“I think I just met the happiest person in the world,” he sighed. “Thank you,” Aubrey skipped down the winding path. “I never said that was a good thing!” he called after her. Aubrey suddenly stopped, and then he saw it. A body lay in a rose bush, fresh. “Oh my…” her smile turned to a frown. Truth is, he never saw her like this before. It was… depressing. Why did he even care about her? She's just a girl. She looked up at him. “What are we going to do Jake?” she said in a quiet voice. “I… I don't know,” their mission had failed. They were going to be killed. He couldn't let this happen. “Follow me,” he grabbed her hand. For the first time in his life, he felt happy. And was never going to let go of it. He kissed Aubrey. She smiled. That was all that mattered.

The sky is grey with strong wind and drizzle in New York. I shiver from the weight of my wet clothes. I wait for the bus just trying to get home, away from this weather and into my bed with my warm blanket. It is rush hour after a long day of work and everyone around me is rushing home like I am but I could careless as long as everyone is out of my way, I do not care. I speak to no one but my face might just say it all. I look at my phone for the time and see it is about eight more minutes until the next bus arrives. I convince myself that I can wait a little longer because I am about thirty-eight minutes from being in my happy place. I continue to wait minding my business at the bus stop as the wind passes by me. Five minutes pass by and I can see the bus approaching from a distance among the fog. As I look up again I see an older woman run towards me smiling and laughing. I am confused as to what is so funny but as she gets to the bus stop she giggles and says " I must look funny." I giggle because she did a little. She continues to say "Well it is my lucky day because I caught the bus on time, which is often rare." Her smile and laugh was contagious and made me forget I was irritable. I thought to myself, "I think I just met the happiest person in the world !"

I look over into the Rose garden. The park is free of many people, so when the bushes Russel, it doesn't go unnoticed.i take a few long strides over. "Excuse me? Anyone here?" there was a small yelp and a girl's head popped out from the foliage. She saw me and smiled widely. "Hello! I'm sorry, was I disturbing you?" I shook my head. She laughed and made her way out of the flowers, extending her hand. "I'm Laura. And you are?" I took her hand in mine. “Sebastian. So, is there a reason why you were swimming in the bushes?”

She looked at me with big blank eyes before she laughed. “Oh! No, not really. They’ve just come in bloom and I wanted to pick a few for my grandmother. Music box is her favorite kind of rose. Aren’t they lovely?” She gestured to the flowers and ran her fingers along the petals. "Yeah, I guess they are. So, you do this often?" the girl shrugged. “Not everyday.. my grandma just loves new centerpieces for dinner every week haha. She’s very… eccentric.”

I can’t help but crack a small smaller at her statement. “She sounds like quite the lady.” Laura nodded as I follow her to another plant. “Oh she is. But I love it. She is the best host and can’t stand to go three weeks without a dinner gathering at her estate. Do you have any family members like that?” I was unsure of why I was so willing to tell her about myself. I nodded nonetheless."oh definitely. My mom is totally like that.”

Laura smiled as she picked one more flower. She now had a small bouquet. Just then, we hear the sound of droplets on leaves all around us. Barely having time to react, I am beginning to get hit by the rain.

I groan and huff as I hurriedly make my way to one of the picnic shelters. Once safe, only then, do I notice that the female is no longer by me. I look out to see her twirling in the rain. She was laughing, despite being soaked by the unfortunate weather. I tilt my head as I observe her.

She turned and waved as if she didn’t even notice the rain. “I have to go!” She holds up the flowers, indicating her reason for leaving. I nod as her smile shines through the darkening atmosphere. “It was lovely meeting you! I hope we see each other again soon! Goodbye!” He tilted his head as he watched her retreating figure.

“I think I just met the happiest person in the world.”

I do not know you are the one for me, but when I saw you, I Thought you hated me for the sad things I did I am sorry I am not good enough for you. You made me sad. I know I worry for you the one of me love remember me love you.

“I think I just met the happiest person in the world!” Harper exclaimed as she burst through the café door, her cheeks flushed from the cold. She set her bag down with a dramatic flourish, nearly knocking over the small vase of flowers on the table.

Oliver looked up from his laptop, adjusting his glasses. “Bold claim,” he said, smirking. “What makes you say that?”

Harper plopped into the chair across from him, her scarf unraveling as she leaned forward. “Okay, so I was at the park, right? And there’s this old guy—maybe seventy, maybe a hundred, I don’t know. He’s feeding pigeons. Classic old-man thing, sure, but it’s how he was doing it! He’s laughing, like, this deep belly laugh, throwing crumbs into the air like confetti. The pigeons are going crazy, and this guy? He’s just beaming.”

Oliver tilted his head, intrigued but skeptical. “Maybe he’s just really into birds.”

“No, no, it wasn’t just that,” Harper insisted. “I stopped to talk to him. I mean, who wouldn’t? He’s practically glowing! Turns out, his name’s Gus, and he says he’s celebrating. I asked, ‘Celebrating what?’ And he says, ‘Being alive, of course!’ Like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.”

Oliver raised an eyebrow. “That’s… kind of amazing.”

“Right?!” Harper grinned, leaning back in her chair. “He told me this story about how he was sick a few years ago—some kind of heart condition. Doctors didn’t think he’d make it. But he did, and now he just wakes up every day choosing to be happy. He said, ‘Life’s too short to waste on being grumpy, so I don’t.’ Like, how do you argue with that?”

Oliver closed his laptop and leaned forward. “So, what did you do?”

“What do you mean?” Harper asked, confused.

“I mean, did you throw breadcrumbs with him? Share in the joy?”

Harper hesitated, then laughed. “I… may have bought a bag of peanuts from a vendor and joined in. Just for a bit.”

Oliver grinned. “Now I wish I’d been there.”

Harper leaned on her elbows, her expression softening. “You know, it made me realize how rare that kind of joy is. It’s like… he wasn’t just happy for himself. He wanted everyone around him to feel it, too. It was contagious.”

“Sounds like Gus knows something the rest of us don’t,” Oliver said, his tone thoughtful.

“Yeah,” Harper replied, her voice quieter now. “He said the trick is to find something—anything—that makes you smile every day. Even if it’s just feeding pigeons in the park.”

Oliver smiled. “Well, you’ve convinced me. Next free afternoon, we’re finding some breadcrumbs and heading to the park.”

Harper laughed. “Deal. But fair warning—you’re competing with Gus. And I’m pretty sure he’s unbeatable.”

“I think I just met the happiest person in the world!” I observed the man. Smoke, rose from the barrel, as I stared down the chamber. His eyes, seized. Like he finally met peace.

Scene.

“I think I just met the happiest person in the world!” Chance exclaimed bewildingly, walking back from across the desert road.

“Oh yeah?” Derek’s uninterested tone floating back.

“Well given the fucked situation we’re in, he seemed to be doing ar’ight - I mean man, just talking to him you can feel his contemptment, you know” Chance says, feeling a new found energy in his body as if he’s been charged to full capacity.

Undressing his shirt as Chance skips back to the car in the sweltering heat, beads of sweat rolling down his body coating his skin like gloss.

“What like Ghandi” Derek snarks back. Shrugging off the oddities of this mysterious man in the far field of the desert roads, Derek had no interest in knowing how anyone could be happy in their current situation. “Did you get any useful information from the guy though?” He questions Chance. Fearing Chance did not in fact talk about anything of importance.

Chance continues in his awe of the man he just met. Perching his body next to Derek on the hood of the car,. “I mean fuck, maybe he’s lost it.” “I don’t know man but it’s inspiring you know.” “Stuck in the middle of the desert, in this god forsaken heat, nothing but a shotgun and he’s just… happy” pondering on his recent encounter. Chance cocking his head up, stares beyond the clouds into the sky as if he’s looking directly at God himself.

“Look I don’t give a fuck about this Buddha, fucking saint, fucking whatever happy man. Did you get information on where the safe zone is or not!” Dereks irritability creeping up on him.

“Relax” Chance exhales taking a deep breath in and out.

“Dude I’m not playing, stop with this philosophy shit.” Starting to get agitated by the heat and the time constraints, Derek lights a cigarette.

Chance snapping out of his amusement, starting to climb off the hood of the car “Yeah, he said something about there being a safe zone on the south board 70 miles from here or something”

“Good. We have to get there before this place gets infected, it’s coming in pretty fast from the east we barely escaped from the last town man.” Pressure flowing out Derek’s body as he exhales his cigarette.

The air thick with heat, driven with eagerness to survive the guys climb into the car and start to head towards the south board.

“I think I just met the happiest person in the world…” I muttered under my breath, my voice owning a bit of confusion as I couldn’t understand why someone was even feeling happy at the moment; we were literally in the middle of an apocalypse.

If I remember the story correctly, I was rushing into a safe zone that I had just discovered after my previous one was suddenly infested with the undead. I have never met a single soul in this hideout, but luckily, they were welcoming me in with open arms, but one survivor in particular, seemed to be eager to meet me. Her name was Mila, and the entire time I exchanged words with her, she would keep a positive smile plastered onto her face; she showed me to a free bedroom, and while she did so, she was questioning me about my life, how I was holding up during a devastating time like this. Every time I responded with a typical dreary answer, she would try to reassure me with an optimistic tone and an unchanging grin, almost as if she was unaware of what was happening.

She was also enlightening me on her experiences with the infection, telling my how she lost her partner to the undead, and how she was starving for weeks until she found this safe place. Of course, I showered her with sympathy for what she was experiencing at the time, but to my surprise, she was still beaming from ear to ear.

The funny thing is, she wasn’t a clueless child or anything. She looked around 30, and her appearance was just as unkempt as the rest of us survivors, so it was puzzling that she was even grinning at all.

“Do you need anything else?” She asked me as I sat on the lumpy bed and set my hefty backpack next to me as well.

“No, I think I’m alright, thanks…” I responded, giving her a tiny head shake, “But thank you for showing me to my room.”

“Of course! Just let me know if you need anything at all!” She said cheerfully. With one final grin in my beam in my direction, she walked out of my plain bedroom, leaving me in silence and to the time we are in now…

(This is my first time writing a story so be nice. Thank you!)

I think… I just met the happiest person in the world. Which let’s be honest, is not saying much, considering the sheer magnitude of pain and suffering Mt. Gregorious has caused in the aftermath of it’s eruption.

They had a green feathered cap and long golden hair. Their eyes darted back and forth as they scavenged the remnants of a once overcrowded department store. As they picked up a dented can of creamed corn, they clutched tightly onto the can with both hands and paused for a moment before yelling out a most joyful glee. They delicately put the corn inside the navy Jansport backpack they carried and suddenly looked up at me as if they knew someone had spotted their prized find. Our eyes locked uncomfortably as I crouched behind a mound of mangled shopping carts in a makeshift shelter I had fashioned a week ago.

I tried not to make conversation with people these days due to the graveness and solemnity people carried as they tried to make due in this ash fallen world. (I actually never cared for conversation with people, but something about a god forsaken tragedy that turns everyone into ghosts of themselves).

I digress. After this green feathered cap fellow made intense eye contact with me, he proceeded to walk with purpose and deliberation, directly towards… me.

As he approached he reached back into his bag and pulled out the can of corn. Holding it tightly, he looked down at it, and then abruptly held it out towards me while squeezing their face into a grimace.

“Would you share this corn with me?”

“I think I just met the happiest person in the world,” Maisy said, as she flung her keys onto the table and plopped into a chair.

Considering she just met the happiest person in the world, Maisy looked quite the opposite. Her eyes filled with tears and drifted to the window overlooking the street. She bit her lip to keep the tears from falling, but they betrayed her.

“Whoa, Maisy!” Nikki took a seat beside her. “What happened?”

Maisy swatted at her tears, “Sorry, I don’t know what came over me. I just don’t -I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen someone that happy. Honestly, I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen anyone happy.”

Nikki followed Maisy’s gaze to the window. Dark sky peeked out between the tops of buildings. Anymore, the only light that illuminated the sky came from street lamps and the faint glow of homes. For kids born in the last decade, this scene was completely normal. But, for those Nikki and Maisy’s age who remember the pre-Dark Days, a sunless sky in the middle of the afternoon was everything but normal.

Nikki felt a lump quickly form in her throat as her eyes threatened to betray her as well. She swallowed hard, “Maisy, where did you meet this person? What were they doing?”

Maisy looked up, “It’s hard to explain, you just have to see for yourself.”