My Last Best Day

Morning….

I lay there with him and watch as his chest rises and falls. His breath is steady - everything about him is; Steady and sturdy. Someone I can depend on.

I turn away from him and look down at the heart-shaped locket he gave me for my 25th birthday with a photo of the two of us inside it. It is the only piece of jewelry I own.

I quietly get out of bed to go make breakfast for us. As I walk into the living room I turn on the TV and the news is speaking about the real reality of nuclear war. Something the world has been on the precipice of for as long as any of us can remember. I stand shocked as the news reporter delivers the news so matter-of-factly and basically gives my country a death sentence...in the next 12 hours.

He came up behind me and put his arm around my middle and pulled me to him. He asks me what is wrong and I point to the TV. “They are threatening to nuke us tonight at midnight if the President doesn’t meet their demands,” I said quietly as every thought comes to my mind at once. I need to call my parents...I need to call my best friend...I need to...what if they don’t know yet! No one had called us so it must be because they don’t know”

I looked back at him to see grief and fear cross his face. I pulled him into me and we stood there hugging for a long minute. We knew this day would come, so much about our country had come apart - international relations didn’t exist anymore. You just had to hope some insane dictator didn’t decide to wipe your nation off the face of the earth and that your country didn’t decide to wipe another nation off the face of the earth.

“If this is going to happen…” I said, still thinking 1000 things at once. “We should go out in style. Make this our best day...together.”

He pulled away to look at me and did a half-smile. Together he said quietly and kissed me as tears ran down my face.

I went about making breakfast like it was any other day and we turned off the TV and opened all the windows to listen to the sounds of the street. It seemed the chaos had not started and it was the normal rhythm of the city in the morning.

We munched away on toast and eggs and held each other's hands...I cried on and off as the fear gripped me in waves.

We could hear the sounds of the street slowly change as it got louder and the rest of the world woke to hear the news.

We slowly started closing the windows again trying not to take in any more fear than we had to.

I decided to take a shower and put myself together a little bit. We would not be leaving the apartment today as it would likely be chaos. Everything we needed was in our small apartment.

After my shower, we spent a few hours speaking with our families and friends. Expressing our love and wishing we could be with them. We were staying put and everyone was too far away. While we hoped this was not real - we had to realize it might be and say our proper goodbyes.

I put on funny movies and we spent the day in each other's arms.

“I should make us a big dinner and we should get dressed up tonight...go out in style,” he said and tears ran down my face silently.

Yeah…let’s do it. The noise on the street increased and I turned up the movie louder so we didn’t have to hear it. The looting and chaos and fear has started and were taking over the streets. As humans, we did not know how to handle this. The idea of “Doomsday” was only for the movies...

Evening…

I came out dressed up to him finishing putting the table together complete with candles in his best suit. He was the most beautiful man I had ever seen and he was who I wanted to be with if this was the end.

He turned and whistled and I smiled and did a turn in my dress and heels.

We sat down to dinner and ate slowly and shared moments of silence and moments of laughter as we spent our last few hours together - eating, dancing, and laughing.

Midnight….

I could hear the bombs hitting across the city. I began to cry as he held me and we laid in our bed holding each other. It was the last time I would see him. He kissed me as the bomb hit our apartment and the world went white.

That was my last day on earth. My last day with David. My last day as Lila. My last..best day...