Waking up this morning, I had this unexplainable feeling. It's like a message engraved in my brain. It appeared out of nowhere this morning and for no explainable reason. The only thing I know without a doubt is that it's true. Frighteningly true. But what does a person do with this kind of information? It's not like I could tell anyone else. If I were to tell someone, they'd just call me crazy. I shudder at the thought of everyone being so oblivious about it. On the other hand, they might be better off. This message changed my life irreversibly, yet I still have to figure out exactly what it means.

There are only seven days left.

Just one more week and then it's all over. I guess some people could see it as a good thing. There will be no more war, no more destruction. But will there be anything else left either? Does it even matter?

I know it's seven days, but I don't know how or why. I don't know what's more terrifying. The fact that I know about the seven days? Or the fact that I don't know how or why? It's not like I can do anything about it. Even if I knew, I'm just a regular person? How could I stop something so enormous?

I feel like there's a huge clock counting down in my head. I try to close my eyes and ignore it, but I can't seem to think of anything else. And how could I?

I have the knowledge that the world is going to end.

But maybe it isn't. Maybe it's just humanity that is doomed. Could it be that the world just keeps turning, but without us? It's hard to imagine. What would the world look like?

Another thought makes its way through my mind. There are only seven days left. What am I going to do? What does a person do, knowing that seven days later they won't exist anymore? I can't just go on with my life like I used to. What's the point?

I wish I didn't have this knowledge anymore. Why doesn't anyone else know? Although, I guess it might be better. The world would be chaos if humanity knew it was dying. But maybe there is someone out there that knows too.

It's slightly comforting, thinking that someone shares the same fears. It seems to give me a purpose. I could try and find them. If I'm lucky they might know what to do.

I finely see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have seven days. Seven days to find this person that might be able to save us all. I'm not giving up. It might be futile, but I have seven days.

Seven days to save humanity.

The sun has set a while ago. It’s dark. The moon shines bright in the sky, but it barely lights up the room. I’ve been lying in bed, awake, for hours now, but sleep won’t come. I’m home alone and something doesn’t feel right. You know that feeling when you know that something is about to happen, before it even does? That's how I'm feeling right now. The empty house should be quiet and yet, I hear a noise downstairs. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. It’s nothing, I try to convince myself. I'm not really scared of the darkness, but I'm not really at ease with it either, especially when I'm home alone. I hear the noise again. My heart is beating fast. I’m being paranoid, I think and turn around in bed, willing myself to fall asleep, but sleep doesn’t come. The noise is back once more. It’s closer this time. I get out of bed and walk to the door. I don’t know if it’s to see where the noise comes from or to try and get out of here. I open the door as quietly as possible. It creaks softly, making my heart pound harder. I take a tentative step outside and look around. The hallway is enveloped by darkness, but there is nothing there. I hear the noise again. It’s coming from downstairs. Hesitantly, I walk down half the staircase. I look around the living room, only to find it empty. It’s just my imagination, I decide and walk the rest of the way downstairs. Now that I’m up anyways, I might as well get a glass of water. A lot calmer than before, I walk into the kitchen. Glass of water in hand, I lean against the counter. A loud banging noise frightens me, making me drop the glass. It shatters at my feet, making me jump. I grab the first object I can put my hands on, a large cutting board I’d used to make dinner earlier. I take a few steps towards the living room. Looking around for anything unusual. One step after another. My palms are sweating and my hearts pounds harder than it ever has before. A few more steps, then I arrive at the corner. Whatever’s in the house, is behind that corner. I put my back against the wall, take a deep breath to gather all the courage left in me and look around the corner. The lamp besides the sofa is on the floor in pieces, but besides that there’s nothing. I frown. Lamps don’t just fall by themselves. I spot the phone on the couch and make my way towards it. Halfway there, something bumps into my leg, making me scream and drop the cutting board on my foot. I look behind me and see my cat. I sigh relieved and roll my eyes. “So, you’re the troublemaker that has been keeping me awake all night,” I tell the cat. I look up at the window and see the sun coming up. The darkness slowly fades away, letting the sun illuminate the room. A new day starts, making the events of the night fade away, soon to be forgotten. The only reminder of what happened being the broken lamp and glass. A few hours from now the darkness will take over again, but for now, everything is okay.

The sadness in her eyes broke my heart, but it wasn’t like I could do anything about it. This was how I had become. It might hurt her, but it would have killed me to stay the way I was. The pain was becoming a constant present in my life and being the way I am now was making it bearable, if only slightly. She looked at me with begging eyes. “Please!” she pleaded, tears filling her eyes. I was at a loss. How could I make her understand that this was the only way? I looked down at my feet, fumbling with my hands in front of me. I could feel my own tears starting to gather. As I said nothing she sighed. “I don’t know if I can do this anymore.” She spoke softly, her voice breaking slightly towards the end of her sentence. It hurt more than anything I’d ever felt before, especially coming from her. But deep down I understood. I understood, but more than anything I had seen it coming. Guilt consumed me, but I couldn’t change. This was the new me and if she couldn’t accept that then I was bound to lose her. It had always been like that, but I understood. I just had never expected it to happen with her too. I nodded at her, but never looked up. She pulled me into a tight hug, before turning around and walking to the door. She opened it and I could feel her looking at me, but I couldn’t meet her gaze. It hurt too much already. Once again she sighed, then turned around and left. She was gone and never coming back. The thud of the closing door pulled me from my trance and I broke down into tears. That was the day I lost her; the day I lost my best friend. She was the last person in my life that cared about me. Now I was truly alone.

The days that followed I didn’t leave the house. I couldn’t handle being around other people. I think it had been a week before I went back to school. I don’t know exactly how much time had past because the days had started to blend together. From that moment all of my days were the same: go to school, go home, sleep, repeat. The more time went on the less I felt. It was as if my emotions turned off. At night, I barely slept, because of the nightmares. I kept my family awake so much they decided to take me to the hospital. The doctors kept me there for a week, but since they couldn’t find anything wrong with me, they ended up sending me home. Not knowing what else to do, and for my younger brother and sister, my parents decided to rent out a small apartment for me to stay at. If I’d felt alone before, it was nothing compared to the way I felt then. They were my parents after all. Having your own parents abandon you because they don’t know what to do with you anymore is the most awful thing that could have happened to me.

That was when I lost the need to live. I was alive, but I wasn’t really living. I was doing everything to stay alive, if only barely, but nothing more than that. I became like a ghost, or that is what they called me at school anyway. I hadn’t seen the sunlight in weeks since I didn’t go outside anymore. I barely ate, because I didn’t feel the need to, so I was starting to look like a skeleton. My lack of sleep, made my eyes look bloodshot and I constantly had bags under my eyes. To say the least, I looked probably at least as bad as I felt. At school, that was the only thing said, when they talked about me. No one ever approached me, besides the main group of bullies. They, on the other hand, took every opportunity to come talk to me, even though I avoided them as much as I could. They were the reason for what happened. They had taken things to a whole new level. They scared me or at least they used too. Now, I just didn’t care anymore. It wasn’t as if I could feel anything besides the numbness. The only thing that got a slight reaction out of me was seeing my former best friend joining them, laughing with them and becoming their friend.