Blue skies not a cloud on site. The bright yellow sun rays light up the giant oak trees showing off their healthy green color. Everyone was busy living their everyday life and doing their everyday routine. Parents dropped their kids off at school and family's ate their breakfast. Nobody was aware of what was about to happen later in the day. Trust me if I knew what was eventually going to happen that afternoon of may 7th I would have made sure my loved ones knew how important they were to me and took more time with them in what was the last normal family moment.
The mouth watering smell of mothers freshly homemade banana bread straight out of the oven. The overbearing suffocating stench of my brother Kevin's Cologne he thought the girls loved. I would have held onto my dad's hug a little longer and enjoyed the safe feeling and comfort of him. I would have let Judy know just how much I adored having her as a little sister. The consent bickering I gave the 11 year old was harsh. And even though everyone told me to give Judy a break I never did. I always complained about how she tried to be just like me, but I should have seen that as a sign I was her role model. Instead I made her doubt herself even more than what a 11 year old has to while growing up in a small town in the middle of the boonies.
The drive to school started like every other day that my mother dropped me and Kevin off at Windsor high school. As always my mother bickers at me about being too harsh to Judy, and how I should give her a break on me constantly breathing down her neck. Kevin in the backseat headphones on as he air drums obnoxiously. My mom honks the car horn as some lady in a red Sedan pulls out in front of her. Luckily she didn't have to slam on her breaks.
The sun was starting to rise as pink and orange paint the sky. Slowly pulling my iPhone I slide the screen up to open the camera. I quickly snap a picture before locking my phone back up. My mother looks over at me with a small smile on her face. I was always capturing sunset and sunrises on my phone camera, then again I was always snapping photos when I got a chance. It was my way of capturing all of life's moments so I could look back at them and remember the memories. The car slowly comes to a stop as we pull up to the high school. Kevin already had the door open before the car had completely stopped. A shouted love you mom before he was greeting his best friends with high fives and hey bro's.
"Have fun today Rue Sweetheart" my mother says reaching over to give me a hug, but I ignored her and slammed the car door in her face. And I quickly came to regret that moment later on in the day.
Every movie about the end of the world starts with the city's electricity going out. The citizens are left without power to cook, to keep them warm and to charge their cellular devices. No way to contact loved ones who live a far distance away or to hear the news on the televisions to see exactly what is happening.
Oregon is known to have bipolar weather so it wasn't strange to just see the clouds turn a dark gray and the sun to fade away. Or the wind to suddenly roll in and pick up speed making trees bend down to touch the ground like they were stretching to touch their toes.
Afternoon sun was traded too partly cloudy with some drizzling rain showers. No one paid attention to the low rumbling growling skies, not even i. As I stared out into oblivion, as Mrs. Blankenship rambled on about dreams and their meanings.
The lights flicker and the wind howls and the widows creek The beakers on the shelves in the science room rattle. Our ears start to ring as a high pitch sound fills our ears like an explosion went off and with one final bang the lights go out. Screams filled the school as we all sit in our seats in complete darkness and curiosity in our minds.
"Stay seated please" Mrs.Blankenship pleads
"What the fuck" Andrew shouts followed by a girl named Stacey who starts to panic that she has no cell service.
"Dude it's glowing outside" Bruden shouts, sounding like a stoned surfer.
outside appeared to be an eclipse happening, an orange glow illuminating the world. A flash of light and a warm gust followed by my head feeling heavy and everything feels weightless, a sensation that only astronauts know. What felt like floating only lasted mere seconds as glass from the windows flew inward. It's hard to explain the feeling of dizziness and the dull ache of glass shards penetrating your skin. The muggy heat and the smell of ashes swirl around us.
As i adjust to the aftermath i can't see straight it's hard to make out the destruction of the classroom and my fellow classmates. There's still a dull ringing to my ears and I can just pick out the moaning of kids in pain.
"Rue"