Onora laid on the cool damp grass and stared at the sky. Lacking light, color, or anything at all for that matter. It was completely black and featureless. This was the new life for everyone all over the world… well the few people that still existed. 
Onora liked to imagine what the world was once like when there were still stars, planets, and people everywhere. They always had lessons on how it was at one point in time in history class, but they kept it vague. She thought maybe it was to keep the people from believing that a life without stars was too much to bear like most of the world. Afterall, the population decreased rapidly after they went away. Of course, that was many years ago now.
It didn’t make much sense to her: the fact that people went crazy without the stars and planets. There was still daylight so why would it affect them? This was the type of question that circled through Onora’s head almost nightly.
She pondered these thoughts a little longer and headed for home. As she walked down the pitch black street, she saw a man who appeared to be headed in the direction of the woods. His hair, the color of ink, was combed back and held in place by what seemed to be a heavy gel. He wore an all black suit and dress shoes. His eyes were dark and vacant like the sky above them. To her deepest regret, she knew exactly where he was headed. The only reason anyone dressed up and went to the forest was to relieve themselves of any daily struggles they faced. Onora felt awful for the poor man. He could not be older than 20 and although she wished she could save him, she knew it was too late. She had seen that look too many times before and she knew there was no stopping him now.
She looked over at him one last time and their eyes met. His empty black orbs made her skin crawl. As her eyes began to drift away, they fell upon his hands. One hand seemed to be grasping a large book while the other held a rope. Why would he have a book if he was going to kill himself? Onora looked away from the man and continued to walk.
The further she walked, the deeper he began to worm into the crevasses of her mind. She could not think of a logical reason as to why he would have a book. After about 10 minutes, she turned around and began sprinting in his direction. Something about the situation seemed to be calling her.
As she had hoped, he had not gotten very far. She kept a distance, but stayed close enough to keep track of him while she followed. They were approaching the forest causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand. Onora had never even thought about going in before then. Her whole life she had not been allowed to even be near it. Onora’s parents had always made sure she kept a distance.
Since the day the stars vanished, forests everywhere became the ideal spots to commit suicide. With time, many tales were formed. She suspected that parents had started them in hopes their children would stay far from these eerie places. As they wished, everyone stayed away.
The man, with Onora very few feet behind, arrived at the entrance formed of trees twisted in every which way. With each tree, dozens of branches waited. Waited for you to make a wrong move and fall into their clutches. All so they could drag you into the darkness. She shuddered at the thought of this and cleared her mind of the dark and menacing thoughts.
The man stood still right at the edge of the forest. He seemed to be hesitating going in, but after nearly two minutes passed, he reached a decision and slowly made his way in. Tentatively, Onora followed him inside as well.
Although the city had many lights all around, she could hardly see a thing. With wide eyes in an attempt to see better, she tried to stay as close behind the man as she could without being caught.
After what seemed like hours, they finally reached a stopping point. From behind a tree wider than her frame, Onora stood, observing his every move. He laid his book down and stepped onto a higher part of the uneven earth, where he proceeded to reach to a branch hanging above the lower part of the ground. As he was finishing up the knot that seemed to be very intricate, Onora made a wrong move. Right as she began to step down, she already knew it was going to end badly. Her foot landed with a loud cracking sound, causing the man to pull his attention from the rope.
“Hello?” asked the man in a low voice. After about a minute passed, he repeated himself. “Hello? Is anyone there?” Onora stood as still as possible, trying to decide whether she wanted to give herself up or not. The whole reason she came out here was to save him right? Or was it? She did not even know why she followed him, it all happened so fast, she hadn’t any time to think her plan through. Whatever plan that was…
Without giving it more thought, she stepped out from behind the gigantic tree. At first he did not have a clue she was there, but as he looked around, his eyes stopped and fell upon her. His eyes continued to hold the same emptiness as before, but not long after he saw her, a look of surprise crossed his dead face.
Onora scrambled to find words to say, but she did not have a clue what there was to say. A minute or two of uncomfortable, silent eye contact passed and she seemed to find her voice again.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. He continued to just look at her, the emptiness beginning to cross his face again. “I don’t exactly know what I’m doing here. I saw you and I saw the book and the rope and I couldn’t help but follow,” she said quickly. He looked at her a minute longer and then understood the strange girl’s thoughts.
“Ah,” he replied slightly amused, “a book and a rope are an odd mixture indeed. Why have a book if I have a rope most likely to kill myself with?”
“Well, yes. That’s exactly what I was thinking…” Onora answered, confused that he knew almost the exact thoughts going through her head.
“You see, this isn’t just a book. It’s the Bible.”
“The what?”
“The Bible. A book with the words of God,” he said to Onora.
“God..?” Asked Onora, completely puzzled.
“Ah, yes. I figured you’d ask that. Many years ago, millions of people believed that God was the creator of all. He lived in the stars and watched over everyone. He gave people hope that maybe whatever hardship they were facing would go away with time as long as they had faith in him. Years ago, God disappeared along with the stars and planets, completely eliminating millions of people’s hope.” Onora listened to the man go on about this and with each word, she felt herself grow more and more dejected.
“I don’t understand then,” said Onora, “if you don’t believe in this ‘God’ character, then why are you carrying the book that supposedly has his words in it?”
“That’s a good question… the reason I have this book is so I can dispose of it. This has caused nothing but pain to my family and myself. It raised false hope for us. We all believed in God until tragedy struck. Even after the stars went away along with him, we still had faith, but when my family was ruined, that's when I gave up. I have nobody now all because of this book that isn't even real.”
With that, he bent down and began to dig into the cold earth with his bare hands. After several minutes, he seemed pleased with the size of the hole, and stuck the book in it. From his pocket, he pulled out a set of matches and struck one against the small cardboard case holding many more matches. He held it against the book until the flames caught.
After the book was completely consumed by the fire and turned to ashes, he covered it with the dirt and turned back to Onora. As he did this whole process, she had been standing there wallowing in her thoughts. She replayed what he had said numerous times. He was right about it all. Although she had not even known God was once a thing, she felt demoralized.
The man had explained that there was no point in life. There was no hope for anyone and although the population decreased rapidly, the human race was still destroying the earth and soon they would all be gone. Soon there would be very few people which meant no food, meaning the result would be no people whatsoever. Her life meant nothing as of 10 minutes previous to then.
Onora felt the man's pain and decided maybe he was smart in his decision to end the misery. After thinking it over quickly, she decided she might as well do it too, since her life was meaningless.
As if he read her thoughts, the man walked towards Onora and handed her what must have been an extra rope.