The Days After

The Storm

As soon as Grace opened her room door, she called Marie back.

"Hey Marie, sorry I missed your calls!" she blurted out.
"Thank goodness! I thought you got kidnapped or something!" Marie responded.
Grace grinned. "I don't know how your mind always jumps to some far fetch scenario like that."
"Me either. My dad says it's my grandma. Who knows? Anyway, I'm about to put you on the call."

There was a pause.

"You know, if you and Daryl would get iPhones, we could just get on facetime!"
Grace laughed. "Not happening."
"Fine. Hold on."

There was another brief pause full of silence, then Robin's voice came through like an alarm bell.

"And anyway, what does that even mean? You're no fun!"
"You're right," said Daryl dryly.
"Well, I see that I didn't miss anything." interrupted Grace.

They all stopped talking and laughing.

"Did we catch you at a bad time Madam Stewart?" said Lucas.
"Nope, my dad got home early and was asking me about my day, but I didn't tell him anything because I wanted to talk to you all first."

There was very staticky movement on the other end of the line.

"Hello"
"Hey Dani, Grace is on!" announced Marie.
"Oh, finally! So get to it."
"Hold up, Danielle, has everyone's parents asked about their day?" asked Robin.

A bunch of "Mhm's" and "yes's" came in response to Robin's question.

Robin continued. "Don't yall think that's weird?"
"Hmm, not really, but my mom did turn into like a demon spawn when I couldn't remember what one of my teachers said but think she just had a bad day," Lucas said offhandedly.
Grace chimed in. "Well, what does your mom do, Lucas?"

There was an uncomfortably long pause.

"I don't know. What do your parents do?"

It was at that moment that the situation got a lot stranger.

"I don't know what my dad does," said Danielle.
"I don't know what they do either," said Robin.
"Me neither," said Marie.
"Daryl?" asked Grace.
"Nope."
"I've never even asked," said Grace in disbelief.

After a pause, Daryl broke the silence. "You know what I was thinking about today?"
"You're always thinking, so who knows." Quipped Danielle.
"How come..." Daryl started.
"C'mon D, get it out!" Teased Lucas.
Daryl continued. "How come we all live in the same neighborhood," stopped, and it sounded like he was moving something. Then the movement stopped, and he continued.

"But we all get on different buses after school?"

Nobody said anything because nobody had an answer. It didn't make a lick of sense.

"And when you told us you were moving, where were you gonna go?"

Lucas thought about the text, "moving to a new place, don't miss me too much! Haha."

"I don't know, my Dad came home one night and said we needed to move. I wasn't sure why, but I was like, hey, new experiences."
Then Marie spoke up. "Has anyone ever been outside this town? I've never been to a relative's house; they come here always."
"What the hell is going on?" Whispered Robin.
Danielle chimed in. "I don't know, but something ain't right."

"I ever tell y'all how much I how much I love the rain." Said Lucas.

Lucas had drifted off into one of his daydreams. He was looking out his window, up the Grey sky. The rain was tapping against the how in a rhythmic pattern, and noise soothed Lucas. He felt peace wash over him, and he almost forgot he was holding a phone.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Grace.

Lucas was still daydreaming. "Hey, do y'all see that light?" At least they thought until Daryl spoke up.

"Yea, I see it."
"Me too." Said Marie
Robin sounded amazed. "What is that?"
"It's on fire, but like blue fire," Danielle said.

Grace was now watching the spectacle. She didn't know what to make of it, and she didn't like how it seemed to be dropping right in their neighborhood.

"It looks like it's gonna land here!"

Then from Lucas's end, Jessica and his mom seemed to be getting louder, and his mom screamed, "It's over! You can't stop it!"

"Stop what, mom?!"

In that split second, the blue hit what looked like a force field, and everything went silent. There was a gust of wind, then another blue light, headed straight for the street. All these adults were watching out the windows, and nobody made any movement. The blue light collided with the road, and Grace heard an explosion. Then her vision went black.

When Grace's eyes opened, she grunted.

"I'm tired of having that dream. None of that looks like the world I live in and I don't know any of those people."