*Warning: This story contains mentions of death. Reader discretion is advised.*

It was three years after The End happened. The End was the event that killed off all but a couple hundred people in the human species. It knocked out all electricity and internet around the world, leaving everyone in the dark for over a month. People started going mad. A new disease was going around, deteriorating the brain in a matter of weeks. It spread like wildfire; spores carried the disease and killed over three-billion people in less than half a year.

Doctors and scientists worked as fast as possible, but there wasn't enough time to even develop a prototype of a cure, before the majority of the human species went extinct. They soon gave up entirely on finding a cure, and just tried to spend as much time as possible with their loved ones, because time... was all they had left.

Due to the madness, some people had caused explosions on nuclear levels to go off. The radiation from that, and the disease itself, rendered whatever was left of the human population infertile, or their children died off soon after being born. The remaining people were too spread out across the planet and continents to be able to repopulate anyway, even if they had been fertile.

Currently, there were less than a thousand humans total spread out among the continents. They were all slowly dying from the radiation poisoning and the disease itself, unable to repopulate and likely to die off within a year or so. Since animals could carry the disease, but weren't affected by it, humans stopped eating meat, and avoided the creatures entirely. Breathing in the spores resting on animal fur, feathers, or skin was enough to kill you in a matter of hours, due to how weak your body would've already gotten with the radiation poisoning, and other such things.

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Sixty year old George was walking through a greenhouse he had built several years before The End occurred. He had lost his entire family to The End; his wife, daughter, son-in-law, and grandson, who was only three at the time. He was picking tomatoes when he heard... the Ghosts.

Ghosts were the Earth's memories. Sand covered the Earth in a thin layer, and it would rise up and form a silhouette of memories from the past in the places they had occurred. Whispers could be heard from them, as the original memory was reduced to nothing more than sand and soft tones when it finished 'playing'.

George turned to see a Ghost of his late wife Leah, and their grandson Carson. His eyes teared up as he watched the memory, seeing Leah and Carson picking fruit off of an old apple tree they had, right in the middle of the greenhouse. When the memory finished, George wiped his eyes and continued his job, picking tomatoes, and other fruits and vegetables.

He lived alone since he lost his family, so his plan was to maintain his home, and the greenhouse, for as long as possible before he died.

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Elisa, a 25-year-old woman who lost her husband to The End, was currently walking down a dusty main-road. She was heading to her old school to use it as a shortcut to a greenhouse set up on the other end of the city.

She hummed quietly to herself, watching Ghosts in the street as the Earth replayed its memories of the past. Sand showed images of children playing games, cars driving around, adults talking, and fights breaking out.

Eventually, Elisa reached the school. She was quiet as she walked down the halls; listening and watching as Ghosts played as bullies, students, teachers, and fights. Her eyes teared up seeing some of her own older memories in the sand figures.

She eventually walked into the gym, covering her mouth as Ghosts played from Prom night and she spotted an image of herself dancing with her deceased love. She sunk to the ground, crying quietly as particulates floated around in the air.

The Ghosts deteriorated into sand on the ground. She was left with whispers from the past and her own memories to deal with. After a few minutes, she got up and wiped off her eyes. She felt a slight headache growing as she left the school through the gym emergency exit.

As she started walking away from the school, she found herself confused over why she was crying. Looking around, she found herself lost, starting to wander around slowly. The Ghosts startled her, as she became scared. She had completely forgotten about their existence in a matter of moments.

Spores carrying the plague had been resting dormant in the school. She had picked some of them up while she was walking through the halls and crying in the gym. The timer was already counting down. Elisa was running out of time, and she didn't even know it, because it was already taking its toll on her mind.

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Kevin, a five-year-old boy, was walking around in his empty home. The plague took his family from him, so he was all alone. He had realized that the Ghosts weren't real, but he still spoke to them and acted like they were sometimes. He didn't mind that they didn't respond or talk back to him.

He wandered out of the house, going through the empty street, to get to the city's Greenhouse. He visited the Greenhouse every day, since it was Mommy's favourite place to be, before she died. He liked to see the Ghosts of Mommy, since he could hear her voice and see her again.

Usually, he just walked around, listening and talking to the Ghosts, but today was different. Today was Mommy's birthday. He picked up a bunch of white orchids, and laid them in a small clearing in the center of the Greenhouse. He laid down in the middle of the circle he made, sighing as he stared up at the darkening sky. It was already getting late, and the sun was setting. He pulled some of the flowers to his chest as he smelled them.

Spores entered through his nose and mouth, though he wouldn't even notice. He laid there all night long, the disease working faster in his already weakened state. His breathing slowed down, eyes closing as blood slowly trickled down his nose.

He whispered something right before his body gave out, and his eyes closed. Falling into what would be his last time asleep.

"Goodnight, Mommy."