[ WP ] Scientists accurately predict the apocalypse 's starting date , but owing to the dozens of previous predictions , people are completely indifferent , continuing to go about their daily routines , as though the end times are only a slight , minor inconvenience .

Jamie walked down 33rd, glancing through different shop window he passed as he headed towards his kiosk at the intersection of 4th Avenue and 33rd Street, almost right in the middle of the Shopping District. He had one earbud dangling front the top of his hoodie while the other stayed tucked into his right ear, streaming an episode of NPR news that he was n't really paying attention to. 
 
 `` So, Director Engels, I think we can confidently say that the whole world has heard news concerning the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life. Will you explain for the listeners how your team of astronomers came across this amazing and- dare I say it- hard to believe discovery?'' 
 
 `` Certainly. The crew was able to confirm the existence of intelligent lifeforms not by directly observing them but by discovering a phenomenon in the universe that, while we have n't figured out exactly what it is, we know for sure it's not something that could occur spontaneously in space.'' 
 
 `` So you're saying that your team discovered a `` man-made'' astronomical phenomenon that no man, or human of any kind, happened to make?'' 
 
 `` Yes. A seemingly infinite wave of... energy of some kind is sweeping across the universe, traveling slightly faster than the speed of light. It appears to consist of an unknown type of particle that effectively disintegrates any atom it encounters. The mysterious and confusing thing about these particles is, once it has dissolved an atom, the particle continues without any change in velocity. Newton's First Law tells us that encountering any type of mass should cause the particles to decelerate, but they flow through the atoms as if they were n't there, so in short, we have a wave of law-breaking particles sweeping across the observable universe!'' he stopped to laugh at his attempt at humor, then continued- 
 
 `` We believe the particles are somehow stripping electrons from atoms they meet as a means of propelling themselves forward, but even the world's top physicists are scratching their heads, trying to figure out how it's happening. All we know now is that this type of wave is completely unnatural. There's no way these particles were simply an undiscovered property of physics. Our best guess is that an intelligent race of beings created something that in turn created this wave and, for some reason or another, whatever they were creating got out of hand and the end result is a massive wave dissolving the universe around us...'' 
 
 Jamie took the earbud out of his ear and let it dangle in front of him with its partner. He was tired of hearing about this Impossible Wave, how it was destroying the universe and how it was headed towards earth. That was the third or fourth time he had listened to that interview. It was recorded weeks ago and now he believes NPR plays it every day at different times so EVERYONE can learn about the big bad particle wave headed towards earth. 
 From what he had heard, scientists calculated the wave's ETA on earth.. He did n't buy into the hype. Lots of people had predicted the end of the world. What makes these science guys any less crazy than the nutjobs who lie around in fields waiting for spaceships? 
 
 The shops on 33rd Street were busy, as usual, with tourists looking around for gift and goodies to take back home with them. Jamie lit a cigarette as he passed by a Terminal Disintegration Resources center, or `` TLDR'' for short. It was a place where people could go get free grief counseling to help them cope with the end of the world and enjoy what little life they had left. This TLDR had been here for months, and today it was just as empty as it was everyday he walked past it on his way to work. They popped up across the world a few weeks after the news broke. Jamie thought it would be swarmed with people, looking to know what the government plans to do to protect its citizens. 
 
 He continued the 2 mile walk from his apartment to his business. Jamie, on a whim, decided a few years ago buy a kiosk business. 
 
 `` People are always needing cigarettes and candy bars, like they need a bullet in the head. So I decided to sell them bullets.'' 
 
 He passed a few more shops and hit 4th Avenue South. He waited with a few other pedestrians for the WALK signal. His eyes wandered over to the woman standing next to him. She was holding a newspaper. He saw a giant headline that read `` HARVARD PSYCHOLOGIST EXPLAINS WHY THE WORLD IS ENDING AND NO ONE CARES'' and underneath it, what seemed to be an article about the psychological impact that the end of the world was having on the human population. He scanned the paper, picking through sections of the article. 
 
 `` The human psyche can not accept news of this magnitude. Think of the jumpers on 9/11. They were left the choice of being burned alive or falling to their deaths. They knew they were going to die, but they had a choice of how it was going to happen. With the news of the particle wave, there are no alternatives. No means of escape, and instead of accepting the inevitable, it seems the world is collectively trying to avoid acknowledging it altogether, as to avoid the psychological burden of coping with the end of time. The universe is dissolving around us, and no one cares.'' 
 
 The crosswalk signal turned white and everyone hustled across the street. Jamie grabbed a set of keys from his backpack and unlocked the kiosk. He turned on the lights that indicated he was open for the day. He sat down behind the counter and leaned back. He watched the world before him go about its business on this ordinary day. 
 He thought about what he would be doing if the world really was going to end. He would just get drunk and sit on his apartment balcony. He did n't have any personal business he would want to take care of. He was a loner. He would find a nice chair and lean back with a pack of smokes and a cold six pack. 
 
 He took a long drag off his cigarette, and vanished with everyone else. 

