The Solar Apocalypse

Chapter 1

  "Jake! The vent broke again!" Jake's sister, Sarah called.

"Whatever!" I respond.  I had always liked it being hot. Living in Arizona I didn't really know what cold was like. My family loves the cold and they always force me to fix the crappy vents in our little house we call home. We don't even have a decent table! We set down one carrot too many and the whole table is in pieces. And guess who fixes it, me. The rest of my family had lived in Alaska before I was born. I have literally no idea why my sister can't at least TRY to fix the vent. She is in college! I am in seventh grade  and I have been the handyman my whole life. Maybe this time I won't go fix the vent. Maybe this time I will let somebody else do it and get hurt so badly they have to go to the hospital. Just like me. I hesitated but then slowly stood up. I walked across the room and opened my door. Downstairs Sarah stood bye the vent, holding the sledgehammer. 

"Could you teach me how to fix the vents?" She asks.

"Ok first show me what you think you need to do."

She lifts the hammer and swings as hard as she can. A loud crash sounds through the house as the hammer connects with the vent. I walk over and take the hammer. The vent cover is in billions of pieces. The inside is completely caved in. I sigh. She just stares at me blankly.

"Was I not supposed to do that?" 

"No more apple for you, Dexter." Mom says to our dog.

Even though our dog is really annoying sometimes, he still is the cutest puppy on the planet. Plus he is really smart and he is really the only other smart creature in the house. My father did get a job as an astronomer, but maybe you could guess why he got fired. He also got fired from Best Buy, Walmart, The military, chemistry, college, pre-school, Taco Bell, IHOP, Holiday inn, Pizza Hut, Farming, SFX dude, the funeral home, and the list goes on and on. My mom has lost most of her jobs too. but now she is barely making enough money to keep us alive from Baskin Robins. Anyhow, tonight's dinner is great. We have burgers and apple slices. 

  Everyone else stands up from the table. Sarah pushes down on the table to stand up. It shatters, dumping all of my food to the floor. I crouch down and eat the few things that did not hit the floor. I begin to piece the table back together when something catches my eye. A flash of light in the sky. Then another, longer that time. They kept happening except a little longer each time. Dexter sees them too. My family is too busy being idiots that they can't see the flashes. What was happening? I had to find out.

That night, I sneaked downstairs. I turn on the t.v. to the news. I was right on time. Dexter sits and watches with me too. The reporters were talking about "strange flashes in the sky". They were saying that it could be morse code. Or it could just be the sun shooting out more rays than usual. They just kept rambling on about  what it could be. I began to fall asleep. Until I heard :

"But the most likely answer is that a solar apocalypse is beginning." One reporter said casually, I could imagine him just saying to all of our faces "You are all probably going to die and the earth and all existence as we know it will be destroyed" casually. Because it seems like everyone I know these days is a klutz.

"You have exactly two days to start preparing right now."He said. 

Then he just went into how to prepare. I wrote everything he said down. I had to get to work!