End of the World

Twins with superpowers experience a quiet event together.

The silence woke her. It wasn’t right at all. I, of course, was already completely awake. I actually enjoyed absorbing that silence, but she ruined it with her rustling as she awoke and raised herself to a sitting position in the bed. Twin sisters always ruin things for each other.

“You up, Lou?”

“Of course I’m up. Why do you think it just went silent?”

“I don’t know. All I know is it was super creepy. Twins with super-hearing never experience silence. How is it nothing at all is moving? How is it every single animal stopped breathing simultaneously and started again as soon as I woke up? It doesn’t make any sense and it’s creepy.”

“I don’t like this, Vi,” I heard myself murmur. Our beds were on opposite ends of the room; it had never felt so far away, so isolating.

The world didn’t end with a crash or a bang; it did not go quietly into the night. It ended with a series of screams, billions and billions of unique screeches and howls. One by one.

Louise. Violet. It’s your turn.

NO.

“It’s okay, Vi,” I lied. “It’s all going to be alright.”

What happens now? I wondered. Where do we go from here?