Almost no one knew what was coming. And I mean no one.
Not the scientists at NASA.Not the people at home watching their sitcoms.Not even us—four kids about to be torn from everything we ever knew.
Allen opened the fridge and stared inside with a tired sigh. Empty shelves. Maybe some expired yogurt. He spotted a crusty old box of waffles in the back, but it was so out of date it practically growled at him.
He closed the fridge with a thud.
"Nothing. I'll just walk to the store," he called over his shoulder.
"I'll get Coke," said Felix without looking up from the card game.
"Chips here!" Rhode added, feet kicked up on the table like they were royalty.
"Whatever you want," Meredith mumbled, her attention fixed on the hand of cards she was losing. Again.
Allen smiled faintly and headed out. The apartment door clicked shut behind him.
The street outside was… too quiet. No kids running around. No old ladies walking their fluffy purse dogs. Not even a distant jogger with music blasting in one earbud. Just wind. Still. Cold.
But hey, it was the holiday season. Maybe people were traveling.
Inside the store, the air felt off—like it had been holding its breath. Allen ignored it, grabbing Coca-Cola, Doritos, Lay's, a Hershey bar. He almost took Oreos too, but decided to save the extra two bucks. Not like anyone was gonna die over cookies.
On the way back, that weird feeling hit him again.
His skin prickled. The air tasted metallic. Heavy.
Across town, Meredith paused mid-sip of her soda. Her hand trembled, just slightly.
Then:
Tick.
A sound like a clock, far off—but inside his head.
Allen looked up.
The cars around him exploded. Fire bloomed in every direction, shattering windows, flipping metal into the sky like it weighed nothing. A nearby gas station erupted into a fireball so massive it turned the clouds orange.
Oxygen vanished.
Allen couldn't breathe. His chest heaved—nothing. The street twisted. TVs burst behind dark windows. The sky flickered blue-green, like an aurora turned evil.
He staggered, arms reaching for balance, as gravity began to fail. Trash, rocks, pieces of bikes—all of it hovered in the air radically. So did Allen.
He screamed, but no sound came.
Back at the apartment, the floor shook. The walls cracked.
"Whoa—Allen, what the—" Felix started, leaping to his feet.
Then they saw it. Outside the window: chaos. Flames licking the clouds. A city shattering.
"Allen!" Meredith shrieked.
"FELIX! MERRY! That way! NOW—RUN!" Rhode's voice cut through the panic like a flare.
The four of them bolted. Past twisted signs. Past the glowing wrecks of cars. Toward a narrow alleyway behind the laundromat, where no fire had reached yet. The air was clearer there. Colder.
Safe.
Or so they thought.
Allen stumbled to his knees, coughing hard. The sky above him had split wide open. Not with lightning. Not with clouds.
With stars.
But they moved wrong. Too slow. Too bright. Like something was watching from behind them.
He glanced at the others. Felix was bleeding from a cut on his forehead. Meredith clutched her chest, eyes wide in silent horror. Rhode had stopped cracking jokes.
For once.
None of them spoke.
Then something appeared. No one knew what it was. But they saw it.
Just sitting there, in the middle of the alley. Untouched. Undamaged. Waiting.
That safe place?It wasn't heaven.It wasn't even Earth.
It was the beginning.And someone—or something—was watching us.