Dating After the End of the World

by Jeneva Rose

I mean, up until yesterday, I wanted to kill Blake. But somehow my desire to murder him morphed into hot, end-of-the-world, there’s-no-going-back sex. Funny how that happens.

I’m not sure what we are. Even less so now.” “Enemies with benefits,” she teases.

“You’re right, Nate. I am a cunt.” I’ve never understood why that word was ever considered an insult. To me, it’s a compliment. It’s one of the strongest organs there is. It creates life, it makes men stupid, and it bleeds every month—yet it doesn’t die.

“I just wanted you to realize that even when it feels like the world has ended, yours doesn’t have to.” Tears fall from my eyes, dripping onto his shirt, getting lost in the sea of red. “I love you, Dad.” “I love you too, Case.”

The sky is a mosaic of pinks and oranges, splashed in every direction. It’s as though Dad painted it on his way up there, leaving something beautiful in his wake—a final lesson from him. Just because the world ended doesn’t mean yours has to end too.

The time we spent prepping and working and all the blood, sweat, and tears we shed. None of it was for the end. It was for a beginning. My father didn’t prepare me for the end of the world. He prepared me to start a new one. And I just wish he were a part of it.

It’s quiet for only a split second, until I scream, “Runnnnnn!” just as bullets rip through the air, hitting the ground around us.

Jeneva?!?! What the fuck! How you gonna end the book like this?!