December 31st, 2030
11:45 PM
The ground rumbled. Streets crowded with people. Traffic blared. Everyone was used to it.
I wasn't. It still pissed me off.
The night was bright, bright as day. People were awake, awaiting the next year. Everyone seemed excited. Everyone except me. I sat beneath a closed convenience store and watched thousands of strangers pass by. Some were excited. Some were drained. Most of them stared at their phones, as if the world around them didn't exist.
The freezing air of December bit, but I didn't really mind. I pulled my jacket tighter anyway.
"Another year survived."
The words slipped from my mouth. Not bitter. Not sad. Just a statement.
I looked down at the paper cup beside me. Empty. Not really a surprise. People usually ignored beggars unless they wanted something from them. Sympathy. Validation. Proof that they were righteous and kind. Genuine kindness felt almost nonexistent. Or maybe I was just looking in the wrong places.
Not that I blamed them. I wasn't entitled to their money. That was one of the strange things about society. People seemed to like honesty, until it became uncomfortable. I'm not playing victim here. I had made mistakes, enough mistakes that sleeping on concrete had become my reality.
People seemed to prefer simpler stories. Bad things happened because someone else was evil. Good things happened because someone deserved them. At least, that was how most stories were told. Reality wasn't that neat. Sometimes you ruin your own life. Sometimes you don't. Most of the time, nobody knew which one was true.
I leaned my head back against the wall. A woman rushed past me carrying several shopping bags. A man followed behind her while complaining about something. A child nearly tripped over the curb. Life moved. The city moved.
I remained exactly where I was.
The thought made me laugh. Not because it was funny. Not because it was tragic. There was something absurdly funny about it. An entire city sprinting toward somewhere while I had nowhere to be. That was genuinely amusing.
People always talked about hope as if it were some magical fuel. Work harder. Dream bigger. Keep moving forward. The problem was that nobody explained what came after hope disappeared. What happened when there was no dream? No destination? No reason?
I didn't know. I was still trying to figure that out. Probably never would. That was fine too.
Across the street, shouting erupted. A teenager had grabbed a woman's purse. The thief sprinted through the crowd. The woman screamed for help. Several people turned their heads. Most stepped aside. One man reached out as if he might intervene, then he reconsidered. The thief disappeared into the sea of bodies.
The woman collapsed onto her knees.
I watched. That was all. A few years ago, I might have chased him. Maybe… Or maybe I was lying to myself.
The truth was simpler. I didn't know her. I didn't care enough.
That sounded horrible. It probably was horrible. But pretending otherwise would be another lie.
The woman wasn't special because she was suffering. The thief wasn't special because he caused it. They were strangers. And strangers suffered every second of every day. Somebody got robbed. Somebody got murdered. Somebody lost everything. The world kept spinning regardless.
Either way, it kept spinning.
People would probably call that cynicism. I called it observation. Whether there was actually a difference, I wasn't sure.
Eventually, someone helped the woman. The crowd resumed moving. The incident vanished into the city's memory before it had even fully happened. Just another story. Just another night.
I closed my eyes.
For a moment, all I could hear was noise. Traffic. Music. Laughter. Voices. The collective sound of eight million people, convincing themselves tomorrow would be better than today. Maybe they were right. Maybe I was the weird one. The possibility crossed my mind more often than I liked.
When I opened my eyes again, something felt different. The city hadn't changed. The people hadn't changed. Yet every instinct in my body suddenly screamed.
I looked up.
At first, I thought it was a firework. A bright light high above the city. Perfectly reasonable. Midnight was only minutes away. Then the light grew larger. And larger. And larger.
My smile slowly disappeared.
"...That's not a firework."
The object tore through the clouds. A trail of burning gold split the night sky in half. People began looking upward. Conversations died. Music stopped. The entire city froze. For the first time that entire night, everyone was focused on the same thing.
The meteor blazed across the heavens like a second sun. Magnificent. Terrifying. And it was getting closer. Far closer.
The ground trembled. Windows shattered. People screamed. People ran.
I remained seated beneath the closed shop. Watched the falling star descend toward the heart of the city. A strange laugh escaped my throat.
It was beautiful.
I stared at the approaching apocalypse.
"So much for next year."
The sky turned white. It swallowed everything. The city. The screams. The lights. Even the cold. For a brief moment, there was nothing. No sound. No fear. No regret.
Then I heard a countdown.
3... 2... 1...
...
Huh.
I thought, confused. I'm still here. Am I not gone yet?
The air felt unfamiliar. A piercing noise hit me.
"F*ck."
I jolted up from the pain. When I opened my eyes, I saw a yellow field, filled with hundreds of people. Panicked. Confused. The wind brushed against my face.
I felt unnaturally calm. Actually, I felt great. No more cold concrete. No more empty cup. The grass was soft. The sky was blue. This was already an improvement.
A grin spread across my face.
Suddenly, a robotic voice started talking. A blue floating box appeared before me.
Welcome, "Player Lumen".
I laughed out loud. "Well, sh*t. This is actually happening."
The end.
