The scrolls were delivered to the community mailboxes.
Residents had long since stopped checking for mail so they were unaware of the presence of the scrolls until they received the text:
You are in possession of information regarding the end of the world. Everyone is invited to read the scroll together at 10amET on September 30th; doing so will inform you of how our collective life will end. If you lose patience and read it earlier, you will spontaneously combust.
You are also welcome to not read the scroll and have the events that unfold surprise you.
“Surprises are good,” Carl said as he tossed the scroll in his recycling bin. “No point obsessing over something I can’t control.” He was also unable to control the smell of burnt flesh coming from his neighbors who decided to tempt fate and read their scrolls early.
The doctors and nurses were the first to lose their jobs. When the world was about to end, people lost interest in health. Police officers, on the contrary, were experiencing an accelerated need. With little time left on Earth, people were choosing to experience their viler desires. Murders were commonly occurring, as were robberies and vandalisms.
“What if we just stopped answering the calls?” Officer Payne asked his partner. “They can fire us; it won’t matter.”
“Fire…,” his partner mumbled, eyeing the burning piles of humans and detritus that they passed in their squad car, “so much fire…”
On the morning of September 30th, survivors pulled lawn chairs up to their mailboxes and waited. Some had champagne and fireworks; others held rosaries and religious texts. Many mailboxes stood as solitary sentinels; their owners had succumbed to curiosity or violence.
At 10:20am, whimpers and soft sobs could be heard. One woman moved from her chair to sit on her husband’s lap. Another woman held her dog close. Two children were asked to lower their voices, and an old man Facetimed his son.
At 10:25am, the neighborhood was silent. Even the birds were waiting with anticipation.
At 10:30am the residents opened their mailboxes and unfurled their scrolls. They were told that the world was going to end in five minutes when a large meteor crashed into planet Earth. They spent those five minutes searching the skies and praying and sobbing and cursing.
At 10:35am…nothing happened.
At 10:38am…still nothing happened.
“It said Eastern Time, right?” Mrs. Wilson asked tentatively.
Carl, who was the only one without a scroll, as recycling had taken care of it weeks earlier, found the original text that had been sent and read it aloud. “Definitely Eastern Time.”
Officer Payne finished sipping his champagne and added, “But it didn’t say what year.”
∼ Elaine Pascale
© Copyright Elaine Pascale. All Rights Reserved.
