The Apocalypse Diaries

It was your typical Tuesday afternoon. Everywhere around me, the sounds of college life buzzed as students rushed back and forth to their classes, completely unaware of the calamity that awaited them. Finals were upon us, and as our dean would put it, “Trends, relationships, and jobs would come and go, but GPA was forever.”

I was supposed to be studying for my biology exam, but my mind wandered to everything but biochemistry. Once the semester ended, I had to travel halfway around the country to spend the summer with my dad in New York City. I hated the city with a passion, mostly because I don’t like people. If I were the last person on Earth, I would be perfectly content being alone. Unfortunately, that would never happen.

An alarm on my phone drew me from my thoughts of the bustling, clogged streets of New York City. Sighing, I packed my notes into my bag and headed across campus. I shouldn't be nervous about the final, seeing as I had an A in the class, but I couldn't help it. Tests usually excited me. The race to finish made me competitive and sharpened my mind.

So why do I feel like I want to crawl back into bed and shut out the world?

The class was nearly empty as I took a seat. I was twenty minutes early like usual, and the professor wasn’t even there yet. On the other side of the room was a small group of boys gathered around a phone while they watched a video. By the sound of their conversation, they were watching the news. Like me, they were always early and wrapped up in politics and current affairs. I didn’t see how they had time for that with all the work from this class alone.

"Hey, girl!"

Heather, my class bestie, shouted as she skipped toward me. Her neon pink jacket covered in glittering pink gems sparkled in the bright overhead lights. Her bubbly personality was as loud as her outfit, and her blond hair was streaked with pink and purple.

“Hey, Heather, how are you today?”

I attempted to keep the bite out of my voice as I spoke. Today we were in a competition for who would score the highest on the final. Over the last two years, we have taken six classes together and pushed one another to keep reaching for perfection. Our friendly rivalry was one of the few breaks from the unending insanity of campus life.

“Have you checked the news today, Cassie? They are talking about the solar eclipse that will happen in a few hours! I've never seen one before. Do you think I need those glasses to look at it?"

"I forgot all about the eclipse… and yes, you need special glasses to look at it. How can you have taken science classes and not know that you are still looking at the sun even though it's covered up?"

“Oh, yeah! I forgot! I guess with finals week going; it slipped my mind."

I shook my head at her as Professor Parsons entered the room. He didn’t wait for stragglers but closed the doors and started his speech before unlocking the test online. Forty-five minutes later, I submitted the finished test and left Heather behind. Unlike me, she didn’t rush through it, acting like it was a round of Jeopardy with a time limit for each answer.

It was my last test today, leaving me with three more tomorrow. One more day before, I had to give up my independence and live with my father in the big prison… I mean, the Big Apple. I just hoped his airhead girlfriend didn’t try bonding with me this time. What a nightmare.

Not wanting to ruin the high from the test, I stopped by the food court and treated myself to frozen yogurt. Around me, everyone talked about the upcoming eclipse. Annoyed at the conversations, I walked back to my dorm. Once inside the quiet space, I texted my mom to let her know I had finished my tests for the day. We messaged back and forth for a while before I decided to take a quick nap before my roommate returned. I changed into something more comfortable, turned on my tower fan, and laid down.

I awoke with a start, realizing that my fan wasn’t working. Groggy, I looked over at the alarm clock only to stare into a black screen. The power was out. Great.

Eerie reddish light spilled into the room from the eclipse giving the room an apocalyptic feel. With a shudder, I walked to the window. Before I reached it, people outside started screaming. My hair stood on end at the sound a moment before I finally reached the window and looked out. The clouds looked like they were melting right out of the sky and mixing with lightning and fire as they rained to the ground. A fierce wind kicked up, toppling trees and sliding cars around the parking lot. It howled as it grew in intensity like an evil, wild beast.

Dust devoured the students rushing around, and I quickly ran back to my closet, looking for the box from my uncle. He was a crazy doomsday prepper and had personally delivered his 'gift' to me a week after starting school. I hadn’t had the heart to throw it out and was now glad I had it.

Finally, I found the small wooden trunk and flipped the lid open. Inside it was a full-face respirator with two filters and two sets of replacement filters. The moment I had it in place, I quickly grabbed my roommate's duct tape collection, rolled a towel, and sealed the door before moving back to the window. Unsure what to do, I sealed it with tape and then added a couple of layers of cling wrap with more tape.

The sky was dark now. Blacked out by the dust as the wind continued to howl. The building felt like it was swaying. I pulled on a long sleeve shirt, pants, socks, and gloves before grabbing my phone. It was dead and wouldn’t turn on. Feeling helpless, I curled up in bed and did my best not to cry. Maybe this was just a bad dream, and I would wake up in a couple of hours when my roommate walked in.