How To Catch A Falling Star

"What do you think, Heather?" Norah croaked out. The pain was actually less now, as the biting cold began to do its work.

"Nature's own light show. Some would say this is how she thanks you for sticking up for her."

"She's welcome," grinned Norah. She was unprotected from the elements, feeling the cold creeping into her limbs. Her extremities were already numb. "Your bank account must be nearly empty now."

"I'll earn more soon enough," Heather waved it off.

"This is where I should say some famous last words, right? In case somebody asks you later."

"This would be the time," affirmed Heather, not betraying a shred of emotion in her tone.

Norah looked thoughtful. She could barely feel anything in the cold, much less the pain. Her eyes kept looking at the green strands of light swaying across the sky.

"Look at me," she began, in a disembodied voice. "Look at what you've done to me."

Heather sighed. She had hoped that Norah would remain lucid, but her voice confirmed otherwise.

"Look at what all of you have done to me," Norah went on. "I'm Mother Nature and I loved all of you. I gave you all you needed, but you wanted more. You took away my forests. You killed my animals. You violated me. You hurt me so much."

Heather looked down pitifully. The delusional ravings would end soon when the cold did its work.

Suddenly, Norah looked straight into Heather's eyes and saw the despondent expression writ large. She laughed weakly.

"Your expression was priceless, Heather."

Heather half-smiled back.

"People say that life flashes before your eyes when you die, but I can't see anything. I'm not sad, Heather, I'm actually relieved. All of you get to die of starvation, rioting over food and nuclear war while I get to go peacefully. I'm one of the lucky ones."

Norah took a breath, feeling her senses beginning to succumb to the chill. Her body, so wracked with pain before was now enveloped with a feeling of nothingness. She was not aware which parts were where any longer.

"Thank you, Heather. Your mother would have been proud. Do you have anything you want me to tell her?"

"Tell her that I'm sorry, that she shouldn't feel guilty."

"Don't be sorry. It was a battle that you couldn't win. No one wins here, Heather. We just stay in denial until... " she coughed and cleared her throat. "Until there is no one left to fight for anymore."

There was silence before Norah spoke up again, her vocal cords expending their last bits of strength.

"I hope you got all of that. People are going to want to know exactly what I said."

They both laughed quietly. Norah breathed again, her lungs labouring. A smile was etched onto her face even as she finally quietened. Heather listened for the sound of her breathing, but it did not come.

Finally, it was over.

In a sudden upwelling of reverence, Heather Franklin fell to her knees and looked closely at Norah's still face. She placed her hands above her eyelids, but stopped short of closing them. She was finally at peace, feeling a strange warmth even amidst the cold.

She mourned tearlessly, as the aurora shimmered off Norah's glassy eyes.

"This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang, but a whimper."
- The Hollow Men, TS Eliot