Farah Rishi - I Hope You Get This Message

Jesse was distracted, giving Marco a window to land a punch clean to the face. A hot explosion screamed through Jesse’s body, his jaw throbbing. He doubled over. Cradling his face, he almost smiled, relishing the pain that knocked Ian right out of his head.

That’s when Jesse saw the bread and peanut butter; they’d been thrown from his pockets and landed a couple feet away. He dove toward them, but Marco seized him again, this time by the collar, and dragged him farther away from the food.

No. This was the one right thing he could do for his mom. He wouldn’t let Marco take that away.

Instinct took over, and Jesse threw a punch as hard as he could. Marco recoiled and quickly let go. Jesse’s mind was numb, scorched by an inner white blaze that had no beginning or end, leaving room only for the fire and fear and frustration he’d been suppressing for so long. Jesse advanced, punching him again. Marco staggered back, trying to raise a hand, trying to get Jesse to stop. But then Jesse kicked him in the stomach. Marco gagged and bent over.

“Stop—!”

Jesse couldn’t hear. He swung his leg at the backs of Marco’s knees and watched him slam to the ground.

“Please! Stop!”

This time, Marco’s voice reached him, tunneled deep into Jesse’s chest, made him freeze where he stood. He suddenly felt so cold. His mouth tasted like blood.

Marco was curled up in a fetal position, a huge crimson welt on his cheek, blood dripping from his split lip. His left eye had disappeared beneath a mound of deep purple skin. With every gasp of air, his chest shuddered.

Jesse took a step back. What the hell had he done?

“I’m just trying to keep my job, man,” Marco wheezed out. He had his hands in the air, like he was still worried that Jesse would attack him. “We’re all just trying to survive.”

“There’s no fucking point ,” Jesse choked out. Tears burned at the back of his eyes. He almost said he was sorry. Like there would be a point to that, either. Like it would change what he’d done.

He picked up the fallen bread and peanut butter. In the distance, he heard the wail of a police siren—no telling where it was headed, but he didn’t want to take any chances. He tore out of the store and through the streets until all he could hear was the slap of his shoes against pavement and the thud of blood in his ears. Every time his feet hit the ground, his jaw bloomed red pain behind his eyelids.

It was the least he deserved.

Finally, he slowed down to a walk and listened. No sirens. He’d half expected to find the world transformed, unrecognizable. But it was worse than that. The world hadn’t changed at all.

Jesse looked up. The sky was clear and stars were bright. Maybe in another life, he’d find them beautiful.

The last time—well, second-to-last time—he and Ian had hooked up was in Ian’s car. They had driven out into the desert until the city lights faded into the horizon, a blurred spot of hot light. They’d lain on the hood of the car after they fooled around and Ian had showed him where the planet was.

“You can’t see it,” he said, circling a wide area of the sky with his finger. “But it’s somewhere in that general direction.”

“I don’t get why everyone’s freaking out about it. It’s just gonna be a glorified Earth.”

“Maybe,” Ian said, laughing, and squeezed his hand. Jesse liked the way Ian laughed. It was full and warm. “Maybe we’re the glorified Earth. Ever think of that?”

Now Jesse took a slow sip of crisp night air. He shoved his hand in his pocket; the lotto ticket was still nestled inside. Gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes.

If there were aliens up there, he wondered if they were looking down at him right now. Maybe they’d be shaking their heads at him for stealing, for the depravity of humans like him. Then he’d forever be that guy: the reason humankind was destroyed. Of course, he knew he wasn’t important enough to cause the apocalypse.

He wasn’t even important enough to Ian.

“Nothing glorious about it,” he said out loud. His breath seized on the cold desert air and then vanished.

HUMANS OF EARTH:You are hereby notified that final judgment will be issued in seven solar days under authority of Chapter 12, Article 8 of the United Galactic Assembly Agreement.

Offenses committed have been purported as follows:

1. Destruction of intergalactic environmental resources;

2. Unconscionable systematic abuses of its own people;

3. Gross disregard for the preservation and sustainability of future generations;

4. Incessant armed attack and devastation without provocation;

5. Subjugation and slavery of free-thinking organisms;

6. Elimination of a people’s right to self-determination;

7. Disruption of the peace.

…

There is no need to attend the committee hearing to contest your liability. Sanctions are in effect until further notice.

LYNNE, are you seeing what I’m seeing??

The news? Mark’s flipping his shit. Do you think it’s real?

I don’t want to believe it, either. How is this happening?

I don’t know. I can’t think right now.

THIS ISN’T FUNNY, JEREMY. I’M LEGIT FREAKING OUT.

Yeah, but what else are we supposed to do

lol

You need to take a flight home right now.

Don’t worry about money, I’ll cover it.

I’ve got midterms in like three days.

Your mom is worried.

Come home now.

Please.

If Alma’s going to exterminate all of humanity…

That means animals will inherit the earth.

And for some reason, that makes me feel better.

Margot, are you high??

When Cate was nine, her mom had sent her to a summer camp called Camp Escondido, about an hour’s drive south from where they lived at the time in Daly City. Cate had spent that summer learning how to ride horses, nursing her shredded knees from hours of rollerblading, and clumsily weaving friendship bracelets with all the other girls.

It was the best summer of her life.

When it was time to go home, she had cried—and didn’t stop for a week. Not just because the camp was over and she missed her friends, but because summer itself was ending soon. It felt like she had glanced away for a second and the whole summer had slipped by her, like her mom had somehow tricked her, cheated her of something excruciatingly important.

It felt like that now. The world itself was ending. Summer was going away for everyone.

One week. They had one week to live… probably . How should she even begin to process that? It was as if the whole world had been walking on its merry way only to find it had stepped in something sticky. Now they’d reached that moment of hesitation—was it dog shit or simply a piece of gum?