over her skin but before it can shift into a hopeless panic she sets off after them. They’re as loud as they want to be tonight. They laugh and yell, throw traffic cones onto balconies, and even jump the hoods of parked cars all to gain an advantage in the impromptu race. They may be destroying property but no one’s going to stop them tonight, there’s too much at stake, too little time.
“You’re gonna be eating rancid caviar if you don’t hurry up Maderson!” Andrea calls out from in front of her. They had gone to the Avery as youngins and were amazed by the notion of luxurious caviar for the low price of $8 bucks a pop, so they bit and ordered some. Little did they know the Avery was what we call a 1-star hotel and 1-star hotels typically come with 1-star food; although to call their caviar even 1-star might be an overestimation. You see it sort of tasted like it had been rotting at the bottom of a morgue’s dumpster straight out of the tin.
They run by pastel beachside mansions, some alive with activity and others dead as they would be tomorrow. They round a familiar corner and see the Avery's pool through its tall black fence.
“Don’t suppose the guard’s on duty on his last night on Earth?” Kai ponders as he climbs the wall.
“If anyone were to work on their last day of life it would be that annoying old gaffer.” Marcus replies following after him. Andrea reaches the fence 3rd and climbs it as quickly as she can but pauses halfway over the top to give Selena a hand.
“Let’s go pipsqueak your 5 star caviar meal is waiting for you.” She beams out as Selena grabs her hand and pulls herself up over the wall.
The blue pool light fills the place with cool undisturbed refractions that scatter throughout the courtyard. They’ve never seen the place so deserted, the cheap prices typically made sure it was filled to the brim all season. Half eaten meals and beach towels litter the poolside. Even the gigantic T.V. is off for the first time ever.
“I guess no one wanted to spend their last night in this decrepit excuse for a hotel.” Selena says as she scans the area for any signs of life.
“You can say that again.” Marcus chuckles.
“A pool’s, a pool.” Kai replies nodding to Andrea in devilish agreement
“A pool’s a pool.” she responds. Marcus turns his head but it’s too late
“What are you two–” he’s cut off as they shove him into the water. He pokes out 2 arms out of the pool and flips them off before his head emerges.
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Selena sees this and jumps in right after. “Kai be a good servant and fetch your queen her caviar.” She says with a posh tone and a half bow.
He rolls his eyes, smiles, and acknowledges her with a full bow before heading off to the canteen to grab a tin. They’ve had an ongoing joke that Kai and Marcus are the girls' royal servants from all the way back in 6th grade. When he returns they’re busy splashing at each other, with no care in the world, almost as if they wouldn’t all be gone tomorrow.
He tosses Selena a partially open caviar tin and flicks on the TV “What do you think the news is saying right now?” he says as he turns to the news channel despite objections from the rest of the group. A surprisingly well-put-together news anchor flashes on to the screen
“Breaking news…” he stares off past the camera with a worried look. “I know this is going to be hard to believe but we’ve just gotten word that we’re receiving technologically advanced radio signals from Planet V. Furthermore, due to its rapid acceleration towards us, it is now close enough to make out vague surface details. Scientists say they think it’s inhabited by another civilization judging from the lights emitted from its surface.”
“Holy fuck.” Selena yells as she spits out the spoiled eggs in her mouth. “You’ve got to be kidding me, that can’t be real right? I thought it couldn’t get any worse?” she yells.
“Well, it just got about twice as bad.” Marcus jests.
“Quick check with another news channel,” Selena calls out. Kai fumbles with the remote, almost dropping it into the water due to the shock. The T.V. flickers on to another news network, a markedly more disheveled news anchor comes on this time. His hair sticks out from where he recently ran his panicked hands through. He looks back and forth between the crew and the screen behind him in an uneasy way.
“We should be getting a visual annyy moment now–” A planet that could easily be mistaken for Earth comes on screen. “Now here we see Planet V, it does indeed appear to be an Earth-like planet, and if we zoom in on the dark side here we see— Lights! City Lights!” his eyes bulge almost unnaturally at the phrase. “As far as the encrypted radio signals go NASA hasn’t made any promises but they did say to keep your radio’s peeled to any government frequency to get updates and a final message before impact at 11:42 AM.” He zones out staring at the ground, eyes misty. A tech has to remind him they’re still live. “Ahh sorry, this is your host Mark Stroller, signing out for the last time ever. Stay safe America.”
There’s a short pause before Marcus starts laughing “Stay safe?!? What are we going to do hide from the planet?”
Andrea splashes him “Marcus you can’t be serious right now.”
“What? You always say not to worry about anything out of our control right?” he replies sarcastically.
“He’s right, it’s just… the situation is even more fucked up now huh.” Kai chimes in.
“Boo-hoo we’re going to die tomorrow, aliens or not we were all going to die anyway regardless! Marcus adds as he holds his arms out to get the point across. “Plus I’ve been dying to ask God why he made the Universe so damn gorgeous but then proceeded to spread everything a bajillion miles apart.” he continues.
“You don’t want to ask him why a damn planet is flying at us at relativistic speeds?” Selena asks as she tosses a foam ball at his head.
“I guess that too, but the point is we’ve got what we got, let's make the best of it.” Marcus declares with a flick of his finger.
“You’re actually right, royal servant Marcus.” Andrea agrees in a posh voice.
“You know what I’ve always wanted to do? Jump off the balcony into the deep end.” Kai says with a bit of pep in his voice now.
“Fuck it, let’s do it!” Andrea shouts into the air.
That night they did as much as they could in the little beach town haven they called home. They convinced Selena to jump with them from the 1st floor’s balcony, and then the boys jumped off the 2nd. Fueled by adrenaline and the absurdity of their predicament, they then decided to rob an empty jewelry store. Walking away with the biggest diamond necklaces on display, after all… who’d be left to wear them by the next evening? The night peaked with them hacking into a local electric billboard and displaying the infamous Rick Roll video on it. Its security measures were apparently rather lax because all it took was a crowbar and a USB stick. They rounded the night off with a Walmart rooftop golf competition. Kai won when he managed to hit the semi-truck at the end of the lot. Every new memory etched itself into Selena Maderson’s heart so deeply it might survive the Earth dying. It felt to her that they might even survive the end of time itself. By the time they returned home, they were so worn out, there was no time to think of their impending doom. Instead, they slept peacefully.
*Ding* *Ding* Selena’s phone buzzes with new messages. She picks it up half awake
“Who the f—”. For a moment she thinks it’s just another regular summer day. She forgot they made a mega group chat with all their families to go to Cliffside Park. It was their official end-of-the-world party. She skims through the messages, Kai says he’ll be bringing meat for the BBQ, Andrea says she’ll bring the beverages, and Marcus and his brothers claim Aux duty as usual. Meaning she was left with snack duty. She lazily rolls out of bed and doesn’t bother arranging the mess left behind her, what’s the point? The little things like that definitely don’t matter to her on a day like today. Her room and her extensive vinyl collection will probably explode into a million pieces and she doesn’t care. It’s not like she’ll be seeing them again anytime soon.
Despite the carefree attitude with her bed, she decides she ought to look presentable at the end-of-the-world party so she heads off to the bathroom to clean up. She dawns her newly attained 24-carat diamond necklace, which shimmers ridiculously in the bathroom light. Then she wears her hair down, only pausing to brush it lightly and gently pat the sides before leaving for the very last time.
When she heads down to the kitchen, breakfast is already made. It’s her favorite, blueberry butter pancakes. Not to mention they’re so numerous in number there’s no chance in hell she’ll finish them in time. Even with life as she knows it coming to an end her mother still tries her best to make sure she has the best time possible. Selena gulps down the urge to weep and hugs her mom who’s doing a few last dishes. Why on Earth was she doing dishes on her last day on Earth? Selena doesn’t have a clue but she decides not to poke into the matter. Maybe it was her way of keeping what little normalcy was left around a little longer.
“Good morning love, how’d you sleep?” ‘Ma asks.
“I slept surprisingly well actually, we did a LOT last night,” Selena responds cheerfully.
“I’m happy you had fun on the last night– Sorry I mean I’m happy for you full-stop.” ‘Ma trails off into a whisper.
Selena scowls at her for a moment “Mama it’s ok we don’t have to pretend everything is ok, it’s not, but we can at least maximize the time we have.” she says with a chic tone.
“Wow, did you hit your head or something? Is Andrea finally rubbing off on you?” she asks bluntly.
“Maaaa!” Selena hugs her tighter and shakes her a little as she lets go.
“So our last day’s going to be at Cliffside? Not a bad idea Iha. Who came up with that?”
“Kai did, oh and by the way we need to grab snacks for the party.”
Her mom promptly walks to the cabinet and returns with a massive Tupperware box. She gently slides an absurdly tall stack of pancakes into it, making sure to still leave Selena way too much.
“There, that should do it.” She winks at Selena.
They eat as joyfully as they can as they discuss past family adventures, and most markedly how wild Pops would be acting these last few days. He’d probably be sending a few rusty cars over the edge of Cliffside just for fun. He always said to quote-on-quote ‘Go out with a bang!’.
A meal never tasted so good and so bad at the same time. Before they knew it, it was time to head out for the party.
“It’s 10:00 AM let’s get rolling, we’ve got an end-of-the-world party to attend.” Selena exhales as she twirls a piece of pancake on her fork.
“You only get one of those, wouldn't want to miss it for the world.” ‘Ma answers with a bitter smile.
On the car ride Selena stares out the window and the world seems to call out to her. Like it was flashing all its vibrant colors specifically on her last day on Earth, maybe it too longs to live. Soon they’ve arrived at the party, greeted everyone at the Pavillion, and the BBQ started to roll off the grill. Aunts talk, kids dance, and Selena and her friends kick a soccer ball around discussing what else they could get away with if they had more time before the world ended.
“I’m telling you stealing a submarine would be boring as hell Marc, if you said a speed boat I might be on board.” Selena snickers as she passes the ball to Kai who lets it roll by. His focus is on the huge planet in the sky.
“It’s looking like a direct impact with Earth…” he mumbles.
“It’s gotten about 70% bigger in the sky since we’ve gotten here.” Marcus adds. They all crane their heads to look at the killer planet now taking up half the sky, it ominously hangs there suspended, ever approaching. Andrea breaks her gaze to look at the 100-foot waves crashing against the top of the cliffside, her hands tremble ever so slightly. Selena notices and slips her hands over hers comfortingly.
“Andrea—” at the touch she buries her head in Selena’s chest.
Selena takes a shaky breath and pats her head comfortingly. “I wish I could tell you it’s all going to be okay, but I can't, I don't know. But really out of all the ways to go out, isn't this beautiful? We’ve got all our extended family here, we’re blasting salsa music, eating good food.” Selena says assuredly. Andrea nods and agrees yet tears start to dribble out of her misty eyes.
“Plus we get to see literally the tallest waves ever right over there.” she points to the crashing behemoths of waves spraying mist into the edge of the pavilion.
Continuing, Selena says “Didn’t you say you always wanted to visit Praia do Norte, well Praia do Norte came to visit us.” Andrea looks up with a solemn chuckle. She hasn’t seen her this helpless since they were little girls in elementary.
“How about we dance the sad away? That always works!” Selena asks hopefully. They turn to head to the dance floor but, almost like divine timing, the music grinds to a halt.
“The government has an announcement I’m putting it on now! Probably gonna tell us to brace for impact or some bullshit.” Marcus’s dad grumbles with his hand on the speaker. A few cries ring out from amongst the group but a few scattered laughs indicate he’s not being totally inappropriate. He rotates a knob till cheerful old-timey waiting music plays. It goes on for a minute or two, leaving the group to whisper amongst themselves. Then it fades out and a deeply masculine voice comes on.
The man clears his throat and says “Good morning America! The repeating radio signal from Planet V has been deciphered. I’m going to read exactly what it says for you:
‘Hopefully you can decipher this. Sorry friends we warped to the wrong coordinates, no need to worry we’ll warp away before impact, it won’t happen again. If you see any ocean waves frozen in time, DO NOT ENGAGE. Don't let antimatter warfare wipe you out, and we’ll be getting in touch again once you’ve cracked anti-gravity. Next time we won’t visit with our whole planet we promise. Have a wonderful life, bye-bye.”
The radio voice trails on explaining the potential positive news but no one pays attention because in the next moments, something unbelievable happens. Something that no one would even believe you saw unless literally half the world was there to witness it. Luckily half the world was there to witness it.
The area of outer space right in Planet V’s impact zone comes to life with iridescent lights that burn with the tenacity of small stars. The lights expand till they fully block the view of the planet right behind it, uniting into one radiant orb. The orb then warps into a gigantic ball of curved space-time, only really visible because it anomalously shifts light from all directions. The sun zips into view through the huge lens then disappears, and then another unfamiliar star comes into view. Finally, the Earth swoops into view, allowing all on this side of the world to see the blue planet in all its magnificence. Just for a moment everyone sees how small and fragile they are on Earth. How humanity always seemed like a whimper in the face of the seemingly infinite universe, yet we never feel anything but quite the opposite. Maybe we were right to feel that way? Looking around Selena sees the faces of her family she assumed would be gone forever, now ablaze with hope. They watch with laser focus as Planet V and its moon blitz into the wormhole like slime down a drain and vanish without a trace. It’s like they were never there to begin with. A long tranquil silence falls over the group of end-of-the-world partiers. They’re here on this tiny speck together for a little while longer, and all is well. Except maybe for Selena who grasps her diamond necklace, vividly recalling the multiple felonies she just committed the night before “Oh fuck. Ooohh fuck.”
The end.