The Dark Somnium - "NASA Is Trying To Kill Us All" Creepypasta | Scary Stories from Reddit Nosleep

Episode Date: February 25, 2021

This creepypasta scary story is from the nosleep subreddit, written by BoyWithALoafOfBread.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/darksomnium/message Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It feels strange, coming back to you all after what happened. Or I guess I should rephrase that as what didn't happen. For those unaware of the circumstances surrounding my original post, allow me to give some subtext to the events that had transpired. I'm afraid it will be rather necessary to explain the situation I now find myself in. For starters, my name is Dr. Adrian Reinhart, and I am... I was, the last surviving member of the Kronos Project under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Our mission was to search the stars for signs of our cosmic brethren, for any life beyond our world. In the early 2000s, we detected a signal from a dark and empty region of the universe known as Boate's Void. The signal was a series of small electric pulses that, when converted into an audio format, resembled something akin to a heartbeat. After some time of deliberation and planning, we were authorized by the Department of Defense and the Obama administration to send a signal reply using the Morse code translation of

Hello. The following morning, the signal had ceased just as fast as it had begun. Over the years of silence that followed, it seemed that our only sign of extraterrestrial life had vanished, with no sign of return. That is, of course, until we detected yet another signal in December of 2019 from the exact same set of stellar coordinates as the one from years prior. The message was a set of static bursts that seemed to be miraculously resembling Morse code, then decoded it gave the bone-chilling, looping translation of goodbye.

At the time, there were several things that seemed to defy logic. For starters, there was a conversation. that seemed to have taken place in just a few months, when it should have transpired over millions of years, based on the cosmic scale of length between the Earth and Boutis void. Secondly, the void itself had suddenly, and without any given reason, began to expand at an alarming rate several times faster than the speed of light, and seemed to consume everything within its path. After a short time, we calculated that, give or take a few days, the experience expanding darkness would reach our solar system in early December 2020.

With this knowledge and implications of this flooding the command center like a tsunami, the members of the Kronos project quickly disbanded and jumped ship, as they say. It didn't take long for NASA and the DoD to add two and two together and begin, silencing the members of the project. While my colleagues were hunted down like dogs, I had managed to evade them for a short time, moving from state to state and county to county, I was able to seemingly evade my would-be executioners long enough to see the entire world swallowed up in an infinite expanse of nothingness.

Most nights in my hotel rooms under different names, I would lie there in bed thinking about the limitless possibilities of what would happen when it reached us. Would the planets be left alone while just the star was snuffed out? If that was the case, how long could civilization survive without it? Would we be transferred to another universe? Would we be crushed by an overpowering gravity field? The ideas and scenarios that continued to present themselves only became less scientific hypotheses, and more akin to Lovecraftian nightmares of possibilities.

Eventually I began to weigh the possibilities. I realized that whatever was going to happen would be something. I couldn't bear. I was a coward and I knew it. And as I was too much of one to take my own life, I decided to make it as easy from my pursuers as possible while giving the truth to you all. In August, I laid out everything on mine in an assumption that the Department of Defense would locate me in a matter of hours and send a hitman unit my way to finish me off before

the week's end. That wasn't the case, however. To my surprise, they never came. After purposefully staying in the same Motel 6 in Reno, Nevada, for four continuous weeks, they still never came. I was still alive. It was then that I started to realize why. If this was all really happening, if the governments of the world knew about all of this,

then why would they waste the time just to kill me? I had already put the truth out there, and most took it as just another shifty possibility. to end out a shitty year. Hell, most people took it as a damn joke. No wonder I was still breathing. But still, that left the truth of the matter even worse. The expanse was closer than ever now, and I was going to have to live to see it. I finally came to terms with everything after Thanksgiving and decided that if I was going to go out with everyone else, I might as well do it with someone I loved. To give some further context, the relationship with my last living relatives, being my mother and sister, hadn't been the best the last two decades.

And that was putting it mildly. When I was twenty and starting out in college, my mother had a fare against my father, causing him to fall into a deeply depressive state that undoubtedly took him down the stressful path that led to his fatal heart attack seven years later. I had never really forgiven her for that, no matter how bad she may have felt, and no matter how many times she tried to make things right with me. But I had figured with everything about to end, if there was ever going to be a time to try to reconcile things, it would have to be now.

A familiar female voice answered as I called my mother's home phone. It wasn't her, however. It was my younger sister Cassidy, who had stayed with my mom after our dad had died. I had spoken with her on and off over the years, but hadn't really had a chance to do so in about 11 months for obvious reasons. Cass? I asked. Is, is Mom there?

Adrian? She nearly yelled into the phone. Is that you? Yeah, I said, feeling guilty about the obvious pain in her voice. Listen, I'm sorry, it's been a while. Things have, well, things have been rough. I just... Can I just talk to Mom, please?

Mom? Yeah, I know it's strange. Trust me. Just... Can I please... Adrian. She said, trying to hold back what almost seemed like tears. Mom died.

What? I asked. She died in October. She said quietly. This goddamn virus. I tried to call and tell you. You never answered anything. Where?

Where in the hell have you been, Adrian? Cass, I said, trying to make it through the sentence despite the shockwave of emotions that was running through my mind. A lot has happened. I'm so sorry. I can't really explain over the phone. Are you going to be at the house this weekend? What?

Adrian, I live here now. What is going on? What are you talking about? Listen, I'm on my way there now. When I get there, I'll explain everything. Adrian, what is going on? Just stay home. I'll be there Friday, I promise.

Adrian, just wait. With that, I ended the call, partly because I couldn't hear her voice right now. It was just so full of blame and this eerie tone of judgment. I knew she didn't mean for it to be there, but I could feel it in the back of her voice, carving through my ego like a hot knife, and all this with my mother. mother. It was too much to process all at once, and if I had just continued to sit there in

my motel room, I'd go insane trying to do just that. So I packed up what little I had left in my life into my car and started to make my way from Reno to my sister, who was now living in my mother's old house in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was on the way there, while passing through Tennessee, that I truly realized how close to the end we really really did. were. As someone who was never a fan of modern music, I was listening to NPR's coverage of the coronavirus and the disputed election results when they took a quick and sudden segment that I had been expecting and dreading for some time. And now we have Professor Thomas Leonard speaking to us remotely from the Keck Observatory

in Moniqueh, Hawaii. The announcer said over the radio, Professor Leonard, how are you? Very fine. Thank you for having me today. The professor replied, So, Professor Leonard, for those just tuning in, can you take a moment to explain what it is exactly that you have discovered? More likely what you're being allowed to divulge, I said to myself.

Absolutely, but you must understand the discovery is not mine alone. We have a collection of astronomers from all over the world that have assisted with this. But in terms of the discovery itself, it's, well, it's quite strange. How so? Well, we've discovered a region of space deriving from the Boitius void, which is essentially an empty region of the universe. The void itself appears to be expanding at quite an alarming rate, seemingly consuming everything in its wake.

And when you say consuming, what do you mean exactly? Well, that's the rather tricky thing. Professor Leonard began. We aren't quite sure exactly what that means. All we know for certain is that the... the stars bordering the expanse are dissipating at a rate equal to that of the expanding rate of the void itself, and that's where we start to get into the realm of scientific impossibility.

How so? The host asked. It appears that the expansion rate is fluctuating between the exact speed of light and sometimes several times faster. But isn't that impossible? Exactly. It's breaking everything we know and understand about the laws of physics. We appear to be monitoring this in real time, while at the same time the light from most of the stars are millions of light years away.

Not a single one of us can even begin to come up with a solution. What appears to be a cause for this expansion? We haven't the first idea, and that's not even the terrifying part. What do you mean by that? The host asked. For a few moments, there was silence. Professor Leonard? The host asked, unsure of what?

was happening. Listen, the truth is we've known about this for months now. The terrifying part about all of this is that there doesn't seem to be a stopping point. Those who don't live in areas full of light pollution just have to look up in the night sky and you can see it. A gaping black hole in the sky that's coming closer every second and we can't do anything about it. He was almost shouting now and it became clear that he had been struggling with the implications

of this just as I had. Professor Leonard, whatever's coming for us isn't stopping, and there's nothing out there promising that we'll survive it. I don't know how long we have at this rate, maybe a week or two, but that's it. If you have loved ones, spend time with them. If you have a bucket list, best get working on it because there is nothing we can do. Nothing. I'm sure there were more of the ramblings that continued after I turned off the radio, but I had

heard enough. There wasn't anything new. He had said had already gone through my own head and the last thing I wanted right now was just to hear it personified through the speakers. With a deep breath, I continued down the road on what was certain to be the final road trip I would ever take. I could have stopped that night for some rest, but decided to continue on because the professor had been right.

We only had a little bit of time left here, and I wanted to spend it with my family, or what was left of it. That night, while getting some gas at a station along the Appalachian Mountains, I was able to see it for myself. There was just enough clearness in the night sky to see the inevitable. Up above, to the right of the Big Dipper, was just nothing. A vast hole of non-existence that felt like a hungry mouth of some nightmare child bearing down on earth with each passing second.

A shiver went down my spine, as my thoughts once again went to the same. the endless possibilities of what might happen when we pass the threshold of the unknown. But whatever did happen, whatever the human race would face, we would do so together. Early the next morning I had made it to the Beach House and was surprised to see the vast amount of active police units in the area. I knew most of Myrtle Beach had fallen into poverty over the last couple of years, but I hadn't expected something like this. When I got to the door of the house, Cassidy opened it with a face I hadn't seen since we

had both been children. She was terrified, like she had just seen the boogeyman. Cass? I asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. What's wrong? Haven't you heard? She asked quietly. Well, let's go sit down, I said, leading her into what I remembered to be, the living

room. Inside I would come to see exactly what she was talking about. The TV was on and tuned to NBC. where the anchors were going on endlessly about a state of panic and riots and protests erupting across the country. For a moment, I thought that the MAGA and Black Lives Matter protests had finally clashed in some grand political finale, but it only took a moment of reading the scrolling headlines of The End of the World and NASA Press Conference in four hours.

Adrienne. She said as I got her seated on the couch. What? What the hell is hell? happening. It was then that I spilled it all out for her, every last detail. The only thing that seemed to be new information to her was that of the Kronos project itself and our communications with the void, along with its chilling message.

Goodbye. It seemed that minor detail had been left out of the news feeds. So it's aliens? She asked, starting to come to terms with the wild story that had been told to her. They are doing this?" I don't know, I said, desperate to try to give her a solid answer that was impossible to know for certain. All I do know is that whatever it is, it's breaking every law of physics that's in the book. And it's still coming for us.

How long do we even have? She asked, I don't even know that, I said, running fingers through my hair. We could have a couple of weeks, a few days, hell, a few hours, that things have been changing at speed non-stop, so who knows how long we've got left. God, I feel so fucking helpless. I began to yell. My whole career, I've been able to understand the universe because it made sense. It followed the rules, but this?

I trailed off, lost in the impossibility of what was going on. You're scared. She said, rubbing my shoulder. Everyone is. How, the whole world is seemingly tearing itself apart over this. I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. I said, trying to hold myself together. I'm sorry I was such an ass over the years.

I'm sorry I left you to bury mom alone. I'm so fucking sorry." She interrupted my apologies with an embrace of such love and compassion that it was almost alien to me. I just collapsed into it as time seemed to stretch on, and I wish it had in that moment forever. That moment of serenity was broken by a series of blaring squalls. from the TV as the words emergency broadcast system flashed in front of a black backdrop on the screen.

The automated voice of the alert system then began to speak through with a cold validity. This is not a test. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has issued a nationwide alert at the request of the United States government. Due to an astrological event of unknown origin, a maximum level threat has been issued to the public. Find shelter immediately. and stay away from any open windows.

There was suddenly a cut of static as a series of high-pitched beeps could be heard in the background of the transmission. Remain in place until further notice. As the static returned, along with the beeps, I slowly started to make sense of them as they began to repeat. They weren't random. No, not at all. They were in a pattern, one that had been stitched inside my head for the past few months.

Goodbye. I stood to my feet, staring at the screen with a look of disbelief. This message will now repeat, you really should have left well enough alone. The emergency broadcast voice was now taking on a clearly distorted version of it as the beeping Morse code was now constantly looping in the background. Suddenly, sirens that had once been used to signal hurricane warnings were now beginning to wail outside in conjunction with one another throughout the city, all the while the distorted alert system continued to break down with every other word.

I turned the TV off after that. I just couldn't take any more of this. Those words had haunted me every night for the past year, and here they were yet again, at the end of the world. Adrian! Cass said from across the living room. I turned around and saw her opening the door to the back porch overlooking the ocean. Without saying anything, I stood up to join her. We were both looking at the same thing

now. The sun had just started to rise over the ocean, although what should have been a bright burning orange burst of light welcoming the new day was slowly darkening into a crimson shade of blood overcasting the horizon. Every bone in my body was telling me that this was it. This was the moment I had been dreading for so long. As if to confirm it, the crimson sun began to darken further into a faint ember glow until there was nothing but a finite totality of midnight darkness. Eight minutes, I said to myself, if it slowed down to less than the speed of light, we still had eight minutes.

If it was as fast as the speed of light, it would have gotten us by now. I could still see much of the beach and ocean from the lights from the sea. city and few remaining stars above, but as for the only source of light in our solar system, there was nothing. I felt Cass's hand gripped my own as my heart started to thump harder in my chest until I was sure it was about to burst through. When suddenly a gust of howling wind began to blow out from the coast, spewing sand and sprays of ocean water towards us.

The roaring of the increasing winds began to be drowned out by the vast encroaching vibran of nothingness that was drawing closer and more overbearing with each passing moment until it became unbearable. I was able to catch a quick glance at the coastline to see the only part of it was there. I could see a few hundred yards out into the sea until there was a complete absence of anything. The thunderous static vibrations drowned out the sounds of everything as the end of time crashed down around me. The final action of my life would be to embrace my sister once again.

again as the howling abyss consumed us both. I wanted to say something, anything to her in the end, but without seeming to have any further control of my actions, a single word slipped out from my mouth as it echoed throughout the infinite expanse of halls of nothingness. Goodbye. It was at the final moment of my life and existence itself that I suddenly shot back up by my desk in the command center of the Kronos project, in the headquarters in Lassen P.

California. Everything all right, Dr. Reinhardt? A muffled, familiar voice a few feet away from me asked, when I turned, I was met by the face of Dr. Maverick Bircham, my old colleague who had been the first to warn me about the extermination of the team when we all abandoned ship. You look like you've seen a ghost. What? I tried saying as the reality of this situation began to hit me like an oncoming train.

What's going on here? It was at that point that the man who had been dead for half a year gave me a look of genuine confused concern. He lowered his face mask to speak a little more personally. Is everything okay? You don't seem yourself. How am I here? I asked in a wild days.

How are you here? How are we here? I was starting to draw the attention of the other members of the team now, all of which had been dead until about five minutes ago. We're at work. Dr. Bertram said concerning. as he began to give a few confused glances at some of our colleagues. What's wrong?

The expanse! I nearly shouted. What happened to the expanse? He asked. If I hadn't known any better, it had almost sounded like he didn't have any idea what the hell I was talking about. Yes, the expanse! The one from Boetius void!

The one that started after I sent the reply, that expanse. Dr. Reinhart, he began. I really don't know what you're talking about. There hasn't been any reply from the void, and there hasn't been any expanse. Why would there even be one to begin with? You know a reply wouldn't reach us for at least one and a half billion years. But... But...

I was nearly out of breath as sweat began to beat down my head, accompanied by the tribal war drum-like beat of my heart in my chest. It was at that point I was able to take in the surrounding... of the Kronos H.K. Everyone inside was now wearing protective face masks, and the computers and operational desks had been oriented in a way to allow our social distance work. But none of this had happened when we received the reply and evacuated. None of this was right. Listen. Dr. Bircham said, putting his mask back on and walking over to me. Go outside for a minute and get some fresh air. Go home if you need to. You don't look

I couldn't say anything, and even if I wanted to, I didn't have the slightest idea what I would. Without another word, I got out from my desk and made my way out through the facility, walking by dozens of individuals who I only knew as ghosts after what had happened. For about a good solid hour, I sat at the smoking court by myself, trapped in an endless looping maze of thought with no beginning or end. When I had checked my phone, it told me that it was the 20th of January, 2021. But that was impossible, given that the whole damn world had ended on December 4th.

I felt like the banks of my mind were slipping moment by moment into a mudslide of complete insanity. Rough day, a man asked behind me as he took a seat at the table. When I turned to face him, I was met by a man seemingly in his mid-forties. He was wearing a dark blue button up with the sleeves rolled up. Not exactly the formal attire worn by the members of the project, but that wasn't the strangest thing about him. I hadn't the faintest idea who he was, because I knew everyone on the project, even the

government officials that would visit the facility on their routine update visits. But there were far stranger things that occupied my mind at that time. You? I began. You don't know the half of it. Well, if it helps, the man said, you're doing a very fine job at handling yourself, given the circumstances. What do you mean?

I asked, somewhat brought into my surrounding reality a little bit by his statement. Well, where should I start? Your team going extinct, going on the run, all those months, a seemingly never-ending black void consuming all reality, the loss of your mother, the entire planet ending, the day you reunite with your sister, and then suddenly coming back to a world you saw destroyed, I have to say, you're doing remarkably well right now after everything you've been through the past couple of months. I felt the air leave my chest, as if I had been punched in the gut.

What did you say? I asked weakly, trying to regain my breath. You don't need me to repeat it, the man said, And I really don't think you want me to. You've had to live in that hell for quite some time. How? How do you know about that? I think the right question you mean to ask is why doesn't anyone else remember all about that?

He replied, lighting a cigarette and inhaling deeply. I couldn't respond. Once again, my mind was just frozen like a deer in the headlights as I tried to figure out what the hell was going on. You know, he said, turning his back and leaning again. against the table. I think I may have gotten a little carried away back there, but given everything you all were dealing with back then, I just wanted to test the waters to see how far I could take

things. I mean, testing the outcomes was the whole reason I created all this to begin with. He slowly swept his hand across the air, as if to take in a proud moment of triumph in the world around him. What? How created? I was stumbling hard to try to find him. to find the thoughts necessary to even form a coherent sentence.

He then turned back to face me, taking another hit from his cigarette. Yes, but let me stop you right there before we get carried away here. I'm not some kind of all-knowing God of the universe who created the heavens and the earth from my glory. I did create it, but rather with one hell of a computer system and a lot of help from my team. What? I said, stepping closer and closer to the edge of insanity. The man across from me discarded the cigarette and rubbed his face for a moment.

It was clear he was starting to find part of this conversation either struggling or uncomfortable. Have you ever heard of the term simulation theory? Before I could even begin to respond, he continued. Well, there was a group of us at NASA that were curious about the prospects of such a creation theorem. So, we set out to design a computer system large enough to run a program that would digitally simulate the calculations presented in the Big Bang theory. We were actually stunned with the results. Once sped up, we were seeing an almost one-to-one perfect recreation of the entire universe,

and then took it a few steps further and wanted to experiment and test to see how accurate the theories of evolution were. So we created the solar system within the confines of the system. system and simulated the early history of the earth and saw for ourselves the evolution of life on earth to the very rise of humanity. As he continued to speak, I started to wonder if it had already happened, if I had already slipped and fell into complete madness. And that's where things got really interesting.

We saw a nearly perfect adaptation of our entire civilized history, from the nations of the earth to the wars that were waged. We were seeing our entire history unfold in a completely separate simulation. We were seeing the same social issues, the same political discourse, the same environment destruction. Almost everything was completely identical to our own world. So we began copying and running different simulations simultaneously to test and hypothesize how our world would react to certain circumstances and events. That way, we could plan and adapt our reactions ourselves to be better prepared for whatever

may come our way. Was this true? Was I, we, the whole damn planet, just nothing more than a fucking rat maze for this guy? Upon even considering it, I came to the conclusion that I had already completely lost my marbles. And that's where you come in, he said. I wanted to test and see how the scientific world would react to a spatial anomaly that defied every law of physics, as well as how civilization as a whole would react.

I even decided to have a little fun and throw in some otherworldly communications just to see what would happen. But I saw in the end that it really had been nothing but a waste of time and energy. So I reset this individual simulation and everyone in it, so they wouldn't be any the wiser. But-but why do I... I asked, slowly beginning to accept what was being told to me. If I had really experienced everything that I had and was now being told an answer that seemed to explain all the impossibilities, then maybe this whole thing wasn't as impossible as it

had originally seemed. Maybe I still had some sanity left there after all. To be honest, I'm not really sure. When the simulation resets, it sometimes leaves a digital echo in the source code, and And sometimes that is translated and retained back into the memory banks of certain sims or NPCs. You had been doing just fine until your firmware seemed to update for some reason. At times it's like the simulation as a mind of its own.

He said with a small laugh, I buried my face in my hands and my leg began to shake up and down nervously as I tried to digest everything being said to me. And that's partly why I'm here, he said. I then looked up at him, almost literally hanging on to my seat as I waited for him to continue. You see, NASA, well, my NASA, has been working with the Department of Defense to develop a new system for the simulations, a system much more advanced and easier to maintain. But, well, part of that process involves the systems, like the one running your simulation, to be wiped and repurposed for the new hardware.

It didn't take long for me to realize what exactly was going on here. After all, it wasn't rocket science, and even if it was, that was my specialty. If there was even a chance in hell of this being true, then the fact of the matter was pretty simple. If these systems were really running, well, everything, then when they were repurposed, we'd be gone. We'd be... We'd be dead, wouldn't we? I said blankly, as I stared at the table.

Well, that would constitute being alive in the first place. What? I said with a sharper tone than I had originally intended. The man didn't look offended, rather more interested in what else I had to say. Constitute being alive? I mean, what the hell does that mean? I'm alive. We're all fucking alive.

I think, therefore, I am. He replied with a smile. I believe, I know you are alive, Adrian, but to the rest of my company, you're nothing more than a strand of ones and zeros, simply simulating real life. Well, what about everyone else? What do they think? Everyone else? There is no everyone else.

Nobody outside of the project knows about this. I mean, you can imagine the ramifications about the world finding out that there was a perfect simulation of the planet. every living person on it? Just think about the can of worms that would open up, Pandora's box on a scale hitherto undreamt of. For about the hundredth time in just the past few hours, I was completely lost for words. I had just witnessed the entire world end, only to be told that it was just an entire simulation to begin with.

And not only that, but the entire simulation was going to be deleted along with the rest of us. But like I said, that's why I'm here, because I know that you're alive. And the implications of that is something I'm just starting to come to terms with myself. I mean, if life was able to be perfectly simulated on an algorithm based on the creation of our own universe, then who's to say that we aren't the digital recreation of another simulated universe program? Maybe that in itself is the meaning of life. An endless string of universes simulating the other.

universes forever and ever. Then what do you want? I asked, mustering the energy to look at my creator face to face. To give you a chance. You see, we have the ability to alter the time lapse of the simulation greatly. That's how we were able to watch the creation and expansion of the universe in just a few hours. All the while, time continues as a normal flow relative to the simulation itself.

Now at the moment, I'm talking to you virtually as your universe passes on a one-to-one temporal scale of my own. What I'm going to do is speed the time up as long as I can. That way you all have a chance to live. He turned his head back for a moment, as if he was looking at someone who wasn't there. Now I can't say how much time will pass for you. My supervisors are waiting behind me as we speak, waiting to take the system offline. But I still want to do what I can.

Then why are you even here? Why come to me of all people and tell me this? Rather than just doing it. Because I want to give you a choice. He said with a look of lonely compassion. A choice? What choice? Well, like I said, you're the only person left that retains the memories of what happened

over the past year, what really happened. The choice is this. I can locate the remaining source code from the last simulation and remove it from your subsystems, your memory. You'd go on like nothing ever happened for as long as you have left. Or you can remember everything and continue on with that knowledge." What? I began.

After everything I've been through, everything I've seen, why would you even begin to ask if I still want to live with that?" He took a moment to contemplate how to properly answer my questions. until he smiled. Perspective. He said, Everyone knows that they are going to die, but it seems that when someone realizes how close the end actually is, they have a newly found perspective on life and its delicacy.

Am I wrong in saying that only when you came to terms with your own demise that you decided to contact your mother after all these long years? As I looked back at him, he seemed to realize that his words and their true implications We're starting to come through. Take people who have near-death experiences, for instance, which is the only true word for what you have gone through. Most people have a completely new outlook and appreciation on life after nearly having it taken away.

If you think this is something that could help you, for what's left of your life, I want to give you the chance to take advantage of it." He said, still smiling. I do realize how much of a morphous moment this is for you right now. But the fact still stands. There is a choice that needs to be made, and that choice is yours. The weight of his words began to build up around me to the point where I thinking about their implications almost became claustrophobic in my mind.

So, you don't know how long I'd, we'd have left? I asked. Unfortunately not, he replied. It could be weeks, months, years, but this doesn't really change. change things. The whole world would come crashing down in a ball of fire tomorrow, but you're never promised to live the rest of today to see the next. Every second of our lives is precious, don't you think?

There are some moments where I wish I'd chosen to forget everything and carry on my life as normal, but those moments are few and far between these days. He was right. There really is a beautiful new perspective I seem to have on my life. life now, given everything that has happened. And because of it all, I've been able to reconnect and begin to build back the relationship I had with my sister. I've even started going on a few dates every now and then.

Some of you, those who choose to believe me anyway, may wonder how I've come to cope with all of this. And in truth, it's exactly what, well, what he said. I know that the end is coming sooner rather than later. I know that one day I will cease to exist, the same as all of you. One day we will meet the precipice of oblivion and not return. One day the lights will go out forever. But in truth, how is that different to anything we knew before?

Yes, it's a simulation. Yes, NASA is currently active in the process of killing each and every one of us, but for now, for this shining moment, we have life. So, if there is anything you take away from this, listen to me now. Don't take what's left for granted, because the hourglass is running empty and the stars will be going out. Time, as it always does, is running thin. So take the moment and cherish it.

Live.