The Final Hour

The Final Hour

By Paul McCann

Harry was one of those men who always put himself first and walked over people to get what he wanted . His reputation as a greedy man was widespread .

He had a large home on a hill that had an unobscured view of the valley below and when anyone came to build a home in the valley, he made offers to buy the properties to prevent anything or anyone from spoiling his view . He detested all the people who came to build their homes in the valley and when winter came it drove him crazy when people lit fires to keep their homes warm in the winter . All he could see was the smoke rising from their chimneys which was blown by the wind to towards his house on the hill . He hated the smell of the smoke that seemed to  linger a while around his home on the hill .

During the winter the fires burnt day and night . He would often say that the smoke stinks of poverty and brought a stain in the wind everywhere it went . He would sit by his window watching the smoke slowly getting thicker and dirtier .

Sometimes he would walk into the village in the valley moaning and groaning as airing his feelings about the fires and the growing population .  

“Look at it . You can smell it coming in . Its pollution and they’re don’t care .”

People in the village tried to keep a straight face at his crazy antics .He never had a good word to say about anyone .

“More and more houses, being built to quick , week after week . The green valley we had is gone the silence has been shattered by the invasion of these gold diggers . Look at them living in their little slums that very soon will come falling down . You’ll see , just wait and see , tomorrow is coming .“

They built a nursing home , a school , a hospital and a medical centre , shops and a church . This development infuriated Harry and he called it the town of chaos coming . He would sit looking out the window at the future being built before his very eyes and whenever he spoke of the future it was always full of gloom and doom .

He filled his big house with greed and things that made him feel satisfied about who he was and . He had several Wi-Fi  Network connections and he installed camera’s , brought in guard dogs , paid security to do frequent patrols outside his home .

His worst fear was that someone might try to break in and steal all his wealth . He lived in his own nightmare world with his own set of laws until the day he collapsed and fell unconscious to the floor which triggered an alarm on his security that was monitored and programmed to detect and danger that would occur . On the day Harry had a stroke , doomsday arrived on a train through the valley . Harry was taken by an ambulance to the hospital in the village .

As Harry lay in a bed half paralysed by the stroke,  he had a visit from the grim reaper who sat in a chair there beside his bed . Harry couldn’t scream or move  , all he could do was to just lie there helpless to do anything .

The grim reaper said ,

 “Well Harry , look at you now . You’re as good as dead and you’ve nowhere to run and hide . Your life is almost over and done now .“

Harry grumbled and the ground rumbled a few times . Then came the earthquake that opened cracks all over the ground . Dark creatures crawled out of the crevices and open spaces in the ground . People around the village were scattered , running here and there as a small army of the living dead emerged from nowhere carrying ropes and chains waiting for their orders .

The grim reaper said ,

”There you have it Harry . This is the future you always predicted .“

Harry just lay there in the hospital bed and said.

Jesus what are we going to do now . It’s over , I tried to warn them this would  happen . It’s all because of the fires and smoke that brough pollution and destruction everywhere “ 

The grim reaper replied . 

“They’re running as fast as their feet can carry them . See how they run Harry “

Further up the hill he saw his house burning and from the roof black smoke poured out and rose into the sky above . The darkness of night came and the church with the  bright white neon cross began to glow . The voice of the grim reaper screamed out and it echoed all over the village.

“Harry tried to warm you all but you wouldn’t listen and now it’s too late . There is no escape from your fate . Thunderbolts fell from the sky and one by one people  overcome with fear were screaming out for help .

Harry started to feel a little sad as the world outside came falling down ,

The grim reaper said ,

“This is what you wanted Harry and its happening all over the world . You predicted this would happen and it has , so you must be happy about it all “

Harry lay there looking out the window and saw alien space craft begin to land everywhere . Zombies were walking the streets .

Suddenly Harry woke up and he realised it had all been dream . There was no grim reaper and he hadn’t been the victim of a stroke . The world was ok .

In his dream he had seen the final hour and it had made an impact on him . From that moment on Harry changed and he started to think differently about life and the people of the village . It was just like he had been given a new life , He began to appreciate everything and everyone . He felt lucky to still be alive on the planet .

He had just seen how wrong he had been about everything . On that night he had dreamt about the end of the world and in his heart, he wanted to change himself for the better and it had given him a new reason to live .

In his dream he had been a man who ran out Of Time and in that final hour when he lay on the bed thinking of the things he had did and said somehow he reflected on a world that he had created in his mind but now he could change all that because a new day had come .

 The End