‘I’ve been alone for as long as I can remember. It feels like a century ago since I’ve been with someone, anyone. It’s hard to think of a time when I didn’t feel like this. This loneliness, it eats you up inside. And it’s been ripping me apart for eleven years.’

The wind is blowing outside, I can hear it. It whistles and howls and I try to ignore it. But I can’t, this unrelenting wind wants me up now. I grumble as I slide out of my bed. I pull on a pair of worn out jeans and a loose black shirt. I slip my feet into some dust covered sneakers. My fingers interlock as I stretch out. As I make my way through my home I pick up my rucksack and sling it over my shoulder, its collection day.

My home is all rock, if you can believe it. I spent a good two months or so chipping away at it. After I was done I had to rest for about a month from the exhaustion. I was only twelve at the time. Before this I had been living in a small shelter made out of pushed together boulders and a piece of debris for the door. It was horrible. There were drafts and sand always got in. Even at the age of twelve I knew that it was time to find a new place to live.

I walk outside my home and am greeted by the only beautiful thing left in this world. The sky. The whole thing is so clear, not a cloud in sight. The color of it is a sparkling blue, just like the ocean. I stare longingly upwards; I wish I could just fly away into it. If I could I might be able to forget this horrible place, this wretched wasteland.

‘I’ve never given much thought to how it all ended up like this. I always felt that it was and inevitable thing. The signs were there, for anyone who was willing to look. Anyone with a brain could she that the Earth was dying. Storms became worse, temperatures spiked drastically, water levels dropped. It seemed as if the Earth was crying out for help, but few listened. I suppose this fate is only fair.’

I march down a rocky path, passing nothing but, you guessed it, more rocks. Since that day there have been no more buildings. They all crumbled away, just like the human race. The only things that this world holds now are dirt, rocks, a few animals, and one human.

The ground crunches under my weight as I walk towards my destination. Every Thursday I’ll dig into the ground to search for buried treasures. These treasures can range from an old toothbrush to a gold necklace. Either way I’m acquiring things that I don’t have. Digging for these things is something I do to pass my time. The feeling of accomplishment when I find something reminds me of what I am.

‘I’m always afraid that being alone has rid me of my humanity. I haven’t interacted with someone for so long that I sometimes wonder if how I act is normal. I suppose I’ll never know.’

Up ahead I see a shovel perched against a pile of dirt. This is the place. I come beside the shovel and place my rucksack on the ground. I search through the bag until I uncover a pair of thick gloves. I pull them on then take out one of my better finds, a portable radio.

I place the device a short distance away and turn it on. Static becomes present and I pull the antenna up. The static stays but I don’t. I’ve made my way over to the shovel and taken a hold of it. I place the tip of the shovel on the ground and push it down with my foot.

‘But it’s not hard to forget when it seems like such a different place, the past. Every memory warps in your mind and twists itself until there’s no more truth. It leaves you to wonder if any of it’s true at all.’

The static of the radio drones on as I dig. It’s become background noise that I only ever listen to every once and a while. Of course there’s never anything on, but it’s nice to not have to listen to my own thoughts sometimes.



……...biku…



My head snaps up, what was that? I move over to the radio but it’s still static. I shake my head, now I’m hearing voices. That’s great, just great. I position my foot on top of the shovel again and push the metal blade into the earth. I lift up my tool once I have a scoop of dirt and throw it to the side. My hand swipes my brow clean of sweat. It’s always hot out.



O………ou no des…



There it is again. I stare at the machine and start my way over to it. I grab the radio and I try to reposition the antenna. Nothing. I turn the dials but only more static comes out. I sigh; my hopes are crushed. I smack the thing.



…bun …ge…om …



I stare at the device incredulously, I couldn’t have imagined that. I pick up the portable radio and smack it again. Yet, this time it doesn’t work. Then I try lifting it up in the air. The reception improves.



Chit…ai ha…na… …nai…ochi………u



Before I know it I’m dashing outside with the device in my hand towards the tallest place around here. The cliff. About a mile away lays a cliff that overlooks the ocean, my only source of water. Without it I would have been dead long ago.

I discovered this cliff about four years ago. One day I became bored and decided to go for a walk. I ended up going a different way than I usually did when I went on my walks. And this is how I found it. I noticed that the ground’s slope was becoming steeper and I eventually had to climb. When I reached the top I was amazed at the view before my eyes. My vision went on for miles and the ocean glimmered from the Sun’s rays. Ever since then I try to go there as often as I can. It’s my favorite place to be.

My sneakers pound the ground fiercely and I’m gripping the radio tightly in my arms. This radio is my source of hope. My salvation.



Do…ni omott…kimi ha mou…ai



The path to the cliff is slowly inclining and it’s becoming harder and harder to keep my pace. But I somehow manage. I slip on a pebble every now and then and every time I earn myself a few cuts and bruises. I know that I’m being reckless, but I don’t care. I’ve never felt this excited.

‘It’s come to my attention that I’ve always been running towards something. Of course it means something different now than it did back then. Before, I was always running to catch up to my brother. He excelled in everything. Athletics, academics, social life. He was the pride of the family and I always wanted to be like him. I would stay up late studying and I would push my body to its limit. I even tried to make friends. However, no matter how much I did I could never compare to him. Not like it matters anymore, he’s gone. Just like the rest of them.’

My feet are carrying me down the path much faster then I’ve ever gone before. I can feel the sharp stones underneath my feet and I wince every now and again. It hurts, but it’s nothing that’ll make me stop.

‘I was running back then, and I’m running now. Except now I’m running to catch this voice.’



Ikitai…kimi no soba…..sakutemo chiisa..temo



The steepness of the path is too much for me to continue running. Now I have to climb. It usually takes me around a half hour to scale the side of the cliff, if I’m being safe. Safety is the farthest thing from my mind now. After all, I don’t have a half hour.

My hand grips a handhold and I pull my body upwards. The radio is strapped between my body and the rucksack’s strap. It feels a little loose and I could have put it into the bag if I really wanted, but then the voice would be muffled. It would create the illusion that I’m imagining things.

The placement of my hands and feet keep changing rapidly, I’m ascending at a great pace. My foot sticks itself on a piece of rock that’s jutting out and I put my weight on it before checking if it’s safe. Wrong move. The rock crumbles away and I slip downwards. My arm flies forward as I grip another handhold. This time nothing breaks and I bring my other hand to the same rock. My arms are shaking from exhaustion and I can’t pull myself up. My hands are slipping. I clench my eyes shut as I slip even further.



Ichiban ni kimi ga suki da yo tsuyoku irareru



The voice is so clear that it makes my eyes shoot open. A newfound strength finds its way to my body and I pull myself up. This time I test out the each rock before I step on it. But not as much as I should be because I still need to make it to the top.

And I do just that. Once I’m at the edge my hands grasp a rock that juts out and I use it to climb over. I fall onto my back and start panting. I flip around and stand up once I’ve caught my breath. I stumble over to the far edge overlooking the ocean and breathe deeply with a smile on my face. I’m no longer alone.



Negai wo nagare boshi ni



Someone else survived.



Sotto tonaetemitakeredo



A flicker of something unrecognizable rises up in me.



Nakanai yo todoku darou kirei na sora ni



My fists close tightly. I will find them. If it’s the last thing I do.

Staring out at the sunset I listen to a few more bars of the most beautiful sound ever heard. A human voice. Sure, the voice isn’t the greatest, but to me it’s wonderful. To me this voice is filled with hope.

But then that hope starts to fade away into static.

‘No, no, no! Don’t go away!’ I smack the infuriating thing a couple more times, but it’s gone. The voice which has brought me hope has vanished just as fast as it appeared. I fall to my knees, the radio tightly pressed to my chest.

‘Okay Sasuke, calm down. Think, what are you going to do?’ A voice asks me, and to be honest, I have no idea. It’s not like it was a phone call, if it was I could just check the caller ID. But, then again there haven’t been any phones for over a decade. At least, I haven’t had one.

Then, a thought strikes me. If I look at what channel the radio is set too, then maybe I can find the place. I look at the radio in my arms to see a small red tick that falls upon 105.6 FM. My eyes stay on that red tick for quite a while.

Well, this sure brings back some memories.

‘105.6 FM was my mother’s favorite radio station. Every morning it would blast the oldies through our whole house, our own little wake up call. We would all come downstairs, grumbling, to see my mother cooking breakfast while prancing around in the kitchen. She would turn around, giving us a smile, and declare that our breakfast was ready. I would complain about being woken up by such stupid music. Now I never told her this, but I loved being woken up by that radio. I’m not sure why, but whenever I opened my eyes and the sound of music reached my ears I would just smile.But I never told her, and now I never can.’

I push the painful thought from my mind. If I’m going to find this person I’m going to have to focus on solely them. My fingers rub my temples in circular motions. Let’s see, where was that radio station? If memory serves me right, 105.6 was a local station. However, there is one thing plaguing my mind…

Shouldn’t the radio station be long gone?

Sure, the equipment might still be there, but nothing else. And even if the equipment was still there, there’s no way that it still works. Sand and insects have probably made the machines unusable. I gulp down the bile that has risen to my mouth. Was I really imagining the whole thing?

‘No,’ I think, ‘I can’t be thinking like this.’ I shake my head as I slip the radio back into my bag. Putting it on, I start to make my climb down the side of the cliff. This time I’m much careful. After all, what would be worse than dying after finding a reason to carry on?

‘Committing suicide has crossed my mind many a times. When I was little the thought of dying was scary. I wasn’t sure what happened when someone died, and I was in no hurry to find out.’

The slope of the cliff slowly starts to level out, and once I reach flat land I stop. Shrugging my rucksack off my back, I search through it to find something necessary.

‘When I was little the thought of dying was scary.’

My search becomes successful when I see a small, round shape at the bottom of the bag. With shaky hands, I pull out the compass.

‘But the thought of being alone scared me more.’

Holding the compass in front of me, the needle spins around until the N is pointing to my left. Town centre was north from my house…right? Hm, well we’ll just have to go with that for now. I place the compass back in my jean pocket as I walk along. Luckily I have a hefty amount of supplies in my rucksack so I don’t have to go back to my home. I’ve learned, from experience, that it’s always best to be prepared for the unexpected.

And this is unexpected.

The good news is that, if memory serves me right, the station isn’t too far away, perhaps half a mile. But, the bad news is that night is coming. Now I could just wait till the morning when it’s safer, but what if they’re gone in the morning?

A tumbleweed rolls past me as I walk along. This place used to be so full of life. Trees everywhere you looked, wildlife in every direction, people.

This place that I once enjoyed calling home no longer exists. Gone is the grass which covered every surface. It’s now replaced with rock, sand and dirt. No more are the animals that would run around. Vultures and other predators now stand in their place.

I shift the position of my rucksack on my back. The portable radio is weighing me down a bit, but there's no way I'll give this thing. Not ever.

Crumbled buildings come into view. Metal beams stick out of the ground, cement foundations lying low in the ground, walls of buildings crumbling away, it gives me the shivers. You know the term "Ghost town?" Well, now it's become a "Ghost World."

Well, almost.

It's amazing of how much i remember the layout of the town. I haven't been here for a good six years, I try to shy away from from it. Call me crazy, but looking at the demolished buildings of where people used to work, live, and go on with their everyday lives just isn't for me.

Taking a left, followed by a right, I turn on to the street. The street that could possibly change me forever. My breaths turn shallow as I shuffle down the street, scared. 'What if they don't like me? What if they're some crazy person? What if What if they abandon me like everyone else?' I hate to admit it, but that last thought scares me the most.

Pushing past my fear, I continue on. I'm having such trouble breathing that I hardly realize it when I'm standing outside of the building. With one last gulp I climb over the two foot high wall.

It's dark now, the sun has completely disappeared. There is still a faint glow to the night, but my eyes have yet to adjust. For the second time I dig through my bag to search for something. This time it's a flashlight. Once my hands feel a cylindrical shape, I grasp it, pull it out, and flip the switch.

I flash the light over the room, the brightness lighting everything up so it’s visible. I walk around the small room, one hand on the flashlight while the other is cupped around my mouth. "Hello? Is anyone there?" I shout to the darkness. With a frown on my face, I bring the flashlight down beside me. Damn.

No one’s here. The transmitter, all the equipment, it’s gone. I turn around, looking at the broken building, my eyes scanning every part of it. Absolutely everything is gone.

But the thought somewhat satisfies me. The metal that the devices were made of shouldn’t have decomposed that quickly, there should be at least something left over. Also, those kinds of things are not light; they require more than one person to carry them.

And this brings about a whole new truckload filled with emotions. It’s weird, ever since this voice has reached my ears, it’s like I’ve been pulled back across the line that divides humanity and something else completely. These emotions fly through my brain like highway signs do when you’re driving fast in the car. They all flash by, so it’s hard to catch them, but even if I can’t identify them, they’re still there.

‘More than one person,’ I repeat in my head, ‘more than one person. More than one person, more than one person.’ My mind has become a broken record, skipping over the same scratch to replay the same message over and over again. And I can’t get enough of it.

‘More than one person.’

My eyelids flutter open, and I sit up from my make-shift bed on the floor of the old radio station. A dull pain is present in my back and I try to rub it away. Last night was definitely not that best sleep I’ve ever had. But then again, it wasn’t the worst either.

‘When I look back at that day, I remember thinking, “This will be the worst day of my life.” The whole time I kept repeating that same sentence in my head. I’m not sure why I did this, but maybe it was to make myself feel better, because if that was my worst day, things could only get better. And I think that somewhere, it may have calmed me down. However, soon enough I realized that I was mistaken. That day was not the worst day of my life.’

Scratching the back of my head, I stand up and start to fold my blanket. Glancing back to my “bed”, I see a small stone where I was just laying. Ah, so that’s why my back hurts.

‘No, that would have to be the day after.’

I look off to my side to see my rucksack perched up against a piece of crumbling wall. I pull it towards me and search its insides. I frown. Due to my hurriedness last night, I may have miscalculated on how much supplies I had with me. Last night, I was almost positive that I had many things with me, but now that I have checked things again, I see that this isn’t so.

Even if I were to ration what I have to a third, I barely have enough supplies to survive for a week. On any other circumstance, I would have gone back to my home, no questions asked. After all, if I have no idea how long something will take, I try to bring at least a months worth of supplies. It just isn’t safe if I don’t.

But this isn’t just any other circumstance.

And am I willing to risk a chance to find others just to be safe?

The answer should be obvious.

I stand up and swing my bag over my shoulder. I position it onto my back comfortably as I step over the remains of the building and into what used to be Main Street. I look up and down the road, deciding which way I should start. In the end, I decide on the opposite way from which I came. When I think logically, when I was running here, if there were any signs of someone that had just come that way, I think I would have noticed.

‘I find it completely natural that I haven’t had a dream since that day. However, this does not mean that nothing happens when I’m asleep.’

I would love to run, but of course that would be idiotic. If I ran, I would become thirsty for the water that I don’t have the power to consume carelessly. And if I became too thirsty and didn’t drink the water, I could become dehydrated, which would inevitably slow me down.

So basically, running means game over.

‘Instead of dreams, I have nightmares.’

Up ahead, where the pavement breaks off, I see something on the ground. From here it looks like tiny bumps in the road. But as I draw closer, I’m able to see that it’s actually small grooves in the dirt. My eyes widen a tiny bit. Trying not to run, I go as fast as I can to my destination. As I come closer, I’m able to distinguish what they are.

They’re tracks from a vehicle.

‘Every night.’

I bend down and run my fingers along the indents. These have to be recent, there’s no way that these could have lasted over a time period of eleven years. I stand back up and look off into the distance, my eyes following the direction of the tracks.

‘And they’re always the same.’

A small grin appears on my face as I walk inside the tracks. It’s not necessary to do this, but somehow, I feel it is. Somewhere deep inside my messed up self, I feel that doing so will make me closer to them. That maybe if I do so it’ll guarantee us to meet.

My stomach growls and I pat it a bit. Of course I’m hungry, but this is just something I’ll have to sacrifice. After all, if I end up finding someone, it’ll all be worth it.

Back when the world was riddled with living things, I used to find most people annoying. There were even times when I found them extremely unbearable. In all truthiness, I preferred to spend most of my time by myself.

Now, however, it’s quite the opposite. Solitude has one of my most hated things and I would love it if someone would annoy me. I suppose that it’s true, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

It’s kind of ironic. Back when the world still existed, I just wanted people to leave me alone. Yet now, I would give anything just to be near someone. To see them, hear them, feel them or just have something to remind me of something that once was.

It’s really funny, if you think about it.

‘The world really does have a cruel sense of humor.’


* * * * *


I slump down against a few boulders and pull my bag onto my lap. I’ve been travelling along the tracks all day with no rest, and now that the sun is starting to go down I find it a suitable time to eat.

I pull out a piece of dried meat and chew on it. I’m facing the direction of the sun so I’m able to see the sunset. A pink-red covers the horizon, making the world look like its on fire.

However, it’s nothing compared to the real thing.

The sun sinks lower until it has completely vanished. Darkness starts to envelope the sky and I this as a queue to get some rest. I pull out a thin blanket from my bag and lay it over top of my body as my thoughts are plagued with the amount of supplies I have left. The thought troubles me, so I push it far from my mind.

The sky is now black, and it’s so dark out that I can’t see my hands. I sigh as I curl up and pull the blanket over my head.

And so another day closes on a world that has already ended.


* * * * *


I’m standing in the centre of the street. I’m frozen in place as I look around me. Surely, this can’t be real. It must be some kind of a joke.

But as I finally become able to move and am able to take a closer look, I know that this is real.

‘There are bodies everywhere.’

I walk over to someone hesitantly and shake their shoulder, “Um, excuse me?” Their head flops over onto my hand and they stare back at me. It takes me a few seconds to realize that there’s nothing behind their eyes.

‘He’s dead!’ I think as I jump away from the man and he falls to the ground with a thump. I cover my mouth as I run away from him, not bothering to see if anyone else is okay.

I turn onto a street and am relieved when I see someone standing near a vehicle. I walk over to the person.” Um, hello?” I ask, afraid that this person will be just like the last. However, soon enough I’m able to tell that they’re still alive. I can hear them breathing.

“Sir, are you okay?” I ask as I come up behind him. Very slowly, he starts to turn my way. My eyes widen as soon as I’m given a visual of his face.

Well, I’m not quite sure if you can call it a face anymore. Half of it is burned away, and the other half is all bloody. I take a step back as the man reaches out to me, “Help me,” he says as he takes a step closer. I start to shake in fear as I keep backing up. “Please,” he calls out to me, and it’s now that I realize that he’s clutching onto his side which is gushing blood.

I take one more step back and find myself against a wall. I look back to the man with terrified eyes. He stumbles closer to me, his outstretched hand reaching for me. I push my back up closer to the wall, trying with all my might to get away from him.

“Please,” he says again, but this time it’s more of a whisper. He stands right in front of me and leans his head against the wall. “Hel-” he starts in a hushed voice, but he never does finish his word. His knees end up giving out and he falls down to my feet. I stare at his lifeless form beneath me.

‘What am I supposed to do?’

A pool of blood starts to seep out from under him and it reaches to ends of my shoes. I wish I could move, but I can’t, my body won’t allow me.

‘What am I supposed to do?!’


* * * * *


My eyes shoot open to darkness, and I breathe deeply as I put my shaking hand over my heart. After a few minutes I manage to calm myself down.

The cool wind blows gently around me. I shiver as I bring my arms around myself and go deeper into the blanket. As I start to warm up, my mind wanders to my nightmare. Even though I relive that moment every night, I can never seem to get used to it.

I can never seem to get used to being alone.

‘Yes, the day after was surely the worst.’