The evening sun was finally setting.

A hawk flew in the genital breeze as fireflies began to blink into existence, crickets making their creaking music from within the tall grass. I observed it all from the top of a hill, leaning against an old oak tree, autumn leaves spiraling down around me.

"What a beautiful sunset," I thought to myself with a sigh, "shame it's the last..."

It'd been coming for months now: Asteroid 821039, affectionately named 'Geb' by the general populace until the fateful day that scientists discovered its true trajectory. Then it was referred to as "That Damn Rock", "Doomsday", or "The End of The World".

In the morning the earth would be struck by an asteroid the size of the moon and reduced to space rubble... and there's nothing that anyone could do about it.

"Quinn," I turned as my friend Risa came walking up the hill. Her lips twisting into a smile as she watched Rajah dart forward. The dog letting out an excited bark as he jumped into my arms. "Rajah," she scolded.

He gave a whimper, jumping back to the ground. The Rottweiler puppy almost frowning as he flung himself down before me, his large, sorrowful eyes cast towards me.

Giving in to his adorableness, I slid down the tree to sit by him. Ruffling his fur, his big brown eyes becoming bright and happy as he crawled into my lap.

Risa laughed as she saw the puppy triumphantly laying in my lap. The female patting his head before sitting down beside us.

My own feline companion Simba taking her place in between us. The old, narrowly blind feline purring as she gave the pup a lick on the head, which he returned with one of his own.

It was funny only two weeks ago she hadn't been doing well, my parents insisting on putting her down. That was until the day the news came. It was as if she knew the end had come. Her condition miraculously improving.

•••

For hours Risa and I talked about our days, remembering the past like a couple grannies on the porch of an old-folks home. Both Simba and Rajah playing around us. Simba seeming like a decade younger as she ran about.

Risa eventually checked her watch, a frown etched across her features. "Four in the morning... only a few hours left." A tear slide down her cheek falling into Rajah's sleek, black coat.

I patted her on the shoulder, giving Risa the best smile I could muster. "Don't worry, if an afterlife does exist, we'll come sit underneath a tree just like this one."

"Promise," She whimpered.

"Promise," I responded.

Before long, we had all reluctantly fell asleep unable to keep our eye open any longer. With Simba and Rajah cuddled up next to us, tired from playing. We all probably had the biggest smiles as we slept.

I only wished we could have stayed like that forever.