The wind blew harshly outside and scraped against the brick-walled houses. Every door was shut and locked; every window was boarded up tightly. The sun was nowhere to be seen and the whole world was in darkness. No one dared to open the lights or start a fire, fearing the elements will turn on them.

I sat down on the living room floor with my family as we clutched onto the blankets and quilts. Any source of warmth would be welcome now. Today is December 21st, 2012. I never thought this would actually happen. People talked of the world ending today but we didn't really think much of it. I mean, my uncle even made a joke about ants ruling the world one day after us during some important dinner I couldn't be bothered to remember now. Our friends and family were skeptical until just about a week ago. Strange things started to happen.

On the first day, people began to collapse onto the streets. Perfectly healthy people, the ones that are actually healthy began dying in front of our very eyes. I'm actually glad I'm not that healthy now. My sister and I have always had a… slight weight problem. Okay, not so slight. It's more like we just managed to escape obesity. Besides my weight problems, I also had skin problems. My sister, Electra, has some anger issues. My family isn't the healthiest bunch either. My father has diabetes and my mother gets sick very easily. She claims it's because Electra and I stole all her good stuff. I guess it makes sense, but I'm pretty sure I'm brilliant on my own. My grandmother has eyes, legs, pretty much problems in every organ. My grandfather is probably the healthiest out of us all. The only problem he has is high cholesterol. I'm not too sure about my uncles and cousins since I don't contact with them anymore, but I really hope they're still alive and well.

I was at school like any typical student that day, it was a Friday. I got to tell you, it wasn't my best Friday. I had just arrived to school and sat down in the auditorium like I was supposed to. Electra sat down next to me, not by choice but because she had to. The students had to sit on the next available seat and if you skip even one, then you get held behind and will most likely end up late to class. Let me tell you, that's something I want to avoid. I just took off my coat and my eyes were already searching for any sign of my best friend, Fantine. She usually arrived before me, but she started getting lazy right after Thanksgiving. When I saw her head stuck behind a book, as usual, I sighed and peaked over at Electra. She was refusing to talk to me from the argument we had this morning about socks. When the bell rang, we all got up and exited in an "orderly" fashion. Translation: everyone began to scream and push. The only way I managed to survive through that was by simply walking away from it. They're all idiots with the exception of a few. There were three exits; the other two just required more walking. Electra and I calmly walked to the second exit and were greeted by Fantine.

"Hey An."

"Hello, Fan." We walked silently to our next class. Electra is about a year younger than me but in the same grade as me. When I moved to middle school, the guidance counselor made a mistake and placed Electra in the same class as me. When she realized her mistake, instead of changing it, she advised her to join this program that'll allow her to skip a grade. I had helped her study and finally she passed. We stepped into the classroom right when the clock turned eight. That was when people began dropping dead… literally.

The second day wasn't better. It was filled with natural disasters. We live in New York City. A tornado occurred in the Bronx, a hurricane in New Jersey, earthquake in Manhattan and Queens, and a tsunami on Staten Island. It was Saturday, my relaxing day, when I suddenly felt the ground shake violently. Things began to fall and break. I grabbed Electra and brought her under the door frame, where I knew would be our greatest chance of survival.

We went to church on Sunday and everything was fine. I was finally at peace, at least until I stepped out. There was this horrid smell and I quickly held my breath. I had pushed everyone else back into the church and watched in horrid as people on the street began to turn green and transform into different creatures. I ran back inside and didn't dare peak out again. The only thing I saw was an old hobo growing hair as thick as a bear's in a matter of seconds. His eyes glazed and then turned blank. The mendicant's nose grew long and his thin lips lost their color before turning into a beak. When he opened his mouth, his teeth were still yellow and rotten but sharp like knives. His thin arms that were covered with hair shriveled and shrank until they were nothing but two bumps at the side. We spent the whole day hiding at the church until around 3 in the morning where we ran to the car by throwing random stuff at the monsters.

We were forced to go back to school on Monday and saw that more than half of our class didn't come to school. I was glad to see Fan was there with Electra and me. We were on the other side of the hallway when we suddenly saw one of the teachers grow fangs and bit into a student's neck. Don't get me wrong. The three of us were huge fans of vampires. Fan pretty much read it all. Vampire Diaries, Vampire Academy, Twilight Series and a lot more but when we saw the blood dripping down the pale neck and heard the poor sixth grader's scream, well, we did nothing except we ran. Like. Hell. The speaker suddenly turned on and more screams in the background was heard.

The three of us grabbed our stuff and ran. I was never much of an athlete but I can and would do anything if my life depended on it. People – vampires – were right behind us, chasing us. Thinking fast, I ran over to a dead body. I bit my tongue and picked up the dead body. I threw it at the group of vampires and ran without looking back. We got home and shut the door tightly.

The impossible became possible in only one week. Everything grew out of control. Some of my friends died from dehydration. Some were afraid to drink a sip of water and others reacted terribly to tap water. My family was lucky that we kept a lot of bottled water around. That was the only water that was safe. We didn't want to risk it so we never drank too much. The ground outside our home crumbled from the slightest touch. The plants in Flushing grew out of control and would strangle anything living nearby to death. Sometimes they even picked fights with other plants. Home was the only safe place. I didn't dare to go out and so far nothing has happened.

I sighed quietly to myself as my mother leaned closer to me. I thought of everything that happened the past day and wondered if today was the day I'll die.

"It'll be okay, Linan." My mother spoke in Chinese with her clear voice. Fear and anxiety was laced between the words. I squeezed her cold, frail fingers and smiled.

"My poor children. Electra's only 13 and you're 15." She whispered.

"14." I muttered to myself, but apparently everyone heard.

"What?" My mother asked in a bewildered voice.

"I'm only 14, Mama." I answered. She didn't say anything else and we all sat in silence. I glanced at my working clock and closed my eyes. It was a quarter past 11:00. According to the scientists, or whoever studying this stuff for the past month, the entire human race will be wiped out by midnight.

So, only 45 minutes left to live, huh? I smiled to myself at the sad thought. I used to wonder about death, even debating how I would like to die. My whole family sat there on the floor, holding each other in silence. There was only one thing I was certain of. I had planned this out years ago. Right before I die, I wanted to remember my whole life. There I sat on the cold and hard wooden floors as I jogged my memory. I closed my eyes and saw my earliest memory of the lights then to the day Electra was born. I continued to my first tooth falling off, my first time swimming, lying, failing, crying in front of public, my first 100 on a test, my first time having a friend. I smiled at the pleasant memory and forced it to stay on when I remembered how she backstabbed me. I knew people didn't think much of me in elementary school. I was another normal kid and nothing special would ever happen to me. I had sworn to myself in second grade that I would be somebody. I'm in 8th grade now, middle school. My grades are fantastic but that's the only thing people think of when they hear the name Linan.

"An, An! Wake up! Are you dead? Don't die on me, woman!" My eyes snapped open at the shaking and the familiar voice of Electra.

"What?" I whispered. Why was I whispering? I cleared my throat and focused on Electra. The frightened look on her face disappeared and she sighed in relief.

"Good, you didn't die. We only have about 5 more minutes." I glanced at the clock and saw that there was indeed only 5 minutes left.

Bang! Bang!

We froze and glanced at each other. No one dared to move and suddenly the door was kicked open. Two middle-aged men ran inside. I stood up quickly and everyone behind me followed my action. I breathed in a shaky breath and slowly took a step back. One step at a time. My grandmother took a step back but lost her balance. I turned around and my eyes widened. I ran towards her and held her up. While running to her, a water bottle was knocked over. The sound of it hitting the floor echoed inside my head. My head slowly turned and saw the two men standing in front of us. In their hands was a gun. A click was heard as one of them pulled the trigger. A bullet was shot directly across us as a warning.

"Don't move." His gruff voice warned.

"Put your hands up!" He ordered loudly after he was certain we were all pretty much cowering from fear. I swallowed and quickly followed his orders without hesitation. The other man walked around us and I watched as he made his way into my room. After a few seconds that seemed like eternity, he walked out with two things, Electra's laptop and mine. My laptop was still on from about two weeks ago. I was going to close it but I never did, fearing that I might need it.

"W-why are you guys robbing us?" I asked quietly. I quickly regretted my words when I saw the tightening of his finger on the trigger, this time pointed at me. If I was going to die, I'd prefer not to feel any pain. I wasn't sure since it was so dark, but I had a feeling he just smirked.

"It's our last night alive. Might as well get wild and, ya know, rob some people. Maybe we'll even – "

"Kill people? Why would you do that? If you're religious, which I'm assuming you are, wouldn't you want to go to heaven?" I interrupted him quickly. The other man's eyes narrowed and he took a step towards me.

"Shut up." He raised his hand and placed it on my mouth as he tried to suffocate me. My mouth opened but my lungs couldn't find air. I bit his hand without thinking and watched as he pulled back.

"Son of a bitch! Kill her!" The man screamed loudly. The man holding the gun jumped at the outburst and tried to aim. I pushed the man away from me and took steps back. I could see something colorful at the corner of my eye. I turned my head towards it and saw everyone follow my gaze. The man held out the gun again and a shot rang through the air. The bullet shot straight towards where my heart would be, but it never hit. I looked down and watched in wonder as my figure began shining just like everything else around me. My body began disappearing and everything went black.

I hope everyone else is safe…