Extraterrestrial skies

Ah, I think to myself today we finally have a rainy day. I can hear the water drops from outside and know that it must be raining. I’m so excited that I want to jump up on to my cousin Ellie’s bed (who is sleeping next to me) and tell her it’s raining. I know she would be excited too, but would also try and hide that she was angry at me for waking her up so early. Instead, I slip out of the room without making a sound. My parents had already gone to start walking the streets of San…

Everything was silent. The only noise you could hear was the wind whistling and the sound of raindrops crashing down on the window. The night sky was black as ink, there was not a single star to be seen and there he was standing in the dark all alone watching the atmosphere change ferociously. The howling of the wind grew louder every minute. The raindrops grew larger. It was wet, dark, humid and scary. Mo saw the destruction of the Earth occur right beneath his eyes. Then all of a suddenthe…

from Aunty and Uncle's house to where a huge eucalyptus stood amid the scrub and the air was heavy with the scent of lemon. “Mm. Love the smell of these trees,” Penny said. She gazed up at the branches, stark gray against the blackness of the night sky. “Me too.” “Did you miss me?” “Course.” She wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him close. “They destroyed everything. The observatory, dad's house, all of his files and papers—everything he worked for.” Storm could feel the wetness of her…

out into a chilly world. The breeze whips around me, as I take a deep breath of fresh air. However, I can't help feeling strange. Every day I sit this window, and watch to the dawn turn to day, but today the sky doesn't hypnotize me and take into a dreamland. The purple and blue-ish gray sky somehow seems drab, and sorrowful. Even the birds don't seem to be singing their normally cheerful song. Something is off, but I just can't put my finger on it. I temporarily push the weird thoughts away,…

Grass under my stomach reminded me of our yard in Lousiana. Cool breezes sending chills up my back, while I`m laying on the trampoline. All I see is clouds of grey, the sky is upset. My friends laying beside me trying yo find images in the darkness of the sky. A field of a corn a few doors down. The smell of my neighbors jumblaya and apple barb pie fills the air. We are having dinner with them tonight. Today the flower`s crest the ground and tomorrrow they will be gone. We have a regular metal…

Flames rushed skyward from a structure less than a mile away across the sagebrush. At the height of another dry desert summer in July 2013, Chris Tucs, a novice member of Carson, New Mexico’s volunteer fire department, was working in the yard of his off-grid home when he saw the blaze. He threw a few shovels into the back of his truck, hitched up a trailer loaded with 300 gallons of water, and sped to the scene, looking up from navigating the ruts in the road to see flames shooting through the…

Laying in the bed in her small house in the woods, Jess could hear the faint noise of a fire truck siren in the distance that seemed to be growing louder. “Fire,” she thought out loud, “I hate fire.” Living alone in the middle of nowhere, she spent most of her days gardening and writing. She loved writing. She could write about anything and everything and would spend hours upon hours on writing stories, poems, journals, and more. Feeling tired, she pulled up her cloud like blanket and…

The wind was a sharp whip, driving Maglor onward despite his aching feet. The sun was hidden somewhere behind gray clouds, like the day before and the day before that. It was not so terrible during the day, though. Night was worse. In the day, at least the sun could still light the ground before him, but at night, the moon and stars were swallowed up and he was forced to stumble through darkness. Eventually, it became too difficult to travel by night, and so Maglor confined his movements to the…

Finn had ransacked each town he came across, but he never found anything magnificent. He found less and less in each town. Finn knew if he didn’t find something to ease the grumbling of his stomach, he was going to die. Finn and the hound had traveled at least two miles when the sun started to sink below the trees. Finn pulled out his thermometer to see if the temperature had changed. His eyes had to focus on the tiny numbers for a minute before he read “negative seventeen” out loud. Finn knew…

Introduction Prologue I looked beyond the clear dome that sheltered and protected our people for almost two decades. My eight-year-old face pressed against the glass in astonishment. I was thankful that our unit happened to be at the edge of the West Division. I could observe space forever. It boggled my young mind that our dome could levitate. I would examine the planet, Earth. It was the size of a standard grapefruit from the distance. Earth looked depressing. I was glad I didn’t live there.…