Five Steps to Thursday

The announcement came in every form and every language. Few remembered from which source they’d heard the news. It was the same everywhere—no opinions, biases, or debates: ‘The World Ends Thursday.’

In denial, we raged against imagined masters pulling dark strings. None were found.

Angry streets burned. Abandoned stone monoliths of authority were battered. Our leaders had simply gone home.

We made bargains with our gods and devils. Our contracts returned unopened.

Depression discarded our fairies, our hopes, our dreams of magical endings.

With fate accepted, it was with peace that we watched our stars blink and fade to black.