Beautiful Goodbye

He just couldn't believe that in a few short moments life as he knew it would be over.

Everyone took it for granted. Every day, hundreds, if not thousands of pieces of rock, ore, and other metals hurled passed the Earth, continuing further and further into space. Many entered the atmosphere, burning up before ever making contact with the surface. Occasionally a few would crash down, leaving a signature where they kissed the Earth.

Today one was going to enter the atmosphere. A big one. And it wasn't going to burn up.

All the great scientists of the world knew about it for some time. They projected it would barely miss us, passing closer than any other previous "life threatening mass." As time approached, they began to doubt themselves and embarked on a mission to try and divert it further away. Billions of dollars in tax money was collected and a probe was fired, with the goal of slamming into the mass, pushing it further off its trajectory. Not all went according to plan. Upon impact, the craft exploded, something which it should not have done, causing the meteor to shift in angle, pulling it in direct course with the planet.

Those men and women, who had sworn to protect everyone with their knowledge and technology, doomed the human race.

There just wasn't enough time to prepare. People had scrambled to build shelters, hoping to survive under ground.

He just stood there, out in front of his house, on the sidewalk looking up at it. It was just so massive. Its dark outline seemed to just lazily hover above the horizon, slowly growing.

He knew there was nowhere to go. The meteor that killed the dinosaurs had been six miles in diameter. What hung before him in the sky was the size of Texas. It was inevitable.

As he stood there, waiting for the end, so many thoughts flooded his mind. Did he lead a good life? Was there a heaven? Should he have had a family? Why didn't he tell the girl of his dreams that he loved her. He was going to miss his cat, the smell of coffee brewing in the morning. Laughter.

Just as it began to glow orange as it entered the atmosphere, all those thoughts left his head.

It was so damn beautiful.