Save the World, Change for the Better

“What are you doing here?” Wyatt asked as Della walked into his apartment, not phased by his clutter and mess. In light of the news she had, this was the least of her worries.

“It’s up to you to save the world,” she said, very calm in her tone while she picked at her fingernails and kept her arms close to her body.

“I guess the world is doomed then.” Wyatt sat down on the couch, took a drag of his lit cigarette, and searched for the tv remote. She glanced at it sitting on the back of the couch right behind him while he reached in between the cushions and moved around empty bottles on his coffee table.

“You can’t run from your responsibilities forever.” She walked around the table while he looked under the couch and grabbed the remote. Held it tight in her hands and close to her chest, eyes narrowed as she looked down at him. When she got the assignment, she knew it would be a challenge. After all, apples never fell far from the tree.

“I’ve done it this long. I’m gonna keep going.” He went back to his comfort, his couch, and sighed. He didn’t even try to take the remote from her, it was too much of a fight and not worth it.

If you could keep doing what you’re doing, I wouldn’t have to interfere, she thought. “You’d let the whole world be destroyed so you can have what, another month, maybe, of your hedonistic lifestyle?”

“Hmm... a month of doing whatever I want and the world ends or a month of trying to save the world and it ends anyway? No brainer, I’m not helping.” He scoffed and rolled his eyes and put out his cigarette in the ash tray then began to light another one.

And Della sighed, heavily and deeply in an effort to stay calm, and she chose to keep trying to get through to him. There was so much more to life than seeking pleasure all the time. “So you’re just like your mom. And your dad. And your whole family line. Content with your complacen—“

“Don’t.” It was the first time he looked at her and she could see the rage that came up to the surface. The anger, the bitterness, the pain from a family that hurt him and all he was trying to do was numb it. She hit his pride on purpose, and she was not done.

“The only reason the world is falling apart is because they denied their calling and sat on their hands while drowning in the world’s pleasure, blind to how it killed others. There’s blood on their hands. Don’t make the same mistake.”

Silence filled the room. She sensed the noise in his mind while she awaited a response. Any response. He tensed up and his mouth remained shut except to put the cigarette in his mouth again and she counted the bottles on his table to occupy her mind.

When she had enough of his silence and the stench of tobacco, she reached into her pants pocket. “If you change your mind, and you want to break your generational curse, here’s my card.”

She set it down on the cushion next to him and walked out of the apartment. Once she made it out of the building, she exhaled and prayed fervently and earnestly that Wyatt might change his mind as she got into her car.

—

Five days later, when Della was beginning to lose hope, Wyatt called.

“Hey... is this Della? I uh, I changed my mind.”