Thunder and Cats

The rain fell in great buckets, drenching the street into glistening blackness. It tapped on the roof and the windows, begging to be let in. Raindrops raced down the glass. The heavy odor of ozone permeated the apartment. Lightning flashed outside followed by the rolling thunder. The wind whipped the tree branches against the siding.

Hermes the cat cowered in the corner. He hated thunderstorms. He wanted nothing to do with the bright lights or the loud noises. Nothing good came from bright lights and loud noises. The table he was under did not offer enough protection and he was still nervous.

His owner came home and scooped him up. He was fluffy and scared, but his owner made him feel safe. He purred to comfort himself and her soothing words calmed him down. She climbed into bed and he hid under the covers at her feet. The rain slowed and the wind stopped. Every lightning flash had a softer thunder clap. His owners feet were warm.

Hermes was safe again, he played with her feet until she kicked him out of bed so she could sleep. He came back purring for forgiveness and she let him sleep on her pillow.

Sunshine

It was bright, beautiful, and blazing hot. There was no where else I would rather be than laying out in the sunshine, and feeling the breeze. Cool clear waters of the lake lapped at the rocky beach that lay before us. Scratchy grass tickled our legs and arms. It was dying from the lack of rain. We lay there for hours the sun baking us brown and sweaty. Scratchy grass stuck to our legs as we got up. We sprinted down to the water splashing into the shallows. The cool water soothed our scorched our skin. Smiles plastered across our faces as we dove beneath the glassy surface. My hair was plastered to my neck when I surfaced with a gasp.

I memorized his face, every water covered inch. The way the bring sunshine glinted off of the water on his eyelashes. The way the water sent ripply reflections across his skin. The way his hair stuck up all over the place from running his hands through it. I wanted to remember it all forever. I wanted to remember the coolness of his skin and the heat of the sun, the chill of the water and the pebbles under our feet. I wanted to remember the strength of his arms as they pulled me though the water, the laughter that rang through the empty lake.

We raced through the water, swimming, splashing, and laughing. We dragged our tired bodies out of the water and collapsed onto the scratchy grass. The sun dried us with its now slanting rays. Cool breezes raising goosebumps across our backs. We trudged across the baked asphalt to the car. Suffocating heat emanated when we opened the doors.

Gravel crunched under the tires as we drove through the tree lined streets. Wind whipped through the windows. Deafening music pounded through the speakers. We could hardly hear ourselves think let alone talk. I reached over and took his tanned hand, warm and strong in my own. He smiled just for me. Warmth spread through me, not from the heat outside.

Plans

“I have a plan”

“Is it a good plan?”

“Its a plan?”

We inched away from the toilet papered house. She got the eggs out of her pocket and pointed at the house across the street. He looked at her with disbelief.

“That’s the cops house!”

“Isn’t it brilliant?” She snickered. Launching eggs at the front door.

An angry middle aged man opened the door and she beaned him in the face. Laughing wildly she sprinted away.

“You’re crazy!” He shouted from behind her.

She laughed ripping silly string from her hoodie pouch aiming them at a passing car getting a direct hit. He was struggling to keep up.

“What if they catch us?”

“Just keep running.” She laughed as the man got out of the car and chased her down. She hit the ground had when he tackled her. She sprayed him in the face with the silly string and got back up.

She was panting when she reached the corner and waited for him to catch up.  She held a handful of whip-its.

“You ready.”

He looked around and then realized where they were. “Messing with an off duty cop is one thing, this is downright stupid.”

She tossed a few out trying to get their attention. One came sauntering over.

“What are you kids doing?” The police officer asked.

She snickered pulling out a string of firecrackers, and threw the cop.

“This is not a good plan!” He shouted  starting to run.

She followed after him tossing more whip-its behind her as the firecrackers exploded.

The wail of the police following them made them run faster.

“Through here!” She shouted dragging him across the drainage gap and into a yard. They hopped fences and splashed though damp puddles in strangers yards.

“Why do you have that?” He asked when she pulled out a brown paper bag. She laughed and lit it on fire tossing it on the nearest back porch.

They continued to run from the police, she could not wipe the smile from her face. They ended up back on the street the cop car rolled around the corner before they were able to dart away. Electricity surged through her and she hit the ground.

“We’re just a couple of kids messing around…” She laughed once she could move again.

She was hauled into the back of the cop car. It had been a wild night. He was loaded in next to her.

“Great plan…”

“I know right!” She said gleefully.

Warning Labels

I looked down at my shirt, today I got my first warning label. The words felt like a prison sentience, forever this is how they would all see me. The words blurred before my eyes. Its not like I hadn’t seen them before, a lot of people had them. It changed the way you saw people, it changed the way people saw you. Mine said, “outspoken, violent, foul language.”

I would never be able to change the label they gave me, I could add more labels if I wasn’t careful. I had seen people who’s labels shouted diseases, disabilities, crimes, mine seemed mild compared to what it could have been.

My mother came in looking at my new shirt too. She seemed disappointed in me. She didn’t have any labels yet. “Breakfast is ready.”

I nodded and followed her to the kitchen. “I’m sorry mom.”

She shook her head, there was no fixing what I had done. Even if my reasons were good. I had explained to the authorities what had happened but there was no avoiding the labels. I would be under house arrest until my condition stabilized, meaning no more fights, or yelling, or cursing.

I would be allowed back out eventually. I looked out the window at the people outside, many of them had warning shirts on too. My dad came down his shirt read, “Alcoholic.”  He grabbed some food and headed to work. I knew there would be normalcy eventually, he lived his life with his label I could too.

I didn’t know if I would ever feel normal again with everyone being able to see my demons. They were things I had been fighting to control for years, and just couldn’t get a handle on it this time.

Weeks passed and I got my letter of release. I walked back to my own apartment. I was nice to be home and not under my mothers watchful eye. I felt people without the label shirts on looking at me like I was a direct risk to their safety. The others didn’t even seem to notice me, I was one of them now. I could go back to work in another week, they were working on finishing up my re-employment paperwork. Luckily my manager understood and fought for me to keep my job.

I showed up for work the next week. My coworkers greeted me like I had never left. Most of them already had their labels. Maybe I fit in better now that I had mine. A friend of mine patted me on the back.

“Hey, glad you’re back.” He said.

I settled back into the routine at work. I didn’t feel bad about my label any more, I stopped noticing the weird looks people gave me. Things were back to normal.

Grand Canyon

“Our world is delicate, fragile, linked to all people’s feelings and love.” Grandpa said. “When we love things grow, trees, flowers even mountains. When our love breaks so does our world.”

The group of kids were mystified by their grandfathers story. There was one skeptic. “Really grandpa? How does the world break?”

“The cracks in the sidewalk, the valleys, the holes in our world.” He said.

“What about the Grand Canyon?” The little skeptic said.

Grandpa got lost in thought, looking off into space above all the little kids heads. “That is a very sad story are you sure you want to hear it.”

The little kids all nodded their heads excitedly.

He took a deep breath.

“There once was a man who had never caused a crack. He hadn’t felt any heart break. He loved only on the surface. He had not allowed anything to grow either. He kept himself guarded. He had friends and family who loved him with all their hearts. Their love made the flowers bloom for him.

He saw the cracks in the sidewalks and didn’t think anything of them. He didn’t understand, he didn’t know how someone could get hurt from love. Then he met a girl.

Everything he had thought before was wrong. He made flowers bloom and trees grow. Their love made grass grow in the cracks and holes of the world. Just looking at how deeply in love they were gave other people hope that they would recover and love again. He loved her so fiercely, with every bit of his heart. She loved him back. Every look they exchanged showed their love.

He believed they were meant to be together forever. She did not feel the same way. He found out in the most heart breaking way that she had fallen in love with another. He came home to find them, she looked at this man the way he looked at her. His heart felt like it shattered into a million pieces. She was his true love.

He could hear the ground tearing itself apart. He had given her all his love. Outside the greenery was dying. A huge canyon had opened up delving into the earth thousands of feet. He walked to the edge of it looking into the rift. He could hear her laughter caused by the other man. The canyon grew and stretched. He lost sight of it. Every thought he had made the canyon grow.

He was never seen again after that.”

The little kids looked at him in awe.

“Now its not all bad. Slowly other people’s love made the greenery slowly grow back. The river down the middle is also from love, a turbulent but strong love. People who were inspired by their love, hopeful people who had caused cracks and holes. They were not afraid to love just because they might get hurt, but because there would be more people to love.”

The little kids smiled. One little girl sat in the corner crying for the poor man. Grandpa smiled as several little kids went over to her and hugged her till she felt better. Her smile made him smile.

 

Midnight

She ransacked his belongings while he slept. She hadn’t expected to be caught up this way. Her mission was to find the key and get out not sleep with him. Searching frantically she started to panic, her mind racing.

He had been so charismatic so charming, she had the hardest time pulling herself out of the fantasy. She knew she might get terminated for falling in to bed with a target, her only chance was to get the key. She searched his whole house pulling dishes out of cupboards, clothes out of closets, and junk out of drawers. She even looked through every pair of pants he had to find it. It was nowhere.

She could hear him moving around in the bedroom. She was making too much noise. Taking deep breaths to calm herself, it wasn’t helping. She rushed around trying to find the stupid key.

“Wendy, what are you doing?” He said sleepily coming into the kitchen where she had every pot and pan out on the counter.

She stood there awkwardly in her underwear. She had no idea what to say.

“Its too early for breakfast.” He muttered looking at the clock on the wall. “Come back to bed.”

She nodded and followed him back to his room curling up next to him. He pulled her close wrapping his arms around her. She lay there stiffly trying to relax. She really did like him, but she had a mission to complete. Once he was snoring away again she extracted herself from his embrace and started looking around again.

It was nearly morning before she found it, pressed between two pages in a book. She tucked the key into her bra for safe keeping. She got back into bed and pretended to wake up next to him.

“Don’t you have to go to work today?” She asked him rubbing fake sleep from her eyes.

“Yeah…” He muttered rolling over.

She rummaged around his destroyed room and found her clothes from last night. She dressed and headed to the kitchen.

“I’ve got to get going.” She said.

“I’ll call you again some time. Last night was fun.” He said mostly into his pillow.

She grabbed her purse and slipped out the door leaving his place in ruins. She whipped out her cellphone. “I got it.”

“Your methods are unusual…” The voice on the other line said. “We will be watching you. You will be at the rendezvous point in twenty minutes. No excuses.”

She nodded and started running, she flagged down the first taxi she could find. She hopped out before it had finished moving and made a mad dash for the cafe.

Her trainer was seated in the back corner, looking at his watch impatiently. She sat down across from him.

“Cutting it close aren’t you.” He said.

She sat there panting for a few moments before handing the key over. He took it without saying a word, examined it, then placed it in his pocket.

“You are excused.” He said waving his hand dismissively.

“Aren’t you going to give me my next mission?” She should have been given a packet with her next target.

“Your actions are under review.” He said, “You are a civilian until further notice.”

She hung her head, at least she hadn’t been terminated. The secrets she had now were a threat to the organization, if they let her go it would be a death warrant. Since she walked away alive it meant she had done something right.

Halfway down the street she noticed her tail. A man in a coat was following her. Maybe she hadn’t been so lucky. She tried to shake him, but he was good at his job. She stopped and turned around suddenly turning to chase him. She managed to get a look at his face, it was the guy from last night.

“Wait,” She yelled people were turning to look at her as she chased after him. He took a sharp turn and disappeared down an alley. She followed him but couldn’t see him anymore, she didn’t know what way he had gone out the other side.

“Maybe they should terminate me, if I couldn’t catch one tail.” She muttered to herself walking dejectedly down the street. She looked through her phone for the number he had given her last night, she gave it a ring. Her purse started ringing.

“What…” She dug though it to find his phone with her number displayed. She looked between the two phones. Another call was coming in on his phone. She didn’t know if she should answer it or not.

She decided not to and dropped the phone on the ground. Her new mission was to be a civilian, and she would do that perfectly. She blended back in with the crowd leaving the ringing cellphone behind. She didn’t want to have any more black marks on her record. She went back to her normal home life with her cat, becoming inconspicuous. She hoped she wouldn’t have to wait too long for them to reinstate her.

The sniper on the roof of the building looked at the petite girl holding two cellphones. His orders were clear, shoot if she answered. She looked like she was going to, she nearly hit the button then surprisingly she dropped it on the ground. He had expected her to at least put it back in her bag. She was quite unorthodox, she had been good in bed too. He smirked as he followed her with his scope making sure she didn’t turn back to get it.

“All clear,” He said into his microphone. He put the gun back in the case and left it on the roof for later retrieval by the team  he sprinted down the fire escape and blended back in with the crowd.

Blood

“I knew what you were from the beginning. I could smell the blood on you. You were born to spill blood, boy.” The words echoed in my head over and over. The dream had shaken me to my very core. The owl who had spoken them also lingered in my thoughts.

I headed to the kitchen for breakfast. I was just an ordinary kid doing ordinary things, not a man standing on a literal field of blood. I ate my cereal and headed to school I told my friends about the dream and they had looked at me like I was crazy.

Mom had me talk to my therapist about the dream, he told me not to worry, it was just a dream. This reassured my mom at least, to me it felt more like a premonition.

The next week something happened that blew my mind. I had a sword. It happened while I was reading one of my favorite books the main character pulled a sword out of a hat. Boom, sword in hand. It was beyond weird. It was real and sharp, the gash on my hand proved that.

I hid it under my bed. I had forgotten about until I moved out. Yeah, I know how do you forget about a fucking sword, but I did. I was packing up for college when I found it dusty but still sharp. I packed it up with my stuff and took it to my new place. That is not something you want your parents to find.

It’s also not something you want the cops to find I learned. It was confiscated when my roommate got caught with dope. I got it back eventually, but not before I needed it.

Needless to say that damn bird was right, I was born to spill blood. Even without my sword I was more deadly than I thought, which any level would have been more deadly. I could hardly kill a spider before the guy attacked me, but he was dead. It happened so fast I don’t really know how, but the damage was done.

I called the police to turn myself in but it was in self defense, and I didn’t have a weapon. They told me he had a gun and I was lucky to be alive. They don’t let you have your sword back after something like that. I went back home and it was back under my bed.

I felt like I was going crazy. I half expected some wise old guy to come out of the woodwork and tell me he was going to teach me all the secrets of the sword. I did not expect some old dude to try to straight up murder me in my bed. I was really glad I had my sword then. This guy had some moves for looking like he was a million.

So there was another dead guy in my apartment. I took this as a sign to move on, I didn’t even bother to cancel the lease. Once out of town I thought it was safe. I was wrong, seems like that happens a lot. Within a week there were more people trying to come after me. Not just at home either, just on the street they would attack me.

The body count kept rising. Once it went over twenty people I freaked out.

I couldn’t explain any of it. It was like all instinct. The farther from home I got the more people attacked me. I had managed to move half way around the world trying to get away from this, and it just got worse. I stood on a field of blood. Bodies of my enemies behind me my sword was soaked with blood and gore. I had beaten them, an owl hooted in the distance.

Falling Sun

Last night the sun didn’t set. It fell. Our world was plunged into darkness. There was no moon to light their way. The starts were all extinguished leaving only inky black sky above their heads.

The first night was not the hardest. The morning when it didn’t come back up was much worse. The uncertainty gripped the quiet town.

“Caleb!” His mother screamed, “Where are you?”

Caleb rounded the corner. “What?”

“I thought I had lost you.” She sobbed.

Caleb had expected this, he knew once the sun fell it wasn’t coming back up. He had read the articles the government had released about the dangers of orbit alteration. Most of his small town had agreed with the corporations that there was no danger, it was just a myth.

“You know mom, we should really move out of here.” He told her.

“Our family has lived here for generations, why would we move?”

“Momma, you know we don’t have the supplies we need here. Who knows how long its going to take for the sun to come back up!” He knew how long it was going to take, exactly a year.

He could tell she knew it was true, but she still didn’t want to leave.

“Did you read the articles?” He asked knowing she hadn’t. “It’s going to be a long time before they get their Second Sun Initiative in place here. We won’t survive the drop in temperatures. Plus we don’t have enough food stored up to last more than a few months.”

She looked at him sadly. “Caleb I don’t think I can leave this place. I’ve got too many memories here.”

“Please mom, lets go.”

She shook her head.

“You know I can’t just leave you.”

“Jimmy next door will take care of me.” She said referring to their neighbor who lived a few miles away.

“Hes got his daughter to look after mom.” He crossed his arms.

“I’ll go talk to him.” His mother grabbed up a flashlight and headed out the door.

Caleb flicked through the radio stations, all the local ones were dead air. He came across one out of the big city. It was mostly commercials but the bits of news were interesting. The Moonshade Project was already up and running, it would help regulate the temperature of the areas under the sun. It had been installed decades ago to help combat global warming and they had been working on updating it to control the new problem.

His mother came back in a huff. “I guess you were right.”

“About what?” Caleb quipped he had been right about a lot of things recently.

“Jimmy is more concerned about his daughter. He did mention if you took her with you he might be able to help.”

“Why won’t you just come with me?”

“Caleb, I’m staying right here and that’s final. Maybe there are some other young people you could take with you. I would feel better if you weren’t alone.”

Sure, he thought. He was feeling defeated, there was no winning with his mother. He headed up the road to Jimmy’s place. There seemed to be a similar problem from the shouting inside. Caleb knocked.

“Hey kiddo.” Jimmy said opening the door wide. “Come on in.”

He was grateful, it was starting to get chilly outside.

“We have to get moving.” Jimmy’s daughter said. “The baby won’t stand a chance in the cold.”

“She’s staying here with me.” Jimmy said.

“Dad she’s going to die if you keep her here.”

“I’ll keep her safe you come back with the supplies.” He said “Caleb’s mother will be helping me.”

“You can’t all stay here!” She shouted. “You’ll die dad. Every single person who stays here is going to die.”

“We’ve survived everything else so far. We will survive this too.” Jimmy said.

“Samantha, let’s go…” Caleb said gently.

There was no convincing any of the older generation to join them. Most of their peers refused to budge too. A few promised to join them later once their families were safe. In the end it was just them traversing the wilderness between their land and the nearest city.

“Sam, do you really think all of them are going to die?” Caleb asked as they set up camp for the night.

She silently made the fire. The look on her face said yes. Caleb didn’t want to believe that, but he knew their chances were slim. He pulled his jacket closer feeling chill from more than just the air.

The rest of the night was silent. When they had both rested enough they trudged through the darkness. Snow started to fall.

“The sun shouldn’t be that far off…” Caleb’s teeth chartered as he spoke.

“With how fast it fell, who knows when the thrusters stopped misfiring. ” Sam replied, ever the optimist.

Caleb just wanted to be warm again. The snow started to accumulate. They could see animal tracks heading the same direction they were walking. “We must be going the right way.”

Sam nodded and they kept walking.

It seemed like forever before they saw the glimmer of sunlight. They were both nearly frozen and hardly moving when the sun peaked over the treeline. Hope flooded his veins he grabbed Sam’s hand and dragged her along. It got warmer the closer they got to the sunlight. Caleb felt his fingers defrost after days of bitter cold.

The next big city should be just on the edge of the sunlight. They reached it and it was empty.

“We have to keep going…” Caleb said.

“We can’t Caleb. There’s no where else… The city’s grid is down and it is going to take us another three days to cross the city alone not to mention make it to the next one.” Sam glanced down at her watch, “It’s still only forty degrees outside here. They wouldn’t stay in that.”

“We’ve stayed in worse.” Caleb reminded her. “Our families need us to keep going.”

“Our families are frozen popsicles in the houses right now. It’s negative ten and falling back home. Our houses weren’t built for that.”

The government had used the orbital and spin repositioning to redistribute the suns rays. It was the reason they were in this mess now.

“If we stay here we will freeze to death,” she said, “if we keep going we could freeze to death.”

“If we can get to a city with a grid everything will be okay.” Caleb said confidently.

“We can’t walk faster than the sun Caleb, the longer we walk the more tired we get, the slower we go…”

“You stay here then, I’m going to keep walking till we get to the next city.”

They started walking again, they made it through the city, then through the suburbs, past the farmland to the next city. This one was also off the grid. There was no way they were going to make it to where the evacuation was starting. They were too tired, too slow, too cold.

“Let’s stay here for a bit.” Sam said panting and shivering.

This city was still off the grid but was still warm.

“If we keep going we can make it.” Caleb said restocking their supplies.

“I’m so tired…. ” Sam moped.

“Just a little more…” Caleb said squeezing her hand tightly.

“I can’t.”

“We can.” He said dragging her along again.

The next city was in evacuation, still on grid. The cars worked, the phones worked, the lights worked. Elated they ran into the city joining the crush of people. Caleb held onto Sam’s hand trying not to lose her in the crowd.

They were shuffled around and eventually placed on a bus. The bus drove night and day on autopilot. Caleb saw the first glimpse of Moonshine. It was massive and solar powered out in space. He couldn’t even see the moon yet. It was starting to get very warm and they had to shed their many layers of clothes.

They were now in an area where life seemed to be continuing like normal.

“This is our chance to get help back home.” Caleb said dragging her towards the police station. He walked up to the desk and explained the situation.

He got understanding nods from the officer but not much else. Finally the officer broke him the news. There was no way to get help there until the Sun Prime reached there, Second Sun was no where near being finished.

“What about our families?” Caleb was near tears.

“We will do what we can when we get access to those areas again.” The officer explained. “Your families will have to wait.”

“Thank you sir.” Sam said dragging Caleb away. He clung to her, the last two people alive from their small town. His mother was gone, his friends were gone, Sam’s whole family was gone.

They followed the Sun for a year finally making it to their old home. The town had been cleared of bodies of people and animals before they got there. It was little more than a ghost town full of painful memories.

“They really are gone…” Caleb said.

“I told you when we left they weren’t going to survive…” She said looking around the town.

“You’re all I have left.” He said.

She squeezed his hand tightly and pulled him along.

The Tragedy

Her heart stopped looking at it. She couldn’t stop staring. Her hands shook. This couldn’t be happening. Not now, not ever, this is not how it was supposed to be. She touched the hand, cold now. Tears welled and spilled over drenching her cheeks. Sobs wracked her body, great convulsions and gasps. The pain sliced through her through her very soul.  She couldn’t even explain what happened.

People were starting to gather around her. They asked her questions she didn’t have answers to. All she could do was cry. Police officers gathered her up and put her in a car. They asked her questions she couldn’t even comprehend. They took her home.

Every memory she had played through her head. Playing outside as kids, borrowing each other’s things, laughing, fighting, every stupid thing ever said. She wished it had never happened, that she could go back and stop it. But she couldn’t and it broke her heart.

Every night she dreamed, some hellish nightmares, others wishful dreams. Part of her wanted them to stop, the other part clung to them like a lifeline. She wondered if the pain in her heart would ever stop. Sometimes she was reduced to tears out of nowhere, some small insignificant thing had transported her back to that day. It made her feel weak and vulnerable. It was like every second the string she balanced on was about to break.

She couldn’t remember what happened that night until she couldn’t escape from it.

The Six

There use to be six of us, now I’m alone. We were all so cold but at least we were together. The journey was rough and all of us were glad of our protective ship. We got glimpses of the strange world with blinding lights. No one was expecting the first abduction. One second everything was fine the next an alien pried our ship open and stole one of us. We heard him crunch.

We panicked there was no where for us to go. We didn’t know when it would be back. All was quiet for a long time we settled down expecting the great beast to be satisfied. There was another raid on our ship the same creature took three at once. With the last two of us it was time we accepted our fate we would be destroyed by this ravenous monster. We did not think it would end this way.

Soon it was just me, alone in our ship. Maybe it had forgotten about me. I prayed to join my companions. Nothing happened. I grew old alone. I wished my company had survived. Suddenly the ship was flying again. Elated I guessed I would finally be getting home, my joy was premature. The ship dove downward and crashed it’s protective cushion was not enough, I felt my life oozing out of a thousand cracks. I was finished, dieing, a few more seconds before the most valuable parts would escape. Something huge and heavy crashed down into the ship crushing it and finishing me off.