When the Earth Came to Visit

Life was normal and boring. You either go to work or school and do the same boring thing. Life is usually a constant cycle of the same thing over and over again. But then one night something extraordinary happened, something impossible. Only now that I am older do I understand the significance. When I was seven the earth came to visit and for one day anything was possible.

Now just to clarify it a bit, yes we were on Earth at the time and it was not the same Earth that visited us, it was younger. For one day everyone was freaked out and confused. I woke up that morning like it was any other morning, brushed my hair, ate pancakes, grabbed my backpack, and walked outside to go to school. Then I saw it: ​b​ig, perfect, and beautiful. A giant sphere in the sky with dark blue waters, puffy marshmallow clouds, and green and brown land. It was the Earth before humans, before pollution, a healthy Earth .

I did not think that there was anything wrong with it then. I was seven. All that I knew was that there was a moon in the sky, so why not an Earth? I had thought that my mom was crazy worrying over it. She kept muttering about how the world was ending and that we were all going to die, but she still drove me to school anyway. On the way over I saw many things: people gawking at the earth in the sky, some people yelling on street corners about the apocalypse, and others were even lying on the ground crying.

School was no different. Some of the kids were excited, some also crying, and others were saying "m​y​ mom said ... (Cue some ridiculous explanation)." The Earth in the sky was the only thing talked about at school. The teacher tried to keep us focused, but she was too distressed to do anything, though I had no idea why.

On the drive back home, my mom was even more distracted. I mean nobody could blame her, with the earth in the sky and people rioting in the streets. Back at home, I saw on the news that scientists had no clue as to how this happened or why we were not already dead because the second earth's gravity would mess up ours and should be messing up​ ​everything or something like that. The top scientists in the world were scratching their heads just like us, inexplicable they said. Some vocal people were also suggesting that the second Earth was our salvation, that we should send rockets up there full of people and supplies to start over. So that we could learn from our mistakes and not ruin this new Earth.

My mom wanted to keep me inside all day to 'protect' me. I obliged her until evening when the sun went down. Our house is on the edge of the woods and I like to go walking in the forest whenever I can. Tonight was more beautiful than usual since there was both the stars and the Earth to grace the heavens. There were no lights on the second earth so it was harder to see the magnificent blue marble. My favorite spot in the woods is a little pond where I like to dip my feet in and watch the beauty around me but tonight my feet did not go in. Tonight I could walk on the water. Stepping on the water was just like stepping on a sponge: it bent and flexed but it did not break. I decided to lay down and drift because why not? The water acted like water but not. It is very hard to describe.

I was lying there for a few hours, and I probably could have stayed there in that moment forever except I did not want to worry my mom, so I went home. When I walked in my mom was just staring blankly at the wall. She did not even acknowledge me or that I went outside, so I just went to bed.
In the morning the Earth was gone. Just like that, as if it was never there at all. That day the scientists were trying to explain it. The most popular theory was mass hallucination but even that had huge holes in it. Over time people forgot. It was as if it never happened. If you asked someone about the day the Earth was in the sky they would just stare at you like you were crazy. That is what people are like. If something does not fit their worldview they forget it. But while everyone else forgot, I have always remembered. Remembered the day the Earth came to visit and the night when the water was water but not. That day is seared into my brain and it was the best day of my life so far. I can't wait for it to visit again, if it ever will. But for now the Earth in the sky only visits in my dreams.