HALF HOPE

Half Mirage (VI)

"A ball of fire, a blanket of dust, gliding through nothingness— bending orbits, euthanizing space and everything that comes across. A tail that shaped its neck like a viper, with more vigor and spirit to shape everything like it.. it continued to baffle mysteries and destinies. With more to come and less to lose, the Comet is closing in, the world is ending."

A quipster at the end of the funny road was slogging his vocals in the air. Smiling and witty to its core, he started dancing across the floor.

Dustin stopped to look at what he was selling, he looked around him and found a fried lobster with caviar dripped on it. Exotic. He sneered.

He looked like a fine middle-aged Englishman with novel green boots to up top suede jacket. A magician's hat made him look even more subtle to what his style could say. His face had a sharp grim mark on the left side. His nose pointed out to put more detail into the brawny jaw. His lips were cracked and his tongue had no stop sign labeling.

"What is it you young man look at? A factious smile toned skin. Eyes full of love," the quipster read his face to as much vivacity as he could.

"I was looking for a camp for my friend and me, Dustin looked around cluelessly, but you don't look like the one I need," he turned to move away.

The Englishman held his hand as soon as he turned and felt its warmth. He stood there for a minute silently and then jumped back with a moment of shock. "Who are you?"

Dustin looked surprised at his reaction. "Now you read destinies too?" He was conflicted with emotions of amusement and dislike.

"The Comet is gonna change your life," the English man said to stop Dustin from going.

Dustin was a sucker for destiny and hopefulness. He stopped to hear what he had to say.

"Listen, people of this great town, the Comet is not just a big black mass of ice inside and fire out. It's more than that.. he started roaring with all his might to raise more attention. An old man, a woman, and a shepherd stopped by to listen to his tale of fortunes they all believed were a bunch of lies.

It happened one cold night outside big arm Montana. The comet was bright on the edges and silent on the inn. When people started noticing something strange, they would end up in wrong houses and wooden trees would turn purple with a switch of an eye. It was so crazy because it affected the people, they would get lost. They would forget things. The Englishman continued with hand gestures that pointed towards the sky which showed a fireball moving sluggardly. It was the Comet."

"How the hell do you know that?" The old man questioned his research.

The Englishman didn't care at first and continued, "A woman, your age, old man. She woke up the next day in her apartment inside Big Arm. She called the local sheriff and complained that the person inside her house wasn't her husband. The sheriff went through her stuff and later found out that person was in-fact her husband. But the woman refused to admit. She said this is not my husband because I killed my husband last night."

He stood silent after the story. The shepherd and the woman stood firm on their feet.

The old man started running and screaming, "The Comet is coming."

"The comet is here. Poor old man," the Englishman expressed.

"How do you know all this?" The shepherd asked in fear.

"Because I have seen it, little boy." The Englishman started searching inside the purple bag on the floor.

"Here's a piece of that Comet." He took out a rugged rock, rugged on the outside and had a shiny dark surface on the other. It looked purple. The moonlight made it shine. The boy had never seen anything so bright and dull at the same time in his entire life.