Chapter 1

It’s been 326 days since the sun burnt out, and 326 days since I’ve seen my mom. My dad stills believes that she is in space, somewhere out there. I wish my dad was right, but it just isn’t possible. Since that day, the government named it aeterna tenebris which translates to eternal dark in latin, I’ve been stuck underground for almost a year now. There is only 304 of us living here in what we call 1. 67. It’s named 1.67 because it is under Antarctica and it is 67 miles from the ocean. The only reason that my dad and I got a ticket to live here was because of my mom. If my mom hadn’t gone into space, my dad and I would be dead. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that there are some people who survived, but let’s just say that my dad and I are like plankton in the food chain. My mom, on the other hand, she is like a killer whale. She can adapt to almost anything, which is why the UN decided to choose her as the captain of the mission.

My mom’s mission was to control the spacecraft that was going to save Earth from darkness. The sun was dying put at a rapid rate. Instead of it dying thousands of years later, it died thousands of days later. The last day that I saw the sun was October 16, 2021. I was packing my last bag with old pictures of my family. I just wanted to see my mom one more time. I wanted to taste her homemade hot chocolate again, or smell her overbearing perfume scent. I missed her a lot, and I still do.

1. 67 is a really boring place for a sixteen year old girl like me. I had so many hopes and dreams for the real world! I was going to get my permit, and then my license, and I was going to go to prom! I was going to graduate from Roosevelt High School and go on to go to Syracuse with a full scholarship! At least I’ll be know for surviving the death of the sun, that’s an accomplishment. There are only three other people here at my age. One of them is a girl who is from England. She is related to the queen, and I really like her. Her name is Lilian and we've become good friends.