Orange Sky

The sky was orange. Warm in color, yellow and red and a trace of blue mingling, creating a dazzling display of colors as the sun set on the horizon.

I was on the deck, resting, next to a picture of Sable. In the old rocking chair I'd asked her to get rid of a thousand times. She was in the city right now.

Part of me ached to see her, but there was only five minutes left till the blast. Phones didn't work no more, anyways, so I stayed put.

It was lonely, but the sky was pretty. You could see it high up there, hurtling through space, casting shadows on the ground. A black circle on the horizon. It was due soon.

With a trembling hand, I sipped my brandy. It helped calm the nerves and steady the shaking. I was old, sure, and my prime was long past, but I still didn't want to die.

Part of me wondered what was out there, in the great beyond. After I was good and dead. Sable was always clear what she thought.

I imagined her next to me. "Look, the stars," she would say, pointing to the sky. They would be brighter than ever. "That's heaven, sending us a signal. God's ready, Harold. Are you?"

Part of me worried it would hit, and then poof. Snuffed out. Candle in the wind style, cast off into the great orange sunset like a forgotten frisbee.

I looked at Sable's picture, the sun reflecting off of it.

"One hell of a way to go out, huh?" I whispered. There was no response, so I made one of my own: "I love you, Harold."

The shadow was getting larger, now, half-covering the sun. Soon. But you could still see the fire burning behind it.

I shook the booze, hearing ice cubes tinkle, and thrust it forward into the air.

"To Sable." I paused, then: "And to death. It was a good one."

Downed it all in one, and stood. I could still see the great orange sunset, behind the approaching hunk of rock.

I didn't know what they were seeing in the city, but what I was seeing here was fucking magnificent. Like a fire devouring the evening sun.

"Give me all you got!" I screamed, and I chucked the glass to the ground. Watched it shatter, and spat on it.

In the background, that great orange sunset.