Goodbye Sun Chapter 1

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Part 1
Fear

Anthony
New York

Anthony stared at the mirror, trying to ignore the sounds of the school that echoed in the hallway and into the small bathroom. His perfectly cut blonde hair matched school regulations, not touching his collar. A year ago he'd had a ponytail that reached well below his shoulders, he'd managed to man up and not cry when it was cut off on his fourteenth birthday to meet the high school regulations, but he desperately missed it whenever he combed his hair.

“Mom, Dad,” he whispered, “I think I should have been a girl.”

The words were so easy to say alone, while looking at himself in the mirror. He'd been wanting to say it to his parents for the last few months, but whenever he tried say it he'd frozen. The best he'd been able to do was to walk into the living room a month ago and say 'Mom, Dad, can I talk to you?' and then he'd chickened out asking them if he could drop out of basketball, which he hated.

But tonight, tonight he was going to do it. He didn't know what his parents would say, but he had to admit the truth, he wasn't happy with his life, he didn't feel right in his own body, and he needed to do something to change it or he felt like he'd go insane.

His stomach churned as he thought about what everyone at school would say. Racing to the toilet he threw up the little bit of lunch he'd been able to eat. Flushing it down, he went back to the sink to clean himself up.

With the running water, it took him a few seconds to realize that the background noise had died away. There was still ten minutes before class, there should have been the sound of his classmates rushing to get books, talking to friends, doing last minute studying for tests, but it was absolutely dead.

Grabbing his book bag, he stepped out of the bathroom and saw that the hallway was deserted, looking around every classroom door was open and as he listened closely he heard whispers and what sounded like crying coming from each room.

Heading into the English room he saw dozens of kids from every grade looking out the window. Anthony only had a second to wonder what they were staring at when he saw the sunlight flickering and changing colour. Electric blues, neon pink, blood red, eye watering yellow and more danced madly through the window, creating bizarre shadows that seemed to shift with every breath.

Screams started to come from the street outside. They were matched by people in the school. Some people took out their phones and began recording the sight, others held onto friends, more people began to cry, a few prayed.

Anthony made his way to the window, pushing past some girls who were staggering away their eyes wide with disbelief. He could just see the sun as it wavered and shifted size, surrounded by a rainbow of colours. His eyes watered when tendrils of fire erupted outwards, only to be cut off by absolute blackness and fade away. A circle appeared, glowing a hot pink fading to black as it passed in front of the sun. The dancing lights began shifting and changing so quickly it was almost impossible to make any sense of them.

His eyes burned from the light.

The sun flared again, turning a brilliant white as threads of light flew outwards. Three more impossibly huge circles appeared.

With his mind screaming that what was happening was impossible, Anthony staggered away joining the growing group of students in the hallway who were trying very hard to avoid the unnatural light. His phone began ringing, the ring told him it was his Mom, he ignored it.

Mandy
Iowa

“So what are you doing after class, Mandy?”

Mandy smiled a little too happily at her friend as they sat under a tree, opening the take away bag with her lunch inside, well away from the other students. “Will wants to drop by my place to work on our history project,” she said with a smile. “My parents aren't home all week, and the brat is staying at his friends place, so we'll have lots of time to work on it.”

“Oh yeah, you'll get ssssooo much work done,” her friend said, making a kissy face.

“Shut up Jeannette! We're just friends. Mom and Dad would kill me if I did anything like that while they were away.” She brushed her long brown hair out of her eyes and tried desperately not to blush.

“Only if they catch you. So where are they this time?”

“They're helping with a presentation for their indoor farm. Some big agro businesses are looking at buying the system if they can impress them. So all month it's been how they can grow like 70,000 heads of lettuce and recycle 98% percent of the water using robotics and LED lights, and figuring out how they can increase the numbers.” She rolled her eyes and took a sip of coffee. “I thought school was boring, but five minutes listening to them at supper and I'm having to get a coffee to stay awake.”

“Could be worse,” Jeannette said helpfully.

“How?”

That got a shrug. “You could be dead.”

“If I have to listen to Mom talking about the PH levels in the water and how they deal with diseases again, I may just stab myself to put me out of my misery. What should I wear when Will comes over?” she asked.

“What about your black- holy shit!”

Mandy was swearing as well as the light went insane. Her dark skin shone blue under the sun which suddenly looked like it was ten times too big, roiling in a mad kaleidoscope of colours and patterns that made her brain hurt.

“What's happening?” she whimpered.

“I don't know! I don't know! I don't know! I don't know!” Jeannette screamed over and over again, clutching her hard enough to hurt.

“EVERYONE INSIDE NOW!” the gym teacher, Mr. Phelp's, bellowed. A few people stumbled towards the door, others ran, but most couldn't stop looking at the sun.

Mandy was still sitting there staring through watering eyes when hands grabbed her, forcing her and Jeannette to stand. A little squeak of terror escaped her lips when something like the moon appeared around the sun.

“Mandy, come on!” Will shouted at her, gently slapping her cheek to get her attention focused on hiim.

Clutching Will's large hand she staggered behind him heading for the school doors, dragging Jeannette behind her. As the doors, held open by teachers and students ushering them inside, came closer her mind seemed to work a little better. The promise of sanity and safety beckoned to her. Shoving past the crowd of dazed and terrified students, she started racing for the doors leaving her friends behind. As soon as she was inside she ran to the windowless bathroom and collapsed crying in terror.

Jonathon
Miami

“Shouldn't we be in class?” Jonathon asked as he rolled onto his stomach, shifting the sunglasses on his face.

“Dude, we've got the beach practically to ourselves, who gives a crap about some boring class,” his buddy Steve said. “It's almost the end of the term anyways, just don't fuck up on the exams and we're golden. Now pass me a drink.”

He tossed Steve coffee in a can. “Easy for you to say, you're not failing remedial math.”

That earned a shove. “Man, if all you're going to do is bitch get the hell out of here. I don't need you messing with my mood. You can go and be stuck in class listening to lame ass teachers or out here actually feeling alive. I know what I want to do.”

“Shit man relax. I'm here, I'm having a good time,” Jonathon said, closing his eyes

“Did you see what Tanya was wearing this morning. I'd love to tap her ass.”

“Yeah like that will ever happen. She's got something called standards.”

“Hey I'm cool enough for any girl,” Steve protested.

Jonathon snorted, neither one was great looking, being more of the grungy not giving a crap about anything style. The few times they cleaned up they were good enough, not being fat asses like half the kids at their school, but they only did that when their parents started to get on their cases, which wasn't that often.

The expected shove or snark didn't come. Shifting a little he made himself even more comfortable and thought about taking a nap.

Sleep didn't come though, as he slowly realized that except for the waves, there was absolute dead silence. After a few more minutes he rolled onto his side to see what was happening.

He felt his shorts become damp as he saw five moon size objects circling an alien sun that was a dull red and looked like it was bleeding.

Janice
Seattle

Janice sat at her computer in her room, not looking out the window which was shut, with the curtains closed and a blanket draped over the curtain rod, blocking out the shifting lights that filled the sky. She wished that there was someone nearby she could talk to, to hold, to tell her that everything was going to be all right.

She tried to phone her Dad again.

“Please get through,” she whispered.

Tears started to fall when she heard the recorded voice telling her that she couldn't get through. “Where are you?” she asked the empty room.

Turning up the volume again, she listened to the live news report, her one link to the outside world.

“Scientists still have no explanation for the... phenomenon that has terrified the world,” the announcer said, looking pale and sweaty despite a thick layer of makeup. “As people search for answers the government is ordering everyone to return home as soon as possible. Most major cities are enacting curfews set for 9pm to 6am, and every state has called up the National Guard to deal with panic that is spreading throughout the major cities.”

Muting the video, Janice clicked another tab showing a live feed to a report from Seattle, where a reporter was lit up by an amber light that was slowly turning greenish, with an enormous crowd of people behind him, crying, praying, staring into the sky silently, and screaming defiance.

“-side St. James Cathedral, where thousands of people have converged seeking answers and praying for salvation at what many people are calling the end of the world. Reports say that every church, temple and mosque in the city is facing a similar situation. Fortunately the crowds have been largely peaceful, as there is almost no police available due to the growing riots downtown. However the large number of people on the streets have brought traffic to a standstill throughout the city, at a time when so many people are trying to get home to their families. The mayor has-”

Shutting down the computer, Janice grabbed her stuffed bunny, slipped into bed and pulled the covers up over her head. “Please come home Daddy,” she cried.

Authors Notes

Sorry for the radio silence for the last little while guys. I was fighting a sinus infection since October that had me drained of energy thanks to not being able to breath. Followed by custody problems with my ex, and my Mom having 3 heart attacks over Christmas and January. YAY!
Anyways, things are going better now, so I'm planning on finishing up and continuing every story I've started so far. However to avoid letting the other stories turn super dark due to stress, I'm writing up a story I've been considering for several years.
Welcome to the end of the world.

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Comments

I think it's a great start I

I think it's a great start I'm sorry for the kicks rl has given youglad your back and doing better

Thanks.

Domoviye's picture

Thanks.
I don't like spending a lot of time with the characters just standing around but this was pretty rapid advance into insanity and I wasn't sure how well it worked.

good

good

Thanks

Domoviye's picture

Thanks

Glad to see you back

Yeah breathing isn't really an optional extra, glad to hear you are over that. Sorry to hear about your mum, hope she is on the mend. With any luck that will have been your sh*t year and things will start to get better. And Hey! darkness is under-rated ;-)

I've had enough bad years, I

Domoviye's picture

I've had enough bad years, I kind of want some good ones for a change.And my mom is doing much better after some emforced bed rest. Thanks

End of the World?

WHAT? No Tink? No Blood Wing? No Petra the Man Killer? EGADS! It's the end of the World.

Take your time, we can wait.

Actually, your story sorta implied that the Earth had been moved to another system. If so, things will change, but it doesn't mean the end.

I've been rewriting Tink, you

Domoviye's picture

I've been rewriting Tink, you'll probably like it a lot but it will be a few months before it comes out. Sorry. Petra will be out this week.
As for this story, the characters will figure out what has happened if not the how next chapter and what will occur will be discovered later. Then the sh!t hits the fan.
Then it gets worse.

Reginald the Bare

I will be eagerly waiting to find out if "Petra the ManKiller" left "Reginald the Bare" naked and tied up at the Altar!

the beginning of the end?

I'll be interested to see where this one goes

DogSig.png

The beginning of the end, and

Domoviye's picture

The beginning of the end, and the start of something new and horrifying. It's going to be fun to watch.

Yay!

Welcome back. We've definitely been missing you and your wonderful stories. Very glad to hear things are looking up for you. Hope they keep getting better!

Thanks.

Domoviye's picture

Thanks.
I"m not sure how wonderful this story will be. It's going to be good, but wonderful is not the word I'd use for it.
And just for future reference, this is going to be the nicer version of this story. After telling someone the plot he said it needed to be lighter, and I decided to follow his advice (it actually works out nicely letting me focus on an aspect I hadn't thought about before).
So I'm going to warn people right now, this ain't a cozy apocalypse. It's the very real deal.

so many questions!

You left us with lots of questions and not much to go on. Nice way to get us hooked for future installments!

Great start, thanks for creating it.

I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime

That's the plan. The full

Domoviye's picture

That's the plan. The full answers won't be had until at least chapter four or five. Maybe later. When that happens we'll start on Part 2 Panic.
Thanks.

So what I am picking up with

So what I am picking up with all this is that Chicken Little wasn't so wrong after all. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling." :-) Seems like the best way to describe it when you see it happening.

I Wonder...

If the phenomena is physical or psychic. Is the sun actually radiating the bizarre frequencies and patterns observed or is there some mass hysteria causing everyone to see this strange stuff?

Gravity tends to collapse the huge ball of plasma and the force of the photons radiating outward balances gravity and keeps the sun's size stable. Varying frequencies (higher frequencies go with more energetic photons) in time and in location in the sun could lead to mass eruptions orders larger than typical solar flares. Imagine 'sun-quake' waves interfering to launch Luna sized masses in all directions. These would overwhelm the protection of the earth's magnetic field and expose our biosphere to vastly damaging particle and EM radiation. The solar atmosphere disruption could reduce total 'normal' wave length radiation that would cool the earth and lead to crop failure and a new ice age. The solar bombardment would also begin to eject more and more of our atmosphere away from our planet.

Mass hysterical psychosis is just too scary to contemplate!

Hugs and Bright Blessings,
Renee

Thanks

Domoviye's picture

Interesting guesses, and nicely thought out. But those are too normal for this story.
The next chapter should be up tomorrow or Thursday at the latest, and some questions will be answered, others will be raised.

If you can't rely on the sun

Podracer's picture

then there's not much hope left. Odd chord struck as I was reading; my earliest childhood nightmare involved a deep booming drumbeat (probably my own heartbeat) and looking up into a blackened sky laced with oil-film rainbow colours. The chilling horror that came with it always woke me which at least broke the spell. I guess your cast are not going to get off so lightly.
It is good to hear that you are on the up :)

"Reach for the sun."

That would be a scary dream.

Domoviye's picture

That would be a scary dream.
As for hope, there's a reason I listed this story as horror. I'm not pulling any punches, we're seeing the end of the world and a desperate bid for survival.

Well ...

... it should be obvious that things are always darkest just before they go completely black.

***

Contemplating this and the interesting start of your story has caused an odd question to float through my mind.

What happens after the end of the world?

I've never assumed that the end of the world is AUTOMATICALLY a bad thing. Especially when the definition of 'world' and 'end' is not specified. Most words in most languages have multiple meanings. English is especially bad (or good!?! ; - ) about this.

T

Cliffhanger

Jamie Lee's picture

Something is going on with the sun, but what? Hope we find out why it's changed.

Others have feelings too.

You will. Some hints next

Domoviye's picture

You will. Some hints next chapter which just needs editing to complete (my daughter had a snowday followed by a pd day so no writing for me last week)