A man sits on the stage
The floor starts shaking
The building is falling all around him
Windows break
Paint peels from the walls
Beams from the ceiling that haven’t been seen since 1948 come crashing onto the stage.
He is calm

A lady in a fur coat runs in screaming

It takes a minute for her to realize there is a guy sitting there

Wome: why are you so calm?

No response

Woman: maybe you haven’t heard but the world is collapsing

Still nothing

At the silence she runs over to him and starts to shake him

Women: why are you so calm? Everythings ending all around you and you aren’t doing a damn thing

Man: I guess I just think its about time

Silence, the women is stunned

Man: My world has been slowly ending from the day I was born. I may have been breathing but day by day everything I worked to earn was smashed by forces beyond my control. So I guess I thought it was only a matter of time until the world I saw all around me, felt all around me really came crashing down on me.

All of a sudden his breathing becomes constricted, almost like the air is being sucked out of his lungs.

Man: I cant breathe

Simultaneously the building falls in one sudden motion and the man dies.

Everything stops, the earth doesn’t turn, the sun has stopped shining, jump ropes go limp, graffiti cans lose all their pressure mid stream, phones ring endlessly, if someone was flushing the toilet the water and shit stop mid flush half way between the bowl and the pipes

the lady in the fur coat bursts into flames and she starts screaming at the top of her lungs.

This happens just for one millisecond. And its as if the world is jump started. Everything starts right back up again, sun, earth, people, the ladys fur coat isn’t even covered with flame or rumble anymore

Everything except the man, his heart is done for.

The lady looks at him and starts to cry.

Hes smiling