[ WP ] The apocalypse has come . The only survivors : a young child , and the monster under the bed ...

When Johnny was a small child, he would often talk about a monster that no one else would see. Though this was normal for many children, when he turned 10, other children would think he was too weird to hang out with, only making him need this companion more. 
 
 He was an octopus-like creature covered in dark, red hair except for where his eyes and suction cups were. On the end of each of his tentacles, he had monkey-like hands with long fingers he would use to tickle Johnny. The monster's favorite activity was to talk and he would often try to tell Johnny stories. When he was smaller, he always thought they were boring, but after a few years, Johnny became mesmerized with the monster's stories about a landscape where there were no more humans and the legends on what happened to them. 
 
 Though he would talk about many things, the monster would never say his name, no matter how many times Johnny asked him. Eventually, after being sick of calling him `` monster'', Johnny asked him, 
 
 `` Do you like the name Danny?'' 
 
 `` Well, there is an actor that I like named Danny. A short, bald, and fat man whom I've been told has a voice similar to mine. He is funny. Yes, I guess I like that name. Why do you ask, John?'' 
 
 `` You're Danny now.'' Johnny told him, to which the giant octopus laughed for a long time. 
 
 `` Is it because I'm very hairy?'' He asked with his pale blue eyes looking humorously as Johnny. 
 
 `` No, I just like the name Danny.'' So from then on, the monster's name was Danny. 
 
 Johnny's parents were not usually around. His father would work until Johnny was asleep and his mother would usually have to go clean other people's houses. However, every morning, Johnny's mother and father would come into his room and give him a kiss on the forehead. One time, after that had happened, Danny had said, 
 
 `` I wish they did not have to work as much.'' Johnny could not help but agree. 
 
 Then, one day, they never showed up. 
 
 Johnny awoke to see that a large chunk of his roof was now missing alongside the wall to the left side of his bed. Outside, where there had once been tall grasses and cotton fields were now desert. Johnny jumped from his bed immediately, screaming and crying. Danny, reached out from under Johnny's bed and picked him up off of the floor with his long arms. 
 
 `` Danny! It's all gone! Mom, Dad, everything!'' 
 
 `` I know.'' Is all he said. 
 
 For that first day, Johnny did not do anything. He did not move from his bed, he did not eat, and he did not even talk to Danny, as though he had been betrayed. Maybe he had! 
 
 `` How did you know, Danny?'' Johnny asked, almost starting to cry again. 
 
 `` John, I felt it, like a part of my body.'' Danny said as he got out from underneath his resting place to get a better look at his friend. He pointed in between his eyes, which Johnny now realized were bloodshot. 
 
 `` I feel it here, like a headache or a tumor. When I woke up I knew they were gone. I'm just glad you're still here.'' He paused. `` Actually, it's only you.'' Johnny was taken aback. 
 
 `` Everything's dead?!'' 
 
 `` No, John. There are still animals, birds, and fish. Just no more man. Before you ask, I do n't know why, and I did not cause it.'' He almost sounded like he was pleading. 
 
 `` I believe you. But what about me? I'm going to die here without any food or water.'' 
 
 `` We will find something, John. I promise.'' 
 
 It was then that Johnny first left his bed. He and Danny had agreed they needed to check the house first. It felt so surreal to open the door leading to the kitchen while the wall opposite to it was missing. 
 
 There, they found enough food for the boy to survive for a month and water that neither he nor Danny knew how long would last. 
 
 `` Only drink if you have to Johnny. We can not waste anything.'' Danny did not eat or drink anything, but then again, he never had before. 
 
 They spent that first week together alone in the house. Somehow, the isolation felt much like Johnny's life before, just that now he had to preserve food. After that week, Danny decided that he better go off and try to find food for Johnny. He had insisted that Johnny stay in his house in case anything happened. Though he was worried the first time, Danny came back with the food. Then he did it the next week. And then the next. Sometimes there were old peach cans and others it was fresh meat that Danny taught Johnny how to cook. Water was always refilled. There was a year of this before Johnny realized that the fresh meat had to be from animals that Danny killed. Then a month later, Johnny decided that he did not care, that he wanted to travel. 
 
 `` Very Well.'' They started with Johnny's old town, where he saw that the landscape was the same as his house. A large, almost endless desert. 
 
 `` Where did you get the animals?'' 
 
 `` Most often I give you snakes and lizards. However, there are times when I am lucky and manage to catch a bird.'' Now, Johnny noticed that some of Danny's hair was missing. How strange. 
 
 It was only one day before Johnny left his old town with his companion at his side. The two of them walked in this wasteland together. Even though Johnny would have liked the idea of driving, Danny had told him, `` The cars do not function properly anymore.'' 
 
 Years went by like this before Johnny asked his friend, 
 
 `` How did you know the world would end?'' 
 
 `` I was born after it ended. One day I was in that time, then, suddenly, I was with you. I know it can be hard to understand, but when you first woke up in this land, it was sudden and without warning. Everything had changed. It was like that for me too.'' Johnny had noticed that Danny's fur was almost completely gone and the skin that was underneath was completely pale. Johnny guessed this was the only time he could really ask. 
 
 `` Are you dying?'' 
 
 `` Yes.'' 
 
 `` What will I do when you die?'' 
 
 Danny did not answer. 
 
 The next day was the first day that Danny took Johnny hunting with him. Despite what Johnny imagined, Danny did not hunt by grabbing things and smashing them to bits on the ground. Instead he laid traps like a human would with old pieces of car refashioned to snap anything unlucky enough to walk or slither over it. They were hard to set at first and Johnny would often forget where he put them, eventually, he was even better at it than Danny was. Meanwhile Danny only got worse. 
 
 One day, while walking, Danny collapsed on the ground. Johnny ran to him and looked in his eye. 
 
 `` My name, Johnny. My name is Sjmert.'' 
 
 `` Danny! Sjmert! Please, do n't leave me alone. I NEED YOU! PLEASE!'' 
 
 Danny did not answer. 
 
 Johnny survived without him, though he felt as though he had died without him. Everything about him felt erased, leaving only an empty husk. He began to wish and pray that one morning, when he woke up, he would be in his own world again, or to see that Danny was there, more alive than ever. Yet, nothing. 
 
 Then one day, he found an unusual looking egg. It was larger than any one he had ever seen and it was hard to carry it around, but Johnny knew that if anything friendly came out of it, all of his work would be worth it. When it hatched, Johnny saw a small, octopus-like creature with monkey like hands but no red fur. That would grow in later. He name him Sjmert. 
 
 Growing up, Sjmert would often hear Johnny's and Danny's old theories on how the world ended. He taught Sjmert to hunt but he also taught him to talk properly just as Danny had only tried with him. Johnny woke up one morning to see that Sjmert was gone. 
 
 Though he felt lonely, Johnny no longer felt empty.
