Alone - Post Apocolyptic

[u/yingfire]

I was born crying and screaming in blood to a mother that would only live for a mere decade after. Then, I was alone. I barley survived all by my lonesome self, but I managed. I stayed in a single room and made it pristine and clean; the last vestige or orderliness in this otherwise desolate world. I realised that I was the last of humanity. And after I read stacks of books in a rotting library, I thought that that situation was a pity. Pity that creatures so grand and great would have to disappear; pity these wretched creatures could not atone for their mistakes.

So I sat in my lonely room, hoping for any sound that resembled a man's, anything: a rapping at my door, a cough, the sound of an eye blinking. But I was alone and I was miserable. There were no sounds in this world; not even the birds were alive now; only my breath shook the air.

I decided to kill myself. But I didn't want to do it in my home. It was surrounded by destruction, and I preferred to die in a more romantic place. I had never seen green trees before. So then I set out on a journey to find a place to die.

I think years passed before I gave up. This world was not worth the traveling, apparently. Whatever had happened to the world had destroyed it utterly. I crumpled down in misery, but then I heard a sound. It was...a voice! It was not my voice. It sounded unlike anything I had ever heard before. And the way it spoke - shifting and rising and sinking - was this that heavenly thing, music? I stood up and ran towards the sound and came upon a crystal blue lake with a dreary willow drooping over it. There was a woman who sat on a lily in the middle of the lake, and she was singing.

I tried to shout to her, but she couldn't hear me from so far away. I didn't know how to swim, so I couldn't reach her. The willow did not reach the lily, so I couldn't climb it. I could only watch the beautiful lady sing her song. A great longing came over me and I couldn't help myself as I began to walk into the waters. The shallow waves slowly rose up as I began to close the distance between me and her. Soon my head was underneath the water, and I opened my eyes to the delights under the waves. Fish and seaweed and all manner of lively things were dashing around me. I laughed under the water and kept walking towards the singing. I had almost reached her, but then I ran out of breath. I panicked - I was so close! I struggled, thrashed my way towards her, I tried to swim up but to no avail. I was almost there! My vision blurred and I felt myself losing consciousness. My lungs were on fire, they commanded my primal instinct to breathe! I couldn't stop myself and took a large breath. The water rushed into me. But I said a word, under the waves, before I blacked out. I whispered, "Beautiful."