Arnold was in a diner. He and Gerald went and had gotten a bite to eat, infact Arnold had ordered a cheese burger. It was good, juicy, cooked well. They were sitting at the counter and Gerald was flirting with the waitress. They had the T.V. on, the news. They were talking about the weather for next monday. The waitress had said something funny and had Arnold choking on his burger from laughter. Gerald smacked his back a couple times for good measure. Arnold took a sip of his soda for reassurance.

It was a good life. Arnold had just gotten a job as an intern at the local hospital. An acceptance letter that he was waiting a long time for. It basically said he could start his life. He could get in on track and become a doctor like he always wanted. He loved helping people and couldn't be happier doing anything else. He had a girl friend, a med student as well. The had met in Pre-Med but she was trying to be a surgeon. Emily. The name made Arnold smile. They shared an apartment on the westside of town. Arnold had just turned twenty-three and really trying to decide if this was the girl he was going to marry.

Gerald lived more of a free life. He had recently bought a bar and was fixing it up. The Grand Opening was in two months and he was nervous. He kept telling Arnold that there was so much to do but little time. As his friend, he made sure Gerald stayed confident and on track. He was going to make it, he knew it. Gerald often threw parties at his apartment downtown, the Arnold often went to when he had time. Something Emily didn't really like, especially when she was stuck at work and Arnold was out having fun. She definately had trust issues.

Gerald was making a sexual joke toward the waitress when the alarm went off. It surprise Arnold and Gerald making them jump. The T.V. had a live broadcast. It was an alert.

"Louise, turn that up." The cook had yelled to the waitress and she did what she was told.

The diner was loud when they had came in, but it was down to a quiet mummble, then nothing at all. Everyone in the room knew what it was. Everyone was interested. It was about the mission.

A man had appeared behind a news desk, he had papers in his hands. "This is the live update that you have been waiting for about Dorothy."

Dorothy. Arnold gulped. It was a comet that was on a course collison with Earth. Found a couple weeks ago, NASA has been trying to figure out how to stop it. It was about the size of Vermont, big enough to kill 3/4's of the population. The first thing they did was send a probe to try and turn the comet's path. Sadly, the atmosphere on the comet was very dangerous and was knocked apart from the impact of tiny little asteroids orbiting Dorothy. Thier next plan was to blow it up. This was the saddest plan of all.

The nuclear bomb had taken off a good chuck, which everyone cheered for on Earth that day. But later that night, as the Earth turned, Paris was obliterated. A bunch of tiny asteroids for the explosion wiped it out nearly off the map. Fires, explosions. The population of 12 million dwindled to just 5 million. More than half of Paris died that day. West Europe is still having aftershocks to this day.

Now this news man was going to tell everyone in that diner if the last hope of humanity had made it. They sent a team of six up on the comet to try and blow it up from the center. It caused a lot of panic, for people were worried it would be Paris all over again. But they did it anyway.

"Team Earth arrived on Dorothy late last night. They were unable to make a safe landing, killing Shane Capperel and Kai Korwaza, an Amercian and Japanese astronaut. The crash landing made thier ship unable to return."

Thier waitress had started crying. Arnold had a lump in his throat and could feel his self not breathing. The diner felt empty, even the grill had stop hissing from meat being thrown on it. The phone was no longer ringing and even servers had stopped right in the middle of the diner as they were brining foor out. Everyone was frozen. It seemed like the world had stopped with them. Even the car outside were all braked, as if they all were tuned into the radio.

"Knowing that they were standed and not coming home, they continued, They began drilling but the hazordous winds cause a landslide and destroyed the drill and 3 more astronauts, Lou Millona, a Frence astronaut, and Natasha Troginof and Dimitri Rov, two Russian astronauts, died instantly. The remaining hero, Ryan Bass contacted Houston hours ago informing them of the details that the last hope for humantiy has failed. They had lost contact of Bass for serval hours now." He cleared his throat. "The sixty mile wide comet, Dorothy, is set to collide with Earth in 24 days. Fox news will be here to bring you all the lastest updates on Dorothy until then. We now bring you back to regular programing schedule."

"Arnold..."Gerald whsipered, but his voice seemed so far away.

Twenty four days. Arnold's mind was racing. All that money he saved during highschool so he could go to pre med. So he could become a doctor. All that time, all that money. Wasted. And Emily. He was to never get married or have kids! His hands were squeeze so tight, they were turning white.

"Arnold!" Gerald shook him and he came back to reality. Suddenly all the sounds around him became clear. The waitress that was so happy just moments earlier was to her knees, sobbing into her hands. A lot of the people began rushing into the street, some screaming at the sky. People at the diner scrambled to thier phones, trying to call whoever would listen.

"Gerald..I-I can't believe it..." Was all Arnold could muster out.

"Arnold, lets get out of here." Gerald threw money on the table, not sure how much, and the two got out of there.

*WHILE THAT WAS HAPPENING*

Helga dropped her bowl of popcorn and it scattered all over the floor like rain. Bob was in his usual spot in front of the T.V., in his Big Bob recliner. After cellphones and smart phone became the thing, Bob sold furniture. He said people are always gonna need crap to fill thier homes with. Beepers, no. Miriam immediatly became histerical, saying no no no over and over. Bob became loud and violent, began throwing things.

Helga just stood there, her mouth gapping open. The Earth ending was something she couldn't comprehend. She always thought crazy people were worried about the world ending. Did that make her crazy? Her cell began vibrating in her skinny jean's pocket. She picked it up and held it to her ear. No words came out of her mouth.

"Helga! Oh my god! Helga? Are you there! Can you hear me? Helga, this is awful!" The voice was familiar. It was sobbing. She needed comfort, and Helga couldn't say one damn word.

"Helga! It's Pheobe! Please say something!"

"Pheobe.." Helga choked out. She felt like she could breath. She was going to die. She was going to die without telling Arnold she loved him. And now it was too late, everyone was going to die!

After highschool, Helga had the smarts to do anything. But what? Thats where whe was stuck. She loved writing. She wanted to become a writer for plays, for movies, or even have her own book out and go to book signings. But Bob wasn't paying for some looney school for writing. His daughter was going to be better than that. So he told her to either sell furniture for that school or go to Law School. Helga was no way going to be a lawyer, so she sold furniture to pay for her school. It wasn't going well. Her books weren't taking off due to the new technology. Bookstores were becoming obsolete.

Now everyone was to be obsolete.

Bob began screaming at Miriam, telling her to stop sobbing. Things were getting worse between them. Middle school, he started to hit Miriam. Highschool, Bob started to hit Helga. She covered her bruises well. Helga was beautiful in Highschool. She had grown to have the body of a supermodel. Long blonde hair, long legs, pouty lips with large eyes. She hated to attention. She dressed in baggy clothes and black to try and scare people away. It worked, except the goth boys wouldn't leave her alone.

Arnold was on the swim team, he was popular. They hung out with different crowds, had different worlds. But she still longed for him. She purposely switched her classes to his, he never noticed. No one did. She still kept her secret, kept her love rants well hidden. Followed him through the halls until her four years were up and he went off to med school. She knew he was back and through Pheobe, she had heard he had gotten a job at the hospital.

"Pheobe." Helga repeated. She was now back to Earth. "Are you okay? Pheobe? I'm so sorry." She could hear she crying into the phone.

"Helga. Please. I need you."

Someone needed Helga and it definately wasn't her family. "I'll be right over."

*SEVERAL MINTUES LATER*

The streets were in chaos. Gerald was driving Arnold home. He was worried about Emily. She wasn't answering her phone. He knew she was home, she didn't have work till four. Gerald carefully navigated through the craziness of people breaking into store. They had past a Big Bob's Furniture store that was being looted for T.V.s, steros, and other expensive equipment. Gerald finally made it to thier apartment and Arnold practically jumped out of the car.

"Emily!" He shouted. He wasn't sure why he was shouting, there was no danger. Atleast, not now. The city wasn't that bad yet. There was no violence, no looting of actual homes. Just stores.

He opened the door. The T.V. was on loud, still on the news channel, but no Emily. "Emily?" He yelled. The living room followed into the kitchen in the back of thier little townhouse. He checked the kitchen with no sign of her. The downstairs bathroom, nothing. Upstairs was the only place she would be.

"Emily!" He called going up the stairs. The bedroom door was cracked and he heard cracking coming from the room.

"Emily? Is that you? Why aren't you answering your pho-" He was stopped when opned the door.

A limp body hung from the rafters, swinging back and forth making the cracking noise from the rope digging into the wood.

"Oh god-" Arnold vomited.