“Hello.” He said, the dark wind whipping his black cloak behind him as the rough sea sprayed foam on her dress.

“Hello.” She said in return.

The sky was red, as it always was. The days had been growing darker and darker as more and more stars had fallen from the sky. It was the last few days of earth and everyone knew it.

She had responded to his post on Facebook Marketplace. An ad for an end of the world companion. The world, as everyone had known it, had not collapsed as it did in most movies. The power was still on and things had progressed as they normally did when the world was not ending. People had gone to work. People had gone to church. They had done things as they always had before the announcement.

It was almost surreal.

He had expected things to fall into ruin quickly but even he had gone to work as normal. He was just like everyone else it seemed. Except for the cosplay.

Well not really cosplay. Not in the sense that he was living out a Japanese animation. But as he stood on the shoreline now, he did have on a chainmail hauberk and a lion’s helm underneath his upholstery fabric cloak. There he was standing next to the sea, next to a maiden in a jade green satin dress.

“Do you do this often?” He asked her, laughing.

“No, there’s a first time for everything.” She responded, almost sighing.

“Oh.” he said. “I guess the stars really changed everything.”

“Yes. Something like that.” She said. “Here, take my hand. Let’s walk for a while.”

He took her hand in his, a small delicate thing. He looked at her face. He had not really understood that it was beautiful when he had first seen her online, but now, from a profile, he noticed that she was. She was very lovely indeed. Her small features reminded him of a sunset, pleasing to place your eyes on.

“Watch out for the rocks.” She cautioned him as he almost tripped on one and fell into the sea. He had nearly escaped placing his foot on a very unstable rock. This part of the beach was mostly sand, but there were large and small outcroppings of black metamorphic rock here and there. In the distance, a pheasant called.

The volcanic island had been active in the sense that only geologists say. The last eruption had been 423 years ago. It was just another island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The only inhabitant here was him and now her, and the pilot – who was scheduled to leave after refueling.

The island that was now his had been something of a fluke to own. A Sheikh of an affluent Arab country had sold it to him for 1/100th of a  Bitcoin. The Sheikh had flown him out to the island and given him a tour, then the keys and codes and then left him there, taking all of the employees with him to Medina. Since he had already been to Medina recently, he felt good about staying on the island. Allah would forgive him. And, as a Sufi, he had felt that the island would be a more peaceful place to meet the end. At least, until the return of Isa, which he hoped would be after the fornication with the girl… So that he could ask forgiveness.

The fact that the world was ending had everything to do with the ownership of the island and his immediate wealth. It had been a nice change, but lonely. When the big announcement had been made about the imminent death the world four years ago, life had … Well…

It didn’t matter. What mattered now was the girl.

“What is your name at least?” He asked her for the first time in real life.

“I’ve told you all that you need to know. The main thing you need to remember is that I have agreed to come here and by you.”

“Well, and the fact that you had… how did you put it… ‘Nothing else really going on’?”

She laughed. It was a bell. Delicate, like her hands.

“Sure,” he said. Resigning himself to her ways.

The walk was the same one he took every day. Around the beach, then stopping by the river and back. The north part of the island was the only part that had any beach at all. It was here that there was a stream that met the ocean. It was dammed and controlled and the main water processing plant was directly on top of the artesian opening, but from here, for the feng shui of it all, it was raw and natural.

There had been steps built into the mountainside that led up the way into the plateau that was under the house. The house faced north, and the view to the sea was uninhibited. From the house, looking down, you could see the gardens directly below them, the airstrip and maintenance hangar to the east and the pier and docks to the west. Behind the house, to the south, was the small island road that made a circular route around the back.

The Sheikh had been generous and kind to him. His father and he had known each other from business dealings in Egypt, and it was a blessing to have such a wealthy benefactor. He had left several jet skis, a medium sized fishing boat and a small Jeepney. Though it would not matter, there was also food and provisions enough to last another twenty years.

The complex, which was the house, and several out-buildings, ran entirely on solar power. God knows there was enough sunshine here to power a thousand more homes just like this one.

Nothing else mattered besides the house now, the woman now, and the death just a few days away.