The First and the Last

The First and the Last

The news of a rapid speed meteor advancing towards the Earth spreads all over the country. It is reported that the meteor is massive--as enormous as the size of Canada. It is predicted that its contact with Earth could end all traces of life. Danu and his co-workers stare at the black television in awe. The news is too sudden, too hard to be believed, too difficult to be accepted.

“Well, what the fuck...” blurts one of the co-workers who sits next to Danu in disbelieve. The rest of the company have either gone panic, packed their belongings, or called their family. Some just leave their stuffs behind and leave the office.

Danu stays in silence. The co-worker stands up and leaves Danu in his seat. In his mind, Danu still processes the jaw-dropping news. He switches the television channels several times, only to find the same news over and over again. Is this really happening? Deep down he doesn’t want to believe it. The news and the frightened, loud commotion outside, however, have convinced him that all of it is real. The image of the world’s coming to an end flashes before his eyes, and the first thing that comes to his mind is the vague image of his mother.

His mother died when Danu was enrolling in the intelligence academy. He never had the chance to see her when she died—her last state, he never knows. It was all too late for him. He could only hope she died in peace, but he didn’t have the courage to even say her name when he visited his family after he finished his study. Acting strong like he always does, he has to live his entire life with regret.

The next thing he knows is that he is riding his motorcycle. The sky is bright red even though it is only afternoon. The traffic has gone awry ever since the news hit the media, but with his agility, Danu manages to slip through the honking vehicles. Focusing at one task only, he ignores all madness that is happening around him.

When he arrives at the destination, he dashes to the very spot where his mother rests. He kneels down. He thanks his mother for everything—for the knowledge, for the encyclopedia, for all the things and stories she told before he went to sleep, for always supporting him. He shares all of his journey, from being almost killed, beaten to death, shot, almost fainted several times due to his anemia, all of the near-death experience he has gone through, the cases he managed to solve, and all of his achievements as an intelligent. He tells her how hard it is to keep his identity a secret, to keep turning into someone else, to keep lying to everyone, to suppress all of his feelings in order to keep his loved ones safe. And last, he apologizes for not being there in her last moments, and for not being a good son. He tells all that like a child talking to an adult—full of emotions, messy, and disordered. As an intelligent, he has been trained to hide and manipulate his own emotions, but at this very moment, and for one last time, he desires to just free them out. He can’t help but to feel so out of character, but he keeps going anyway. This is the first and the last time he could ever talk so loosely, moreover to his mother since the day he left to pursue his dream, and there are so many things he wants to tell her. Focusing at one task only, he ignores the approaching meteor that gets closer each time he speaks a word.