The End of the World

"Hi, how are you?" Harmonia asks the next customer in line as she starts to scan their items, a programmed customer service voice and smile on her face shining through the monotony of working retail. They replied with something unimportant and she responded with something equally unimportant. It was a day like any other, more or less... except for some weird recent events. The sky had been turning red for small periods, which was... obviously concerning. The government had written it off as some sort of scientific phenomenon but there was still a large group of conspiracy theorists who believed the world was about to end, the rapture impending. Harmonia wasn't one such theorist, which she would soon come to regret.

As the customer took their bag, they stopped momentarily and looked at the monitor that hung from the ceiling, the one that would show the customers being recorded as they came and went. The customer looked almost irritated.

"Um, miss, excuse me but is it supposed to-" The customer stopped speaking suddenly. Their left eye drifted off, looking at nothing. As Harmonia looked on, confused and more than a little concerned, something shiny and jagged tore through the customer's face, as though it was coming out of their skull.  Some sort of red crystal had shoved its way out of the customer's body, sticking out as the customer fell to the ground. In Harmonia's shock, she hardly noticed the color of the sky.

Red. 

Instantly, more screams rang throughout the store, as the monitor up above turned to static and the screen began leaking thick black sludge. The speakers throughout the store began playing nonsense, words that made no sense, music that didn't work, and some sounding distorted or backward. Just a mishmash of random radio stations, it seemed. 

Terror flooded Harmonia's body as she stared at the dead woman, a scream forming and erupting from her throat as she stared at the corpse, shaking like a leaf. She looked around in horror, frozen, unsure what to do as she took out her phone. She had to call 911- she had to call the police- t-they had to be able to help, right???

As Harmonia clicked to call, someone immediately answered! Or, well, something.

"Harmonia? Hello? Are you coming home?" The voice on the other end was that of Harmonia's grandmother.

But it wasn't a perfect imitation. Monsters that mimic voices were common, Harmonia was taught that in grade school, but that knowledge didn't lessen the impact.

What the fuck. What The Fuck. Bile rose in her throat as she heard what sounded like her grandmother's voice, her hands shaking as she tried to hang up, looking around to make sure she could get a clear way to the exit. What was attacking?? Something... something was attacking, right?? Monsters??

As Harmonia stumbled over the woman's corpse (which seemed to have hardened into stone in the short time it'd been there), she managed to find her way to the exit of the store. 

Outside was cold. Unusually cold, even for October. Snow fell lightly from the oddly colored sky as chaos ran rampant in the large parking lot. Corpses with crystals sticking out of them, and what seemed to be large, jagged, geometric-looking humanoid creatures with multiple limbs and demonic-looking wings feeding on said corpses.

As Harmonia looked down, she saw half of her co-worker tugging on her pant leg. The girl had been split right down the middle, jagged green rocks poking out where there should be gore, appearing almost like teeth. The girl cried and sobbed, but she couldn't make out any words to ask Harmonia for help as she took her final breaths.

Tears fell from Harmonia's eyes and she covered her mouth, shaking like a leaf as she bent down, gently trying to close her coworker's eyes, her heart beating out of her chest. This... this couldn't be real- this had to be a dream, right?? What did she even do now?? She stumbled away, into the street, starting to run as fast as she could home.

Running through the streets, Harmonia could see cars swerving off the road or crashing into each other. The farther she ran, the fewer crystals she saw, and rather, she began seeing corpses covered in mushrooms or swarming with bugs. Oftentimes both, actually! But the bugs seemed to overtake whatever they were on. The sound of the buzzing was getting to Harmonia, mixed with the screams and other sounds, and the pressure of everything happening all at once. 

She hardly noticed her phone buzzing softly over all the noise.

Was... was the world really ending??? She had no idea... she just had to run. She kept running despite how terrifying it all was, adrenaline carrying her through the miles of terror and corpses. It hurt so fucking bad, her legs ached and her lungs begged her to stop but she couldn't. Not if she wanted to survive. Harmonia eventually made it to her suburb. Things looked... Yeah, yeah, okay, things looked relatively normal, thank god. 

She found time to slow down, just for a little, to catch her breath. The only immediate danger she noticed was some vines crawling up one of the buildings a little too quickly for her comfort, but she started walking down the road fast enough to get far away from it in little time. 

And, she finally noticed her phone buzzing.

Harmonia pulled her phone out of her pocket, her hands shaking as she tried to see what it was... hoping it was not another horrible thing for her to witness.

rainraincomeagain: hey

rainraincomeagain: Harmonia hey um

rainraincomeagain: How r u holding up? ^^"

rainraincomeagain: Ummmmm

rainraincomeagain: Ur taking a bit to respond and its scary

rainraincomeagain: Ok Im coming over

rainraincomeagain: You dont mind if I bring my emotional support ginger do you

rainraincomeagain: .........

rainraincomeagain: You didnt say no but if you end up saying no I can leave her in the car she knows how to defend herself

rainraincomeagain: I think

rainraincomeagain: Idk probably

rainraincomeagain: Anyways ill be there shortly xoxoxo

Fuck. Fuck this was fine- right??? Fuck. Shit shit shit- she started jogging again, trying to quickly get back to her house. How was Claire so calm?? She felt like she was going to piss her pants- holy fuck how was this real??

Upon returning to her house, Harmonia immediately noticed the hippie stoner van parked outside of it. It was painted a muted orange, with sunflower decals plastered on it. Harmonia could make out some cute cottagecore decorations on the dashboard and windshield, but she was quickly distracted by Claire coming out and waving at her.

"Heeeey!!! You had me worried sick!" Claire said, running up to Harmonia and hugging her.

Harmonia hugged back, her entire body trembling. "C-Claire- I don't... I don't know whats happening- s-so many people are dead-" She said through sobs, tears falling down her face as she clung to the other woman for dear life. "Oh god- oh god- we're all going to die-"

"Nooo we're not, a lot of other people will yeah, but I don't think we will!" Claire smiled, petting Harmonia gently as a crash is heard a few blocks away, followed by a loud bang. "Have you ever used a gun before?"

Harmonia shook her head. "N-no- C-Claire do you- do you know whats happening?" She asked, the tears still flowing. She was so early calm... it put Harmonia even more on edge... but she needed to trust her.

"I'm honestly unsure," Claire sighed, "But I have a vague idea?" She chuckled softly, leading Harmonia to the back of the van and opening it.

Inside the van was a young woman with ginger hair and glasses, wearing a hoodie and jeans. She coughed softly and looked Harmonia over.

"Wooooow, good catch, Claire," the girl chuckled, picking up a hunting rifle and stepping out of the van, handing the rifle to Claire.

"Be nice," Claire smiled gently, taking the rifle and looking up at Harmonia as the snow started falling heavier. "Should we head inside?"

"Not opposed to that!" The girl smiled, picking up a backpack and heading over to Harmonia's house, leaving Claire and Harmonia on the street together. She struggled for a moment with the doorknob before realizing it was locked, and gave up.

Harmonia blushed and shakily nodded. "I um... okay... yeah-" She walked up to her house, unlocking the door and letting them inside. Once they're inside, she quickly locked the door and went to the kitchen, pouring herself some water. 

"W-what do we do now? D-do we board up the house?" She asked, still shaking as Jello, a grey and white cat, walked up to her and rubbed on her leg, hungry for his dinner and unaware of the horrors outside.

"I don't think so, necessarily. Just close the curtains, lock the windows, lock the doors, turn off the lights... should be good! I don't think they'll be breaking into houses when there's plenty of food on the streets," Claire sighed, closing the curtains and locking the windows, "Oh. And that's Roxy. Ignore her she's young, 17, so like don't punch her."

Roxy had already made her way to the kitchen and had come back to the living room, eating cold cut salami. Harmonia instantly picked up on the cigarette smell coming from Roxy's clothes. "I'm awesome."

"R-right-" Harmonia was too frazzled to really process Roxy's rudeness, shaking as she drank her water, before picking up Jello, petting him softly. 

"So um... are you two sisters? And you said you had a vague idea, right?? What's that??"

Roxy laughed for a moment, sitting back in the recliner. "Yeah, sisters. Something like that. A little bit?" She giggled. "Trauma-bonded."

Claire sat herself down next to Harmonia with a sigh. "I grew up alongside her, kind of. As for the vague idea, are you at all religious? Or- Just to clarify, you were taught about monsters and stuff in school, right?"

"Right... I um..." Harmonia shook her head. "My grandma was Christian but I don't- I'm not really religious... but yeah I was taught about monsters- why??"

"They don't teach about demons and stuff in public schools, do they?" Claire sighed, reaching for Roxy's bag. Roxy tossed it to Claire, and she pulled out a small notebook and started flipping through it.

"D-demons? N-no I... I thought they didnt exist- are you saying they're real???" Harmonia asked, eyes wide as she petted Jello, trying to calm down despite how much she felt like screaming.

"Harmonia... There's a town in Massachusetts that was overtaken by a reality-warping clown monster. Are you really that surprised that demons exist?" Claire chuckled softly, handing Harmonia the notebook turned to a page about 'Violence Demons', with a little doodle showing off the anatomy of those weird rock monsters and vague information on them. 

They were made of minerals and appear as gargoyles and reptilian humanoids, with features closely resembling those found in depictions of dragons from varying cultures. As the layer they hail from implies, they were described as incredibly violent and dangerous.

At the bottom of the page, it says their current prince was named Abaddon, whatever that meant.

Harmonias hands shook as she stared at the page, reading it over. 

"I... I guess not I just.." She couldn't stop shaking, her heart was beating a thousand miles a minute, panic clear on her face. 

"I don't understand- why- why are they attacking now? What changed? What about the mushrooms and the bugs???" She asked, her voice wavering with her fear.

"Gluttony demons!" Roxy called out. "Didn't think they still existed, honestly."

"Mhm. As for why they're attacking now, I actually don't know." Claire shrugged. "It's definitely a little confusing."

"Oh, yeah, no definitely," Roxy smiled, glancing at Claire, "No clue whatsoever."

Roxy leaned forward in the recliner, folding her hands.

"We- I had a pal, a buddy, named Jessica a couple years back. People online called her a prophet or whatever because she was talking about the world ending sometime in the 2020s because the Mayan calendar was wrong or whatever, I dunno it was stupid and basically a stupid online doomsday cult. She'd talk about it constantly, and I was real close to her for one reason or another.."  Roxy looked down briefly, before glancing at Claire, who was watching her closely. "Anyways- You hear about the kid born in Nevada in 2004? The virgin birth? Her theory had to do with that kid, and..." 

Roxy looked up at Claire again. "Well. Looks like her theories were true." A smile cracked on Roxy's face as she looked to Harmonia. "Though, anyone close to her could've guessed as much, all things considered."

Harmonia shook her head again, trembling. "I don't- I thought that was disproven?? Are... are you saying that kid is the antichrist or some shit???" She asked, her tears drying up, the adrenaline rush finally dying down.

Roxy stifled a laugh, looking at Claire, who seems a little confused. 

"No, no, not the antichrist, but the second coming, kinda. Either way, we're being Book of Revelation'd. So... do with that what you will!~" Roxy smiled, leaning back in the recliner.

"Can't say I'm too enthused by this turn of events, honestly." Claire sighed. "Taking up drinking is very tempting right now."

"T-this cannot be happening- this can't be real- the world can't be fucking ending-" Harmonia stammered, standing up. "This isn't happening." She headed to the bathroom, her hands still shaking as she tried to get the thought of the corpses out of her head but... she couldn't. She took a shower and changed, getting the blood off her... which helped a little bit. Upon returning she stared at the girls in her living room, unsure what to do now.

Claire flicked through the TV channels, trying to see if any signals were uncorrupted, but there weren't any. Just a load of hellish nonsense clogging each channel. She sighed and turned off the TV before any goo could start pouring out of it.

"So... what should we do?"

"I... I don't know..." Harmonia said shakily. "What can we do??? Wait to die???"

"Well no that won't help," Claire tilted her head. "We can sit and wait, sure, but it won't get us very far at all."

"We could try seeking out Lucy," Roxy looks up from her phone and at Claire, "It's not ideal but she'd definitely know something."

The second those words left Roxy's mouth, Claire shot her a look. "If you wanna do that, go ahead, but I really don't want Harmonia anywhere near her." She seemed to be gripping the arm of the sofa kind of tight.

"W-who's Lucy? D-do you guys have family? We could focus on trying to find them?" Harmonia offered as Jello walked up to Claire, rubbing against her leg.

Claire and Roxy looked between each other for a moment.

"I don't think either of us have any family we'd like to see." Claire muttered.

Roxy got up out of the chair, picking up your bag. "Suit yourself! I'm off to see if Lucy can offer me some free advice, like she's Logan Paul and I'm that poor scared child in the song. Laterz." Roxy walked out the front door, taking care to make sure it's locked behind her.

Claire sighed. "Lucy is a dreamwalker we used to be acquainted with, a while ago. You know that church that opened up recently, in Biloxi? That's her doing." Claire picked up Jello, placing him on her lap and petting him. "She also runs that chatroom we're in, for the web art project."

"Fair enough..." Harmonia said softly, watching Roxy leave. "Is it... really best to let her go alone?" She asked, looking back to Claire.  "Oh... I see. Huh. Couldn't we just try and text her then?"

"She can handle herself.." Claire sighed. "We could, but the demons are probably in the internet as well by now. They got the TVs, the radios, I'm sure they can get in through WiFi as well. She's not stupid, she wouldn't divulge information where things like that can see."

"That makes sense I guess... can... can they hear through them??" Harmonia asked, looking down at her phone.

"Not unless the microphone is on." Claire smiled. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. They'll probably stop occupying regular waves like that in a few days."

"O-oh..." Harmonia paused for a moment. "What do you think they'll do now? What's their plan?"

"...Well. I don't know. I really do wish I could tell you." Claire shrugged, holding Harmonia's hand gently.

Harmonia sat down next to her, sighing and putting her head on her shoulder. 

"I hope Lucy knows something... then we can figure out where to go from here... right?"

"I hope so..." Claire held Harmonia gently, massaging her back softly with her pointly nails. "We'll just have to wait and see."

"Yeah... h-how long do we wait until we assume shes... shes um..." She didn't want to say it. She didn't want to admit how horrible the situation was.

"She can handle herself." Claire sighed reassuringly, holding Harmonia close. "Trust me."

"I will..." Harmonia whispered, closing her eyes. "I... I dont want to fall asleep... I think I'll see it all again..."

"You can sleep. I'll watch over you and protect you. I promise you'll have sweet dreams." Claire said calmly, brushing Harmonia's hair out of her face. "I'll be here when you wake up. I promise."

Harmonia smiled, curling up against her girlfriend. "Thank you... your words are so kind..."

"I hope that one day the universe treats you with the same kindness," Claire whispered. And as Harmonia fell asleep, both of Claire's promises were kept.