All That’s Left in the World

Oh my fucking God, is that adorable or are my standards apocalyptically lowered?

But then I look at him; I hear his laugh, I see his smile, and the darkness melts away. Then I do have hope--even just for a little while--because I know that there is something in this world I can fight for. Something I will fight for if I have to.

We're going to be okay,' I repeated to him. If things get hard again, I'll carry him. And he'll carry me. And we'll be okay.

I could listen to his laugh until the day I die and never get sick of it.

When he kisses me, my chest feels lighter again, like he's taking on some of my sorrow but passing on some of his love.

Food and stories,” I say. “Isn’t that all you need?

You make me feel safe. Like the world hasn’t ended and there’s nothing left. Because I have you.

When I was six, I cried for almost an hour in the parking lot of the King of Prussia Mall because my mom wouldn’t buy me a Godzilla DVD.” She actually looks up at me. “What?” “To be fair, it was King Kong vs. Godzilla, the old one. I just thought the cover looked cool. It was only five bucks in the bargain bin. But yeah, almost an hour. And she sat there in silence the whole time until I finally started to calm down. Then you know what she did?” Cara shakes her head and reaches out for the water. I try not to look at her as she drinks. “She queues up a song on her phone and hits play. And it’s the Rolling Stones. ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want.’ I cried for another seven minutes while she sang at the top of her lungs.

You couldn't catch this gay if you had tickets to Hamilton.

Andrew is probably awake, too. He's probably lying there, listening to the same sounds I am and thinking about me. I would like him to be thinking about me. It makes me feel a little less strange if he thinks about me, too.

I don't know who these people are, but they put us in different rooms on purpose. Sure, there are more than enough available, but they thought we'd want our own rooms. They didn't want two boys sharing a king bed if they didn't have to because that would mean something they probably weren't prepared to think about.

What happens if no one is there? If everyone in the world is dead and all that’s left in the world is Fort Caroline, a gay guy, a broken straight boy, a cartography genius with PTSD, and a seven-Ty-year-old woman with a shotgun fighting zoo animals?

Are people running around killing each other with reckless abandon? Honey, if all that stops people from killing each other is the laws of men, then maybe we deserved to be wiped out by the flu. You have to trust people sometimes. The good in this world might surprise you.

Honey, if all that stops people from killing each other is the laws of men, then maybe we deserved to be wiped out by the flu. You have to trust people sometimes. The good in this world might surprise you.

Wake up, smile: the apocalypse has provided a cute boy to nurse us back to health.

But I'm still a coward and he's still a murderer

I want to make a drag queen joke about padding but I know it will go over his head.

And then while I'm sitting there, munching on afterlife Sour Patch Kids and butter-flavoured popcorn, thinking to myself where the hell is this going? My dumb ass saunters on-screen and I step in the bear trap. Oh, that's right. I remember I spent almost three hours screaming and crying, trying to figure out how to open the trap.

You have to trust people sometimes. The good in this world might surprise you.

I turn my foot like I’m doing some fucked-up version of the hokey-pokey. You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out, you put your right foot in and get a bullet to the chest.

Good, then you can help me cook. Andrew, you keep watch. You see anything come over the fence, shoot it.' 'Yes ma'am.' She is joking right? 'And don't yes ma'am me. The only people to call me ma'am were telemarketers and Jehovah's Witnesses.

Hideaway. There was a café and little reading nooks along the stacks, and hammocks out on a patio for people to relax and read.