The End

*DANIEL*

When you wake up on the day of the end of the world, you never expect it. The day everything changed, I woke up to my roommate charging into my room, with a water gun filled with the coldest water I have ever felt.

“Good morning sunshine!” My roommate announced as he doused me with his $12 water gun.

“Dude!” I wake up with a jolt and roll off my bed away from the icy stream.

My water gun is right where I left it, filled with apple juice under my bed!

“Come out Danny boy, you afraid you’ll catch a cold?” Michael says as he pumps his gun to prepare to fire.

For a little bit of context, we’ve been having a “war” for the past week, a different war subject every day. Today’s war subject was the lethality of “guns”.

“Hey man! We said to wait until we got to the school!” I snap back while I grab my gun and pump it.

“All is fair in love and war!” Michael announces as he walks around my bed, hitting the spot on my floor that squeaks by only a small amount of pressure.

I immediately aim my gun upwards and fire, but barely miss, the apple juice hitting the wall to the side of him.

Michael doesn’t hesitate to return the favor, aiming his gun at me spraying me between the eyes, ending today’s battle.

“Haha, I do believe I win this one” Michael says as he rests his water gun on his shoulder.

“Yeah, whatever man.” I get up off the floor, “you cheated.” I run my hand over my face to wipe off the water.

Michael licks his lips. “Is that apple juice?” he asks curiously.

I give him a look. “Call it revenge for yesterday’s mustard bomb” I reply, grabbing a towel out of my dresser to clean up the mess on my wall.

“Haha well you never set any limits on what we could use to represent the war subject,” he says before spraying water into his mouth. “Yikes, that’s cold!” Michael remarks, swallowing the icy water.

“I guess. Hey, what time is it?” I say as I attempt to toss the towel in with my dirty laundry; it falls short.

“10:10; you suck at aiming” Michael says, noticing my missed shot.

“You should get Garret to take you shooting, soldier boy could probably teach you a few things,” He continues. Picking up my water gun, he pumps it and shoots the remaining juice into his mouth.

“Oh yeah sure, he could take me into the mountains, make it easy to dispose of my corpse when he finally shoots me,” I reply, picking up my failed shot and putting it in the basket.

Garret is my girlfriend Amy’s older brother, a 27-year-old marine who doesn’t approve of me dating his sister. Honestly, the guy would gladly shoot me before teaching me how to even hold a gun, much less fire one.

“I thought you two kissed and made up at that Marine Corpse ball or whatever?” Michael says, aiming at the doorway with the water guns held to his sides like an action hero.

“Corp,” I correct him, “and no, he took Amy and made it very clear I wasn’t invited,” I continue.

“Tough luck,” Michael responds, walking out of my room and into the hall.

I begin gathering clothes to take a shower. “I’m telling you man, Garret is never gonna trust me to take care of Amy, he sees me as a kid” I yell grabbing my towel and heading into my bathroom.

“A 21-year-old kid,” Michael yells back, and I can hear the laugh in his voice.

I quickly take a shower. Half-dressed, I walk out of my bathroom to my roommate on his phone texting up a storm. He’s probably texting Claire.

Claire is Michael’s girlfriend… on and off girlfriend. They have been “dating” for around a year now, but they have a break-up every month or so.

I don’t particularly like Claire. I think I know why she is dating Michael.

Michael is the son of rich businessman George Markson, who made a name for himself in the energy business. Basically, I have a rich roommate.

Regardless of his status, Michael made it very clear that I shouldn’t treat him any differently. He convinced his Dad to let him experience a normal college life and for him to have the opportunity to make a name for himself without his family to help him along. Hard to believe that was over two years ago.

About a month into their relationship, I tried to tell Michael that Claire might be dating him only for his money. Needless to say; I failed to convince him. I never tried again after that.

“Dude. I think you’re going to bust your phone if you keep texting like that,” I comment after noticing the loud tapping from his fingers hitting the screen.

“Sorry bro, its Claire,” Michael says, as he goes back to his vigorous texting.

“Kinda figured, everything alright?” I ask as I throw my old clothes into the hamper.

Michael continues, “She wants to see a movie tomorrow, some love flick, but I know we have the writing portion of our project to finish…”

I interrupt, “…and she’s not taking no for an answer, is she?” I say, while simultaneously folding my wet towel over a hanger.

“Yeah…” Michael sighs, while tossing his phone into his jeans.

“That sucks, Mike. Want to reschedule the work time?” I ask while sliding on an old shirt.

I know Michael, and if he and Claire break up again, well let’s just say that we won’t get the project done anyway.

“You sure man?” Michael looks over at me very hopeful.

“Why not?” I shrug with a laugh. “But you gotta buy lunch today!” I put on my jacket.

“Thanks bro, I appreciate it,” Michael responds excitedly, immediately texting Claire the good news.

I probably just saved their relationship. At least for another week.

“Oh wait. Whose job is it to write about today’s war subject?” I ask Michael, interrupting his texting.

“Oh right, it’s me today. I’ll include all the details about how you got destroyed so don’t worry,” Michael responds with a mischievous smile on his face.

I roll my eyes.

Looking down at my phone I look at the time, its 10:20. “Hey bro, we should probably go,” I announce to Michael who stands up with an exasperated yawn.

“Yup, yup, Lets go, we have to meet up with Amy and Claire in like ten minutes,” Michael says, “also I would prefer to keep up my perfect record of never being late to class!”

“Yeah, those two are probably the last two we should keep waiting!” I ignore his bragging.

I know he doesn’t look like it, with his blonde hair and strong frame. But Michael is one of the smartest, kindest people I have ever known. He has helped me more times than I can count.

“Meet you in the living room in a second,” I say as he heads back to his room, and I grab my bag off my desk chair.

I scan my room for anything I may need; noticing the water guns sitting on my bed I decide I can put them away later.

I wonder how we can formulate the “battle” into our final paper.

I’m not sure why, but I think today is going to be interesting.

“Come on man, let’s get going!” I hear Michael call from the living room.

“Yeah Yeah, I’m coming!” I walk out of my room and down the hallway.

Entering the living room, I see Michael is sitting on the back of the couch still texting on his phone, although things seem a bit more relaxed.

“You ready to head out?” I ask Michael as I tighten the straps on my backpack, having to pull slightly harder on the right strap to get it to where I want it.

“Yup, let’s get going!” Michael puts his phone in his pocket and gestures towards the front door.

We walk outside and I can feel the transition of the seasons.

“It’s getting colder” I look towards Michael who zips up his jacket.

“No kidding.” Michael continues down the stairs towards the exit of the dorm.

Walking down the stairs I remember how much I hate stairs.

“Hey, why did we pick the fourth floor again?” I ask questioning our sanity

Michael turns the final corner down the last flight of stairs.

“Because if no one else registers for this dorm, we get a room to ourselves since they fill up rooms first to fourth” He responds reaching the ground floor.

“Right…” I shiver. We used to have roommates, but they decided to move out after finding a nicer place to live.

Stepping out of the dorm we begin to feel the cold wind as we walk across the road and onto the sidewalk that leads directly to main campus.

‘It’s a light breeze today; it’s not so bad’ I think to myself.

Walking down the sidewalk we see James; he waves at us to come towards him.

“He’s got a dog now?” I look at Michael and at the black German shepherd sitting next to James.

“New dog James?” Michael asks as he reaches down to pet the dog who wags his tail in response.

“Yeah. Names Shadow!” James says, smiling and petting the dog’s side.

“Why’d you get him” I ask squatting down to pet the dog who seems to love all the attention.

“Ah well you know how it is man, black man can’t have nothing in these streets without others wantin' to take it!” He pours water for the dog who gladly laps it up.

“The shelter offered a deal; we take the dogs, and they give us some money to take care of them and a little extra to take care of ourselves!” James smiles and pets the dog who stops drinking to lick her owner's hand.

James is a nice older man we met freshman year, he has black graying hair and always looks like he’s tired. Even with all that, James is still a nice guy, we often stop by to talk with him on our way to school. We usually offer to give him some money to help him out, but he always turns it down. He always says that he got himself into this mess and he can get himself out.

“…it gets better though! Look at these!” With this he points to his boots, “These babies are waterproof! Found them in the dumpster behind an old shoe store!”

We stop petting the dog who seems satisfied with the attention it just received.

“That’s awesome James! Hey, we have to meet up with some friends, but we’ll catch you later ok? I’ll bring you some food tonight!” Michael holds out his fist for James to bump.

James nods and touches knuckles with Michael “Hey thanks man! Y’all have a good one!”

I smile, “You too James!”

Michael hums and walks to his own rhythm.

I laugh, “What’s got you in such a good mood man?”

Michael continues his happy hum “It’s just a good day! James is happy, my relationship is going well…”

For now. I don’t say this, but I don’t stop myself from thinking it.

“…and although it is a little cold, it’s not as bad as it could be!”

I suppose he’s right. “We also get to meet up with Claire and Amy so yeah, I guess it is a good day”

“Now you’re thinking right!”

“Let's just get to someplace warm, all this talking is gonna make us late, or later than we already are,” I remind him.

I feel my phone buzz in my pocket; pulling it out I see that its Amy.

I hold my phone up for Michael to see.

“Just our luck.” I answer the phone. “Hey Amy, sorry we are running a bit late.”

I hear Amy sigh on the other end of the phone, “Yeah I kind of figured that…” She sounds like she expected this. “Just try and get here soon! We have class in fifteen minutes,” just then I hear Claire yell from the background “Hurry up!” With that the call ends.

“I think it’s fair to say that Claire is upset we’re late!” I tell Michael; he holds up his phone and I see multiple texts from Claire within the past fifteen minutes we’ve been walking.

“Let’s just try and hurry up!” Michael says, and so we begin to run.

*AMY*

Waiting for Daniel and Michael, I could tell Claire was annoyed.

“Ugh, what’s taking them so long?” Claire asks while texting who I could only guess was Michael.

“I’m sure they didn’t mean for it to take so long; maybe they just ran into James,” I shrug. With this Claire wrinkles her nose. “James? You mean that old homeless guy? I don’t know why Michael associates with someone so poor.” She states.

Claire isn’t exactly the kindest individual. She isn’t all around terrible; she was one of the first friends I’ve made while being at college. Granted I think that was only because I helped her in class.

We are both studying to become nurses and, when it comes to math and things like that, where I excel, Claire doesn’t.

“Come on now, James is a nice guy. He always has a smile on his face when we talk to him!” This is all true; I really like James. When Daniel and Michael first introduced us to him, I could tell right away he was a good guy. He’s just having some bad luck.

Claire takes a break from her texting. “Oh Amy,” she says rolling her eyes. “Anyone would have a smile on their face if they were talking to two beautiful women!” She looks back at her phone, “Ugh, why is he still not answering!”

Probably because they are rushing to get here.

Just then someone barges through the café door; its Daniel. Behind him I can see Michael’s larger frame and blonde hair. I can tell they both rushed to get here. Even with the chill in the air their faces are red.

The boys approach the table. “It’s about time you two got here! What took you so long?” Claire asks them while staring daggers.

Michael looks like a kid in trouble. “We saw James and talked with him for a bit…”

With this Claire changes her tune, “Oh really? How’s he doing?” She is good at hiding how she truly feels.

“He’s doing good. He has a new dog!” Michael explains, his puppy eyes gone.

While they talk, I look at Daniel. “Thank you for trying to get here quickly,” I say, resting my hand on his arm.

Daniel sits down. “James does have a really cute dog,” He smiles.

I’ve known Daniel for a while now. We’ve been dating for two years after about a year of being friends. I’m not sure what attracted me to him. It could’ve been anything. If I had to guess; it was his reliability that sealed the deal.

Ever since I first saw him and first spent time with him, he was always reliable. Always there. Just this average looking guy.

Daniel interrupts my thoughts. “Hey space case, you alright?” He laughs, running his hand through his hair and scratching the back of his head.

“Yeah, I’m alright, just thinking of how long we’ve known each other,” I smile at him.

“We have known each other for a minute now. About three years now!” With this he points to my hat. The one with the words “I’m a nurse and I fight back!” written on the front. The one he got me on our first date. “I see you kept that old thing,” he says with a laugh.

As Daniel says this, I hear Michael clear his throat, “Should we leave you two alone?” He says with a laugh.

“Seriously, and people say we are love doves,” Claire pipes up with a smirk.

I roll my eyes. “They say that because you two are!”

“Whatever. Hey girl, we need to get to class!” Claire reminds me. I look at my watch and see we have about five minutes.

“Oh right, sorry boys, we can catch up later!” I say as we get up and grab our things; I turn around to Daniel, “Don’t forget we have dinner with Garret tonight!” Daniel smiles “I didn’t forget; I’ll be there!” he says.

Claire kisses Michael goodbye and we walk to the exit. “He totally forgot!” Claire states. “Oh no doubt!” I roll my eyes as we walk out the door to class.

*DANIEL*

“I totally forgot about dinner with her brother,” I say to Michael once the girls walk out.

Michael laughs, “Bro, your face couldn’t have made it more obvious!” He continues his laughter; tears are forming in his eyes.

“Shut up man, let's just go to class; you have bio first, right?” I ask as I stand and stretch. Michael lets out a sigh, ending his laughter, “Yup, you have your engineering course, don’t you?” He asks. “Yup. With good old Professor bootcamp,” I yawn as we begin walking to the door.

As we get outside, I hear the bell ring from the tower at the center of campus letting us know it is now 10:45. Time to get to class.

Michael and I walk on the sidewalk heading to the south side of campus. The large science buildings on either side of us cover us with shade and provide a chill in an already cold morning.

“I’ll see you later man!” Michael says as he points towards his building. “Yeah man, see you later!” I give him a fist bump.

As he walks away, he turns around and yells, “good luck with soldier boy!” He laughs and turns around. People stare at him but then quickly go back to their business. Michael always knows how to attract attention.

I continue walking a little further to get to the engineering building. As I enter the building and walk into the lecture hall, the loud noise hits me like a train; all the students are talking and laughing.

Professor Thompson enters the lecture hall and clears his throat, “Class please take your seats!” He announces in his booming, commanding voice. The man is about sixty years old but is built like a tank. His military haircut gave him the nickname “Professor bootcamp.” He never has a problem quieting down the class.

When everyone goes quiet the Professor starts the lecture. “Now please turn to page…” Just then he is cut off by violent shaking.

This is the beginning of the end.

AUTHORS NOTE: Hey y’all, thank you so much for reading! This is a new story, and I am very new to writing. I hope you all continue to follow this story and these characters as I slowly grow as a writer! Thank you again!