UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DA BAHIA

INSTITUTO DE LETRAS
LETB43 - LÍNGUA INGLESA EM NÍVEL INTERMEDIÁRIO
DOCENTE: RAFAEL CARDOSO
DISCENTE: ANDRÉ ALEXANDRINO RIBEIRO

WRITTEN ACTIVITY NO.2

In this activity, you may choose between three possible writing topics. Indicate your topic of choice and write
your text below. Happy writing!

1 - A place that you would like to visit and what you would do there;
2- A social problem/issue that you think needs changing and how can we obtain that change;
3 - Creative writing - Short story/Fable/Fanfic

Goodbye World

Prologue

God fell from the sky. Like a meteor shower, his limbs each fell into the ocean and cities. Colossal monuments,
scattered around the globe, like a memento that it was the end. The sky turned deep blue, and the moon became a beacon.
First, the animals vanished, followed by the adults right after. The sea level rose, overflowing the cities, and besides any
sign of life, somehow, the TVs were airing an announcement: The world ends at midnight.

act. 1 - Longing

Lull. The sea was calm, with no wind to violate its longing. It was so calm that it almost felt like it was
frozen in time. No fish could swim beneath it, and no boat could ship above it either. The great and evermore
shining vast moon reflected its image to the great sea, and in the middle of it, a reminder of the end, an
almighty piece of god. A long arm trying to reach the skies. Sitting there, on the hill next to the beach, I thought
about how I used to think the world would end in fire and screams. A big meteor crashing down on Earth, with
no god to help us. Everyone looting the stores and crying everywhere… But this was serene. No scream. No
looting. No crying. Kinda underwhelming in a way.
 - Hey - a female voice strikes me from behind - I found a boat, you ready?

There was a moment of silence before I said something. I had a last look at the view, and with a sigh, I
slowly got up, ready to turn away and make my way to the end of times. I grabbed my bike and walk in the
direction of the girl up on the hill.

- Ready. - I said to her, with a gentle smile on my face.

- The boat is this way.- she said aloud while smiling back at me.
- Okay, do I need to ride the bike?
- Yes, I’m tired of walking while you stood there doing nothing.
- Hey!

We laughed.

act. 2 - Emptiness

The streets had been overflowde by seawater, with no car to drive through, or a way for me to ride my
bike. the house islands were a sight to be seen, as well as the skyscrapers, now serving as golf tracks for the
rest of the kids. The only way to traverse the sea of houses was by boat.

- Isn’t it funny? - the girl said to me while looking at the houses and skyscrapers, with her hand on the
water.
- Riding a boat in the middle of the city? - I answered while making sure the boat was going the right way.
- Yeah - she said with a smile - It reminds me of those movies and video games that take place after the
downfall of civilization.
- I mean, it's kind of what happened to us, isn’t it?

There was a moment of silence. Of contemplation. It was really silent. Usually, there would be a lot of
cars and people down these streets at this time of the day. I would probably come back from school, stop by
the comics store, and take a look at what was new in the superhero universe. Then I would go eat some fast
food offscreen, by the hill up the beach, so that my mom doesn’t complain about me eating trash right before
dinner. Then I would go home and wait for mom to come back from work. I wish I could have said goodbye to
her before she vanished.
- Yo, my house is there! - she pointed her finger with excitement.
- Wanna go take a visit? - I said joking.
- Nope, we still have a long journey to go, and it’s almost midnight. - she answered without letting her
smile go away.

After a while, we arrived at the streets where the water was no longer deep. It was a goodbye for little
boaty. I took my bike off it and set the boat free. I don’t know if it was an effect of traveling together with this
girl, or if it was because the world was ending, but I was kind of sad to left boaty behind. Somehow it felt like
saying goodbye to an old-new friend. I sat on the bike, and the girl sat right behind me, putting her arms
around me. and I started to ride my old bike to our next destination before the last one.
 You could see the moon in the sky getting closer and closer. With thousands of stars being born every
second. The almighty arm of god kept standing still in the middle of the sea, still trying to touch the moon. I
could see her face, but I knew the girl was mesmerized by the view. Who wouldn’t? After a while, we finally
arrived at the aquarium.
- You sure you wanna go there? - I asked her, still trying to make sense of the reason to visit this place - I
mean, you remember that the fishes are gone, right?
- I had never been to the aquarium before, too scared of sharks. - her eyes were shining, like a child
seeing Santa Claus for the first time.
- Well, let’s go then. - I said while entering the building together with her.

Not surprisingly, the building was empty. The big entrance hall cried for people to fill its void halls with a
giant whale skeleton hovering over us. The aquariums were empty, but the girl... She looked at every one of
them like she could see the fishes. There was a big corridor that would go inside one of the big aquariums.
Just seaweed and rocks, with the light of the aquarium passing through the water.

- So here we would see some little sharks. - I told her, catching glimpses of when my mother brought me
here when I was little.
- Scary. - she said, never letting her eyes look away from the sea of nothingness.
- Wanna see the big sharks aquarium? - I temptingly asked her.
- Hell yeah, I ain’t afraid of no shark.

I laughed.
We kept walking down the hallway, always looking at the empty aquariums on our way. I started to copy
her, always looking deep in the aquariums, watching the ghost fishes swim, paying respect to them. until we
arrived at the big one. The big shark's aquarium. I was so involved in imagining fishes that when I look through
the glass I almost screamed. for a fraction of time, I saw a big shark there, looking at me, menacing.
- Even without a shark, it still brings shivers to the spine. - she said, with one hand grabbing her other
arm, like she was scared.
- I think I cried when I saw the sharks here when I was little. - I started remembering, maybe to relieve
the tension. - My mom got desperate because I would stop crying out loud. Then another kid came to me and
gave me a little shark. - The girl was looking at me now, paying attention to everything I was saying. - She said
“Here, don’t be afraid, you’re bigger than him.”, and then I stopped. She petted me and then she went away. I
never saw that kid again. - I finished with a smile on my face.
- Aw that’s a cute story. - she said with a smile - but if you want me to tell you that I was that kid, I’m sorry
but this is my first time here.
- Well, I tried.

We laughed.
We left the building, ready to go to the last place we wanted to go. The sky was the same since the
morning, deep blue with the moon and stars up there, and no clouds allowed. The only way to know the time
was with our smartphone, and it was almost midnight.

- Did you have fun? - I asked her while getting ready to sit on my bike.
- Yes, thanks for bringing me here before the end. - she said while also getting ready to sit on my bike.

We look at the aquarium for the last time, and then I started to ride my bike to our last destination.
 act. 3 - Exhale

The lighthouse was away from the city, on the top of a hill, watching everything from afar. Its majestic
look was one to be seen. It was a perfect place for us to watch the end of the world.
We were almost at the summit of the hill, and even if it was almost midnight, there was never cold.
Somehow the temperature was pleasant. Like we moon was taking care of me. Her gentle ghostly arms
around me, like I were her child. And before I could take notice, we had finally arrived at the lighthouse.
We dropped the bike and stormed our way into the lighthouse, we were excited, and kept talking while
climbing up the stairs. And then, we finally got to the summit of the lighthouse. The view was incredible. We
could see the entire city, flooded with water, and the beach on the other side, with the lull sea, with the hand of
god almost touching the moon. It was nice.

- Do you regret giving me a ride? - she asked with a smile on her face, she knew the answer.
- Haha, you’re really gonna throw that at my face uh? - I smiled back.

It was her fault that I didn’t spend my last day lying down on the beach. A completely strange girl that I
had never seen before, asked me to give her a ride because she didn’t know how to ride a bike. It was a fun
day.
- I said thanks to me before, but I should be the one saying that. You actually made the last day of the
world seems fun.
- Yes, I did - she said with a smirk on her face, right after laughing.

- Did you ever think about how you would die, before the end of the world?
- Not really, I just didn’t want it to be painful. - I said.
- Lame. - disappointment came out of her mouth - I always wanted to die in a plane crash when I was
really old, so I would have done everything I wanted and not die on a bed.
- What you wanted to do?
- Go to art school, travel the world, etc. - then she turned to me - what about you?
- I don’t know. I always imagined myself dying in this city. Well, it seems that I was right…

We spent a good thirty minutes together chatting about everything, and with every pass of minute, we
were closer to the end.

- You know what is crazy? - her eyes were fixated on the moon.
- Wait, crazier than the existence of a god, the death of the same, and the end of the world? - I said with
a joking tone. - Please indulge me. - she laughed.

There was silence for a full minute.

- That’s what I’m talking about. This silence. This deafening silence.
 It took me a minute to understand what she was saying. It was like everyone, myself included, was okay
with the end of the world coming out of nowhere. Like everyone suddenly vanishing and god falling from the
sky was something normal. Like I didn’t have plans for tomorrow.

- Now that you said it, yeah, it is silent. - I answered her.

- Don’t this makes you feel mad?
- It kinda does.

Suddenly I heard the sound of someone inhaling so hard the air, like a mad dog ready to attack. I turned
to her and saw her breathing in like she wanted to fill her lungs completely. And when she filled her lungs, she
screamed. I didn’t understand what was happening until she said to me:

- Why don’t you scream too? - she looked at me excited.

I screamed too, from the top of my lungs. And we kept screaming. We wanted the world to know that we
wouldn’t let the world end in silence. And after that, we looked at each other's faces and laughed again. While
looking at her face I realized something.

- You are wondering why we never said each other names right? - she said, like someone who was
reading my mind. - but now it’s too late. I don’t want to hear your name, and I’m not gonna say mine either.
- Why?
- When things have names you get attached. And if we get attached, we’ll start to get sad that the world
is ending. And then we’re gonna start to blame each other for getting sad. - she made a brief pause - So no
names.
- I don’t know if I agree- before I could finish the sentence, she put her index thing on top of my lips, she
didn’t have to say anything, by I understood. It’s time, let’s pay attention to the end. And so I turned away to
watch the moon, now just a second away from touching the hand of the god.
It was time, midnight, one second to the end of everything. I was at peace, but before the world could
end, I heard something.

- Will you remember me after the world ends?

act. 4 - Yes.

The hand of the god finally touched the moon, causing a little wave from the impact. The northern lights
appeared in the sky, and the sea then started to shine bright and brighter. A shining blue. Suddenly the Moon
was the center of the universe, and all the stars started to spin around the gravity of the Moon. Getting faster
every fraction of an impossible second. The water started to float like the Moon was calling it. The entire world
started to deform into impossible shapes because of the gravity of the Moon. Then a crack. A crack between
the hand and the Moon. And with the crack, a vision. A memory. A memory from the future. From tomorrow.
Like the world didn’t end. Like it was all a dream. Another crack, and another memory. I can see my back. It’s
some years in the future. And another crack with another memory, and another, and another. And then the sky
fell. Revealing mesmerizing fractals behind it. The structures started to disappear, turning into some kind of
transparent gas. It was all so impossible fast. I didn’t even have the time to blink before everything went dark.

act. 5 - 00:00:00

The world ended.