When The Stars Died

All Gone

Pandora sat up quickly, her raven hair illuminated by the moonlight, and if anyone had been watching, they would've seen the forbidden and carefully hidden green highlights streaking the black waves.
But nobody was watching.

Pandora slid off the roof and onto her balcony, landing with a cat like grace. She ran into her room and bolted down the hallway to her brother's room.
"Mitchell! Wake up!" She tugged his arm. But she gained no response, not even a muffled groan or mumble.
"Mitchell! The stars, they're...they're... They've disappeared! Vanished! All of them! You have to see this!"

Mitchell Roberts, an aspiring astrologist, would've been very interested in this phenomenon, if he had not been dead.

Pandora realised this when she slapped him and he didn't even roll over.
"Mitchell?" She whispered, feeling for his wrist.

His body was still warm, but there was no pulse. Nothing. No little thump under her fingertips.

"Mitchell! No no no no no! No! Please! Wake up! Don't die!" Pandora's eyes welled up with tears.

"Mum! Dad! Quickly! It's Mitchell! Quick!" She screamed, sobbing quietly, bent over Mitchell.

"Mum! Dad!" She roared.

"Mum?" She called. "Dad?"

Something was wrong. She ran to her parent's room.
"Hello?" She poked her head through the doorway.

Her parents lay on their back, deathly quiet.
"No. No no no no NO." Pandora screamed. "Please wake up! Not you guys too! No no no!"
She dropped to her knees and crawled to their bed, feeling their pulses—or rather, the lack of them.
She cried for a while, her tears falling on their pale faces.

But they were warm too, and there were no lacerations to suggest foul play. Why?
Why why why why?
Why their family?
They had been so happy.

Pandora has a though suddenly.
What if this was a dream? Yes! It was! A nightmare!
She pinched herself. It hurt, and now there was a red mark.
She slapped herself. Red mark.
Punched herself in the gut. She gagged and coughed up a little spit.
"No! Please no!" She bit her lip, drawing blood.
It wasn't a dream.

"Is everyone dead?" She whispered.

And, finally, her resilient and courageous nature came out along with curiosity, and she slowly left her house.

She walked around the village, peeking in every window.

Fires blazed still, air conditioners droned on, forgotten, and old people slumped in their arm chairs where they had fallen asleep for the last time.

Then she saw a bird. An owl, she thought. It was white, glowing in the faint moonlight, and it swooped down and grabbed a little mouse from the sidewalk.

So animals were still alive? Or at least, the owl was... That mouse wasn't going anywhere.
Why were only humans affected?

Pandora peeked into the last house in the village, a shambling three bedroom shack sort of thing situated on a small sheep farm.
And stumbled back from the window with a gasp.
There was a boy inside, yes, which wasn't that odd, but he was alive.
She snuck back to the glass and looked in. He looked her age, maybe a little older, and he was dressed horribly. Jeans, ripped at the knees. A plain black shirt, and a black jacket. His black hair was somehow darker than hers and was ruffled and spiked.
He was hunched over a little bed with a pink duvet and a lump in it.
He was crying.

Pandora might have laughed at such a tall and macho looking boy crying if her face wasn't stained with tears too.

So she knocked on the window.

The boy looked up at her, gorgeous green eyes red rimmed, but they soon widened in surprise.
He mouthed some words, but Pandora couldn't tell what.

So he came to the window and slid it open.
"You alive?" He drawled.
"I'm pretty sure." Pandora tried to smile.
"That's surprisin'" he frowned. "Is anyone else still breathin'?"
"Animals, yes. No humans that I know of. Do you have... Anybody left?" She asked softly.
"Nah. Y' know what happened?" He gave a sad smile.
"What?" Pandora was genuinely curious.
"The stars died. They all, just, died." He clicked her fingers.
"I'm not sure that's what happened, maybe it was a freak accident or something, nobody really knows, maybe there's a lot of cloud cover, that's a possibility..."
"No, they died. You can see the moon clear as a sheep on the hill."
"I'm not sure I understand that reference, but that's a possibility, I guess. As long as the sun is still 'alive', as you say, then there really shouldn't be a problem. Right?"
"I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure people dyin' everywhere is a problem."
"You're right. But what caused it?"
"I just said I ain't an expert, girl."
"It's Pandora Cordelia Roberts, actually. What's your name?"
"Skeeter." He offers.
"Skeeter? Skeeter who?"
"Uh. I reckon it's Skeeter Bridges. That's what me mam told me."
"Skeeter Bridges. I've heard that name before. I think Mitchell told me...?"
"Mitch!? Not Mitch Roberts?
"Mitchell Roberts. My... brother." She choked on the words.
"I know 'im... He's that star guy... Oh. That's ironic. If we needed anywhere right now, it'd be him." Skeeter leant his arms on the windowsill and signed.
"Yes, he is an expert. How did you know him, again?"
"We met at a boxin' ring in Jordyn. Ya know that real nice town? I was competin' in this match against that big guy, uh, I think it was Jacktrap, that real weird guy, and Mitch was in the crowd and he chucked me his water bottle in the tenth round, and it saved me, truly did. So after the match I went to chat to him, an' he told me he was here cos he was supportin' his little sis, who was a hardcore boxer. Which... Was you?"
"I box." Pandora shrugged.
"An' then I sat with 'im and watched his sis's match, an' she beat the crap out of her opponent, but she ain't look nuffin like ya."
"I'm Mitchell's only sister." Pandora narrowed her eyes angrily.
"Wait, make that look 'gain." Skeeter mused. "That murderous one. Yeah, that one."
Pandora kept her eyes narrowed and bared her teeth.
"Oh, yeah. You're her."
"Hate to break up your happy remembering times, but I need to know if we can do anything."
"Uh, well, I dunno, Pan."
"Pan? Pan? You will address me as Pandora, or Miss Roberts, farm boy." She hissed.
"Not if you don't address me as Mr Bridges, or Skeeter."
"Skeeter." She said.
"Pan." He smirked, "It's a good name."
"No, no, no, you call me Pandora. Get that through your thick head."
"I heard somewhere that when ya turn sixteen ya get a thin skull?"
"Are you sixteen?"
"Yes. Well, not really. Almost."
"Babies have thin skulls, not teens that almost have their licence, okay?"
"An' how old are you?"
"Fifteen. Just."
"Ha! I'm older, I take charge."
"Okay. What do we do?" Pandora asked.
She frowned as Skeeter stared up at the moon.
"What? What is it?"
Skeeter pointed with a trembling finger. "Look."

Pandora spun around and studied the moon. "I can't see anything!"
"Look closer."
Pandora squinted. Apparently Skeeter had some damn good eyesight, because she couldn't see a thing.
"You mean that owl?" She asked, pointing.
"No, there." Skeeter directed her finger at three tiny black dots on the moon.
"So? Craters?"
"I think they're ships or somethin'." Skeeter said quickly. "I also think we should hide in that forest on the hill."
"That hill?" Pandora looked at Dead Hill. Which really should've been called Dead Mountain. "I am not climbing a mountain to hide from a few moon craters."
"Look again. They're gettin' closer, an' closer."
"What? No, they're not—" she stopped. They were. The dots were getting bigger. Spines on top of the dots were visible. "Oh. What are they?"
"Does it really matter?" Skeeter snaps. "I'm damn sure that rockets or ships or whatever comin' from the sky directly after every human dies is not good."
Pandora nods grimly. "Okay. Okay. Let's go. No, wait, we need supplies! How long do we have?"
Skeeter squinted up at the moon. "I'd say around two hours, maybe."
"Seriously? That's good, okay, you pack some bags here, and I'll run home and get some stuff, okay? Plan?"
"I...I... Yeah, sure. What do we, uh, do with our... families?" He choked on the word.
"We have to leave them, Skeeter. I'm sorry."
"No, I understand. It would take too long to bury them. We need to focus on survivin', right?"
"Yes. Okay, you pack, I'll pack, we'll meet at the bottom of Dead Hill, just under that shelf." Pandora nodded at a little shelf at the bottom of the hill.
"Okay. I'll... Go pack then." Skeeter's mouth set in a straight line and he closed the window.