ROLEPLAY HQ - bittersweet-end

TW: Possible violence, mentions of suicide/death, End of times talk, general doom & gloom, NSFW content There are moments in your life when you find yourself wondering how things would have played out if you had done things differently. If maybe, just maybe you had said yes, or if you had gone out of your comfort zone and done the one thing you were too scared to do. What if; it’s a powerful question that we as humans tend to ponder on many times throughout our lives and that was currently what flooded Kara Jones’s mind as she stared mouth agape at the news. BREAKING NEWS: This just in, a world ending meteor set to impact in T-minus 26 hours and 34 minutes! “The end of the world?” KJ blinked in disbelief as her phone began to blow up with texts, calls, tweets, Facebook messages yet she couldn’t bring herself to pick up the phone by her side. Instead, she sat on her futon, mind racing at all the things she could have done in her life, should have done in her lifetime. She was only twenty-two years young and the world as she knew was literally going to be blown to smithereens by a giant rock that was falling from the sky. This would literally be her last day on earth and what did she want to do? Where would she want to go? Her parents were miles away in another city, her older brother across the ocean fighting a war that was pretty much pointless now... Tears welled up in her chocolate brown eyes, her hand shook as she hit the power button on the television remote. She sat, tears silently streaming down her face as she stared at the now black empty screen. . (edited)

06:24

Where did she want to spend her last moments on this earth? Blindly KJ grabbed her cellphone, swiping away all the notifications and dialing a number she hadn’t dialed in well over a year. A number she had remembered by heart and would remember until the end of her days... A dry chuckle left her at the thought, the end of her days would be tomorrow, along with everyone else’s. Ten numbers entered with a shaky hand and she held the phone to her ear as the ringing tone echoed in her mind. . Would he answer? Would he want to see her in his last moments? With a shaky breath she got up from the futon and went out the patio door. Ring ring ring. Brown eyes stared up at the darkening sky, the first few stars already could be seen in the deep blue. It was so serene, yet at the same time the impending doom could be felt in her heart. Ring ring ring. Kara wiped at her eyes trying her best to clear her vision. A sniffle as she wiped her nose on her sleeve. Maybe he had forgotten her, maybe he had already moved on and he had someone to spend his last moments with... But KJ couldn’t lose hope, she didn’t want to be alone when the world ended and if she could just see his face just for one more moment, perhaps she would give him the answer she should have given him thirteen months, two weeks and one day ago…

06:24

@Himbo Tie

"You heard it hear first, it's all over. Go home, spend what time you have left with your family. See ya next week." Grayson heard the pain in his supervisor's voice as they stood in a semi-circle at the front of the warehouse. The entire nightshift had been called to the front immediately, so he had left his machine slowly along with his fellow machine operators, expecting nothing but another bullshit safety meeting or production meeting. Phones were not allowed on the floor, so no one had heard anything about the news of the impending doom, so it fell to the supervisors to make the decision of who would spread the bad news. Looking dumbfoundedly at the tall, black man in front of him, Grayson shook his head before stepping forward with a grin. "You've gotta be shitting with us, right Winston? The world isn't about to end, I still have my truck to pay off." Others around him laughed softly, mixed feelings of belief spreading through them all when they saw the small smile on their supervisor's face followed by two small streams of tears. Seeing him cry was enough of a sign, and at that point Grayson sprinted towards his machine. Anyone in his way was issued a quick apology as he shouldered past several people before reaching the cage around his machine. Finding his lunchbox, he pulled it open and saw the inside lit up by his phone. Kara's Cell That's all he saw as he picked up his phone and flipped his thumb up the screen, disregarding her call but not hanging up. He needed to see for himself, and as he saw unread texts in his notification bar, he felt his stomach fall in his gut. Selecting the icon showing her on the line for the past 45 seconds, Grayson answered it without saying anything, expecting the line to have already ended.

06:37

@EnchantedNymph

When the call had been picked up Kara's veins were flooded with relief. She had expected him to ignore her call. To send a text telling her to promptly fuck off or worse.... "Grayson?" Her voice was shaky as her heartbeat sounded off in her ears. Deep shaky breaths left her as she waited for some sort of response. The seconds slowly ticked by and that fear had begun to take form in her throat again as the tears welled up in her eyes. One second turned into forty-five and Kara's heart had plummeted. Maybe he had accepted her call on accident. Another second ticked by and her voice came out even quieter. "I-it's Kara... I... am not sure if you have seen the news yet..." She sniffled and wiped her eyes with her overly large sweater. She was pacing now as she waited on bated breath to hear his voice. Maybe he really had accidently hit accept. "Grayson?" His name held so much meaning, so many unspoken things she had kept to herself over the past year, the regret almost palpable. Kara made her way to the patio door, pulling open the glass door and stepping out to look down at the chaotic streets below. Horns honked and people were shouting though she couldn't really make out what was being said, all of her attention on the silent other end of the phone call. @Himbo Tie

Hearing her voice on the line brought a mixture of pain and relief to his chest, stealing Grayson's words from him further. He had not realized he had accept the call and immediately felt regret filling him at possibly having increased her stress in this moment of fear and uncertainty. Closing his eyes, he hummed softly before speaking, "Hey Kara, yeah I just heard." He wasn't sure what else he could say as he felt his throat beginning to catch on the words. There was so much he wanted to say, to scream at her about her horrible timing, and yet he could only bring himself to speak in a calm voice, "Are you okay? Are you somewhere safe?" This woman on the other end had always been good at wrecking his plans, from changing her clothes at the last second and making them late for a reservation to inviting him along on a mall trip that interrupted his plans with his friends. From plans of going to a barbeque alone and suddenly having to explain away a pretty girl on his arm to planning on the rest of his life just for it to be shot down. Clearing his throat gently as he felt his eyes growing warmer with tears welling, he busied himself with grabbing some of his personal tools before leaving the machine on auto pilot. These tools would mean nothing when disintegrated by the meteor incoming, but it was the regularity and routine that his mind needed in this moment to deal with the news he had received. His truck was still waiting for him, but nearly every other car had already peeled off with various tire treads leaving new marks on the pavement. Climbing into his truck, he started it up and plugged his phone into the audio jack so that he did not have to hold it and hear what she might be saying. He kept the vehicle in park, letting the engine warm up as he had no idea where to go from here. @EnchantedNymph

The relief she felt at hearing Grayson's voice sent her crumbling down against the small patio floor. The tears that had welled up silently made their way down her cheeks to plop onto the wool sweater and disappear. Her name on his lips were something she had thought she wouldn't be able to hear again and the roughness in his voice had memories flood Kara's mind. "I...I am at my apartment so I think so." Her eyes looked up to the bright blue sky and she wondered where exactly the meteor would land. The image of a fiery ball of metal landing in the middle of Atlanta almost made her laugh but nothing came out of her throat but a hiccup. "What...about you?" Would he come over if she asked? Would he come and spend his last day and some on earth with the one who had broken his heart? She almost felt like a fool for wanting to ask. The selfishness was already so much just from her reaching out and calling him. In the background she heard the hum of his truck and Kara chewed on her bottom lip. "Grayson I..." What was she supposed to say? 'Because we're dying I'm sorry? I realize now that my mistake was letting you go?' Her head thumped against the glass door and her eyes shut as she let the silence between them settle, the seconds ticking by agonizingly slow. The words that would slip from her lips next were out before she could think better of it. Whether he would reject her or not...that was completely up to him. "Come over?" @Himbo Tie

Closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the headrest of his seat, Grayson depressed the brake pedal and shifted the truck into drive. Feeling his hand rest on the gearshift beside the steering wheel, he glanced down at his elbow and felt a stream of tears trickle down his cheeks. He had had the truck for just over two years now, having bought it and surprised Kara by taking her on a trip in it while towing a foldout camper behind them. Had they spent many nights in the camper? No, not when there were good air-conditioned motels they could stay in. However, looking over to his right, he felt a lump swell in his throat as he saw the vacant seat that used to hold her. Looking forward, he eased into motion and felt the engine rumble to life as he accelerated and left the parking lot, his hands already taking up position with his right on the top of the steering wheel and his left arm propped up on the window. He knew the way home like the back of his hand, just a left turn out onto the highway and down the road several minutes before he got to his road. The voice on the other end of the phone caused his hands to pause a moment before he made that left turn. Smiling softly as he thought about Kara in her apartment with a blanket and mug of hot chocolate probably at the ready, Grayson looked through the windshield at the passing trees while speaking, "I've just left work. They let us off early, what with the meteor and all. I'm heading home to..." His words trailed off as he spoke, his eyebrows furrowing slightly as he thought about what he was going home to do. There was nothing he could do but drink himself into a stupor that would not feel the pain of death. His parents had already given him the middle finger when he refused their offer to move to Oregon with them after his relationship with Kara ended. He had no one to contact and no obligations to complete. Depressing the accelerator and increasing his speed, he played with the thought of ending the an