Finding Love and Happiness Under a Rainbow Night

A storm was coming. It’s rolling cloud formation had piled high upon the mountain crest. As the sun dipped down, the tempest was unleashed, and the ocean churned as the sea dashed itself against the hundred-foot cliffs. With every thunderous boom, the ground shook with a rumbling roar. The air bit with a freezing cold but it felt fresh and alive. Lenny’s phone vibrated and binged with an emergency alert. He glanced at it and went inside.

Lenny turned on the local news before walking over to the cupboard. He pulled out a box of medication bottles and found the one that said Lexapro. Taking a couple of pills, he turned his attention back to the screen mounted on his wall.

A young reporter was trying to gather an assortment of papers that were being strewn across her desk. She mentioned something about a Covington effect, burst into tears, ripped off the microphone, and ran off stage. For a time, nobody appeared. Then an older gentleman walked up, sat down in the chair, and ran his fingers in his hair. It was as if fate had sentenced him to die. He fumbled the microphone, took a deep sigh and said, “We have forty minutes till it hits.”

Lenny normally kept the curtains closed. His preference was in keeping the room dark but now he felt like opening them. There was a stack of unwashed dishes strewn across his apartment and the trash had spilled over onto the kitchen floor. Lenny thought about cleaning up but there wasn’t any point. He left it for tomorrow.

There was something about the nation’s energy plants being talked about on the screen. Lenny stopped and paid attention. “The nuclear plants won’t have enough time to shut down before the flare hits,” the reporter said before continuing to warn people to evacuate those areas.

Lenny decided he needed some Ativan.

The first flakes of snow fluttered down across his window. Lenny stared out as if he was seeing them for the first time before wondering over to a stack of letters and bills. He thumbed through the late notices as the newsman talked about data centers and electronics being destroyed. After tonight, nobody would owe anything.

“Unplugging and powering off will not work. Your electronics will still fry, some will explode, the power lines and transformers will be sources of fire across wide swaths of this country and this world. This event is unlike anything we have ever seen,” the older gentleman stated. “This will fundamentally change our world for the foreseeable future.”

Lenny’s phone rang again. When he looked at it, he was surprised to see it was his ex-girlfriend, Beth. Normally he wouldn’t have answered it. Over the last few months, he had ostracized himself by shutting out friends and family. Many days he had simply curled himself in a ball unable to do even the most rudimentary of things such as brushing his teeth. Now, he felt energized and alive.

When he answered there was heavy breathing on the other end. “Lenny?” A familiar Minnie Mouse high pitched voice said.

“Yeah.”

“I... I.. I.” Beth began sobbing. “The hospital called. My mom is going to die when the wave hits. There isn’t anything they can do. There won’t be any electricity and the machines will be destroyed. I’m going to lose my mom, Lenny.”

“I’m sorry, Beth.” Lenny had never been good at these types of things. “I really am.”

“Can I come over? I don’t want to be alone right now.”

Yesterday, he wouldn’t have even answered the door but the thought of Beth being next to him was comforting. “I was thinking about heading down to the Piccadilly Pond in a few. Would you like to meet me at the walk?”

“Uhmmm… Are you going to bring anything?”

“I can. I still have some stuff from when we were together. Why not, right?”

“Yeah.” She was quiet for a moment and then said, “It’s not like it matters anymore. It’s all going to hell anyways.”

“Then I’ll see you there, Beth.”

“Lenny?”

“Yeah?”

“I still love you,” and then she hung up.

On the screen the man was now talking about how they were trying to get as many planes down as they could. “Thousands of planes would still be in the air when it hits. Anything flying at that time will come crashing down,” he said. “We are receiving reports of emergency landings happening in rivers and fields across the United States. At this point it’s the only thing they can do.”

By the time he got to the trailhead, the flurries were coming down fierce. Standing above it was like he was seeing the town for the very first time. It was twinkling and was covered in a layer of pristine fine white and had all the semblance of what Christmas should look like. Lenny had never seen anything so beautiful before. The town was filled with life and activity that he had never found the energy to be a part of. With this realization, Lenny realized he never would be and turned away.

There was a crunching coming up the walkway and as Beth turned the corner he smiled. He couldn’t remember ever doing that before. He had faked it numerous times but even in the earliest photos there had always been a deep-seated pain behind it. Her auburn hair bounced and fluttered with the wind. As she drew close, he realized her eyes were evergreen. The gentle yellow cast from the light pole made them sparkle like gems. He realized he was seeing Beth as she had always been. A being in the likes of the goddess Athena. He grabbed her hand.

“Any minute now,” she whispered.

He gave her a half smile.

The clouds and the night sky began to glow in varying colors of blue, green, purples and red. The electrical lines hummed as arcs of lightening played across the wires reaching to and fro. The transformers went up in a shower of sparks that sent flames burning into the freezing snow filled sky. Below the cars and trucks ground to a stop. From some, hot sparkly embers bounced from under the engine hoods. Several of them went up in a blaze. Across the multitude of houses, businesses and condos lightbulbs shattered in a crescendo of little pops. Flickers of red, oranges and yellows appeared that quickly engulfed the residences before reaching out and spreading to others. A soft screaming whistle flew directly over their heads before ending in a sonic earth shattering boom that sent a mushroom cloud of fire high into the glowing night sky.

Lenny’s pocket grew hot. He took his phone and tossed it away. The nearby lamp hummed with increasing brightness. In a brilliant fireworks display it exploded and showered down around them. He pulled Beth close and kissed her. She started to pull away then laid her face onto his chest. Lenny’s arms wrapped around her. He wished he could protect her; he knew he couldn’t.

“I love you. I wish I could have said it before. I never realized how much you meant to me,” Lenny said.

Beth reached up with a finger and placed it on his lips and said, “Shhhh.”

Together, they looked out onto the snow-covered world as all that humanity built died in a brilliant display fitting for an end to an electrical world.

“Let’s go,” Beth said.

They didn’t have to pick their way carefully down to the frozen pond’s edge like they would have any other night. The flowing bursting solar flare had given the area a perpetual night light. It wasn’t as bright as the sun, but it was still greater than if it had been a full moon. With the heavy flakes of snow falling, it felt as if God himself had placed a coat of many colors around them and the earth itself.

Someone far away yelled and then screamed. There was a gun shot, and then a few more. Beth wrapped her arms around Lenny’s waist and said, “I’m scared.”

They walked to the middle of the pond. The very air shimmered with what seemed to be a mystical light.

“This is where we met. Do you remember?” She asked.

“You were skating. You didn’t see me standing under that tree watching you glide all around. You looked like an angel and then you fell.”

“You ran out and helped me. Startled me.”

“I still don’t understand why I did it. Normally, I wouldn’t but something about you that day. I’m glad I did. You’re the best thing that happened to me.”

“You were so weird back then.”

Lenny gave a slight chuckle. “I’m still weird.”

Beth backed away, wiped the tears away, and stood looking towards the west. “My mom is probably dead. I can’t even be there. I wouldn’t have even gotten halfway before the flare hit.”

“I think there is a lot of people wishing they could be someplace else. I’m just glad that I’m here with you though.”

They moved to a large tree and sat down as the snow fall grew thicker. The air itself seemed fresh and new. It was as if the entire earth was being purified and cleansed. Somewhere far away, another explosion erupted. It was strong enough to displace the snow resting on the branches above and send it crashing down.

Slowly, he pulled a pouch from his bag and placed it between them. Beth’s hands opened it up like she had done a hundred times before. Lenny had prepped the syringes before leaving his flat and took one for himself before handing the other to Beth.

“I told my, Mom I gave this up. That I was clean.”

“Is that why you left me?”

“Yeah.”

“I stopped too. I dropped a hit of Molly occasionally, but without you I didn’t want to. That first month sucked though.”

“You didn’t get help? You went cold turkey?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m on Methadone or I was.” Beth fingered the needle. “It’s not like we will make it through the winter and if we do then what then?”

“You know, this is first time I’ve ever been truly happy. It’s so damn good. Better than any drug I’ve taken that’s for sure. I’ve been looking for this and it’s been here the whole time.”

They huddled and watched the snow coming down. The world around them would go green to blue to purple and then red. It was a kaleidoscope in the reality.

“I think I’m ready,” Beth said.

Lenny took his jacket off, pulled up his sleeve, and tied it off with a large rubber band. He sank the needle in, pushed the plunger, and undid the band. Beth took her needle and did the same. Neither one put their jackets back on.

“It’s funny,” Lenny said. “I’m finally right with this world, realize I’m with the girl of my dreams, and it happens just as the world goes into the drink.”

Beth snuggled up to him and she felt like she wanted to say something romantic but looking at the world around her all she could manage was, “Wow.”

Lenny had found love and happiness; he was with the girl of his dreams. In each other’s arms, they fell asleep their breaths growing slow and thin. Lenny’s head fell, his lips resting gently upon Beth’s forehead. In the quiet of the night, their breaths came to a stop. With the crescendo of the Aurealis Borealis colors going overhead, Mother Earth reached down and saw fit to cover the two in white. This is how Lenny and Beth said goodbye to the Piccadilly Pond.