4:52

I didn’t think I’d ever seen time move so slowly. The end of the world was on its way, and it didn’t even have the dignity to do it quickly.

I vaguely wished I had gotten the leaky pipe fixed. I hadn’t seen the point. Apocalypses tend to make one not particularly care whether or not the roof above their head is about to collapse from water damage.

It just doesn’t matter.

I rolled over, away from the clock. The world was going to end. Nothing I could do. Staring at the clock changed nothing.

I lasted about thirty seconds staring at the blank white wall in front of me before turning back over, just in time to watch the clock click one minute closer to the end of the world.

4:53

I stared, disbelieving. Hard to imagine…suddenly, I no longer felt a thing. Not anywhere, not anytime.

Everything was gone.

I never saw 4:54.

Leave it to the end of the world to be the only date that shows up early.