Ficlets

What Lies in the Void

Tanner lay on on his side on the cold metal floor. Emily got down next to him, her face in front of his. “Hey, Tanner. I got you some food. You haven’t eaten anything since we launched,” she whispered.

Tanner looked into her worried eyes for a moment, and then in a cracked voice he spoke. “Everything is gone. Everything! Why was I spared? So many billions of people died. Billions! A number of incomprehensible immensity… Yet out of that complete and total destruction, I was spared. Why?”

“Why were any of us spared, Tanner? To rebuild and make a future.”

“I know why you were spared, Emily. You are so brimming over with beauty and goodness. I never told you how I felt. Even in this…” and here he faltered, but moved on “you somehow manage to stay positive. The future deserves you, but I might as well be dead.”

“You think that it’s easy for me? That I don’t feel just the same as you? I can’t handle it alone, Tanner. I can’t. Maybe you were spared because… I need you.”

Something lit in Tanner’s eyes.

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