Canton Writes 2023: Last Two on Earth

The Canton Citizen, a sponsor of the annual Canton Writes contest, will once again publish the winning entries as space permits. The selection below, by Danny DeLuca, was the winning entry in the middle school short story category.

Last Two on Earth

By Danny DeLuca

The end of the world wasn’t beautiful. It wasn’t filled with vibrant colors scattered around. Nature didn’t restore itself when the humans disappeared; their influence was left far too strong. Before long, all that stood was the burnt ashes of smoke along the dim horizon.

It wasn’t all bad. Jasper’s favorite part would always be the silence. Humans as a kind always made too much noise, always seeing it fit to draw unnecessary attention to themselves. Not Jasper, he loved staring up at the glowy stars at night, with no sound but the comforting creak of the crickets and lonely chirps of birds.

He was only 10 years old when everything fell apart, not that he remembered much, only the feeling of emptiness when he realized he was alone — the sole survivor of that horrible day.

From what he could recall, the day had started out normal. He’d woken up not knowing it would be the last time he ever stepped into his house again. He hugged his mother without knowing he’d never hug her again. If he had known, would he have held tighter?

He couldn’t determine what time it happened, maybe in the late afternoon. He just remembered the screams. The shrieks of terror as the karma for the cruelness humankind inflicted was unleashed. When the world got tired of being used.

He still didn’t know why he survived. Eight years later. Out of all the people on the earth, all the kind, generous souls better than some scrawny kid died while he was left with the remains of a broken world. Although he supposed, the world was broken long before that fateful day.

Maybe it wasn’t a blessing that left him alive. Maybe it was a cruel, twisted punishment. The silence didn’t bother him; it couldn’t. If he thought too hard about how lonely he was, it might just kill him.

His thoughts were interrupted by a small feline, Tesha, headbutting against his leg. Her faded black fur brushed against his thigh, bright green eyes staring into him, as if she could see into his soul. A wise creature, far wiser than Jasper could ever dream of growing to be.

“Hey, old girl,” Jasper mumbled, scooping her up into his arms. He’d found her when he was 11, a year after everything fell apart. She’d been shaking in the cold, and he’d taken her in. Fed her, offered her shelter. She hadn’t left his side since, almost seven years later. She purred softly in his ear, cheerily pressed against his muddy, old hoodie. “How was your day?”

Tesha meowed softly, wiggling out of his arms. She landed gracefully on the ground, licking the dirt off her paws. She sent him a look that he understood well.

The boy sighed softly. “Yeah, I know, dumb question.”

She meowed once more. Scurrying down the hill to settle on a big rock. It was their favorite rock, the two of them. Both survivors had endured too much of the world’s cruelness firsthand and were ready to meet their end. Whenever that would come. Jasper had a sinking feeling it would be soon.

He wondered what it would have been like to grow up normally. In a normal house, in a normal town. He’d have normal parents and normal friends. He could be normal.

Tesha hissed softly when Jasper sat on the rock, curling into his lap to play with his hoodie string.

“Hear that?” he mumbled, raking his long fingers through the tangled fur. “That’s the sound of peace.”

It, in fact, wasn’t very peaceful. The noise almost sounded as though the very core of the Earth was collapsing in on itself. A sort of screeching noise that chilled him to his very core. He stared ahead at the setting sun, wondering idly if it would be the last time he ever saw it. It was a beautiful one, that was for sure.

He was grateful for all the sunsets he got to see, even if he saw them alone. Even if every single piece of his torn heart wished to see his family instead, to see his friends.

If only he’d known. If only the stupid little 10-year-old boy knew that what he thought would be an average day could turn out to be the worst day of his life. Only for every day following it to be just as miserable.

Jasper always knew the world was doomed, even from a young age. He understood the horrors that were the world his parents tried to hide from him. Something about seeing it finally come to an end put him at ease.

“Growing up,” he started, “I was always taught all stories had a happy ending. The prince gets the princess. Family disputes are solved. The hero saves the city, you get it. I … I guess that’s not always true.” He whispered, hand stroking the cat’s fur gently. He didn’t know why he was explaining all this to a cat, maybe it was simply because she was the only one around to listen. The bright green eyes that stared up at him almost made him believe she understood. Maybe, in her own way, she did.

“That’s alright though,” he added, a small smile on his face. “Sometimes tragedies are just as necessary.”

Jasper couldn’t help but wish that wasn’t the case, but it was. There was no stopping a doomed world from meeting its fate. Despite that, as he looked down at the cat in his arms, he couldn’t help but wish he had more time. He peeked at the radiant sun, which seemed to be growing closer by the second. The sound of any surviving animal fading away as Tesha’s claws lessened on his pant leg.

The last thing he saw was darkness. And the light sound of a cat’s purr fading from his ear.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=114795

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