The Diary of the Last Lady

January 12, 2025

It has been 3 years since I’ve seen my family, or anyone at all for that matter. If my calculations are correct, and they usually are, the year is 2025, which means that I have been alone for 3 years. Since the start of the pandemic that caused the end of the world. My name is Kaci, and this is the story of how I came to be the last person on Earth.

To get the full picture, I’ll have to walk you through a few years before I become the last person on Earth. Although, let’s be honest, this is more to pass the time since no one is around to read this. It all started at the end of the year 2019. There was a virus in another country that was spreading fast, people weren’t surviving and it was causing everyone to panic. The government assured us that it would never make its way here. They were so, so wrong. By March of 2020 it had spread across the entire world. They told us not to worry because it would only affect the weak. Those who are already ill, the elderly with weak immune systems. By the end of 2020, no one over the age of 50 was left alive. My parents included. All I have left of them is the heart-shaped locket from my father, with a picture of the four of us together smiling. I remember the day that picture was taken. I remember the peace and the comfort. I have none of that comfort now. My sister left us. She said she couldn’t take the panic and the stress and the crazy. She was losing her mind, and no one could help her. She packed her things and she left. I have no idea where she went, or how long she survived.

By the end of 2021, there was a vaccine that was supposed to save us. I was living with my friend, Micah, after my parents died. He didn’t believe in the vaccine. He said, “I don’t care if they offer me a million bucks, no way am I putting some untested drug in my body that claims to fight off a virus that kills everyone. If it kills that virus what’s to stop it from killing me? Nuh uh, no ma’am. Not for me.” Micah was a character. He was my best friend. By the time 2022 came around, he had changed his tune. Decided no way he could survive in this world without a vaccine. I remember he said to me before he got it, “People are starting to die again… How are we supposed to survive this thing? Maybe… Maybe we should get the vaccine… Maybe there IS something to it… I don’t know…” I tried to tell him that something didn’t make sense. Why would people be dying when most people had the vaccine? But he was too absorbed in his panic to hear what I was pondering. What if the vaccine is the cause?

The next day, Micah got the vaccine. He was told it would make him feel ill for a few days, but it will clear up and then he won’t have to worry anymore about the virus. A week later, he was gone. I’ve been alone ever since. After he died, everyone vanished. I’m not sure if they went to the hospital and died, or if they just left. I can’t be one hundred percent certain that I’m the last person on this planet, I haven’t been everywhere yet. But I can tell you, I haven’t seen or heard a single soul since the day my best friend died from the vaccine that was supposed to save him.

June 19, 2025

I’ve been walking for months. I have nowhere to go, yet I have everywhere to go. Being the only person around has its perks sometimes, but it's also the worst thing I have ever experienced. One perk is, I can go wherever I want, whenever I want and no one can stop me. Sometimes I think about trying to figure out where my sister went. Did she get the vaccine? Would she be alive? Probably, and probably not. I doubt I’ll ever see another living person again.

June 21, 2025

I found a store with a lot of canned goods, bottled water, and other supplies. I think I’ll camp out here for a while. Maybe this will be home. I have blisters across the bottoms of my feet. These boots were not made for walking. I found a spot in the back of the store in the camping section and set up my space. I brought over a cart full of food and water, grabbed some comfortable, clean clothes from the clothing department and made myself at home. There’s bedding, a tent, chairs, and a portable grill and some coals. I had a hot meal tonight. Now if I could find a hot shower...

June 26, 2025

I’ve decided to go on a road trip. Just because I’m the last person alive, doesn’t mean I can’t have any fun. I’ve never been on a road trip before. There’s an SUV in the parking lot at the store. I loaded as much food and water and other supplies into it as I could, siphoned some gas from other cars nearby and filled up the tank. I put some spare gas in a gas can in the back, too, in case I don’t find any other cars for a while. I’m leaving the store soon. I’m not sure where I’ll go, so I am making a plan. I could go where I think she would have gone. I could go back to where I grew up. Maybe those are the same places. I’ve decided. I’ll go home. Maybe I’ll find some sort of comfort there.

July 15, 2025

It took me a bit longer to get here than I hoped it would, but I’m home. Almost. I have another fifty miles to go, but I needed to get out of the car and stretch my legs. I found a park by the water. It’s beautiful. I watch the seagulls on the beach fight over some sort of shellfish or other critter. At least there are animals. Maybe I’ll find a pet and settle down at home for a few years. Time to get back on the road. I’m so close.

July 15, 2025

I am sitting in the car, not far from my home… Something isn’t right. Is that really smoke coming from the chimney? Are there actually people alive? Is it safe to be around them?

After pondering this and going over every possible scenario in my head, I have decided to go inside. After all, what’s the worst they can do now? I have nothing left to lose.

July 16, 2025

I don’t know what to say. I am in awe of who I found inside my home. My sister, Jeannine, is here. She’s been here for three years.

I opened the front door quietly, so I wouldn’t scare off whoever was in the house. I walked through the hall into the living room and saw someone curled up on the floor by the fire. She was wrapped in the quilt our mom made for us, sobbing quietly. “Jeannine?” I said. She paused, then turned around slowly. Unsure of what else to say, her eyes wide, probably matching mine, I ran to her side and hugged her so tight she had to tell me to let go. We were both crying then. We spent the rest of the night wrapped up in mom’s quilt in silence, unsure what to say to each other. Both thinking we were the only ones left. If we’re both here, who else is out there?

August 29, 2025

Someone else is in the neighborhood. We don’t know how, or who. But they’ve left things for us. On our walk to the store a few weeks ago, taking the same path we always take, someone left a box of stale cookies for us. We brushed it off, thinking we must have dropped it and forgotten. But then it happened again, this time a case of old soda with a heart drawn on it. Other gifts, too. A box of old chocolates, fuzzy blankets that were still wrapped up from the store, jewelry, hats, random assortments of trinkets. We have come to accept them when they arrive. We don’t know how to get the person to show themselves. We will leave a gift tonight.

August 30, 2025

We saw the person. A child, who couldn’t be more than ten years old. We spoke to the little boy, his name is Travis. He has his brothers and sister, they’re older than him. We asked to meet them. He said he would ask them.

September 5, 2025

We hadn’t heard from Travis in a week, but today he left us a gift. A bundle of wild flowers he found. And a note, asking if they can come meet us tomorrow. We looked up to see Travis standing across the street with a hopeful look in his eye, peering out from behind a tree. We looked at each other and smiled. Then nodded to Travis.

September 6, 2025

Today is the day we meet Travis’ family. They will be here soon. We set out an assortment of foods that we found at the store. All canned, but someday we want to learn to garden so that we can have fresh fruits and vegetables. Until then, canned beans, yams, and meats are what we get.

Travis’ sister is thirteen. Her name is Hope. He has two brothers, one named Peter, the other Sam. Peter is nineteen, Sam is fifteen. Peter is in charge. We offered for them to stay with us so they aren’t alone and Peter told us they have other people. A group of people who are looking for a good town to live in. Hope chimed in and told us all about how the guy in charge is a farmer looking for a big plot of land to plant food for everyone. We knew just the place and told Peter to have the farmer come and see us, we would show him.

There is an old farm down the street from here. Could we really have a town full of people again?

September 8, 2025

We met the farmer, his name is John. He can’t be more than 30 years old. We met a lot of the people with him, there were at least a hundred. They want to live here in this town, and they want us to feel welcome to stay here with them. They want things to get back to normal with the world. They want their comfort back. So do I.

It’s crazy to think I almost stopped moving to live in a store months ago. I never would have thought I would live in a town full of people again, especially with my sister. Maybe life can be comfortable again.

I’m not alone anymore.