The initial day | Teen Ink

The initial day

May 17, 2012
By Anonymous

At six forty five Jared awoke to the sun shining on his face. He sat up from his bed, walked into his bathroom and stare at the clock to see how much he had slept in. Pleased to see he still had several hours to sleep, he retreated back to his bed and fell face first into the mass of blankets and sheets. The sound of a neighbor starting their car across the street ringed in his ears, and with that he fell back into a deep sleep, perpendicular with his bed. Throughout the next two hours he subconsciously heard the sounds of chaos penetrating through his slumbering mind. Sounds of people rushing out of their houses caused no alarm to the sleeping man, for his dreams took in the noises with ease, and fused them with the occurrences in his dreams. After he awoke for the second time he sat straight up, not wanting to be late for work the third time that week, he exited his room, and dressed into some gym shorts and a sweatshirt. He went downstairs noticing the rapid drop in temperature, the front door was open, and the sight of papers and debris were blowing across the cul-de-sac. Confused, he walked out the front door to see scattered trash all up and down the street, along with a parked but running car in the street. With his feet cold he rushed back into the house, found some slippers and rushed outside to see what had taken place. The sight of every house’s front door being wide open was utterly confusing to him, it is not often people of his neighborhood would ever keep their doors open, let alone at eight in the morning. He walked up to the parked car with the driver side door wide open. He bent down and to see no one in the vehicle, but keys in the ignition, he turned off the car but kept the keys in the ignition. He bent up from the car and took a three hundred and sixty degree turn, viewing everything around him. He walked to the end of the cul-de-sac and looked down both directions of the main street. Trees were split down the middle, the road had been turned back into tar in some areas, and there were fires coming from a few houses. He stood there for about thirty seconds, mouth wide open, trying to take in everything he was viewing. Just two hours ago all seemed to be fine, the common noises of people leaving their houses for work sounded through the cold autumn air, and sleep was all he cared about. The roar of the car engine started back from in front of his house, he turned around to see the car flying his way. Jared shuffled to the side of the road but put up his hand to ask the driver something. The car accelerated and screeched around the corner, and around another shortly after that. Jared shook his head while walking back to his house, hearing the roar of the car engine going through his empty neighborhood, followed shortly after by the screech of tires and the sound of the car running into a pole. Jared gave a quick double take to the direction of the crash, but continued back to his house. He walked in and attempted to turn on his television along with many other appliances. All attempts were unsuccessful. Fed up with the current uncertainty of what was taking place he got his keys, went up to his safe, got his only firearm, and made for his car. The slow opening of his garage door revealed the street dramatically, causing him to realize how serious this was, he rolled down all his windows and placed his gun in the passenger seat. He did not floor it and take out of the driveway like something you may see in a movie, but rather drove as if it were a normal day. He turned out of his neighborhood onto the main road. The previous visual of his cul-de-sac was Childs play compared to this. The power lines were all tipped over, houses were on fire, and there were massive potholes riddling the road. Jared drove until he came upon the main shopping center in his area. Cars were everywhere but no drivers were seen. A slight sprinkling of gray ash was starting to fall, and Jared rolled up his windows. He sat in his car for about ten minutes in the Wal-Mart parking lot, staring out the window, trying to catch a glimpse of any movement or life. Tired of waiting he got out of his car, and walked into the entrance of Wal-Mart. All power was still working in the grocery store. The televisions were all still on, but the lights were not working, and shopping carts full of groceries were in ever isle, as if everyone had left in a rush. He walk back to the electronics, passing by isle’s with the view of the many televisions in the far back passing in between each isle. The image on each television was the same; a news broadcast with a reporter nervously shuffling his papers was present. Jared slowly walked up to a screen, absorbing everything he could from the broadcast. “We do not currently know what they are but communication with many states has been cut off, we advise all to stay in their homes and to stay away from windows.” As if by order of the news station, at that exact moment such an explosive sound and rumble sounded that knocked Jared straight off his feet. He fell straight on his back with eyes to the skylight straight above him. A shadow of something colossal slowly scrolled across the opening in the ceiling blocking out all sunlight from the skylight. The little light that had been shining in from the skylights was now absent, and he started to panic. He jumped up and started to sprint for the entrance, down the many dark isles and merchandise. About halfway to the front of the store a deafening sound of the store being ripped from its foundation sounded. The back of the store where he just was was now gone. Light shined in on the floor from that section of the store, a solid sixty-yard chunk had been taken out, which then caused the chain reaction of the collapse of the entire building. Without looking behind him Jared ran, with everything he was he ran. But his determination to outrun the destruction was futile, for the field of vision he held turned black from the collapse of building on top of him. The sound was so loud that he seemed to black out in his attempted escape. He lay in blackness for hours, until a small amount of light finally shined through after the dust was done settling. He didn’t seem to be to injure other than a sprained ankle from when he blacked out. He climbed up a shelf to get a glimpse of the outside world from the now collapsed building. The night sky was lit red, with smoke and ash filling the air. The city in which he grew up lay in ruins, with the view of giant figures in the far distance. A distance at what he projected to be about six miles away, he saw the colossal figure of tripod like beings, laying waste to the earth in front of them.



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