This Popcorn Tastes Like People

Sheesh, why is it so hot out? Alice fanned her face with her hands, breathing heavily as sweat slid down her face and neck. She shielded her face from the bright light, glancing up at the people walking to towering buildings surrounding the street. This is nothing like the weather we had yesterday. It was nice and cool and dark and, unlike today, I didn't have the threat of heat stroke breathing down my neck. Now I gotta sit at work with no air conditioning and a sunburn bigger of my head!"

Squinting down at her phone, Alice quickened her pace as the bus in front of her pulled to a stop. I'd better get to work or my boss'll kill me! This could not possibly get any worse!"

The heat around her seemed to grow as the cement under her feet vibrated and rumbled beneath her. Losing her balance and falling over, Alice looked down at the ground in surprise. Her eyes widened as the shaking grew more violent, and the people around her ran for cover as the buildings toppled over and collapsed into the road a few feet from her. She suddenly gasped in realization as her mind began to panic and yanked her keys out of her pocket.

Rushing into her car and driving as fast as she could, Alice sped to a nearby house and flung the door open. She found two boys curled up under the dining table, eyes wide with worry and fear. Running towards them, she knelt down and hugged them close.

"Will we be okay, mom?"

"Yes, sweetie, we'll be okay. We'll be safe." I hope.

The house was beginning to shake, no longer resisting the force of the quaking earth beneath them. She held the children in her arms closer.

Alice looked up one last time, and the last thing she saw was a falling piece of the kitchen ceiling above her and the fear-filled eyes of her boys before everything became red.

____________________

"Do you ever think there are other life forms out there?"

I looked away from the TV - and they were just finding out about the tazelwurm, too! - and at the girl behind me in confusion. "I thought you didn't believe in aliens."

She shrugged. "Yeah, I know, Josh, but...life. I mean, not in space, but, y'know," she gestures vaguely at the air around her, "out there?"

Turning my head away from my cousin, I grabbed a handful of popcorn from the nearby bowl and stuffed it into my mouth. "Where would they live, then? You're not making any sense right now, Deborah."

She dropped herself onto the couch and silently watched as I ate.

"...What if there were life forms on our food?"

My hand stopped in mid-air. "What?"

"Yeah! I mean, what if there were little life forms on the popcorn you're eating right now? Each kernel would be a planet, and the little people on the kernels would have their own cities, jobs, families, schools, houses, stuff like that."

I placed the popcorn back into the bowl and lifted an eyebrow. "What happens when they go into the microwave?"

Thinking for a moment, Deborah shifted her position until her legs were on my lap and into my personal space. She smirked as I sent her a glare and stuck her tongue out at me. "I dunno, maybe they all die or something. I mean, when the popcorn pops, it shakes a little before it kinda turns inside-out, y'know? I don't think anyone could survive a massive world-wide earthquake and definitely not their planet being turned inside-out, since the surface would become the core and all that stuff," she trailed off, her imagination leading her away from reality."But then, the heat from the microwave's radiation might give some of the little people heat stroke or something, since it gets kinda hot in there..."

Suddenly, my popcorn didn't taste so good anymore. "I don't want this." I mumbled, pushing the bowl away from me. "I don't want to eat tiny dead people."

Deborah glanced at the bowl, which was still filled up halfway with what could have been little tiny planets that once inhabited little tiny people with little tiny families before I killed them all. "Then can I have it?"

I rolled my eyes and glared. "No, you ca-"

"Too late! Too bad!" She grabbed the bowl and locked herself in her room before I could get to her, clearly enjoying how frustrated I was.

Dang it!

"I hope you feel like a miserable murderer after eating my snacks!" I yelled into her room, only to hear laughter.

"Eh, I can live with the guilt!"