Aspiring Writers Spring Edition 2007

Cold Fire Rained Down

By Nikki Smith



When the sky fell, I was sitting quietly in a church.

Not belonging to any particular denomination, I opted for the Baptist church my
godparents attended.

They sat in the pew to the right of me, clutching their children, whom I loved
more than life, and praying silently to the very God that was raining down His
fury upon them.

When the sky fell, my father was gone. Called by the government to aide the
helpless when the first city was hit. I had hugged him once before he walked
away, leaving my mother and I to fear for his life more than our own.

When the sky fell, the man I loved was out of my reach. Serving his country on
an island doomed to sink in a blaze beneath the acidic ocean. Our fear was
spoken in shaky “I Love You“s, whispered through the satellites before static
signaled their destruction.

When the sky fell, my dearest friend was running. Living near the ocean she
was desperate to escape the wave that would inevitably swallow the city whole.

My greatest regret was knowing I hadn’t spent enough time with her, and now,
I would never see her again.

When the sky fell, everyone I knew and loved felt fear. People prayed, cried,
and cursed.

I myself did all three, desperate to steel my nerves against impending death. I
knew that everything would fall, all would perish, and I would go with them.

When the sky fell, the world grew cold. Buildings crashed to the ground, and
all life burned away from existence. Night became a permanence with not
even insects to sing in it. The earth, once green and alive, was transformed
into a void filled by ash and smoke.

When the sky fell, a prophecy was realized. A truth that had no physical
escape, no brilliant scientific solution. It was an inevitable happening both
accepted and refused by all. Space emptied upon the planet, and with the
blaze came the chill of death.

Some were ready while others were not. Some rose in the end, and others fell
even farther.

Fire rained down, and the earth was burned into a cold silence to be heard by
no-one.



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