I'll Stop the World

by Lauren Thoman

I have been stuck in 1985 for more than four days now, but I don’t feel any closer to understanding any of its bizarre fashion choices.

It wasn’t the declaration she’d been agonizing over for months. Maybe this was how it would always be between them, or maybe one day, they would be something different to each other. She didn’t know how the rest of their story would unfold, but just then, it didn’t matter. That they loved each other wasn’t a secret spilling out, or a scandal getting ready to ignite. It was simply the unchanging truth they’d both always known, finally spoken out loud.

Rose: These next twenty-four hours are a big question mark. Except they’re not. I know what happens. I’ve always known what happens, Rose. Fire, death, sadness. Wandering aimlessly for the next four decades. Rinse, repeat, second verse, same as the first. You’re the one who wouldn’t accept it, but I always have.

She closed her eyes, struggling to remember how to breathe. All around her, the world shattered into dust. Death wasn’t supposed to win today. They were supposed to stop it.

“Actually,” she said, her voice breaking, “I’m sorry, it’s just that you . . . you remind me of someone I knew when I was your age.”

“But I think, if there was something you wanted to tell him, there’s a chance he already knows. Or that you can still tell him, if you want.” He shrugged, looking a little self-conscious. “I just think there’s so much we don’t know that we can’t rule it out. Right?”

“I’d just want to tell him thank you,” she finally said. “For everything. I’d want to make sure he knew that he was a hero. He made a difference. And . . .”

“I’d tell him we were both right about the song.”

Death, but also love. The end of the world, but also hope for the future. All of it could be true at the same time.