Lingering skies

The air fell silent, a slight breeze flowed along the ground. A moonlit sky froze to ice, slowly freezing the clouds along with it. making the night-time air run cold.

"One in the morning, really," Darlene exclaimed.
She had set her alarm too early again. Darlene went upstairs to turn on the TV, but it was unusually cold upstairs, Especially for mid-summer. She opened up the blinds to see if the window might be open, but to her surprise, it wasn't open but frozen over with a thick layer of ice.
"How did this happen, it's nowhere near cold enough for this," she thought curiously
She walked outside to check the temperature and it was negative ten degrees. That was by far the lowest it had gotten in years.
She left for the store to get some blankets to keep warm. When Darlene walked out she slipped on the iced-over ground. She then got up and carefully walked over to her car.
  When she got to the store there were hundreds of people huddled together for warmth. It looked as if there had been some natural disaster that happened. Darlene had never seen this many people sitting this close together.
"Hey can I sit here sir" she asked politely to an older man who was by himself.
"Yeah sure take a seat right here," he said, his voice shaking.
After that encounter, Darlene was a bit more calm than she felt before, the people huddled in this little place were very kind. There was something off though.
She had completely forgotten what she came here for, all she was worried about now was how long would this last. It was already pretty dark outside but Darlene wasn't anywhere near tired. Her head was spinning and her anxiety was slipping in. She needed to fall asleep, but it was so crowded that she had to sleep on someone's shoulder. Luckily there was a nice girl who allowed Darlene to use her shoulder. Darlene slowly drifted off into a deep slumber.
The next day was even colder, and there was nothing left to eat, she knew what would eventually end up happening in a crowded place like this. There would be many fights that break out, and someone was bound to have brought a gun.
It seemed like the best option would be to leave and find a small warm place to take shelter. When Darlene left out the door she realized how much colder it was outside than in the shop. She left to go to her car, and to her surprise, the kind girl was standing near it. They both had the same knowledge of what would happen if they stayed any longer.
"Can I please travel with you?" the kind girl asked visibly shaking.
"Yes you can you seem like you need warmth," Darlene said understanding the challenges this kind lady must be facing.
Darlene started up the car and allowed the lady to have a seat next to her.
"What is your name?" Darlene asked curiously
"My name is Lian," she said with a smile on her face
The two girls conversed throughout the entire trip. Darlene was pointlessly driving through the roads until she saw a nice warm place to take shelter. There was no place that she found. They were getting colder and the temperature was rapidly dropping. It was currently negative fifty degrees. There was something off about this.
Lian pointed out that there was an empty blanket shop. They stopped the car and went in.
"PUT YOUR HANDS UP!"
They were distraught and scared. They dropped down and switched off the lights. It was dark enough outside that the outline of their body couldn't be seen by this mysterious person. There were footsteps walking through the shop. Darlene grabbed the knife she had in her pocket and got ready to defend herself. Darlene told Lian to try and find out if this person was an actual threat. Loan started to creep up behind this person and was shocked. It was a large muscular figure, but not human.
Lian found a blanket and took it for Darlene and herself. She rushed back and told Darlene what she saw.
"It was a huge muscular figure, maybe even ten feet tall. But in no way was it human. I'm scared Darlene, we need to leave now."
On that note, they snuck out of the shop and ran back to the car. Luckily they now had a blanket and were slightly warmer. Then Darlene remembered something that could save their lives.
"Hey, Lian!"
"Yes Darlene, what do you need?"
"I just remembered that my parents have a basement with heaters, this could save our lives, but there is a downside. They live in California, we are in Virginia."
"Darlene, just because they live on the other side of the country doesn't mean we can't try, this is pretty much our only chance to survive if the temperature keeps going down at this rate."
They both knew that if they wanted to even have a chance at survival they had to go to Darlene's parent's house.
They decided to sleep in the car tonight. They fell asleep fairly quickly, it felt good to have a friend during this disaster.
Lian woke up early in the morning and looked out the frosted window. She could see a large figure roaming around outside and finally realized what it was. It was a huge cloud beast. And there was more than one or two, there was a whole pack of them. Lian woke up Darlene and made sure to calmly do so.
"What do you want this early Lian?"
"Look out the window."
Darlene almost screamed at the sight, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. She tried to start up the car but the engine was frozen over. Throughout last night, the temperature had dropped by almost fifty degrees. All they could do was walk in the weather. When they took a step out of the car there was a bright figure in the distance, and with their knowledge of what was going on it couldn't be good. So they just ended up crawling in the thick piles of snow to get away from the beasts. 
       Without a car, and with monsters on every side there was no way to get to shelter in California. At the rate they were going, they would be frozen by night.
       Knowing how risky it was to stay out in the open they headed for the city. It was a long way away though, it would be night by the time they reached the city. There was only one place close enough to get to before night. It was a little grocery store.
      "Can we get to that little grocery store before night?" asked Darlene
      "I think we can make it there by dusk," said Lian
      "What will we do if those beasts are there, there is nowhere close enough to run to," said Darlene bleakly
       "If that even does happen we will just have to try and reach the city," Lian said believing that they would be safe.
       They set off to the store. they crossed paths with many beasts, but they maintained a safe distance and kept on going. It was nearly dusk when they reached the store.
      They could see blood staining the nearby roads. They both knew this wasn't the doing of any of the beasts. The people that took shelter here must've started fighting. As they walked into the store they saw the same bright figure as before. It was another beast, but there was something different about this one.
      Darlene made the bold move to walk up to the glowing beast. It turned around and to Lian's surprise, it politely greeted Darlene.
      "Hello, what be your name?" the bright glowing figure asked.
      "My name is Darlene, what is yours?" Darlene asked hesitantly.
      "My name be Zorac, I need to speak with you about something urgent"
      "Let me talk to my friend first," said Darlene
      She walked over to Lian and signaled for her to be quiet
      "Lian he seems trustworthy and his light warms me up whenever I'm near him, this could be our last chance of survival"
      "Fine Darlene, we will listen to whatever he says, but after that, we need to head to the city"
      "Thank you Lian you're the best!" Darlene exclaimed
      She walked up to the large glowing figure and listened to what it told her.
      "The giant beasts you have seen are a result of what has happened to the sky, and the rest of the Galaxy, they come from a magical place and are very dangerous. They are just very confused right now and are not used to small creatures like yourself."
      "How did you get here then?" Darlene inquired curiously
      "I've always been here, just watching over. There are some things better left unsaid, but one thing I'll say is that whenever you need help clap three times and I'll be there."
      "Thank you, we need to sleep somewhere warm though, and you give off warmth. So can you stay here with us?"
      "I have something that you can use, it's a glass ball. Tap on it two times and you'll be warm," The glowing figure said.
      "Thank you," Darlene said 
      The glowing figure left and they were on their own again, but at least they had each other.
      Lian took the ball and tapped it twice. The ball lit up and warmed the two of them up. For the first time in a long time, they felt warm and loved again.
      Early the next morning they left hoping that the city was still peaceful, but seeing the Remnants of this store they knew that they would have to keep down to the low. When they reached the city there was an armed group of people guarding the entrance.
      They found a small building with a ladder to the roof, they climbed up and slowly and quietly made their way across the rooftops. There were hundreds of bodies scattered across the streets. All of them were marked with shot wounds. People had gone crazy and made little groups and shelters for survivors of this disaster.
      As they were walking they found a little girl's body. They were going to pay their respects but as they were they heard a little cough. She was still alive!
     Darlene had the ball with her and tapped it twice. Lian offered to go find food and water, but it was too dangerous to go anywhere. They luckily were right next to the back exit of a bakery. Lian offered to go in and get food and water. It was safe and no one could see them inside, so Darlene picked up the little girl and brought her inside the bakery. Even with the ball, it was beginning to get too cold to bear.
     They got food and when they got back the little girl was warm and in better health. They knew that the girl needed sleep to get better, and it was dark out. They turned the ball on and drifted off to sleep.
     They woke up and knew that they needed to leave the city quickly. They had a few conversations with the little girl and found out her name was Stacy. Lian found a car and told the others. They got in and luckily it was working.
      They started to drive off and out of the city, they gave the ball to the little girl and she tapped it three times. Everyone thought it would just turn off, but all of a sudden the temperature rose for the first time in weeks. It was almost negative two hundred degrees now and all of a sudden it rose rapidly. Darlene took the ball and tapped it again and the temperature rose quickly. It began to rise back into positive numbers. Darlene turned it off and watched as the temperature stayed the same.             This made them all realize who caused all of this.
      It was the glowing beast, that beast controlled the temperature and made it cold. Lian clapped two times and he appeared.
      "Were you the one who caused all of this?" questioned Lian
      "I did yes but it was for the best," said the glowing beast solemnly.
      "How was making people kill each other and separating families for the best?" Darlene asked angrily
      "That is exactly how, even though people love each other, they would leave each other the second a disastrous thing happens, but I can see that it also brought some people together, like you three." the beast said knowing that he made them realize the sad truth.
     "Yes this is true, but it was better to keep people happy than to cause destruction and death throughout the entire galaxy." Lian stated
     "Did you ever want this to end, did you think no one would ever figure out your secret?" Darlene asked.
      "You've caused enough damage to people's lives, we are taking the ball for ourselves," Lian stated furiously.
      They left the glowing beast and left for good. They went and looked for Stacy's family, but they found out that Stacy's family was killed in the disaster.
      Lian and Darlene decided to sign the adoption papers and parent Stacy together. They all moved close to where Darlene's parents live. It took years for the world to go back to the way it was. The tough times and emotional moments Lian and Darlene shared over the trip made them a great couple, and they decided to get married.

THE END

I'm very proud of this story, it's my longest short story. I hope you have a great day.❤️