Here is the audiobook:

https://youtu.be/-eH9qvFy0hs

Either way, you were always there, even when I didn't want you to be or want to listen. Unfortunately, I didn't realize I could actually hurt someone by trying to help them."

Charles nodded, "don't kid yourself. I couldn't put the bottle down, and two DWIs and a crying toddler in the back seat should be enough of a wake-up call. I admit I was a piece of crap, but sometimes you just get so depressed that you just don't care what you do, who you hurt, or who might miss you if you decide to check out one day."

For a moment that didn't seem as though it were going to end, the upper half of the planet no longer moved away. Charles and Lauren noticed this and studied it. They watched the space between the two halves of the earth, and soon, the space between them began to shrink. The two halves of the planet were now gravitationally locked and moving toward each other.

Charles said, "looks like all of that is going to crush us. Unless you think we can cross half the planet in less than fifteen minutes, I suggest we just lay back and enjoy. I guess."

Lauren sat down in the interstate and extended her hand for another cigarette. She lit it up and filled her lungs with smoke.

She said, "I—I, ugh, how do you smoke these? God, they're terrible."

Charles laughed, "I just put them in and take a puff, and hey! In my defense, I ain't smoked in a long time. Anyway, how was your honeymoon?"

Lauren laughed, "dad, this oxygen depletion is making me loopy, because this shouldn't be funny, considering I was just in the Bahamas with David." Lauren thought for a moment, and said, "hypoxia! That's what it's called, and us drinking whiskey is just making the hypoxia worse, or, well, all things considered, better."

Charles smiled, "right, all things considered. I suppose, since we can't do anything, we might as well sit around a get drunk. Only got maybe fifteen minutes left, right?"

Lauren looked beyond the horizon, and into the space between the two folds of planet, which was now closing. She said, "oh yeah, based on the research other scientists have done on giant space monsters eating the outer core of planets and those planets collapsing, yes, fifteen minutes is typical. Yes, dad."

Charles chuckled and puffed on his cigarette. He didn't know if he felt at ease because of the hypoxia, alcohol, or the fact that he knew death was imminent, but he felt a sense of ease knowing that neither he or his daughter would have to die alone.

A global catastrophe, such as this, left everyone with nowhere to go, nowhere to escape, and because the atmosphere will be soon be scrubbed away, all will perish.

The top half of the planet made its descent, and covered the bottom half the same way a large sheet of paper covers a small one. As the top half of the planet drifted farther overhead and inched closer, darkness encompassed them. Lauren removed her cellphone and turned on the flashlight. The screen was cracked, but the phone still did its job. She shined the flashlight onto her father, who had decided to lay down on the pavement.

He said, "I'm feeling extremely dizzy, and it's getting real hard to catch my breath."

Lauren laid down beside him and scooted next to his arm. She said, "it's hypoxia. Soon, I imagine we'll start feeling like we're suffocating."

Charles said, "that stupid other half better fall now, I don't want to go through that." He squeezed her hand, and said, "you would've been a fantastic doctor. At least you won't have to worry about student loans."

Lauren laughed, "maybe in another life I can. But I can't default on loans, even if the world is ending. The gov't will still try to figure out how to get that money, even if I'm dead," she coughed, and felt her throat begin to tighten. Together they wheezed, and the sound of earth crashing into itself surfaced.

Lauren said, "love you, dad." She waited for his response and heard nothing. As she lay down, she refused to look at him, and imagined that he said he loved her as well. The warmth of his hand diminished, and Lauren released it. She lifted her father's lifeless arm and wrapped herself with it.

She, too, began to wheeze, and struggled to catch her breath, until she could catch it no more. There they lay on I-215, father and daughter. Not a breeze pushed against them as the top half of the planet fell upon them, and everyone else.

As the eye remained in space, the planet took on its new shape, something resembling an oblong potato, and due to the lack of atmospheric pressure, the oceans across the world either spilled into open space or boiled off where they were. One by one, species after species, succumbed to the lack of oxygen. The forests, savannahs, and oceans were teeming with corpses. The cities, interstates, countries, and tribes were brimming with carcasses.

And the eye, repulsive, and disgusting as it was, watched with a vacant stare. It watched as hours became days, and days became months. It watched as the water became puddles, and the green vegetation became brown and die. The earth, a once beautiful home to countless creatures, had become a home only for the dead.