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Firmament
I never
thought it would end this way. I mean,
of course I expected it to happen.
Anyone with half of a brain knew it was going to come. At the rate things were escalading, it was
inevitable. But, I never expected it so
soon. No one could have.
My legs
were getting tired. The jeans I had
picked out to wear were too tight, and my shirt was really uncomfortable. There was a massive hole in my shoe and water
was splashing onto my frayed grey and white socks. Puddles sparkled forlornly as I ambled
through them with a false aura of nonchalant motive. Narcissistic lamps smiled at their rippling
reflections in vain.
“Do we
really have to walk on the side of the road?” Monroe
asked. His black hair dangled in front
of his black eyes.
“Just shut
up,” I said. “Enjoy the angle.”
Monroe
looked to the side. We were at an odd angle. The curving suburban road was on a hill, and
we were tracing along the edge. Gravity
was mocking us. I slipped.
“Shit.”
“Be
careful,” Jakkie scolded. Her mood was
light and innocent.
I
scoffed. “This fucking sucks.”
My words
wrapped my friend’s tongues, for they spoke nothing. They kept looking ahead as Jakkie lead us
closer to our destination.
I slung my
jacket over my shoulder. The mid-autumn air
was crisp in my lungs. Slight breezes
pushed my brown hair to one side, giving me a sort of helmet hair
appearance. My forehead glistened with
sweat contrary to the cold of the atmosphere around me. The day was almost completely faded across
the skyline. The moon embraced fast
moving clouds that crossed its path. The
street lamps created small, isolated pockets of light. Flying vermin were in ecstasy as they flung
themselves into the light. Trees clung
tightly onto the remaining leaves they had but to little avail. I sighed.
“It’s
perfect,” I said softly.
“Kind of
ironic, ain’t it?” Jakkie said, not looking back.
“Yeah.”
Monroe
took a swifter step and caught up the side of Jakkie. “I love nights like this,” he said. He shook the hair out of his eyes. “Everything’s so quiet, yet nature screams
into your ears.”
“Aw, you’re
so cute,” Jakkie responded. She smiled
and poked Monroe’s nose.
I sighed
again. Monroe
was right. The night was quiet. It was a shame it had to go so soon.
“Jakkie,
where are you taking us?” I asked.
“You’ll
see,” she said. I hated when people did
that.
“Come on,”
I whined. “This is my neighborhood too.”
She
giggled. “Just wait, Tristan.”
“Oh god,” Monroe
suddenly said. “Is this that place you
told me about a few days ago?”
“Maybe.” I hated when people did that too.
“Jakkie,
you know I’m afraid of the dark!” Monroe
said.
“We have
worse things to fear tonight,” I announced.
No one spoke. Damn, I killed the
mood again. A car flashed by us. I saw tears in Jakkie’s light blue eyes as
the headlights highlighted her figure.
The car turned a corner and misted the curb beside it as it tore into a
puddle.
“Sorry,” I
said.
“It’s
okay,” Jakkie responded. “Tonight’s not
a lot to try and be happy about.”
“There’s
always a time to be optimistic,” Monroe
said. I laughed and shook my head. I swallowed the tears that were welling in my
throat.
“That’s not
tonight, buddy,” I choked out.
Monroe’s
fake smile faded. “I’m scared.”
There was
more silence. We were nearing the end of
the curving road. Monroe
sniffed up a drip of mucus from his nose.
“I know,” I
said. “We all are.”
“Here it
is.”
I looked in
front of me. The back of the entrance
sign to River Commons stood astute. parallel to the road. It was about six feet high, and made of tan
brick. It nestled a field of deep green
grass. The floodlights that illuminated
its words created a semicircle shadow that concealed the ground.
“Behind the
neighborhood sign?” I asked. What a
disappointment.
“This is it!” Monroe confirmed. “You’re not going to take us into the path
are you?”
“No, we’re
just going to stay in the shadow.”
“Oh.”
We jogged
over to the small field. Jakkie and
Monroe fell onto their backs, surveying the sky. I scanned the area around me. I had never noticed it before. It was perfectly veiled from the roads. Maybe Jakkie wasn’t as crazy as I thought. I slowly approached the two and plopped
beside them.
I pulled my
cracked, pale hands into my sleeves and created a cushion for my head. The grass was cold and damp. A menacing black circle of water grew on the
back of my jeans. I got comfortable,
sighed, and looked up at the firmament.
I was
immersed in a surrealistic trance. Above
me, I watched the cloud shapes fly by.
The billows were moving so fast.
The moon played peek-a-boo with me as it bounced back and forth in
visibility. The sky was a deep
purple. The air blanketed me with a
sense of security. The rumble of passing
cars whispered sweet lullabies to the stars that faded in and out with the
flickering of the street lights. Leaves
fell and tumbled helplessly from their branches. Trees, withered with age, bent sideways and
left themselves to the whim of the harsh blustering winds.
I couldn’t
take it. I turned onto my side. I stared at the back of Monroe’s
neck, who was cuddled snugly next to Jakkie.
Teenage love was a bittersweet affair.
The wisps of breath from the star-crossed couple rose and faded in
unison. My impulsiveness got the best of
me.
“No!”
Monroe and
Jakkie cut their embrace and turned to look at me.
I stood up
forcefully. “No!” I screamed.
“What is
it?” Jakkie asked.
I felt a
tear slide down my cheek. “This isn’t
fair. Why the hell are we so stupid?”
“What? What are you talking about?” Monroe
asked.
“Us! We!
Humans! America! I don’t fucking care. Why the hell did we do this?”
Jakkie and
Monroe looked at each other and figured out the context of my outburst. “I don’t know, Tristan.”
I wiped a
tear from my flustered cheeks. “I mean,
look around you. Look at the sheer
innocent beauty of everything!”
“Sometimes,”
Jakkie started, “we just don’t pay attention.”
I gulped
down a stone that was lodged in my throat.
“What the hell went wrong? What
is wrong with everybody?” I said softly.
“Why does no one see what’s wrong?
After tonight, it’ll all be gone!
Every single solitary piece of splendor will just be gone in the blink
of an eye. Why? Power.
Don’t you see? We’ve fucked up
bad. We lost sight of our place in the
agenda of the universe. We’re not
supposed to be doing this!” I paused and
wiped my sweating forehead. The large
amounts of salt coming from every pore in my body stung my eyes. A cool breeze waved across me. “Look around you. Look at everything we’ve done.” I ran over to the closest lamp post. “Fuck this electricity.” I kicked it stupidly. “Fuck man made things in general. We’ve just screwed over the one place that’s
accepted us into its life: Earth. The
ONE place we have. Now, due to our
stupidity, it’s going to be gone. Every
breath of life and all that was good on this planet is going to be blown away
all because of that guy.” I pointed to
the sky. “One major fuck up who couldn’t
seem to control his capitalist ass from getting his way.”
“You can’t
blame God for this,” Monroe said
quietly.
I
laughed. “God? Who’s blaming God? I don’t mean God. I mean the fucking president. I mean our government who’s gotten so used to
getting what they want, all because their daddies and mommies bought them pretty
pieces of cardboard with their names on it next to the word Vote.
And we’re all so blind to it all,” I ranted. “We walk through life every day, sitting on
our asses, wasting away the seconds until we decide we want to do
something.” I threw my head down and
back up again violently. “Fuck. I gotta piss.”
I ran off
into a patch of the woods, leaving Jakkie and Monroe in my tracks. They were speechless.
I went into
the depths of the woods and unzipped my pants.
The tight pressure was released from my sweating waist. I lowered my boxers, and let loose. A harsh shiver rocked my spine as I stood
watering the plants. I looked up into the
branches. They watched silently over me,
whispering silent rumors and truths.
They charted their last words and planned accordingly. My pale stomach glowed in the dark evening
sky. I zipped up my pants and walked out
of the woods, leaving behind my last fizzing vestige to the world.
I wiped my
nose and approached Monroe and
Jakkie. They sat side by side, awaiting
my return.
There was
an awkward silence as I stood in front of them, casting the shadow of
existentialism down upon them. I rested
my hands on my hips and looked at the ground.
“You’re
right, you know?” Jakkie said quietly. I
laughed quietly and nodded. “We really
did screw up.”
Monroe
got up and walked towards the road.
“When do you think they’ll drop?”
I fished in
my mind. “I don’t know.”
“Do you
think we can do something about it?” Jakkie asked. “Maybe,” she paused. “Maybe they’ll just forget or something. Maybe we can stop this whole thing.
“Fat
chance,” I said, still looking at the ground.
A beetle rushed silently across the wet blades of grass. “Do you honestly think we can do anything
about it?”
“How could
we not have seen it coming?” Monroe
asked the road. “We didn’t find
anything.”
“Do you
know big it is over there?” I looked over at Monroe. He turned to me. His eyes were illuminated by the floodlights
of the neighborhood sign. “They could
have hid them anywhere.”
Jakkie fell
onto her back again. “Fuck.”
In the
distance, there was a slight rumble of static-like noise. The wind fell silent. The rustling leaves which once danced across
the luminous streets stopped rolling. The
crickets hushed. The noise was getting
louder.
Then, from
the darkened skyline, an immense plane swam across the firmament. It roared as we all stared up in pity. The moon blackened completely. The stars stopped flickering. The clouds stopped moving. All was still. The noise infected us like chlorine gas. It filled our lungs. It stopped our hearts. It froze our pulses. The sound was simple and
deadly. There was never a sound so
terrifying that I had ever heard.
The plane
was larger than anything I had ever seen.
It filled up most of the entire skyline above us. Finally, the tail waved graciously goodbye at
us, and the roaring slowly faded away.
“They’re
here,” Jakkie whispered.
Monroe and
I fell to the ground. My stomach
churned. I began to vomit. My insides lurched as I flew forward in
pain. Fear had gotten the best of
me. Jakkie rushed to my side and rubbed
my back. I lurched and hurled up another
shot. There was a sickening taste of
metal and venom in my nose. My gut shook
violently and I heaved up the last of my insecurity. I fell to my side, crying and shivering.
Jakkie,
shaken as well, ran her fingers through my hair. “It’s going to be—” She stopped herself. She was lying to herself. “I’m here for you.” Her fingers were soothing on my scalp.
Monroe
walked quietly over and sat next to me.
“I’m here too.”
The words
processed within me. I smiled. Jakkie embraced me. Monroe
joined in as well. We all were
trembling. I felt their warmth, and
suddenly broke out into laughter.
Bewildered, Jakkie and Monroe looked at each other, then at me. Without warning, they began laughing too.
Moments
later, there was a great flash of light followed by a tremendous rumble. The trees, the wind, the lights, the leaves,
the sky, the clouds, the stars, the grass, the beetles, the lights, the puddles
and our laughter was silenced in a flash of red, white, and blue.
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