NovelAI Scenario: One Last Reunion At The End Of The World

Description

With the end of the world being not only clear, but even determined to the date, society has kind of ground to a halt. All the technology we have can't save us. And we, the young men and women that have trudged through a school system with the promise of a future, are going to finally take what's ours. With the first anniversary of our graduation upon us, we are going to celebrate what could have been. And we're not going to stop.

Tags

sfw, first person, apocalyptic, cyberpunk, celebration

Prompt

With a heavy sigh, I look down from my dreary apartment window to the street below. Normally, cars would be blazing along here, pedestrians dodging those that take traffic rules to be more of a suggestion, vans would be blaring advertisements... but none of that is going on right now. Who knew, it only takes the impending end of the world for this city to actually slow down. Compared to what I'm used to, it's downright peaceful these days, as the coming apocalypse has just kind of deflated everybody at this point. Many people have just outright quit their jobs, myself included, and schools have entirely ceased to function. In fact, it's only recently sunk in for me that I am part of the last-ever graduation class. That's it, there will be no more classes graduating, because the world's ending. But just because the world's ending doesn't mean we can't have a little more fun. Indeed, there has been a general sentiment spreading through the younger generation such as myself that now that we've been sold a future that would never come to fruition entirely because of corporations and governments, we might as well just take whatever pleasure we can get. And, well, the perfect opportunity has arrived. It's the one year anniversary of my graduation, and this morning, I and all the other members of my class got a message from the former class president that he had managed to secure the school's gym for a one year reunion. His message also made one thing clear: he intends for this party to end only when the world does. At this point, I certainly don't see any reason not to go. In fact, the prospect of just partying until it all goes to Hell sounds like a real good time to me. I quit my job a few days ago, recognizing the futility of it all, and that has left me with fairly little to do. And with that, I set off. Walking through the streets is quite the surreal experience these days. With the reality of the situation truly set in everybody's mind, the whole urgency this sort of impending doom should normally lead to has just kind of stopped. All the usual annoyances that rely on humans have basically stopped—minimum wage workers holding signs and shouting about the latest gadgets, the advertisement vans, and so on. Of course, the things that don't need humans like the massive vidscreens hawking goods and services or the automated drones blaring ads are still going just the same, but still, that means the noise pollution is a lot lower. After a few minutes, I arrive at the school, and I'm again struck with such a strange feeling. For a lot of people, school is just a part of their life, definitely less than a quarter of it. But for me, given that my life is going to end fairly soon alongside everybody else's, school is basically my entire life. My classmates are essentially people I've known for my entire life. Such an odd feeling, but I push it to the back of my mind. While the school has been completely shuttered for a few weeks now, the corporate sponsorship neon billboards all around the walls still blast out their bright lights to whoever's watching. Maybe they'll still be going when we're all gone. Oh well, not something for me to worry about. Instead, I step inside the building and make my way towards the gym, the route still second nature to me. As I approach, music and laughter start becoming louder—seems like the party's already started. Indeed, stepping inside of the gym itself, I find it completely transformed. It's all made up for a celebration, a massive sound system is blasting the most popular dance tunes, food and drink is set out on a long table, and about twenty of my former classmates are mingling amongst each other. There's Hiro, the class nerd... and over there's Anders, the jock. Even though it's only been a year since graduation, some have changed a lot, while others seem exactly the same. Memories start flooding back into my mind, and I feel at home again. It's time to party, and before I can even decide where to start, I already hear a voice call out from the crowd, "Hey, ${Name}! Over here!" Turning to face the voice,... [Click to expand]

With a heavy sigh, I look down from my dreary apartment window to the street below. Normally, cars would be blazing along here, pedestrians dodging those that take traffic rules to be more of a suggestion, vans would be blaring advertisements... but none of that is going on right now. Who knew, it only takes the impending end of the world for this city to actually slow down. Compared to what I'm used to, it's downright peaceful these days, as the coming apocalypse has just kind of deflated everybody at this point. Many people have just outright quit their jobs, myself included, and schools have entirely ceased to function. In fact, it's only recently sunk in for me that I am part of the last-ever graduation class. That's it, there will be no more classes graduating, because the world's ending.

But just because the world's ending doesn't mean we can't have a little more fun. Indeed, there has been a general sentiment spreading through the younger generation such as myself that now that we've been sold a future that would never come to fruition entirely because of corporations and governments, we might as well just take whatever pleasure we can get. And, well, the perfect opportunity has arrived. It's the one year anniversary of my graduation, and this morning, I and all the other members of my class got a message from the former class president that he had managed to secure the school's gym for a one year reunion. His message also made one thing clear: he intends for this party to end only when the world does.

At this point, I certainly don't see any reason not to go. In fact, the prospect of just partying until it all goes to Hell sounds like a real good time to me. I quit my job a few days ago, recognizing the futility of it all, and that has left me with fairly little to do. And with that, I set off. Walking through the streets is quite the surreal experience these days. With the reality of the situation truly set in everybody's mind, the whole urgency this sort of impending doom should normally lead to has just kind of stopped. All the usual annoyances that rely on humans have basically stopped—minimum wage workers holding signs and shouting about the latest gadgets, the advertisement vans, and so on. Of course, the things that don't need humans like the massive vidscreens hawking goods and services or the automated drones blaring ads are still going just the same, but still, that means the noise pollution is a lot lower.

After a few minutes, I arrive at the school, and I'm again struck with such a strange feeling. For a lot of people, school is just a part of their life, definitely less than a quarter of it. But for me, given that my life is going to end fairly soon alongside everybody else's, school is basically my entire life. My classmates are essentially people I've known for my entire life. Such an odd feeling, but I push it to the back of my mind. While the school has been completely shuttered for a few weeks now, the corporate sponsorship neon billboards all around the walls still blast out their bright lights to whoever's watching. Maybe they'll still be going when we're all gone. Oh well, not something for me to worry about.

Instead, I step inside the building and make my way towards the gym, the route still second nature to me. As I approach, music and laughter start becoming louder—seems like the party's already started. Indeed, stepping inside of the gym itself, I find it completely transformed. It's all made up for a celebration, a massive sound system is blasting the most popular dance tunes, food and drink is set out on a long table, and about twenty of my former classmates are mingling amongst each other. There's Hiro, the class nerd... and over there's Anders, the jock. Even though it's only been a year since graduation, some have changed a lot, while others seem exactly the same. Memories start flooding back into my mind, and I feel at home again. It's time to party, and before I can even decide where to start, I already hear a voice call out from the crowd, "Hey, ${Name}! Over here!"

Turning to face the voice,

Author Notes

The end of the world is fast approaching, but for now, we still have some time. And while some will spend their last weeks calm and collected, right now, I see no reason not to just celebrate. Together with all my old school friends, I feel at home far more than I ever have before. As the generation that had their future ripped out from under them, we now take as much pleasure as we can find in our short time left in this world.

Memory

My name is ${Name}, and I am a young ${Short description (e.g. 'male courier', 'female office worker', etc.)} living in a large metropolis. With the looming disaster promising the destruction of mankind, I have given up on work and any sort of obligations. It's been a year now since I graduated from school, and some of my former classmates have organized a big party, one big class reunion to celebrate all the reunions we could have had if we weren't cheated out of our future. All of us that still remain have come together to party as long as we can, be it days or weeks. We do not intend to stop.

Download Count: 0