Author: Benjamin Davis
The world ending is a slow news day. A bit faster than the ousting of a third world tyrant, but quite a lot slower than a celebrity wedding. The astronomers were the first to realize. They tried to warn people in a series of boring essays entitled: Where Have All the Stars Gone? which most people assumed were about the lack of talent in Hollywood. It had begun a while ago. Orion lost his belt, the Big Dipper, its spoon. Eventually, they all disappeared as though some cosmic Pied Piper had begun whistling a tune on the other side of the universe.
The next ones to notice were the cats. They would sit at windows at night meowing away until their owners got up to get some tuna out of the fridge. And it was only after the tuna had gone tepid and crusty and the cats had not relented that their owners joined them at the window to see what all the fuss was about. It was finally confirmed in an Entertainment Now! article: Why My Cat Wouldn’t Eat His Tuna. The article reminded the world that the sun was itself a star.
The world government began to react a few months later by setting up a committee of the world’s most respected senators. They convened once a week for the next month and in that time the sun slowly began to fade, as you might during a mediocre movie that’s gone on a bit too long. In the final days, a theory was posited: the stars need us as much as we need them. Some believed that it was because we are the center of the universe, but those were generally the types of people attending celebrity weddings and didn’t have the time to get wrapped up in the debate. So, with few options left, the government directed its funding to the scientific community. And there is where it was found – a compound in the eye capable of feeding a light source.
In light of this discovery, the government created the lottery, a 50/50 pull that set you up as either a donor or a caretaker. Donors would report to the lottery centers with their caretakers the following day for the removal of their eyes. Those eyes would then be shot into the sun.
By the time the rocket was finished and full, the sun was little more than a pinhole in the sky. All that was left was the countdown.
On every open area on earth, the blind and sighted alike held hands and faced the sky. When the rocket collided with the sun, it began to glow. It glowed brighter and brighter. The whole world cheered. The blind danced aimlessly and threw their hands in the air. It wasn’t until their breath was used up that they heard the screams of the sighted. The sun shone brighter than ever. The whole world went blind.