[ WP ] Earth 's entire population lives in one gigantic skyscraper .

His heart sank deep into his stomach as it was both tugged earthwards while simultaneously forced towards the upper echelons of the tower. The irony of this literal internal conflict was not lost on James. He longed to stay below and wished that things could have worked out differently, but the time had come to ascend to the heavens. Hadn ’ t they all wished that it could have worked out differently, if not for their differences. The time was past for such fancy. 
 
 After the initial acceleration and the frantic blur that followed until his brain caught up with his eyes, the glassed walls of the elevator offered an unparalleled view of the ruins of the old world. He slumped against the closed doors and slid to the floor. The miles high climb would take some time and he was too weary to stand any longer. 
 
 He saw a city laid to waste, first by the event, secondly by the war and looting and desperation of those to survive. He surged upwards. Thirdly by the famine and disease of those that were left. Bodies lay strewn in the ochre streets beside the vehicles that died long before them. On top of them. Underneath. At this height only marked by the shadows in the dust as the shallow sun tagged the mounds in the sand. 
 
 The dust choked him as he opened the door. However thin the air at this altitude, the dust still pervades, and it had been months since he ’ d been exposed to unfiltered air. 
 
 He shuffled towards the parapet, trailing scuff marks in the dust from the lethargic dragging of his feet, drawing a line in the sand. There was that irony again. He laughed audibly, though not a belly laugh. A knowing laugh. A sad one. Of resentment and of reluctant acceptance. 
 
 As he looked out onto the old world for the last time knowing that he and humanity were finally done, he stared directly into the sun through the billows of dust and sand. He thanked it and cursed it in almost equal measure for what it was, but also for what it had become and what it had done. But could never blame it. James felt the warmth on his face for the last time as he lay on the ledge. His eyes circled the outline of the disc, dulled as it was by the dust clouds. Pure and majestic in contrast to its progeny. 
 
 As he rolled his cheek to face the below, the heat in the marble parapet started to burn his face as if walking on a hot sand beach with no shoes. He lingered on this final calming thought as he continued his roll and felt his stomach turn as he gave himself to gravity ’ s will. 
 
 Earth ’ s final human occupant struck the earth as did the meteorite that led to its population. The crater a far smaller but a no less significant feature on the face of history. But a fittingly sized bookend for how little the universe cared for humanity and their excess.
