Observance

In less than a day all mankind disappeared except two. In a week, all household pets trapped would also die and in following months plants that relied on humanity would die. The fallacy of the extinction of mankind would benefit nature is a cruel joke. Nature enjoys playing with mankind, ah yes, but without mankind who would play with her. The last two humans I left on the planet wasn’t a parting gift but a curiosity played out. What would happen if I left two people? Of course, it wouldn’t be fun if they were neighbours, so I chose two of opposing directions. Nature provided for the last two humans for years providing all the meat, water and shelter she could in hope that her friends would be restored. It can be said nature is masochistic in nature. Humanity learnt to beat nature in their final years to devastating costs at times, but nature knew if she waited enough humans would surprise her again with solutions and more fun games. The girl I left chose to wonder the streets, suburbs, cities and soon states. Australia is a large continent and one can’t easily cover distance when one doesn’t know what she’s searching for. Years, she wondered for companionship, friendship, a person, an abuser, a thing able to communicate.

Early in the disappearance she was gladdened by the state of the world. A deviant with no respect towards her parental custodians or educational officers. Then one day at 17 she was allowed to sleep in on a school day. Her parents not being home, she browsed the net and caught up on many amusing shows. Her first day was marked in gladly not leaving the house. Three days later we caught her leave for the first time. Why now we asked? The realisation of abandonment prior to exiting might of made her cling to the house longer or maybe she still had no clue. If the latter, it settled in quickly. Walking around Brisbane, defenceless, entering random houses and trying desperately to find someone, anyone. This was an amazing show to watch, we got to watch despair form on her face when she realised about the pets people owned. She must of released hundreds, maybe thousands around South Brisbane all the way to Toombul but after covering so much ground at late notice. Houses after houses littered dead pets and a frantic girl. On one day she sat down and didn’t move until starvation forced nature to play its card. Nature sent a stray like her. A dirty beast of no clear distinct dog breed. A mongrel designed through human hands for humans. A snotty gross pan faced mut. A pug. She didn’t smile our girl but finding something that relied on her made her energetic. The pug saved her but she never smiled again. We wondered what was next for our girl. The man was of no interest to us for his days were tediously spent.

Our girl as we decided to name her was followed relentlessly by our curiosity. After a year of moving around Brisbane checking out every suburb and packing her bag with necessary supplies. She decided to move on from Brisbane and south was the direction. The rational choice for Australia as the population is heavy in the south. The pug learnt to stick close to its protector and the cars still worked at this time. Electricity was off but many facilities still worked on back up generators if you could find them. In the year of isolation our girl knew what the journey would be and trained in various empty gyms and lived in the highest empty skyscrapers. Drunk the most expensive liquors in the empties bars and slept empty on the empty roads. What a world of surplus she had.

Nature as it is, caring for its last two inhabitants, could also be perceived cruel in the things she can’t control. So very cruel is her appeared nature that our girl cursed obscenities at it like we couldn’t believe. Our ears were assailed by her at random intervals. At times a minor incident would set her off but at other times just sitting down for long periods of time would lead to sleep or attack. In the journey south, she travelled the many cities in desperate search. It can’t be expressed how thorough she was, and our girl wouldn’t speak to us (not that she knew we were listening) for weeks. Not a single house wasn’t checked twice going south. It took her three years to reach Canberra from Brisbane and what a time it was. So funny to watch, she opened doors slowly because she feared what she was looking for. It was hilarious, and then in Canberra a wild dingo snatched her pug. This was met with not leaving Canberra for four years. She would still train her body occasionally; more for something to do in this case but the hiatus continued. We were at the tip of our figurative chairs because the last man was also in Canberra. As stated earlier, his mindset was different to our sweet girl. He found this time alone to practice his craft tediously. We chose the right woman for our curiosity to play out, but the man is not so great for this task. After four years, I don’t believe the search restarted but instead aimless wandering became a hobby. Our girl was 23 and no longer spoke but just walked. She went east for a while but returned to Canberra. It was when she decided to leave and continue south that we cheered her on. Cars no longer worked so walking it was. On the second day of walking the fateful event happened.

“Hello?”

Our girl turned around and their appeared our man. Our man which chose not to explore for several years. Our champion of tirelessly waiting. Our girl faced turned almost sickeningly pale seeing him. He dressed in a finely ironed dark suit with a tight collar and a purple vestment of some sort that seemed foreign to her eyes. She wore dirty rags collected through camping stores years ago and could not be said met up to any standard of fashion.

“Hello?” The man said again. “What’s your name?” He stuck out his arm in anticipation.

Years our girl chose not to speak and soon a language that became obsolete in her eyes became very important. “Name?”

“Yes. Your name?”

Social communication skill between them were equally gone and this interchange was audibly awkward in nature and at times we cringed.

“My name is… Yes, my name is Jas.”

“Ah. Jaz. I am Jacob.”

Our girl Jas broke down on her knees, cried a whimper and passed out. Upon waking she found herself asleep in a very uncomfortable bed made of wood in a very hot brick house. Her eyes told her she did not chose to be here cause why would anyone chose to be in an uncomfortable place like this when free apartment 5 star housing lay everywhere. The bed was a bed used frequently and wasn’t covered in dust which meant the man was not a dream and this was his dwelling. Squinting she saw the room light up in murals and coloured glass. It soon became no longer a boring brick house but a museum of beauty. Jacob was heard walking up creaky oak stairs and Jas decided to defend herself from this alien. Grabbing a nearby torch stick she readied herself in her corner. We often wonder why she didn’t grab her knife from her bag which was next to the provided bed but one can never know. He walked up polished in uniform and posture like before. Mid-twenties like her and quite blushingly handsome by pre wiping standards. “Please put that down.”

Putting it down slowly a silence that rumbled the world carried the weight of the human race. Smiling he said, “I very thought I was alone.”

Our girl spent the next hour crying. The same questions asked differently followed by the same statements said differently. It can be summed as, I was alone, where were you, did you search, blah blah blah. Jacob listened patiently and enjoyed the embrace of a human on his hands. The girl’s eyes widened in stark realisation of where she is and who she is with. Wiping tears from her cheek to observe closely the man that befell her. Before speaking the man said through a forced smile, “Its not fair that I am the one who is left with you.”

The girl knowing that the many fictions brought in her head by so much time alone were shuttered. No expectation of hers could meet what she witnessed today. Jas was flabbergasted and turned red thinking about all the end of the world stereotypes of the last two people on planet Earth. For what stood before her was none other than a priest hellbent on not breaking his vow of celibacy and she laid in a cathedral, one he spent six years building and venerating. Jacob spoke to her eyes softly, “they are watching”.