DOOMSDAY or NAY

The world had stopped being beautiful a long time ago. Three years was all it took. Three years for cities to become graveyards. Three years for people to stop trusting the sound of a knock on their doors. Three years for the things we once complained about power outages, rising food prices, bad roads, empty shelves, to become memories of a life that felt like it belonged to someone else. I stood on the roof of what used to be a twelve story apartment building, staring at the remains of the city below. There was no traffic. No laughter. No music coming from someone's window. Only smoke. The streets were buried beneath abandoned cars, broken concrete and whatever was left of the people who hadn't survived. The sky had turned an ugly shade of gray. I pulled my torn jacket tighter around my body. I couldn't feel my fingers anymore. That was probably a good thing. Pain had become exhausting. I had been running for two days. No proper food. Almost no water. My body had been getting weaker for weeks, but I had refused to stop. Stopping meant dying. And I wasn't ready to die. Not after everything I had lost. Not after everything I had done to survive. I looked down at my hands. They were covered in dirt and dried blood. Some of it was mine. Some of it wasn't. I couldn't remember whose anymore. A bitter laugh escaped me. Funny. Before all this happened, I used to hate getting my hands dirty. Now I had killed with them. Stolen with them. Begged with them. I had become someone I barely recognized. And yet, somehow, I was still alive. Or at least, I had been. A sharp pain suddenly ripped through my chest. I stumbled backward. My knees hit the concrete. For a moment, I couldn't breathe. I pressed a hand against my chest, trying to force myself up. My vision blurred. No. Not here. I couldn't die here. But my body had already made the decision for me. I collapsed. The cold concrete pressed against my cheek. I could hear the wind. Somewhere far away, something exploded. I closed my eyes. And for the first time in three years, I stopped fighting. Maybe this was it. Maybe I was finally allowed to rest. The last thought that crossed my mind wasn't about the ruined world. It wasn't about food. Or shelter. Or the people I had lost. It was about how unfair it was that I had spent my entire life trying to survive for everyone else... Only to end up alone. Then everything went black. I opened my eyes. Sunlight hit my face. I immediately sat up. My breathing became heavy. My hands flew to my chest. Nothing. No pain. No blood. No weakness. I looked around. A white ceiling. Clean curtains. My old bedroom. I froze. For several seconds, I didn't move. Then I jumped out of bed. My legs almost gave way beneath me. I grabbed the edge of the table and stared at my reflection in the mirror. A young woman stared back. Healthy. Clean. Alive. My hair was the length I remembered. My skin wasn't covered in dirt. There were no scars across my arms. No dried blood beneath my fingernails. I touched my face. Warm. I rushed toward the window. Outside, cars moved along the street. People walked with shopping bags. Someone was laughing. A motorcycle passed by. The world was alive. Normal. Beautiful. I stumbled backward. "No..." My eyes landed on my phone. I grabbed it with shaking hands. The screen lit up. The date appeared at the top. I stared at it. Once. Twice. Then again. My fingers tightened around the phone. This was impossible. This date... I remembered this date. It was months before everything began. Months before the first disaster. Months before the world changed. Months before people started dying. My heart began pounding. I hadn't survived. I had died. I remembered dying. So why was I here? I slowly lowered myself onto the edge of the bed. A second chance. The thought came quietly. Then it hit me with enough force to make my stomach twist. A second chance. I wasn't dreaming. I knew this room. I knew this phone. I knew the clothes hanging inside my wardrobe. I knew what day it was. I knew what was coming. For the first time since opening my eyes, I smiled. It was small. Almost disbelieving. But it was there. I could change everything. I could prepare. I could avoid the mistakes I had made. I could survive. Maybe this time, I wouldn't lose everything. Maybe this time... A strange sound interrupted my thoughts. Beep. I frowned. The sound hadn't come from my phone. Beep. It came again. Then the room went strangely quiet. The air in front of me flickered. I stood completely still. Something appeared in front of my eyes. Not on the wall. Not on my phone. In the air. A transparent screen. My breath caught. White letters slowly formed across it. [TIMELINE RESET COMPLETE.] I stared. The words disappeared. Another line appeared. [HOST CONFIRMED.] My heart began beating faster. "What..." The screen changed again. This time, the words appeared one after another. [DOOMSDAY COUNTDOWN ACTIVATED.] My smile disappeared. Beneath the words, a timer appeared. 90:00:00:00 I stopped breathing. The numbers changed. 89:23:59:59 A second passed. 89:23:59:58 Tick. Tick. Tick. I stared at the countdown. Ninety days. Not months. Not years. Ninety days. I didn't know what this system was. I didn't know why it had chosen me. I didn't know how I had returned to the past. But I knew one thing. The apocalypse wasn't just a nightmare from my past anymore. It was coming again. And this time... I had ninety days to get ready.