I don’t know how long I stood there, frozen in my sister’s
bedroom, trembling, scared tears filling my eyes, but finally, I pulled myself
out of my stupor and fled the room. Another
scientist was talking on the TV, but I didn’t bother to stay and listen. I had heard enough already.
I nearly collided with my parents in the hallway. They had been watching TV in bed, as they
always did, and had obviously seen the news report as well.
My mom’s eyes were wide with fright, and her face was
red. If she wasn’t already crying, I
knew she was about to. And when she
caught sight of me standing there, half in the shadows of the hallway, she
broke down.
Sobbing, she pulled me into her arms and hugged me. At this point, I became hysterical too. Seeing my mother cry like this just made it
even more real to me. I clung to her as
if I were just a little kid again, sobbing into her shoulder. And then, minutes after that, I was sobbing
into my dad’s chest, as he held me too.
I pulled back suddenly, realizing there was someone missing
from the picture. Breanna. Gasping, I ran through the den and towards
the bathroom, where she had been taking a shower.
I grabbed the doorknob to the bathroom door and tried to
turn it, but it was locked, so instead, I banged on the door frantically,
calling my sister’s name.
The door was flung open, and there she stood, wrapped in
just a towel, looking furious.
“Go away!” she shouted angrily, and was just about to yell
out “MOM!”, like she always did, when I threw my arms around her, pulling her
close to me. Her still wet body
dampened my shirt, but I didn’t care.
Breanna must have known then that something was wrong, because she didn’t
struggle, and her arms slowly came around me as well.
“Breanna?”
I looked up to see Mom and Dad coming towards us then. I swallowed hard, choking back tears, and
stepped back. I didn’t want to have to
hear my parents tell my sister what we had just found out – that in just a
month, we would probably all be dead.
I walked away, down the hall towards the living room,
trying to block out the sound of Breanna’s sudden gasp of horror, and then her
tears.
The living room was dark.
Fumbling around blindly, I made it to the piano on the wall nearest to
the doorway and switched on the small light sitting on top of it. As the room was filled with the dim glow of
the piano lamp, I took notice of the pictures sitting on top of the piano as
well. There were pictures of Breanna
and I… and of Sammy.
I swallowed hard, feeling more tears rise in my eyes as I
thought about her. Samantha, my
eighteen year old sister, who had been gone over two months. I could remember vividly the day she had
left…
“Julie, I’m sorry, but I can’t stay here anymore. I have to follow my dream. I know Mom and Dad don’t like it, and I don’t
care. I’m eighteen now, and they can’t
have control of my life anymore.”
I stared up at my sister, shaking my head. “Sammy, please, don’t do this,” I
pleaded. “Try to talk to them. I’m sure everything will work out…”
“Jules, you don’t understand. I’ve tried talking to them. It doesn’t work. They won’t listen to me, and there’s no way
they’re going to change their minds about this.
They think I should go to college and get ‘a real job’. But that’s not what I want. I want to be a star. I know I have the potential, Julie. I just have to go out and work hard to make
it happen for me. And this Broadway gig
is the perfect opportunity to do that.
It’s a once in a lifetime chance, and I’d be a complete idiot to pass it
up. I’d regret it for the rest of my
life.”
She made sense, I had to admit, but I still thought she was
wrong. She was defying our parents,
betraying our family. That was not
right.
“Yeah, but wouldn’t you also regret dumping your family to
get what you wanted?” I countered, glaring at her.
“I’m not ‘dumping’ anyone.
It’s Mom and Dad who have abandoned me by not supporting me,” she
argued. She sighed heavily, then added,
“Look, Jules, I’m not going to argue with you anymore. This could be the last time we see each other
for a long time. I… I just need to tell
you… I love you.”
She held out her arms awkwardly, unsure whether she would
get a hug from me or not. My anger
dissolved then, and I wrapped my arms around her. “I love you too, Sammy,” I replied softly,
determined not to cry.
“I’ve got to go now,” Sammy said, finally pulling
back. “Tell Brea goodbye for me and that
I love her, okay?”
“Sure,” I said dully, finally realizing there was nothing I
could say or do that would make her stay.
As Sammy grabbed her suitcases and started out the front
door, my mother and father appeared in the room. Sammy glared at them coolly for a moment,
not saying a word. She glanced back at
me one last time, offering me a half smile, gave our parents a final glare, and
headed out the door.
“You’ll never make it!” my dad shouted angrily at her. Sammy didn’t even look back.
I shot a look of hatred at my dad for saying that and
hurried to the doorway. I watched as
Sammy quickly tossed her bags into the trunk of her car and climbed into the
driver’s seat. As she sped out of the
driveway, she gave me a little wave, but I didn’t wave back. I just stood there, staring forlornly, as
her car finally disappeared…
I swallowed the lump that had risen in my throat, as my
flashback of that horrible day came to an end.
That was in the beginning of March, just a few days before my sixteenth
birthday. Sammy had been gone for going
on three months now, and she hadn’t called or written since. None of us had any idea where she was or
what she was doing.
I wondered if she had heard the news yet. What was she thinking right now? Was she regretting leaving us? I hoped so.
If there was one good thing that could come out of the comet, it was
that maybe, even if for only a month, my sister would come back to us, and my
family would be back together.
***
Sammy's POV
As I struggled to open my apartment
door the phone on the other side started ringing. My apartment door
always got stuck. Well, what was I expecting, I got this apartment for
$100 dollars a month. It was bound to be cheap.
"Thank you God!" I said as the door popped open and I ran to the
phone. "Hello?"
"Sammy!" the person on the other end exclaimed.
"Katie?" I asked.
"Sammy, oh thank God. I've been trying to reach you ever since I got
home," she said.
"Why?" I asked, laughing at her panic.
"Sammy, right now is not a laughing matter. We're all going to die!
Turn on the news right now!" she told me.
"Um, Katie, my TV broke yesterday," I said. "Why are we
all going to die, care to tell me some of this?"
"Okay, when I got home my husband was in a panic. He hurried me to
the television where they were making an announcement. There is a comet
coming to earth right now, we only have a month to live!"
"Katie, don't you think you're getting a little too much into the
play?" I asked her.
"Sammy, I am dead serious!" she said, with an extremely grave tone in
her voice.
"Oh, God, Katie! Why are you calling me then?" I asked her.
"Because I needed to make sure you were okay," she told me. I
stood there, thinking, and that's when I realized what I needed to do.
"Katie, I think I have to call my family right now," I said.
Katie understood and we said our good-bye's. I stared at the phone
before making the most important call of my life.
"Hello?" asked the panicked woman on the other line.
"Hi, Mom."
"Oh, God, is that you Sammy?"
***
Nick's POV
I watched everyone on their cell
phones calling their loved ones. But I didn't. Who to call?
While my mom and I were getting closer, I still couldn't really call her.
I decided to call no one.
Without telling anyone where I was going, I walked out the venue and stared at
the red and orange hued sky.
"A month to live?" I spoke allowed. "Oh, God!"
That's when it really hit me. I broke down and cried, which I
rarely do.
"Nick, we'll all be together in the end," I heard Brian speak behind
me. I looked at him.
"Wouldn't you want to spend time with Leighanne?" I asked him.
"I will, but we all need to be together," Brian said. I
saw him stare at the moon, that was coming up over the mountain.
"When it's red, that will be the end."
*
***