Beyond My World

Three

I take into consideration what Dad had said about hiding. I really do. But after an internal debate with myself, I decide against it. 

Despite my newfound confidence, doubt still sprouts in my stomach, and as I pace up and down the stairs, I can't help but feel overwhelmed. I only become dead-set on my decision when I notice the sky changing and something indistinct looming behind the clouds. Indistinct yet very ominous.

No, not a spaceship. That would be ridiculous; those things don't exist.

I'm not sure what it is, actually. The thing looks like some kind of tornado-blackhole-hurricane, all dark and taunting. I'm not sure what tornadoes, blackholes, and hurricanes look like, but what I do know is that I absolutely canNOT stay in the house alone with that thing just a few blocks away.

Well, it looks like a few blocks, but for all I know it's closer than that. 

Disregarding the unearthly object in the sky, I think it's because I'm sick of Dad hiding things from me that I won't allow myself to sit at home without having a hint about what's going on.

In Dad's office, I search up where the Armstrong Space and Science Administration is with the help of Google Maps. All the while, the computer is spazzing out, ding ding ding ding dinging, not only with emails for Dad but emails for me, too. "AkgKDsghFGsGGHftyTHD," they say. "OIJdkjfJDdmDOIk," they say, and there are so many more that make no sense at all. It's just... weird.

I hop on my bike, literally throw myself on, and pedal as hard as I possibly can while trying to ignore the colossal thing in the sky. Looking at it from my bike instead of through a grimy window, it looks a lot like the sun. Except bigger, darker, way closer to earth...

The leaves fall from a tree to the right of me. Actually, they fall from all the trees on this particular street. It's like they were on a set timer, like 3...2....1...fall! And when I say fall, I don't mean they float to the ground like they do during autumn. I mean they plummet to the ground, every single leaf in unison, like they're all connected with invisible strings. Like they surrendered  to gravity, accepted their fates.

People are peering through windows, taking pictures, gaping from their porches. They've never seen anything like this. It must be an alien invasion, a new type of storm, the end of the world! And, what luck, it's happening during a boring summer day, too! How exciting!

As I pedal into a new street, I can tell my neighborhood isn't the only one being affected by this weird sensation. All the trees are stripped bare on this new street, and the next, and the next. At one point, I almost start to pity Dad. Before all this began, the sun was out, the sky blue, the trees gleaming. The soft cumulus clouds were clearing away for the rest of the day as if they knew they weren't wanted.

Perfect vacation weather.