I was walking along the nearly barren street, for only a few others were walking along. Itex was gone, for they were all dead or nearly dead. Yahoo. Note the sarcasm. I knew I
wasn't Max any more. My soul had died with the beginning of the end of the world, the world I had failed to save. All I was was an empty, ragged shell of the once great
Maximum Ride. Just a shell, with no happy thoughts, only a sliver of soul to keep me alive. Alive when all I wanted to do was die and leave this broken world and hopefully find
the rest of my soul and something better. Somewhere that guilt and pain wern't a part of my everyday life. A man with a sad smile on his face waved at me, and with that same
gloomy smile and glassed-over look in my brown eyes, I smiled back. He looked very tired, with bags and dark circles under his eyes, and his skin as pallid as the moon. He
looked as though he should be in bed, not walking outside. Then all the sudden, he fainted. His once vibrant brown hair was dull and his eyes had lost their sparkle, their sparkle
for life. Within a few seconds, he was awake again, throwing up his guts. It seemed like he had eaten the entire world with as much as he was barfing up. Then I saw it. The little
life he had left in him was slipping away. I realised that he knew that today was his last and he had wanted to see the world, the world of rubble and ruin, one last time before
death came and took that last bit of soul and his nearly empty shell became fully empty. I tried to comfort him, saying he would be alright, which both he and I knew was an in-
vain attempt. I held him against my body, this complete stranger, an older man of about 30 or so, as that last bit of his life slid away from his body. I was a mess, but it didn't
matter. This man, this complete stranger who was about 8 years my senior, was about to die in my arms. I asked him if he had any family, and he just replied with a raspy "no",
and a few seconds later, " goodbye and thank you." And with a small smile on his face, he died. In my arms. In the middle of the abandoned sidewalk. I felt myself start to cry,
and cry harder than ever before. I set his body down gently, not daring to look back. And as I turned around, I pinpointed the place of my death. For I had finally decided it
was time to give up. There is too much guilt and suffering for me to go on. If I had done what I was supposed to do, that man would be happy and alive. So now it was time to
let my soul fully let my body go.