At the End of The World, Will there Still be Music?

The world has come to its end, the crust beneath our feet shakes, deep shudders of anticipation until the world rips free from its moors and the earth erupts in destruction. We know it is the end as society slowly breaks down upon itself. Loved ones find each other, hold each other for God knows how long, for the abrupt end has yet to come. Devastation teeters on the fence and could go at any moment yet still we want for every last beautiful moment to feel alive.

There are those who would be praying for salvation or for savior, others will be smoking their last cigarette, having their last fling, drinking their last beer and listenning to their last song. There are those who would be crying, those that would lose their mind while others do what they have always longed to do, some who never would. There are some that would throw caution to the wind and drive fast, take from others, kill and hurt all in the name of fuck it. While I, a man married to a perfect woman, chooses to be with another. But unlike others, we would not lay with each other, we will not fuck, instead we will run through library halls laughing loudly, screaming, we will run across the sands of receding beaches through the maze of empty cars cuddled close together on the roadways as if they too knew it was the end.

She and I would talk about nothing and everything, say what we feel and be ourselves for in these unknown hours of life, we will be all that is left of ourselves. Music, I feel that I am most saddend by that, the loss of music to our ears, strange that in this moment I think of only the fact that the sound waves will carry out among the bilions of stars long after we are but ash amid the smolder of the world we call home. But thats alright, we laugh and we run, carelessly, fearfully, thinking every shudder is the last before the world swallows us up.

I feel a little guilt, I feel I should be with my wife, but I do not know where she is, the phones are down, the lines are cut the roads are packed and she could be anywhere. I wish I were there to hold her, but I could search and search and never find her, an option that I did not choose, because in the end, no one wants to go alone. I send her a prayer hoping that she is with family or friends. I love you babe, In this life and the next.

We pass an elderly couple near an underpass, the husband has killed his wife, I suppose it was in love, he did not want her to suffer, and so he lay onto her a bed of concrete to protect her body from fires to come. He was going to take his own life next im sure, I saw his tears and his melancholy determination, I looked away and followed the girl closely as we made our way to the parks and halls where we would sit and wait for the end.

Her smile is so big, and her laugh so bright, it seemed almost cynical in its way, laughing in the face of doom, but in its addictive way I wanted to be with her until her last laugh. We ran through hallways of buildings, emptied and looted, smilling and laughing an almost teasing fashion. She lifted her shirt and flashed her breasts at the ghosts in the halls, defiant until the end while I chase after her with bellowing laughter, hearing the echoes reverberate through the skeletons of evacuated buildings. We crashed our way through an ice rink, slipping and getting soaked in the melted ice, puddles of water at our feet inches thick did not slow us. I helped her up only to fall again, the empty seats of the shadowed rink were the only audience of our display and our cantankerous laughter.

The trembles of the floor beneath us grew in intensity and we passed chaos around us, as we wound our way through debris of the city, she and I, me and her, listening to only the sounds of our voices and not the sounds of car alarms and general dissaray. We slowed only to cross a small pond as we entered the park, our park, empty but for trees and the silhouette of an abandoned jungle gym.

Our breath was tight, we were exhausted but we pushed on, I grabbed her hand and we chose a spot to sit. There we fell, feeling the deep growling of the crust become a loud murmur and the pond sparkled with vibrating water, so beautiful. We lay next to each other looking out upon the water and gazing at the scenery around us and the smoke in the distance of fallen structures. We grew quiet while we caught our breath. I noticed then, of all things in my life I had done, I had never been myself until now, with her sitting beside me panting as I did. All the goals I had strived for and the ambitions I had seemed petty now, all events in my life I regretted and the choices I wish I changed were lost, what I realized matters was that I should have looked for happiness. I should have looked for laughter, I should have run through the halls laughing and screaming, I should have had fun and I should have been myself. My friend beside me leans over and gently bites my bearded cheek.

I look to her and she is smiling, laughing even while her eyes are filled with fear. They most likely reflect my own and so she comes closer to my side and I hold her while we relax on the grass, feeling the shake of the floor through our bodies. All that I was thinking before didn't matter now, I did laugh through halls, I sang aloud in empty walkways and danced through fire and smoke all together with the woman who I was holding now in the recesses of a desolate park amidst the eves of a hanging oak tree. We held each other tighter, the world was close to the end, the shudder became a violent shake and the chaos of a dying city around us grew louder. I ran my hand down her body, both in exploration and as a gesture for her to know I was right here with her.
"David"
"Yea?" I answered back.
"Do you think that somewhere right now there's music playing?"
"Im sure there is Nicky, somewhere right now, there are others doing what we are doing, listening to their last song and smoking their last cigarette."
"David I wish we had some music right now. That's one thing I will desperately miss."
I smiled at her then tucked her head beneath my chin as I squeezed her, hoping that I didn't lie, that somewhere on this cracking earth someone was playing the greats, but if it was just my imagination and there was no music playing, then I would be the last one on this earth to sing, and she beside me would be the last one to hear it. So I began to sing, one of my favorites, all the while thinking how much I wish we had more time, because of all things to ask and do at the end of the world this girl asks if there will still be music. Perfect.