“I won’t be hurting anyone. The box doesn’t do anything. It’s just a stupid box with a stupid button, but it’s been in my head for my entire life, like a constant whine in my ear. All I have to do to be rid of it is just press the thing. That’s all. Easy as that. I’ll press it, no one will get hurt, the world won’t end, and I won’t have to listen to that whine any more. I won’t have to dream about gears and symbols. I’ll be able to close my eyes and not see how one cog fits into the other. I’ll be able to live in the kind of peace that my mother never could.

“You don’t… you don’t know. You don’t know what it was like, seeing her… seeing what happened to her. Seeing how bad it got. When I was ten years old, she sat me down and told me these dreams I had would only get worse. She told me they’d consume my life, like they were consuming hers. This is my chance to escape that madness. Please, just leave me alone. This is the only chance I’ll ever have.”

“It isn’t madness you’re suffering from,” said the girl. “My friend, the one that’s out there right now fighting on your front lawn, told me what you are. You’re a conduit for an idea, an idea that was planted centuries ago. It’s grown inside the minds of your ancestors, been added to, been improved… and here, tonight, it’s finally ready. You’re not mad, Conor. Your mother isn’t mad. You’re just open to a stream of information that the rest of us aren’t.”

“So who planted it?” Conor asked. “This idea you’re talking about. Whose idea was it? The Mayans?”

“The Mayan people just foresaw the end,” said the man from beside the door. Conor hadn’t even heard him come back in. “They had nothing to do with this. We don’t know who started it. We don’t even know if ending the world was what was originally intended. All we know is that our Sensitives had visions of a man in a dark room, building a box, and when he pressed the button everything just… ended.”

“Then how did you know it was me?”

“They heard a train in the distance.”

“That’s it? That’s all?”

“That narrowed it down,” said the man. “A few other hints. A few other clues. Why haven’t you pushed the button?”

“Why haven’t I…? But you don’t want me to.”

“That’s not why you haven’t pushed it. Your finger’s on it. There’s nothing stopping you. Why haven’t you?”

“I don’t… I’m not sure.”