The man continued to walk across the deserted plane. It was all he could think of to do.  Walk to the great mountain in the distance where a light shined atop. How long had he been walking? He could not say, days weeks possibly, always trying to reach the light.  His name was James Lane and he could not remember how he got himself into this predicament. He supposed the world must have ended while he was asleep, a nuclear disaster did not seem right, he was still here after all. Though he seemed to be the only one left. It was as if the planet had shook everyone and everything off and wanted to start again. James did not think he was the right person to rebuild the world, So he continued to walk.

The sky flashed as it had been doing since James had woken up here, there was a ripple of purple light above him, it lit the plane. When James had looked around him on that first day it was fairly light and he could see the emptiness around. Now however long after that, James could hardly see a few meters in front. The strange light was a comfort but also a great worry to him. The flashes allowed him to see around but it showed that there was nothing, not even his foot prints followed him in this place. James did not think that this was odd, he did not think of anything much anymore. Only that he must get to the light, it drives him, the only time James stops is when he falls to the floor with exhaustion. Then he sleeps and the dreams come.

James sits at his breakfast table breakfast table, the early morning sun shines through the small window, the kitchen is small but homely and the wooden surfaces light up when the sun touches them giving the room a glow. A beam of light cuts across his face. Some people would find this reassuring. Not James, not this morning, he has a sharp kitchen knife ready to open the first of the many bills, they are piled on the kitchen table like scaled down leaning towers. All in piles carefully separated by his wife Susan. Gas on the right water in the middle and any little luxuries like electricity and phone bills she placed on the left. Susan thought it would help him to start paying them if they were organised in an aesthetically pleasing manner. James did not notice his wife’s efforts. He takes his knife and slices into the letter, he pulls out the contents and stares at it for a long time. The letters and numbers begin to move in front of him, at first just moving about as if to trick him. Then they dance around the page, James shuts his eyes as a feeling of nausea washes over him.
“So many“, he thinks “I can’t afford all of these!”
He throws the letter down on the table, it slaps down but only glances the table before it falls to the floor. He sighs and bends to pick it up. As he brings his head up he catches it on the corner of the table. The pain is instant and brings his thoughts pouring out.
“Fuck you!” He shouts as he jumps to his feet. “fuck you all, go die in hell”.
He rubs the back of his head, and sweeps his arm across the table. This sends all of Susan’s carefully made piles spiralling to the floor. Hearing the shouts coming from the kitchen Susan rushes in, her light brown hair bounces as she runs. She slips on an envelope and almost loses her balance. James watches her he thinks to himself,
“it would be funny if I didn’t want to cry.”
She looks up with her large green eyes beginning to smile. When she sees that James is in no mood to laugh the smile disappears off her pretty face. She walks over to him and slides her arms around his waste. She links her arms in the small of his back and looks up at James. She is a good foot smaller than he is so she has to crane her head fully back.
“We will be fine love” Susan promises him.
He does not look her in the face, James breaks her hold on him and simply says
“I’m going to work”.
He stalks out of the kitchen leaving Susan surrounded by the bills.
“I love you” she shouts to him, the only reply she gets is a door slamming.

James sits up, he hates the dreams. He shakes his head which goes some way to stopping the sound of the door, still booming inside his brain. This dream is all that he remembers before waking up here, the dream and a blinding light. The memory haunts him, James who loved his wife more than anything, and still did could not accept the last time he saw her he did not return her love. It eats at him, she may have died in the apparent apocalypse but if he can make it too the light, everything will be better, this is what drives him on.
“I have to say I love you just one more time” James says allowed. He stands up and resumes his walking.

The purple flashes of light were becoming less frequent now, the plane was getting darker too, soon James would not be able to see his hand in front of his face, this did not keep him from his mission though. For the first time the mountain seemed closer.

As he was walking, head down, his long fringe over his eyes, James heard something. It was faint at first but it became loud very quickly. It was Susan, the sound of her voice was coming from the light. He looked up at it for a moment and then he began to run. Full tilt, he had not run for a long time but now he was sprinting across the loose sand like an Olympian.
“Please, please” Susan’s voice boomed over and over.
As he ran James smiled, he was hearing Susan’s voice again, everything was going to be ok, she was there waiting for him and he would never let her go again. He was now laughing, and the tears ran down his cheeks. Above him the purple lights had begun to flash wildly and more powerfully than ever. He should have been able to see the dip in the sand in front of him, but he was too caught up in Susan’s voice. When he hit the dip his feet sank so he stumbled, he landed face first in the sand. Then his body began to sink.
“Quick sand?” he said in disbelief. “What the hell?”
He was now stood up right, but waist deep in the sand. He was sinking quickly. Susan’s voice still shouted the simple word “Please” over and over.
“No!” James shouted, the sand was already up to his chest, he could feel it closing in on him, starting to crush the air out of him.
“No, Susan!”
“Please, Please” she repeated.
His chin mouth is under the sand now, James keeps it shut tight. He then shuts his eyes, he can still see the purple light shining through his lids, flashing on and off ever so often.
“I love you.” whispers Susan finally and her voice stops. Her last words rattle around in James’s head, he feels and serge and strength go through him.
“I’m not being finished by an adventure movie cliché!”
He kicks his legs hard.

James lies at the far side of the pit. He looks up at the sky, the lights have stopped flashing and it is even darker than before. James still breaths heavily as he looks at the blankness. He turns himself over and gets to his hands and knees. He tries to stand, but falls back down. He can no longer move, so he shuts his eyes and dreams.

He is sat in a park. It is warm as the sun shines down, although it is low in the sky now. Susan rests her head on his legs. Around them people run and laugh and play. Susan is reading a book to him. He sits and listens and whiles away the day, with his love reading. He kisses her on the lips, she smiles up at him, then suddenly her face becomes deadly serious.
“Wake up James”

James sits bolt up right in the pitch black. He cannot see anything anymore except the mountain in front, which still shines. He gets up and begins the last leg of his journey.

Susan looks at her coffee, it steam rises and transfixes her, she hates this place, but she has been here more than ever before the last month or so. The hates the smell, but it is the lights that really get to her, they are too bright to look directly at. They wash the colour out of everything. Even the people who are not ill look as though they are on deaths door. She gets up and grabs her coffee, she drinks deeply from it and leaves it on the table. She has been drinking too much coffee recently, trying to stay awake just in case.
“In case what?” she thinks to herself.
She walks down the corridor, and passes under the glass part. The world outside looks bleak, cloud covers the sky and rain covers everything else. She never likes to enter his room, she always rushes to it, but when she is outside his room Susan waits. She has to build up the cordage to see him like this. The husk of a man who used to be her strong husband.

She takes a deep breath and walks into the room, its hard to see his face, the large tubing that leads into his mouth gets in the way. His long hair has grown a lot in such a short time, she pushes it behind his ears and kisses his pale cheek. She wipes a tears away that has landed on his cheek, she cries often now. Susan sits in the chair next to the hospital bed, she picks up the book that sits on the night stand, opens to where her pink book mark is and begins to read. Her voice rises and falls as she reads and the peeping of the life support machine gives her a strange rhythm. James used to love her reading to him.

The doctor enters as she finishes the chapter, she slips her pick book mark into the pages as she closes it. He is a tall man with glasses and a thin moustache, the terrible light reflect of his bald head. She hates the doctor.
“So Susan have you decided?”
She looks at him with hate filled eyes.
“I am sorry but your husband is brain dead, there is nothing we can do for him. He will not wake up again, it is your choice however,”
“yes I have made my choice.” she says through gritted teeth.

James had reached the bottom of the mountain. He was tired but did not wait to start his assent. He could not wait till he could see Susan again and hold her in his arms. He was troubled however the usually bright light at the top of the mountain was beginning to get fainter. He had to get there quickly or it may be too late.

Susan leans forwards. She puts the finished book down beside her and she holds James’s hand.
“It is warm” she thinks “but it not for much longer”.
She presses the button to get the attention of  the staff.

James is breathing hard now, he has never done anything more difficult in his life, his lungs are burning and his arms and legs are ripped to pieces by the jagged rocks. He continues to climb.

Susan stands over James bed.
“I will always love you” she whispers. The rhythmic breathing from the life support machine stops and the heart rate monitor beeps the last note. Susan falls on James chest and weeps.

James who has almost reached the top hears Susan speak.
“I love you!” he shouts as he his is enveloped by the darkness.

The end