Starfall-The End Times

Prologue

"Honey, can you please put that down?" Nathan's mom asked him for the thousandth time. "It's rude to read while eating out."

Nathan sighed as he slid his bookmark back in his book and set it down on his lap. Nathan's mother nodded in appreciation.

It had been a busy week for Nathan's parents, both had got a major promotion, so they decided to throw a little party in celebration. Apart from the Longs, there were three others that bothered to come. His family was not the most popular.

"How was your day at school?" Nathan's father asked as they waited for his food to arrive.

"Good." Nathan answered quickly.

Nathan's day had been all but good. The kids that had been tormenting him decided that today would be the day to make Nathan's life as miserable as possible. They started with hiding his backpack, which made him late to his first class. Next, they stole his homework for themselves, making him redo all of his work. Then, they took his lunch, but not before smearing the barbecue pork onto his brand new white shirt. They then proceeded to introduce his head to the toilet, which Nathan had begun to know very well. Finally, they sent him sprawling into a giant puddle outside the elementary school entry hall.

Throughout all of this, Nathan didn't even defend himself. 'Treat others the way you want to be treated', a common statement often said by his mother. 'Leave em to God', his father said. So Nathan trudged home in his soaked and ruined clothes wishing God would do something, anything to get back at them. Once inside, he had slammed the door behind him and cried. He knew no one was home, his family was all so busy with their great lives. He went into the bathroom and took a much needed long, warm shower.

Nathan's father raised an eyebrow at him, obviously knowing something was wrong. Before he could ask, a waiter arrived with their steaming food. When it was all laid out in front of them, Nathan's father spoke.

"Let's pray." He said as he reached for the hands adjacent to him.

Everyone around the table followed suit, but before they could start, the whole restaurant started shaking. The support beams buckled under the weight of the roof. The lights flickered as a giant chuck of the ceiling collapsed onto the middle of the table, sending food and silverware alike flying. The shaking abruptly ended.

Everyone sat dazed as they attempted to grasp what just happened. Nathan's father was the first to come to his senses. He rushed over and immediately started to help the injured in the short earthquake. Before long, the earth started shaking a second time, much worse than before. The doorway collapsed, trapping the remaining diners inside as more bits of ceiling rained down.

Nathan remained in his seat, shocked by all of this. His father and him made eye contact for an instant, in which his father shouted something that was rendered inaudible by the chaos around them. A piece of rock hit Nathan square on the top of his head. His vision slowly turned to black.

~ ~ ~

Nathan coughed as he awoke. The morning sunlight was streaming through the cracks above him, blinding him. He heard voices nearby.

Nathan called out, attempting to catch their attention. It must have worked because the voices grew rapidly closer and more defined, urging Nathan to continue talking to help him. He called out one more time, then succumbed to a fit of coughing. The rock above him was heaved away by three rescue workers who then carried Nathan back to their camp.

Upon arriving, a young boy and girl who appeared to be around the same age caught his eye.

"Hi, I'm Gabe!" The boy said. "This is Oriel. We're gonna be great friends!"