The Moon-Touched

[Fox of Spades]

The Moon-Touched

November 8, 2020

​

Elian Hart

On the night the world ended, Elian had missed his usual Thursday night graveyard shift at the 7-11 across the neighborhood. He had been down with the flu - and that little, insignificant change in routine ended up saving his life. When the NASA alert was sent at 3:00 in the morning, he was curled up in bed like in sad little cocoon, and when the texts from unknown numbers came flooding in, he switched off his phone in annoyance and tossed and turned until he fell asleep.

His alarm clock rang at exactly 7:45 in the morning, and Elian, unaware, opened his eyes to a brand new world.

Bleary-eyed and still half-asleep, he poked his hand out from under the covers and reached for the phone on his night stand. He switched it on, and instantly, the sleep was knocked out of his system: 21 new text messages and 5 missed calls. His initial thoughts went to common fears - the death of a family member or friend, or a calamity of some sort in his hometown. He spent a moment merely staring, the miss calls were from his mom and Valerie. The texts were from random numbers, each one talking about the moon and how he'd be missing out if he didn't just open the blinds and stare the beauty of the night sky above him. Weird, but a lot less terrifying than he initially thought.

Elian called his mom to see what was going on, but she didn't pick up the phone.

He called Valerie next. Elian had met Val two years ago when he started working as a part-time cashier at 7-11. She'd always struck him as a little intense, but ever since then, they'd been partners in crime. Well, she got them into trouble and he was more or less the voice of reason. She picked up the phone immediately. "Hey, Val. You're my hero," he laughed. "Thanks for covering for me. I feel a LOT better today, still got this stupid cold, but I don't think I'll be dying anytime soon." There was no answer. "Lemme take your shift later this afternoon, and when Royce comes in for the night shift, we can hang out or something - Val, you there?"

There was a heavy silence before Valerie finally responded.

"Elian, something fucked up is happening. I don't know what, but people are going bonkers out there."

"What?"

"Jane has been walking into the glass door for five minutes now."

"Is Mrs. Hughs okay?"

The line went dead. Something was wrong, he didn't know what but he felt it bone-deep. What Elian didn't know, was that all across town, people had been changed by the light of the moon. And as he sat in bed dazed, others were wandering around, stuck in endless routines and endless conversations about the moon and how beautiful it was. The world had ended overnight, and now, those that remained who have to carry the weight of the consequences on their shoulders.

 

[kookyboy9]

Joseph Copro

On the night the world ended, Joseph had fortunately gone to sleep early. Well, earlier than normal. He had gone to sleep before the sun set the night before, and now he was regretting it. He knew he should have stretched before he went to sleep, and now his joints were all stiffened up and making it hard to move around. He took a few moments to stretch out, relieving at least a little of the stiffness, before rising and putting in his hearing aids. He had a busy morning planned for the day. First, he'd be having an early brunch with a few of the older adults in the neighborhood, then he had a phone call scheduled with a distant cousin. Speaking of brunch, where had he left his phone? He should check to make sure that he isn't running late.

A few minutes of searching turns it up. He'd left it on his nightstand, and had somehow overlooked it. Switching the device on, he was flooded with a deluge of messages. "I seem to have missed quite the beautiful moon last night. A pity, I suppose." He scrolled through the deluge just to be sure that he hadn't missed anything terribly important. Why did NASA send out an alert about the moon? He shook his head, then took a look at the time. Blast. He'd slept in longer than he thought. He'd need to run if he wanted to make it to the brunch on time.

He walked to his bathroom and took a quick shower before throwing on a nice outfit and walking outside, where he stopped. There were a lot more people out and about than normal. It was a Sunday, but he was surprised more of them hadn't gone to mass already. Regardless, he needed to be on his way to that brunch. He started down the street, heading deeper into town, trying to ignore the unusual aloofness of all of the people he walked by. It was almost like none of them really saw him in front of them.

Arriving at the building where the brunch was to be held, he attempted to pull the door open... only to find it locked. That's unusual. Did I get the wrong date? I know this was the time I was supposed to be here. He pulled out his phone again, opening up the invitation email he'd been sent a week earlier. It was definitely scheduled for today, and in this building. In fact, he was running almost five minutes late. So why was the door locked? He decided he'd just wait out here for a little while to see if anyone else who was supposed to be here would show up. Maybe they'd know what was going on.