The Catalyst

The Catalyst
“Ah, good to be home” I said as I opened the door to my house, dumped my bag on the floor and sunk into the sack of infinite softness we call a sofa. I had always enjoyed living in a beach house by the Atlantic Ocean as it amazed the people I would regularly bring home every Friday night after a good session of skating in the neighborhood.

Tonight was different though, for recently I had gotten myself a girlfriend and I was going to see her in the morning, so I didn’t have anyone over that night so I could get a good night’s sleep. I looked around for some money and a menu for a take away, I had felt hungry on my way home but the shops were too far for me to walk or skate to.

“Fuck sake, why did my parents have to take both cars to the airport, they only left within half hour of each other and they met up at the airport anyway” I scowled, I found some money but it wasn’t enough for what I wanted so I decided to raid the fridge instead. There I found one or two items of interest which I proceeded to eat with the speed of a tired sloth. The food offered me little comfort and I subsequently fell asleep while playing Xbox.

That's when it all started, I awoke to find that it was light outside, everything looked duller than usual, like if the joy had been drained from it and the only thing left was the cold, dead shell of the world. I got up from the sofa and looked out of the window at the back of the house and refused to believe the view in front of me, the sea had stopped and the beach was empty, devoid of even the simplest things like rocks and the occasional piece of litter. I tried to shout but no words came out from my mouth, I walked out onto the back porch and began to walk down the beach, nothing crossed my mind as I walked, just the emptiness brought on by the silence.

I must have walked for hours when I heard a voice behind me calling my name, it sounded strange however, like someone was trying to talk while underwater in a raging river. I turned around and was met with the sight of a person my height, my build and my clothing but tattered and burnt, his skin charred and broken, eyes replaced by raging flames and the deathly grimace of the dearly departed. It was me, a twisted, demonic version of me, I wanted to run but my legs refused to move, pinned as if they had been encased in cement and left to harden. "Don't try to run, you cannot move save for your voice" he said, "I am here to tell you the end, your end, everyone's end. I am here because of your race's sins, the sins of your hand, the sins of your tongue, the sins of your fathers and the sins of your young, I take your form to show your own role in the events that will come to be. This is the revenge by the broken people living under a loaded gun."

"What the fuck are you on about?" I shouted, "I know I may not be perfect but why choose me to do this to, there are many millions of people worse than me in this world!" "Ah but that is my point, you aren't the worst in the world, you just happened to be the one who gave life to me. The events are on your head, that slight wrongdoing unleashing the end of the earth and you have to sit and watch." He said.

"This is stupid, I don't know why innocent people will suffer for the wrongdoings of the few evil people in the world!" I shouted, half pleading with this beast standing in front of me. "I may as well tell you what will happen, seeing as you will have to endure it much longer than the rest of the world. Everyone will face this alone, the horrors will be so great that the sea will bleed in to the sky, you will feel guilt many times worse than you have ever felt while you burn inside the fires of a thousand suns." He said with a smile, if it could even be described as a smile. He walked towards me and put his hand over my eyes, making everything black.

I awoke back on the sofa, safe and relieved that what I had experienced was no more than a dream. I got up and walked over to the back door so I could see the world again, the lovely world that I live in. That was not what I saw however, I saw the empty world I saw in my dream, the water had stopped and there were no people at all. I stepped out on to the decking and watched as the sea retracted towards the massive funnel of water forming on the horizon. Once the sea had emptied, the sky became brighter and brighter, the air grew hot and the decking caught fire, I felt it burn beneath my feet and crackle as it disintergrated. I heard was a voice behind me saying my name, I turned slowly and was faced with the same being I encountered in my dream, he just stood there and whispered while grinning, "that wasn't just a simple dream was it now?"