Year: 2031; November, 03

Luke

My name is Luke Briggs and the day the rockets went off was the worst day of my life. Nobody knew that the rockets would launch. Most of the world did not even know that the rockets existed; that is until they blasted off. 85% of the known world died that day. Some of the survivors went crazy. Others did not believe that this was a reality. They thought they were trapped in a bad dream. Some even believed that they were sent into an alternate dimension. The day the rockets went off was the worst day of my life. The survivors and I called this horrific day L-Day.

Year: 2031; October 28, L-Day

2:42 PM

Luke

Today was one of the worst days of my life. Ever since we moved from Toronto to Washington DC, I got bullied every day of my miserable life. Today I had enough of the bullying and the torture. I could not even deal with one more day. I stood up to the bullies and I paid the price. They beat me up until someone saw me.

2:23 PM

“Come on, Leaves” shouted Derick, the biggest one out of all the bullies. “You can’t take another wedgie!” In my head I was thinking “I can’t, I have to escape!” “There is no escape Leaves, you are cornered in this alley with us!” shouted Bruce, the leader of the group of the bullies.  In my head I imagined my trajectory to escape the bullies. A Blue arrow formed in my head. Running to the side closest to Thomas, (the smallest bully out of the three of them) I bounced off the brick wall. “I can escape now!” I screamed in my head. I was running as fast as I could when I felt are hard yank on my t-shirt. It was Derick. He threw me back into the back of the alleyway as if I weighed nothing. I landed face first on the hard pavement. I could feel the anger, hatred, sadness, and pain starting to flood my consciousness. I could feel my tears trying to pour down my face like a hurricane, but I held the tears back! The group of bullies then surround me in my crippled state. I could feel my hatred and anger building up. Then I closed my eyes and saw a blinding blue light coming to me. Then in an uprising voice, it started talking. “Rise Luke, Rise! You cannot let them bully you, or everyone you meet until the day you die will bully you. You have to fight back. Rise Luke, Rise! I open my eyes, and I get up into a crouching position. Without thinking I started talking. “You will not bully me from this day on!” “Or what Leaves!” said Bruce cockily. “Or this will happen.” Bruce started saying “Or wh…” then I landed an uppercut him squarely on his jaw.  “That is how it feels!” I yelled in excitement as I punched one of the biggest problems in my life. Suddenly I fell to the ground not knowing what just happened. The wind got knocked out of me from the fall. I realized just what happened. Bruce swept my leg. Then Thomas and Derick started kicking me like crazy. “So, you tried to set your own rules against us there and it didn’t work, so I’m going to make my own rules.” Said Bruce slowly pacing back and forth. “Rule number one, I make my own rules. Rule number two, always listen to rule number one.” Then a grey pickup truck pulled into the alley showing its bright lights and honking at the bullies. “Leave him alone!” said the driver of the pickup truck. The bullies scrammed and got out of the alleyway, leaving me by myself. The driver got out of the truck and asked, “Are you okay?” The driver then picked me up and started to carry me into his truck. He put me into the back seat of his truck. He then closed the door and put on his seatbelt. He turned to me saying “Are your parents’ home right now?” I barely had enough energy to mutter a “no.” “Okay, I’m going to take you to my house for you to recover until your parents get home” he responded. He raised his hand to shake mine “Brian.” This was my first good look at him he looked about 25 like he just got out of college. He had black hair, blue eyes, and a charming smile. I shook his hand saying “Luke.” Then I passed out and I started thinking. Today was one of the worst days of my life. Ever since we moved from Toronto to Washington DC, I got bullied every day of my miserable life. Today I had enough of the bullying and the torture. I could not even deal with one more day. I stood up to the bullies and I paid the price. I stood up to the bullies and I paid the price, but at least I tried. They beat me up until Brian saw me. Brian was a lifesaver, and he seems nice. There was one good thing that came out of this day. Brian.

2:58

When I woke up, I was laying down on a soft black couch with the news on the tv. “Nasa scientists release information about a supermassive solar flare from a nearby sun. Nasa also states that this solar flare might be harmful to the elderly and infants and suggests protecting them by putting them in a basement or covering them in metal preferably lead. The solar flares will hit earth approximately at 4:10. If you are not a part of those groups, the solar flare should not be harmful to you, and you can go about it if it was normal. If any person looks up into the sky they will be blinded for life, so please don’t look up into the sky.” Brian walks over to me and sits by my side and asks me, “What is your parents’ phone number? So, I could tell them that you are with me right now.” I responded saying “my parent’s phone number is ***-***-****.” Brian walks to a different room and calls my parents. When Brian came back, he said “your parents are happy that you are safe and that you are with me. Also, they are going to call the school about the bullies, and your mom wants you to go into my basement with me to hide from the solar flares as a precaution, and they are also coming to pick you up at 6:30” I respond with a “yes.” I then fall back asleep.

3:30

I wake up by being slobbered on a dog that looks like a big puppy of a black lab. Brian walks over saying “oh, I was just about to wake you up to prepare you for the solar flare. I am going to the supermarket to get some supplies just in case this solar flare is the real deal. I am going to get canned foods, cases of water, and masks. Do you want anything else from the supermarket?” “No thanks” I respond. Brian says “okay” as he closes the door. I then hear a car door closing and then I hear the car pulling out. I jump off the couch, forgetting about my injuries. I sit back down and look around. “Brian has a nice house” I mutter. The living room is full of light. There are plants on the windowsills, and there are windows everywhere. I get up and walk to his kitchen. He has a smooth, black island in the middle of his kitchen. The floors were a light shade of birch flooring. I look into his backyard and there is a pool on the right with a grey stone patio surrounding it. Pine trees border his backyard. He also has a big tree towards the back of his house with a tire swing on it. I see stairs to the upstairs and decide to go up them. There are three bedrooms and a bathroom. I go into the bathroom and there are two mirrors, a toilet, a bathtub with shower, and a sink with cabinets. One of the mirrors was a full size, and the other one was over the sink. I go over to the full-sized mirror and see that my face is bruised. I had a black eye on my left eye and a big red scrape from my cheek to my left ear. I also had little indents on my face from the pavement on my right side of my face. I lift my shirt and see that my stomach is all red with black and blues covering most of my chest and stomach. I put back on my shirt and go back downstairs. I sit back down onto the couch and give a hand motion to tell the black lab to get up onto the couch. The lab gets onto the couch and I notice a jingle by the lab’s neck and see a collar. On a red piece of metal, it says Philly born February 1^{st, 2019}. “Hi Philly,” I say after reading the collar.

3:52

I hear a car pull up into the driveway. I walk outside to help Brian with all of the supplies. Brian grabs most of the bags, but I manage to grab three of the bags. I then bring them into the basement of the house. I ask Brian “what job do you work as?” He says, “I’m a neurosurgeon.” “Cool,” I respond. We walk down to the basement to start preparing for the solar flare. We block the entrance with anything that is metal and prepare for the worst. Brian then starts a conversation and brings out an air hockey board.

4:06

Brian started laughing out loud. “Why were the bullies calling you “leaves”?” “They call me “leaves” because they think I am as weak and fragile as a leaf and I just moved here from Canada. The Canadian flag has a leaf on it.” Then I started hearing a rumbling and then I heard a fire roaring. I looked through the cracks of the blocked off window to see that like a sideways blimp shooting into the sky. Then the radio next to Brian started going off. “This is your president speaking and don’t be alarmed by the rockets that are blasting off. It is just a precaution for the government to hide from the solar flares. The solar flares are a burst of radiation waves heading to our planet, these rays are full of gamma rays, x-rays, micro-waves, and ultra-violet rays. In theory, the solar flares will tear the earth apart. The solar flares come from the nearby sun, UY Scuti. UY Scuti is imploding and is sending chunks from the old sun all across the galaxy. Thank goodness that the chunk that is about to hit us is now just radiation. UY Scuti is 2,210,000,000 times bigger than Earth, so it can destroy Earth. Only the most important people in the world are on that rocket with their families. The families are flying up to Mars right now. We have built a colony on the face of Mars. The truth about all of this is, spend time with the people you care about right now, call your families, and call your friends.  The second part of the truth is that we knew about the possibility of world destruction for over a decade, that is why we reactivated the space program in the last decade, to ensure the survival of the human race on a different planet. In roughly ten minutes, phone signals will be lost, due to the overdose of micro-waves in our dear planet’s magnetosphere. You better have your sunblock with you because in twenty minutes from now the magnetosphere will tear loose and break, releasing all the radiation waves. Then in thirty minutes half of the earth’s water will evaporate, practically all at the same time. Then in two days from now, all the water will flood. This is the last time you will be hearing me, good luck, stay safe. We will know this day in history as L-day.” “So, our president leaves us to die!” Brian says while kicking a shelf down. “I’m going to call my parents now.” “Hi dad, did you hear the presidential speech, … stay safe, … I love you too, … bye.” That is all I got to say to my dad. The phone was glitchy. Brian asked me “why did you hang up so fast?” “It was glitchy, and the phone kept cutting in and out, then it started smoking, and I felt some static,” I responded. “That is probably what the president was talking about with the micro-waves.” Said Brian. “That means ten minutes from now we will all become bacon.” Said Brian. Then I started hearing a rumble. The ground began to shake. Brian fell on his back since he was standing. I felt a roar of heat. I heard screams for less than a second then they stopped in an instant. Black smoke started to pour into the cellar. The smoked poured into the cellar like a snake searching for its prey. “Grab this plastic sheet, cover all the cracks!” yelled Brian. We covered all the cracks with the plastic bags and with duct tape. Brian starts to say, “It was an explosion from above that caused all this…” “Brian?” I turn around to see Brian unconscious. “Brian!” I yelled. I check his pulse. “He is still alive and strong” I muttered. I started to cough. All the coughing is killing my throat. I start to feel drowsy and I fall to the ground.

TO BE CONTINUED……On December 13^th