The Pole Shift

Sean's Crystal

The house had gone quiet. He knew it's creeks and groans intimately and Sean could felt his abodes emptiness. They were in the garden for some reason, or had gone next door to gather up belongings they deemed important? How long had he been in the cellar for? He ached, he was thirsty, but his head was clearer and he guessed he had slept off the alcohol like a poisoned dog come good.

                The tools in the corner stood like an assortment of thugs, an axe glared at him whilst the crow bar lounged against the cellar wall. The hand saw was on the floor,  just where he had chucked it when he had finished cutting the cellar shelves to size. He shuffled and maneuvered, the saws teeth met the thin rope binding his wrists. It took a minute and  he was free. He rubbed his chaffed wrists and relived the moment from the twin's giggles to the nicks he gave himself with the saw, he was very pleased with himself. His eyes looked at the shelves of cans,  taking them in, then raced to the tuna and the letter marked Sean.

                Within was a note and something like a pea but of glass.

                Insert the crystal in your earlobe, you will be able to communicate with an interface called Prophet. You cannot tape it to your ear Sean, it is powered by your own body. It's designed to be part of your earlobe. Think of it as tiny ear piece.  Ask what you should do and take directions. Good luck Sean. M.

                "Ha!" He exclaimed, "Special after all." He spent the next fifteen minutes wondering how to insert the crystal into his earlobe. Questioning the instructions, surely tape would amount to the same thing? At last, as if he had avoided the conclusion because of pain, he removed a blade from the box cutters, and sliced his left earlobe. It was not a good job, blood painted his face in streaks, the cut was too big. He yelped and cursed, his fingers wet with blood. Frantically, he looked for a way to bind the interface in place, gaffer tape would not stick. He reached for the super glue. With his ear lobe on fire, he took a box of matches and cut two circles from the red head face of the brand, he pasted superglue to the pieces then squeezed his earlobe between the cardboard, whimpering all the time. After many minutes he removed the pressure of thumb and forefinger,  the bind held and through the pain he felt a light quiver of electricity. There was a sudden noise of static, then a voice he could not quite characterize said:

                Hello Sean, this is Prophet.  Sean could not help but bark orders, wanting revenge.

                "Send drones send the Pole Pigs, bomb the fuckers!" There was silence. Sean took some deep breaths, he was finding the pain difficult. He sat on the floor of his cellar and started again.  "Prophet? What is the time?" There was a long pause, as if Prophet didn't want to be friends. At last the crystal in his ear vibrated and the strange sexless voice spoke:

                Saturday 11:11am

                "Can you help me? What should I do?"

                Stay where you are, it has begun.

                Shortly after a great thud came, a booming crack like the one that had been heard earlier in the week. Tins fell from shelves, some of the vodka bottles toppled.  Dust filled the air. There came the sound of grinding, a terrible screech that entered his bones, the awful vibration of sound  made Sean put his hands to his ears,  his spatial awareness became obscure, he felt a  primordial feeling that something was very wrong, a lion? A bear? A Dragon! Flee! But it wasn't the ancient fears, The world's crust was moving. Continents were rattling and the sea was rising up. He raced to the cellar door, but Prophet spoke:

                Stay where you, it has begun. The next safest place is in the Walnut Tree. The grind will miss this location, but bodies of water will fall randomly. Stay where you are.

                 Sean could here screaming, there was thumping and running, confusion from his neighbours that had raced into his house. None came for him.  The power went and he lit a match to find candles. After many hours, there came silence, as if a fog had descended. He could not hear the people above. It became extremely cold and he shivered uncontrollably. In the distance he heard something that sounded like the wind in the trees, it got louder and louder. He could not help himself, he opened the cellar door and went upstairs.