1. Postnova
The shade of a tree casts a shadow, a woman can be seen sitting beneath and watching a child roam freely across the fields. He runs through the seemingly endless pallets of green enjoying every moment.
The child calls out to his mother, waving his arm, "This feels like a really long maze! Will it really end?", his joyful voice commented. He slowed down momentarily staring at a screen held within his palm.
"Kel? Kel can you hear me?" a voice asked him, it seemed familiar until his mind clicked.
"Is it you Eth? Is it you? It's been suuuupper long since we last met, right? Where are you?"
"That's a difficult question to answer right now" He chuckled. "How's your mother doing?"
"We're doing a - okay! She's under some tree over there, although it's difficult to see because of the sunlight, maybe I need some sunglasses. Could you bring me some when you come to visit? Pleaseeee Eth."
"Kelly, I-" Ethan struggled to form proper words "I will, better behave like a good boy and not bother your mother until then alright?". A smile slowly formed on Ethan's face but went unnoticed by the Boy who was immersed within his own world. He seemed to be facing upwards, focusing on an object in the sky.
"What's the matter? You look like you lost something again." Ethan remarked.
"It's just that I see some kind of gray thingy in the sky." It moved really fast he thought. What could it have been? But he seemed to already know the answer, "I saw a plane! I always saw them on the TV but they look so...so gray!".
Ethan's calm demeanor began to shift as he stared at the screen,
"KEL? WHAT DO YOU MEAN?", he attempted to ask several questions but his nervousness was far too evident. Luckily another person behind him was quick enough to take the device from his hands.
A woman unknown to Kelly spoke with a playful yet concerned tone.
"Hey, Kel! What did you mean by a plane? You know I always loved planes but never got to see them! Could you tell me what you saw?".
The boy was curious about who the other person was, he continued first by asking for her name. The woman was quick to name herself Caia before returning to her question.
The boy described the spectacle in great detail and remarked how he even saw something fall out of it. What could it have been? Some super soldier that dropped to fight some evil guys? Some strange alien?
"Why? Why is it turning to this?" Ethan continued to throw harsh questions barely retaining himself.
"Get a grip of yourself, we need to do something. We must do something, it cannot end like this." Caia refuted but her words held no significance. She knew her attempt was futile.
Caia questioned the boy further as Ethan tried to get a grip of himself, a blank expression on his face, unable to speak or do anything. He stared at the screen, shaking
"Eth? Eth? Hey is Eth crying? Why? Is he oka-"
The voice stopped.
The boy spoke no further, he could not speak any further.
He was gone in an instant, vaporized as the screen went blank on Ethan's side.
A bright flash of light appeared in front of the boy like the sun itself had descended on the earth, though it had less to offer in its beauty. The blast vaporized everything in its vast radius. The trees, the fields, the creatures, the house and the family, gone, vanished in an instant.
The fallout had reached its climax giving closure to the entire sequence, entire cities gone in an instant. The man on his way to work, a woman dropping her son to school, a child begging on the street, a man drinking away his vitality, a woman grieving for her child.
Everything was gone in an instant leaving behind not a single soul to witness the tragedy except the two who were the witnesses of the cataclysmic event.
Was Ethan lucky to capture what could be the final moments of someone close to him?
He didn't know. How could he know?
Caia's eyes widened as the realization hit her. There was nothing they could have done except watch the sight unfold before their eyes. She gritted her teeth as she turned to Ethan, his head downcast with panic evident.
If only there was something they could do. If only they were stronger. But what could have they done? Wandering around the isolated landscape with unpredictable climatic conditions none of them spoke but only continued forward knowing there was nothing that could be done, for now at least. He felt despair like he never had, yet he felt a strange emotion that was minute but destructive. Somewhere in his heart he felt a sense of relief, relief of burdens that he carried by himself no longer weighing on him and he felt extremely terrible that he felt in such a way.
"I'm..sorry for your loss" Caia said in a low voice
No reply
Ethan wiped the tears off his face as he slowly lifted his head,"I'm fine, just focus on the map. I'll be back in 10 mins". He went inside the small shack present behind them. He needed some peace, even if it was only momentarily.