16 January 2013
That day was the day the world was supposed to end. All around the world people were nervously waiting. Most people just laughed the threat off but deep down they were still paranoid. People went on with their day, no one wanting to look stupid by taking the day off. I remember the day well; I was still young and didn’t think much about the threat of the world. I went to school, sat through a horrible class, braided my friends at recess and then went home. My parents were easygoing people who decided to take advantage of the threat and hold a party. I remember waiting upstairs always sneaking around the corner to look at the people when they arrived. My younger brother trying to catch up to me in his awkward toddler stride. I remember listing to the adults talking and laughing while I sat upstairs and watched SpongeBob, my little brother sitting next to me on the floor sucking on his finger and laughing. When there was only about 20 minutes left before midnight I remember waking up from falling asleep and gently removing my brother from my lap and laying him on the floor. Before going downstairs I smoothed down his curly black hair and kissed him on the head. That was the last time I remember touching him so gently. I quietly sneaked down the stairs, walking slowly, expecting someone to see me and shout for me to go back up. The party was still lively and there was a digital clock on the T.V. counting down the minutes and seconds until midnight. I spot my mom over in the kitchen; she had a wine glass in her hand and was talking and laughing with two other ladies. I walked over to her and quietly stood there until she saw me. She smiled lightly and crouched down to my height. I told her that I wanted to see her and that my brother was asleep. She tells me good and that I can stay down and count down until its midnight with everyone else. I remember sitting in the living room, watching the clock and the people. I remember thinking my mom looked beautiful with her long curly black hair and her red cocktail dress. My father looked handsome with his gray slacks and tucked in purple shirt, his short brown hair gelled back. I remember sitting there my eyes glued to the T.V. as the clock said we had only ten second until midnight. Excited, this would be my first time staying up so late. I laugh now thinking back about how excited I was, innocent and unknowing of all the pain that the ten seconds would be counting down for. Everyone was smiling as they loudly counted down with the clock. Some looked a little nervous but where still smiling. Loud cheers as we finishing counting, everything is perfect, everyone is happy. That’s when my world turned upside down.
The T.V. screen goes black then shows the government crest as the screen makes a loud obnoxious beeping sound. Everyone turns and looks at the screen, their smiles falling from their face. Everything goes quiet as we stand there listing to the beeping. Suddenly the president’s face light up the screen. His face is pale and he looks nervous, he is sweating and his eyes aren’t steady. He coughs, dabs his face with a cloth and starts to speak.
“This is your president speaking.” He starts officially. “I would like to inform the country on a pressing matter. As you all know today it was predicted that the world would end. As we all know by now that isn’t exactly the case.” He laughs softly, trying to lighten the mood. “But something has come up. I know that you all may not believe me when I say this but today, for the first known time, aliens have come to Earth.” He stops for a few seconds letting this sink in, he then coughs again and proceeds. “This is no joke and we are certain that they are genuine aliens, not fakes. I know that not all of you like me or believe in my views but for at least a night we need to all come together. I will now pass the camera to the visitors and let them talk.” The camera swerves and settles on a figure that is clearly not human. I hear gasps from the party members and some people expressing their doubts. The camera zooms in to the figure and all doubts vanish from people’s minds. The figure is about as tall as a human but its body appears to be made out of fire. It had a cloak on and even though its body is made out of fire, the cloth doesn’t burn. He has all the limbs of a human but no face. Even though it looks real, now a days this can be easily edited into a video. That’s not what makes us all believe in it though, it’s the feeling we got from it. Even though it’s in the T.V. we all still got a since of danger and immense power from it. Everything goes silent as the figure begins talking.
“I would like to start by introducing myself.” The figure starts. Its voice doesn’t sound either male or female. It speaks perfect English but doesn’t have an accent from any country in Earth. His voice has no emotion but doesn’t sound boring either. We all watch it, mesmerized. “You may call me Elo, though that is not my full name. I will not tell you it for it is unimportant. I know what you are all thinking right now. You are all worried that we are evil invaders come to take over your world and enslave you all. I am here to inform you all that this is not the case. At the same time we did not come to Earth to just sight see.” I can feel the tension in the air around me. Everyone is worried about what is going to happen. Even though I’m young I still understand enough to know that when adults are afraid that something really bad is going to happen. I feel fear grip at my chest as I continue to listen to Elo. “We came here to gather specimens for our experiment. We will be taking back to our home plant a select few humans. We will not tell you what the experiment is but we will tell you that we will not harm you and that the selected humans will live a life of luxury. Sadly though, do not expect to ever see them again.” Elo stalls for a few seconds, maybe thinking about what to say next. No one at the party is talking but I see people giving each other anxious glances and shifting nervously.
“I will now proceed to call out the names of the selected humans.” Elo says and reached into his cloak and pulls out and object. It looks like a scroll but what would normally be paper is water. Without hesitation Elo proceeds to call out names. I don’t remember many of the names as I carefully listen for any people that I know. Elo calls out names by state. He calls the name of the person, first and last, then their address so as not to be confused with anyone else. I hear some of my friend’s names but they are just people with the same name. When Elo finally get to our state everyone tenses, holding their breath. I listing carefully worried for my friends and family. Elo calls one of my friends name and I feel my body go cold. I think this is the worst thing to happen, that is until I hear another name that is familiar. For a few seconds I don’t realize who the name belongs to but when I do I go numb. I don’t remember much after that, just that my parents flew at me and hugged me, their bodies shaking with fear. I numbly watched the faces of the party guests. Some were crying, other look relieved, most look at me with pity. I remember hearing Elo’s voice penetrating through my numbness saying that he has people stationed at every major city in each state and that we should go to the nearest one to drop off the people called. Elo tells us that if even one person were to refuse that he would destroy that state and all the people in it.
The next thing I remember is being in the family car, my little brother asleep in his car chair, his head wobbling around. My parents quietly whispering to each other and occasionally glancing back at me. I remember arriving at the city just as the sun rose. My mother started to cry quietly and my father gently put his hand on her back. We arrived at a park. There was a big metal cylinder in the middle of the park. Waiting in front of it was one of Elo’s people. It looked almost exactly like Elo but is made of sand instead of fire. My parents’ parked and we all got out. They both held my hands as we walked over to the sand creature. My dad carried my brother in his arms, my brother was still asleep. I didn’t feel scared or sad, just numb. My mom was crying and my dad looked like he was trying desperately not to. They were both shaking. When we arrived my parents stopped and let go on my hands. I continued walking by myself, not worried at all. I could hear my mom whimpering behind me and my dad cough trying to hide the fact that he was about to cry. I didn’t look back. When I arrived at the cylinder I turned and faced the sand creature. He turned and grabbed my arm, his skin was rough. I didn’t try to squirm or jump in surprise when he grabbed me, but my eyes did widen with surprise when he raised an object in his hand. Before I had time to react he harshly stabbed the object onto my neck. I screamed as my neck started burned liked it was covered in flames. I reached up and put my hand that the sand creature wasn’t holding over my neck where he branded me. My skin felt hot and raw. No longer numb I turned around and faced my parents. My mother had her hands covering he face and her frail shoulders were shaking. My dad had his face in my brother shoulder. I screamed their names tears streaming down my face. Fear washing over me. My parents both looked up at me and my mom screams my name, gives me a pained look and went and put her face into my dad’s chest. He started to cry as he put his arm around my mom. I tried to yank my arm out of the sand creatures grip but he was surprisingly strong. I squirmed in his grip but he never lightened up. I was aware that a door was opening in the giant cylinder and I started to scream and pull away harder. When the door was fully open the sand creature tossed me in as if I weighed nothing. Before my screams were cut off by the door that last thing I saw of my family were my mom and dad both
The day The World Was Going To End • Opuss № I