Silentfate
New Member
Hello all, I was feeling inspired and decided to type it out. I would appreciate any feedback on this very short story. Such as how much longer you the reader would like it to be. Maybe some suggestions to get it ready to submit to Asimov's or Analog. Haha. 
Cheers - Silent
Hunter was stocky and his dad, an avid shopper in the Big and Tall section of Penny’s, often told him that he would someday bring home the Heisman. Hunter had no idea what that meant, but what he did know was that the sun had moved to the other side of the car and was attempting to bake him to a crisp, so he tucked his face under his crossed arms and let his shaggy blonde hair take the heat. In an hour his arms would be in need of a serious application of aloe and cocoa butter lotion.
The drool was drying on Hunter’s shirt when he found himself caught in the tight grip of the seatbelt, slowly becoming aware of the screaming of the tires, he managed to look up as the car came to a tilted halt across the highway.
Ahead, the road, the trees, and the mountains were simply gone. From his view out the rear right window only the sky was visible, both up and down. This was a problem, because Hunter refused to ride any rollercoaster; they made his tummy roll, and right now his tummy was rolling. Before they left home his father had told him, “Son, if you need to vomit, I’ll stop the car, you open the door and let it go outside.” Hunter opened the door.
The vomit didn’t so much fall, but arch out and disappear under the car. Hunter’s mom reached for the door, but the shift in weight tilted the van further over the edge of what appeared to be the end of the earth. Everyone in the van screamed as the van fell over the edge and off the earth.
The impact launched all of Hunter’s fries out of the paper cup placed in the drink holder and into the air to mix with the other loose items in the van. Soda cans, maps, fries and flip-flops filled the air and settled about the still screaming family. His mother held her ketchup covered hands in front of her face and screamed.
After a few minutes the family’s screaming stopped and Hunter was able to hear the low rumble coming from the erupting volcano in the distance. Beyond the volcano countless other cracks and hills spewed debris and lava onto the landscape. This was not West Virginia.
Hunter’s father hit the FM button on the radio, turning off the endless Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana CD mix her friend Campbell had given her as an end of school year gift. A loud blaring beep came from the speakers. Hunter’s sister waking up in the back seat and noticing that her music was off shouted “Daaaad!” Hunter’s Dad and Mom both shushed her at the same time.
“This is the President of the United States, for all that can hear me, an unprecedented catastrophe ais stricken our world. For the past nine months NASA has been monitoring what they believed to be a collection of free floating dark matter, originating from Markarian's Chain, a dark matter galaxy . This substance, hypothesized to contain the ability to destroy our world, has impacted our planet. The result of this impact, visible by our remaining satellites is the silent vaporization of much of our planet. Many of you may find yourselves on an isolated strip of land or peering over the crust of the earth in your own backyard or on a free standing portion of a skyscraper. However, as devastating as your situation may seem, from these great expanses of space that have appeared through our world, the Earth’s molten core is now spilling onto the exposed crust. Please seek shelter, but look closely before stepping into your basement to make sure that it is still there and you are not stepping into space.”
Hunter wasn’t sure what the man on the radio was talking about, nor was he even listening, that volcano was the coolest thing he had ever seen. After watching for a while and realizing that he could actually feel the heat through the glass, he decided that it was way better at erupting than the model they had made earlier that year with baking soda and food coloring.
Cheers
- Silent- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Markarian's Chain
Crammed into the old Chevy van for over four hours, an eternity to the average eight year old, Hunter was at an end of every mental game he could come up with. He had counted blue cars, red cars, black cars, and in the end agreed to even count pink cars with his sister, but that act of kindness is what had brought an end to the game. The only pink car spotted was the first one to start the game in the first place, a pink Cadillac with a license plate that read MRYK4LF. Hunter’s mother had mentioned that she was, “One dedicated woman to take it that far.”Markarian's Chain
Hunter was stocky and his dad, an avid shopper in the Big and Tall section of Penny’s, often told him that he would someday bring home the Heisman. Hunter had no idea what that meant, but what he did know was that the sun had moved to the other side of the car and was attempting to bake him to a crisp, so he tucked his face under his crossed arms and let his shaggy blonde hair take the heat. In an hour his arms would be in need of a serious application of aloe and cocoa butter lotion.
The drool was drying on Hunter’s shirt when he found himself caught in the tight grip of the seatbelt, slowly becoming aware of the screaming of the tires, he managed to look up as the car came to a tilted halt across the highway.
Ahead, the road, the trees, and the mountains were simply gone. From his view out the rear right window only the sky was visible, both up and down. This was a problem, because Hunter refused to ride any rollercoaster; they made his tummy roll, and right now his tummy was rolling. Before they left home his father had told him, “Son, if you need to vomit, I’ll stop the car, you open the door and let it go outside.” Hunter opened the door.
The vomit didn’t so much fall, but arch out and disappear under the car. Hunter’s mom reached for the door, but the shift in weight tilted the van further over the edge of what appeared to be the end of the earth. Everyone in the van screamed as the van fell over the edge and off the earth.
The impact launched all of Hunter’s fries out of the paper cup placed in the drink holder and into the air to mix with the other loose items in the van. Soda cans, maps, fries and flip-flops filled the air and settled about the still screaming family. His mother held her ketchup covered hands in front of her face and screamed.
After a few minutes the family’s screaming stopped and Hunter was able to hear the low rumble coming from the erupting volcano in the distance. Beyond the volcano countless other cracks and hills spewed debris and lava onto the landscape. This was not West Virginia.
Hunter’s father hit the FM button on the radio, turning off the endless Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana CD mix her friend Campbell had given her as an end of school year gift. A loud blaring beep came from the speakers. Hunter’s sister waking up in the back seat and noticing that her music was off shouted “Daaaad!” Hunter’s Dad and Mom both shushed her at the same time.
“This is the President of the United States, for all that can hear me, an unprecedented catastrophe ais stricken our world. For the past nine months NASA has been monitoring what they believed to be a collection of free floating dark matter, originating from Markarian's Chain, a dark matter galaxy . This substance, hypothesized to contain the ability to destroy our world, has impacted our planet. The result of this impact, visible by our remaining satellites is the silent vaporization of much of our planet. Many of you may find yourselves on an isolated strip of land or peering over the crust of the earth in your own backyard or on a free standing portion of a skyscraper. However, as devastating as your situation may seem, from these great expanses of space that have appeared through our world, the Earth’s molten core is now spilling onto the exposed crust. Please seek shelter, but look closely before stepping into your basement to make sure that it is still there and you are not stepping into space.”
Hunter wasn’t sure what the man on the radio was talking about, nor was he even listening, that volcano was the coolest thing he had ever seen. After watching for a while and realizing that he could actually feel the heat through the glass, he decided that it was way better at erupting than the model they had made earlier that year with baking soda and food coloring.
