Universal Chaos

Chapter 2

The second earthquake struck the evening after the bridal shower.

Sutton was doing kicks at the punching bag down in her apartment's gym; trying to keep good form like Natasha had told her while adding in a few punches learnt in her kickboxing class. When the punching bag when from shifting slightly to outright swaying she stopped to look around. Dumbbells rattled in their racks and the small TV in the corner wobbled dangerously. Sutton hoped that the building was structurally sound. Not that this earthquake was exactly huge either, but it felt a bit stronger than the last one and Sutton knew that the east coast didn't build their homes with earthquake standards in mind.

The one other person in the gym hopped off his treadmill and shifted uneasily. They made eye contact, confusion and anxiety present in both their faces, and edged for the exit.

"I don't like this," said the treadmill guy. "It ain't normal."

"Yeah," agreed Sutton. "It's definitely unsettling."

"Worldwide earthquake?" he questioned. "Nah. How much you wanna bet it's more alien crap?"

A shudder ran down her spine. Sutton made a brief sound of acknowledgement before she excused herself and darted the three floors back up to her apartment.

Sutton closed the front door behind her, locked it, deadbolted it, and then leaned against it as she caught her breath.

One time was odd. Two times and she was starting to get suspicious.

The floor was still vibrating. Sutton distractedly put her hair up as she hit the speed dial on her phone. The fire escape outside her bedroom window was rattling and she chewed her bottom lip as she left the room to get away from the tinny, metal sound.

"Small Fry."

"Hey, Tony. It's happening again." Her picture frames rattled on the walls. Sutton tried to pretend that she couldn't hear them.

"Yeah, I'm looking at readings now."

"And?"
"And it's not looking good for an easy explanation. There's no epicenter. Whatever's causing this isn't coming from under us."

Sutton swallowed thickly. The ground went still again. Almost like it'd never happened at all.

"You don't- you don't think it's, um, the purple guy, do you?"

"I don't know, kid. Not enough data yet."

She let out an exasperated breath and ran her hand over the back of her neck.

"Well, if I can be of any help just let me know."

"Will do, Sutton." There was a small smile in his voice as he spoke and it made her feel a bit better.

After hanging up with Tony she showered quickly and changed into pajamas. She tried to fill the new silence by putting on a movie while she puttered around. Sutton picked up a few things around the apartment and set some milk on the stove to heat up. She fiddled with her phone, turning it end over end in her hands as she leaned against the countertop and stared into space. Tony said that he didn't have enough data to determine the cause of the earthquakes, but she couldn't help but feel somehow responsible.

Perhaps she was just trying to take all the blame when it wasn't connected to her.

It could be aliens again. That wasn't impossible. But her stomach still churned the longer she thought about it and she couldn't help remembering how she'd put off her symptoms the last time until there had been nothing they could do about them. Still, this was different. This was outside of her and affecting many more people.