The End
The world ends today, Athea Langris thought, as she made her way to the woods where she and her girlfriend Ellyne had met every day for three years. Her long brown hair flowed out behind her and she was wearing a bright blue dress she had bought just for the occasion. I want to go out in style, she thought. Calm and dignified, with Ellyne by my side. No sorrow at the end of the world, no unnecessary angst, just a good last day for us.
“You came,” Ellyne said. She was already sitting in their usual spot, lunch laid out, “I thought you might not.”
“I don’t want to miss this,” Athea said, sitting beside her, “It’s my last day with you, love. Our last day in this world. Of course I came.”
They sat and cuddled for a while, wordless. They didn’t have much to say, it had all been said when the end of the world had been revealed. Many of their friends had abandoned them, moving on to other places where they thought they would be safe. At the end of the world, they found they were all alone.
The day was drawing in, nighttime approaching. They didn’t have much time left. How much time have we taken for granted? Athea thought. But we had fun, didn’t we?
“There’s still time if you’d like to go somewhere,” Ellyne said, “I didn’t know if you would want to.”
“I’ve seen it all,” Athea said, “And I know there’ll be plenty of people fighting it out at the end of the world, thinking that they can change the inevitable somehow. All I want is to do is stay right here, with you. I’ll miss this, just being with you, talking. It eases my loneliness.”
It doesn’t have to be this way, Athea thought. There’s still time, I could tell her everything... I could...
“It’s beginning,” Ellyne said. Sure enough, a hole opened in the sky. Darkness covered the world, as one area disappeared, then another. Athea and Ellyne held on tightly as the darkness came towards them. This was it, the end... unless...
“Wait!” Athea called, but everything fell into darkness and Athea and Ellyne were gone, separated forever.
~
Marie looked up at the computer screen. The credits rolled past, thanking all the people who had contributed to Online Universe over the years. Now it was finished, it was over, and Athea and Ellyne were really gone.
Marie knew she shouldn’t be sad. It was just role-playing, she had never known the true identity of Ellyne, Athea’s online girlfriend. Ellyne might have had a female avatar and been a lesbian like herself, but she could have just as easily have been a man... And yet, did it matter? They had shared a connection, hadn’t they? It had been real in its own sense, hadn’t it? Athea had been a representation of her inner nature, even if many aspects of her had been imaginary.
And yet in the end she hadn’t had the courage to tell Ellyne her real name, gender, or how to contact her outside of the game. She had thought it better if they didn’t, that it might spoil things somehow if she found out that Ellyne was a balding middle-aged man from Texas. No, better things end on a high note, like playing a good game should.
Yet still, sometimes, she would wonder... Who was Ellyne really? Would she meet her on the street someday and pass her by? Was she old, young, beautiful, ugly, male or female? Had she let the love of her life slip through her fingers, or had it only been make-believe, a fantasy between two people with nothing else in common?
Regardless, she would often think of Ellyne, and she hoped that wherever and whoever Ellyne was, that she still spared a thought for Athea once in a while...
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