Chapter Two - The Falling Sky

March 5th, 2013

Tom loved days where he didn't have to go to school, and March 5th was the beginning of Spring Break, where no one had to go from then all the way up until the rest of the week. Utilizing their week off, the children living in the Kethrin/Coen household decided to start the week off right. John and Scarlett went off to John's room, where a video game machine rested. Kelly decided to spend the time in her own room and read detective books while Tom and Annabelle decided they wanted to get some sun, so they started playing in their home's backyard. Unfortunately clouds were starting to form off in the distance, meaning they didn't have too long to play until it started raining.

"Hey Tommy, watch this!" Annabelle climbed to the top of the slide and started to ease her way down, finally letting go and hitting herself on the ground in front of it. After standing back up, she smiled. "Okay okay that wasn't what I wanted you to see! I meant watch THIS!" She then climbed the slide again and... did the exact same thing. "Dang it!" She said, wiping dirt off her clothes, "I'm going to get the hang of this and it will be so awesome, just you wait!"

Tom smiled and looked at her as she tried to slide, finally accomplishing it on her third try. "WOO!" She yelled out! "THAT was AWESOME, wasn't it?!"

Tom smiled, "Yeah it... it was!" Suddenly his stomach churned, and he didn't know why. Lately every time he looked at the green girl he started to feel like he had butterflies in his stomach, especially when Annabelle would smile at him or laugh when he made a joke that didn't involve a certain color.

"So what do you want to do now? Slide's getting boring."

"Uh..." Tom looked into her amethyst eyes and smiled, but the churning in his stomach was getting worse. "I gotta go... I'm not feeling well. Can I come back out in a few?"

Annabelle smiled and walked back towards the slide, wanting to give it another go. Tom then decided that he had to talk to someone about why he might have started to feel that way when he looked at Annabelle. 

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 Tom's first visit to discover the truth behind his feelings was to Annabelle's adopted brother John's room, who was at the moment playing a video game with Scarlett. After apologizing for interrupting their game, he then started to talk to them about Annie.

"I feel uneasy, and I don't know how to fix it. I've never felt this way about Annabelle before. Since I figure you're the smartest person I know, I thought I'd ask you about what I might be feeling..."

John didn't respond, more enveloped in the game on the television in front of him than the words of the kid standing next to him. Tom noticed this and tried to talk louder. "ANNABELLE! FEELINGS! Hello? Hello?! HELLO??!!"

John, still engulfed into his game, said "Yeah yeah, something about Tom and whatnot. Gotcha. OH YEAH I got that powerup! The evil Vampire Bunny Army is going DOWN today!" 

 Infuriated over John's lack of discussion, Tom walked across the room and stood by Scarlett, saying the same thing. But just as John was, she too was too much into the game to give any kind of response.

Finally Tom decided to wave his hand in front of her face hoping to get some kind of response, but that didn't seem to phase her much, even someone as hot-headed as she was. Eventually he relented, realizing John and Scarlett were just too into their game to be bothered with, so Tom walked out of the room upset, still unable to figure out his feelings.

 "Did you hear something?", John asked.

"Something about tacos?", replied Scarlett, and they went back to their game. However seconds later the television shut itself off, which made John and Scarlett both angry at the same time, but with the girl in red even more so. John walked over to the television, looking at the thing.

"Dang it! The screen went out! Cheap television. I can ask mom to come and fix it, she's good with electronics."

"She's good with science too, apparently." Scarlett replied as John sat back down on the couch. "Your mom also said that uh... you like Science too? I mean of course I know that you know that and I know that and that's why I said I know it because you know it and I am really ranting am I?"

John smiled. "Ya, but I like your ranting."

Scarlett blushed, her cheeks becoming almost as red as her clothes. "Well then I guess I should rant some more, since it's so well liked around here!"

Scarlett and John shared a laugh, realizing that they were sitting rather close to one-another. This sudden realization made them smile and then scoot back, with John breaking the crushing tension. "I should uh... go and... get the... ya. Mom ya, she fix television." John then walked away, "stupid John! Tell her how you feel! You like-like her! Why don't you tell her that?"

Scarlett, sitting on the couch, also thought to herself "stupid Red! Tell him how you feel! You like-like him! Why don't you tell him that?"

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Meanwhile Tom decided to try someone else, this time walking in Kelly's room. Just like with John and Scarlett, she was too entranced in a book. However she was a bit more conversational.

"So you want to know why you feel this way for Annie. Why don't you ask an adult?"

"Why didn't I think of that?!" Tom said, ecstatic. Thank you Kel!" Tom ran outside the door, leaving it open. Kelly, infuriated, walked up to the door and said "Close it next time! Grrr!", she then walked over to her bed, ignoring a beeping sound from her computer.

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Walking into the front room, Tom saw his uncle Elliot sitting at the couch watching a news report on some oncoming meteor shower, the reporter saying words like "unprecedented" and "impending" that Tom, being eleven years old and not the smartest child in the bunch, didn't understand the meaning of. Realizing that Kelly was right and that an adult could help him on his feelings, he walked up to Elliot and sat down next to him.

  "Uncle Elliot, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure Tommy, what do you need?"

 "Well, there's this girl... it's just that lately, when I look at her, I feel uneasy. It feels like there are butterflies fluttering around in my stomach and I can't say much to her. Why is that?"

"Do you like this girl?"

"Yes of course, she's one of my best friends, of course I like her! How could I not like her! She's funny and great and smart! I like her a lot!"

"Well Tom, your butterflies are probably telling you that you like-like this girl. I know you think you're not old enough to like girls in that way, but it's true. You honestly have feelings for her."

Tom looked at his uncle like he had just told a bad joke, and he may as well have. "Seriously?  HAHA!!! I don't think so. Nope nope nope nope!"

 "Tom, it's true. The butterflies you feel in your stomach are telling you that you like her, and you are unable to tell her because you are worried about what she'll say. Now listen my nephew, I am not gonna tell you to tell her what you think right now, but if you want my advice, it is to tell her when you're ready. When you're ready, pick a nice area for the two of you to go to, maybe a nice green garden, and tell her what your heart says. And maybe she'll feel the same way!"

 "So... maybe... YA! YA! Thanks uncle Elliot... I'm think I'm gonna try that now! I know I'm ready!"

 Elliot heard Tom running down the hall, then he heard someone else walk up next to him. It was his wife, Mei. She sat down next to him and they cuddled on the sofa. He smiled, realizing that right now she looked as beautiful to him as she did when he first took a trip to China and met her in the market place.

"So I couldn't help but overhear you giving little Tommy romantic advice?" Mei said. "If the men in the family as as great as you, whatever he says will sweep her off her feet."

"Yeah. It was only a matter of time." Elliot replied, smiling. "This day is probably going to change his life if he goes through with it."

"Probably?"

"Elliot smiled, joking about what he was going to say. "Too many green jokes have been made... she might not like that."

Mei then responded, "Maybe it was a way of hiding his feelings for her?"

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When Tom went to find Annabelle, she was out in the sand behind the house, playing with it. He smiled, looked at her and said "Well why are you playing with this? How about we go... to... the... BEACH! Ya! We can build sandcastles there that reach the sky there! And if it's warm enough we can swim before the rain gets here!" 

"Okay!" Annie smiled, causing Tom's stomach to churn once again. "But I have to tell my mom where we're going, you know she doesn't like me to leave without telling her."

Tom nodded and the two walked into the house, seeing Annabelle's mother in the dining room of the home. Suddenly they saw Kelly run from her bedroom into the living room with a slightly worried look on her face.

"Hey mommy, can we please go to the beach?!" Annabelle asked. "Please?"

"Well it's gonna rain soon, but as long as you take your umbrellas, go ahead. Just be back before it gets dark, and if the storm is bad, then too."

"Okay!" Tom and Annabelle both said and ran to their respective rooms to grab their umbrellas. As Tom and Annabelle were leaving, they saw Kelly standing in the living room, scared. Tom heard the same word, "impending' from the television before it went to some off-air screen, but he decided to ignore it.

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  Tom and Annabelle rode their bikes down to the beach, smiling as they did so. When they finally arrived the two walked down to the sandy area near the ocean. Tom tried to dip his foot into the cool waters but realized they were too cold to swim in, so he decided to walk up to Annabelle and sit down next to her, and then they started on their sand castles. Tom was still uneasy but being close to Annabelle gave him some sense of comfort, which was a complete contradiction to how he should have felt. Still, despite the advice his uncle Elliot had given him, he was still unable to tell her how he felt.

However his feelings for her were too great, and he finally decided to bite the bullet and talk to her about things. With all the strength going to his legs to keep them from falling out from under him, he stood up and walked over to the green girl, who too stood up from her small sand castle.

"Annabelle... I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" Annabelle asked, looking into his gray eyes. This didn't do much to help Tom's feelings. 

"Lately I've looked at you and I really think that I... I ... I don't know. I think that I li-like......... salad. There's just something about the... the greenness of 'salad' that really makes me feel happy and safe and secure and happy and I repeated myself. But hey, it's 'salad' right?"

Annabelle gave him a confusing look, "Well Tom I like salad too..." She said, completely confounded over what Tom was saying. "Actually it's funny, I kinda like something myself. I like yo-"

Suddenly, Annabelle's eyes widened as she turned and walked a bit towards the ocean, looking to the sky. She then turned and ran back towards the interior of the beach. Tom, unable to see what she had seen, ran back with her with a worried expression on his face.

  "Annabelle... what's going on? Is everything okay?!"

"I saw it! I saw them I saw them!"

"What? Listen Annie, I was trying to say that I like-" Suddenly, they heard a very, very loud whistling sound, and then a a massive explosion across the street from them. Tom and Annabelle then turned around and looked toward the beach, with the former being able to see what the latter had seen just then.  

There were dozens of them as they streaked across the sky: meteors. Annabelle had heard the faint whistling sound first, and somehow "saw" the objects as they fell from the sky seconds before anyone else could. She ran up the hill and towards the town trying to warn everyone when she had stopped, and realized it was far too late.

It was a massive meteor shower, and Sunset Valley was in the bulls-eye. Tom grabbed Annie's hand and the two ran into a nearby building, ducking their heads down as the objects hit the beach. Suddenly Tom looked around and saw another volley of the things heading right for the town center. "No."

The meteors flew across the sky, heading right into Central Park. People across the town started to scream and run as the objects slammed into the ground, knocking the power out across town and destroying everything in their path. Windows were shattered, people were thrown to the ground, and the ground shook with the force of a small earthquake.

One meteor hit city hall directly, causing a small amount of damage to the hardened building and damaging the concrete walkway in front of it. Another volley of meteors hit the ground, tearing central park to pieces, scorching trees and damaging the land at a phenomenal rate. One meteor, however, fell off in the distance, but everyone in town was far too busy to worry about it. Another meteor hit an older home near the beach, the same place where the first object hit.

A man standing on a balcony in the library turned around and vanished, laughing a bit as the destruction took over the entire town. In the end, fifty-seven people were killed in the event, with far more injured.

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A few moments after the impact, John was walking through his house, trying to find anyone. Elliot was already getting his fireman's gear on and Mei was on the phone. His mother Maria was also on the phone, being called in to work at her job at the news station.

As he was trying to talk to them, John heard a faint crying coming from the other room. He walked downstairs and opened a red door, where inside he saw Scarlett crying from hearing the news. With no words he walked over to her and hugged her, which quickly made her crying stop.

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Thunder woke her up.

Annabelle opened her eyes and looked over at Tom, who was looking out at the city. By then the approaching storm had reached the area, drenching the half-destroyed town in a wash of rain and thunder. Annabelle then realized that the stress from the impacts caused her to pass out, and that she'd been out for nearly two hours.

"Tommy? What's... are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Tom said. "I called Aunt Mei and Uncle Elliot. They told us to get home as soon as possible. Uncle Elliot's not home now, I saw him with his fire brigade as they cleared rubble from a damaged home. He must have not seen me because he didn't say anything."

"What happened? The meteor shower."

"I don't know." Tom replied, "This shower was supposed to have happened two days from now, and it was supposed to be harmless, Kelly said. No one knows why it happened like this."

Annabelle stayed on the bed, worried. "What all was... damaged?"

"The central park took the worst of it. They say over fifty people..." Tom almost choked up, and said "We have to go home. Please, let's go home?"

"No." Annabelle replied. "I want to see Central Park."

The two kids grabbed their umbrellas and started the short walk up to the central park. Annabelle was expecting a few craters, maybe some bricks and mortar thrown around, but what she saw instead made her heart sink.

The entire place was completely destroyed. A massive canyon now stretched across the middle of the park, the heat from the blast scorched the trees and evaporated the ponds, twisting the land into a stretched facade of what it used to be.

Fires still burned, despite the rain, and Annabelle wondered if they were ever going to go out. She dropped her umbrella on the ground, and started crying. Tom, who was there next to her from the beginning, helped her through this by holding onto her back. She continued to cry, her tears adding to the water already falling from the sky.

After some time, the two walked away towards their home, leaving the destroyed park behind.

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