Picture this; the night sky is full of richness with blues and the purest of black. Crickets sang a little song to each other as if a love song was being played. Little droplets of dew dripped down from a single blade of grass and onto the damp earth below it. Although it was night, tiny insects scattered about looking for food or their way home. Small little animals cuddled themselves up in their own homes as the crickets chirped. This was life. The beautiful and peaceful side of it.
A few miles away from the forest was a busy bustling city where cars zipped by, people walked on sidewalks and stores were still open for business. This was New York City. Although this was a beautiful city with large buildings, it was far from peaceful. Sirens filled the air every few seconds, babies cried, a family was falling apart somewhere, a teenager was getting into fist fights in a dark alley. Something was always happening in this imperfect loud city.
From afar, the earth looked beautiful without a care in the world. But farther out past the atmosphere and the moon, something was terribly wrong. Through the inky black came a blaze of blue. The comet moved like a dream through the vast darkness. Its brilliant blue was glittering as it made its way towards earth. Soon, this comet would become a nightmare.
Back on earth, Lake Michaelson, was sitting in his living room watching the news in his one bedroom apartment in New York. A few flashing lights lit up his room for a split second and police zipped by the complex. Lake shook his head. It was always something in this city, he would think.
“The world would be better off without all this crime,” Lake said, moving to the window to glance out as the police cars disappeared.
He sat on a stool next to the window and looked up at the night sky. The blue blaze was bigger now. Lake had noticed it a few nights ago when it was just a bright blue dot in the sky.
“Hope that’s just a comet passing the earth,” Lake said, sipping a warm cup of milk.
On the other side of the city in a dark room, sat Briar Phrazer. A quiet dirty blonde haired girl who let art inspire her to keep her going. She sat on a stool and stared blankly at her canvas, wondering what to paint. Briar tilted her head to the left side and closed her opposite eye. She held her thumb up towards the canvas and just sighed.
“This is pointless,” she said, a slight distinctive accent.
Briar stood up and walked to the window and stared up at the sky. There were too many lights in the city, she couldn’t see the stars. But one stood out brighter than the rest of them. Briar leaned over the window as if trying to get a better look.
“Is that a comet or a black hole?” she asked out loud.
She snapped her fingers as if an inspiration just came to mind and she rushed to her canvas. Briar moved her art station closer to the window so she could begin her masterpiece. Her brush strokes were interrupted by the earth suddenly shaking.
Car alarms went off, dogs barked, people screamed as the earth shook. Things flew out of cabinets and off the walls. Briar quickly rushed to hide under her kitchen table until the earthquake subsided.
“I didn’t know New York had earthquakes,” she said, everything settling as quick as it came.
She turned the tv on to hear the news. There was only static followed by an eerie silence outside. Briar stepped closer to her window and peeked out to look around. The streets were dark making the sky look brighter as the blue blaze comet in the sky grew closer. Her eyes went wide and she quickly grabbed her phone and dialed her parents.
“Hello?” her mother answered sleepily.
“Mom! I think something is happening over here,” Briar said in a panic, looking up at the bright sky. “I think a comet is about to crash into the earth. Can you and dad see anything?”
“Hang on,” her mom said.
There were a few moments of phone silence then her mom’s voice screamed, “There’s a comet coming close to the earth!”
Briar’s hand flew to her mouth in shock. “Mom, get somewhere safe! Please! I love you!”
*****
Back on the other side of the city, Lake was just about to crawl into bed when the earth shook violently under his feet. He could hear his neighbors yelling and things fell off the walls and cabinets. He fell down on his hands and knees and curled himself up into fetal position until the earthquake subsided.
“Lake, are you okay?” his neighbor asked through the wall.
“I’m good,” Lake said. “What the hell was that?”
“A big earthquake. Brace yourself for the after shock,” his neighbor instructed.
Lake looked out his window and noticed the comet was a lot closer now. The sky was a bright blue haze and dark shadows moved as the comet moved. He looked down into the street and watched as people went into panic and amazement.
“The comet is known to hit earth in the next twenty minutes,” the news reporter said on a radio above Lake’s apartment. “There has been no warning from the government about this comet, therefore no hope in survival… hug your loved ones. Find a safe place if you can. And may God have mercy on the human race.”
Lake’s eyes grew wide after hearing this spine chilling report. People started rioting in the streets and all chaos broke loose. Gun fire went off and screams could be heard from miles away. There was a sudden commotion in Lake’s apartment complex as footsteps and yelling were heard out in the hallway. Lake stood there in shock not knowing what to do. Was the world ending… just like that?
*****
Briar held the phone in one hand while her free hand covered her mouth as tears fell down and dripped on the screen. She was hopeful that her parents found somewhere safe, if there was a way of being safe. She suddenly heard yelling outside of her door.
“Hurry up, Chuck!” a woman was yelling. “We need to find a safe place before the comet hits in twenty minutes!”
Briar’s eyes widened and she opened the door to catch the couple before they left.
“Is there a safe zone?” Briar quickly asked before they went down the stairs.
“There’s a safe military bunker a few miles away from here. You can come with us if you need a ride,” the woman said.
Briar nodded her thanks, disappeared in her room and grabbed a few things and left with the couple.
The streets of New York were in utter chaos as people ran around throwing bricks and anything they could get their hands on through windows of stores and cars. Briar held her bag tightly close to her as she watched someone rob another person.
“You’d think people would have common sense and find a safe place instead of committing every illegal crime,” Briar said.
The couple agreed and just when the lady was about to say something, the wheels on the car screeched loudly as the driver hit the brakes to avoid hitting a group of teenagers that were breaking windows.
“Get us out of here!” the lady said, tugging on her husband’s shirt sleeve.
Her husband maneuvered the car and zipped by the group, dodging obstacles in the way. Just when they thought they were safe, a large truck slammed into the car with full force causing them to tumble.
*****
Lake grabbed a baseball bat out of his closet and slowly opened the front door. He wasn’t sure if the shooter was still near so he exited his room cautiously. He held the bat close to his torso and made his way down the hall to where his neighbors were. The door was slightly ajar so he slipped in and looked around. The place was trashed but he didn’t find anyone.
“I need to get somewhere safe,” he said, turning to leave.
His eyes were met with sad little ones. A little girl about five years old stood there with a teddy bear in her arms. She had been crying, from the looks of her tear stained face and messy hair.
“Where’s your parents?” Lake asked, kneeling down to her level and lowering his bat.
She sniffed. “A bad man killed them.”
Lake had a catch in his throat. The shots he heard did harm someone. He gave her a small smile and offered her his hand.
“Want to come with me and go somewhere safe?” he asked kindly. “We can find a safe house so the bad man won’t find us.”
The little girl nodded slightly. “I want mommy and daddy.”
Lake’s heart dropped as she started sobbing. There was nothing he could say or do to make her feel better except give her a hug. “Let’s get going.”
Once they made it outside, the sight before them made him want to go back to his room and hide in his closet and hope for the best. But he needed to get the little girl to safety so they made their way down the chaotic street and tried to stay out of the way.
“Pretty light in the sky,” the little girl said, pointing behind them.
Lake turned and saw that the comet had just hit the earth’s atmosphere. Panic set in immediately as he gripped her tightly and started running in whichever direction he thought would be safe. A feeling in the pit of his stomach said there was nowhere safe and the end of humanity was about to happen within seconds. But he kept running in hopes of finding somewhere safe. The little girl clung to him like her life depended on it and she began to cry.
“It’s getting closer, Mister!” she screamed, burying her face in his shoulder.
Everyone was running in a panic on top of each other and pushing one another out of the way. Lake tried so hard to get past the sudden mass of people as the sky seemed to get brighter and brighter. It felt as though the earth shook so hard within seconds of him running down a subway tunnel. The sound of chaos at the surface was heart wrenching and scary. Lake lost his footing and tripped, sending the little girl flying a few inches away from him. He looked up to make sure she was okay and in those exact moments, the ceiling started crashing down around them.
“No!” Lake cried out as a massive chunk of concrete fell between them.
He felt something hit his head and fell into complete darkness. Just as quick as it started, it was silent and still.
Okuduğunuz için teşekkürler!
Ziyaretçilerimize Reklam göstererek Inkspired'ı ücretsiz tutabiliriz. Lütfen Reklam Engelleyici'yi beyaz listeye ekleyerek veya devre dışı bırakarak bize destek olun.
Bunu yaptıktan sonra, Inkspired'ı normal şekilde kullanmaya devam etmek için lütfen web sitesini yeniden yükleyin.