The sky turned orange, then purple, before settling on an inky black. Night had fallen, and it was a new moon. The town, likewise, was dark; only the gas station's lights remained on. Oscar wheeled himself back and forth while watching the sky.
"Oh! Is that it," he asked with a finger pointed upwards. Moving her telescope to that spot, Penelope sighed and responded,
"Nope, that's a satellite."
"Oh... What about that one! Is it that one?"
"No, that's Mars."
"Oh... is it that one, then?"
"Ugh! It's there," she exclaimed while pointing towards a tiny green dot in the sky.
"That little thing!?! What's so special about this comet?"
"You don't know? You suggested this."
"I just saw you posting about it on social media."
"Whatever... It only looks like a dot now. In a few minutes it will reach our atmosphere, at which point the comet will completely break apart. NASA twitter says it'll be like a fireworks show, courtesy of deep space!"
"That sounds kind of dangerous; we won't get hit, right?"
"As much as i'd love to catch a piece of comet, I doubt any of it will survive to reach us all the way down here."
"Oh, it is a little bigger," Oscar exclaimed while pointing. The green dot, which was barely visible to the naked eye before, now reached the thickness of a golf ball.
"Hush! It's going to start now! Any second..."
5 MINUTES LATER...
The green dot had reached the size of a cantaloupe, but otherwise remained unchanged.
"Is it going to go boom, soon? I'm starting to get ate up by all these mosquitoes," Oscar complained in between slaps to various parts of his body.
"Stop asking! It'll be any second now!"
"You said that the last 5 times I asked. Please, can you give me some bug spray!"
"Ugh! Fine!"
She handed the telescope to Oscar, and began rummaging through her purse.
"Got it... Nope, that's the pepper spray... Come on, who organized this mess!?! Oh right, I did..."
"Uhh, sister?"
"I heard you the first time, just give me a minute!"
"No, sister..."
"Quit bugging me! Its hard enough looking through this thing. Lord, I need to empty this out someday."
"But, sister..."
"What!?!"
"You're missing the boom!"
She turned towards the sky in horror, disappointment soon flooding her senses. The green dot was gone, with several fading trails of glitter being the only evidence of its presence. Penelope, in a fit, shook Oscar's wheelchair. She exclaimed,
"Why didn't you tell me!?!"
"I did! I tried! You kept interrupting me."
"I can't believe I missed it... This is the worst."
She sat on the grass, pulling out chunks of them with her fists.
"Wait, sister! What's that?"
She looked in the direction of his pointed finger, to see a green object rapidly falling towards them.
"Ha! I can actually catch a comet! Where's your baseball mitt!?!"
"Back at the house! You can't be wanting to catch that, we should leave!"
Penelope was already dumping out her purse, though, having completed ignored his pleas.
"Fine! I'll catch it with my bag, then. I needed to clean it out anyway!"
Seeing the crazed look in her eye, Oscar wheeled himself between her and the incoming object.
"Stop! This is too dangerous!"
"Don't get in the way of my fun! You're the little brother, remember?"
"No! What if you get hurt?"
"Ha! I'm not you. Now, wheel yourself aside."
"I won't!"
"Fine, I'm walking around."
She moved to sidestep Oscar, only for him to fling himself at her. He fell into her arms, completely blocking her.
"You think I won't drop you?"
"It's a dumb rock! Stop being crazy!"
SMASH!
"AAAH! MY BACK!?!"
The chunk of comet rammed into the base of Oscar's spine, and was still spinning from the impact. Penelope could only watch in horror as it ground against him, emitting clouds of glittering light as it did.
"Shit! Shit!"
"AAAAAAHH!"
the chunk of comet finished spinning, to reveal a dagger sized object which glittered in the night.
"Is that a toenail!?!"
"Get me to a doctor! AAAAAH!"
The toenail came to life, wriggling into Oscar's body like some parasitic worm. Penelope attempted to pull it out, but that only made Oscar scream worse. It finally disappeared inside him, and his screaming changed to labored breathing.
Penelope sat him back in the wheelchair, and rolled him down the hill as fast as possible.
"Hold on, I'll get you to a doctor! We just have to get back to my car, then drive 40 minutes to the nearest hospital!"
"Ugh... Something's happening to me!"
Oscar suddenly seized up, falling out of his chair in a fit of spasms. Penelope chased him down the hill, eventually reaching him by the shore of the hot springs.
"Are you alright, brother? Answer me!"
She moved to pick him up, only to be affronted by a terrifying smell. Looking down, she could see Oscar perspiring a thick, black goo all over his body.
"Sweet Jesus, I'm gonna barf!"
She ran to the edge of the hot springs, before upchucking fiercely. Her legs threatened to buckle beneath her, but Penelope somehow maintained a standing state. She wobbled over to Oscar, with her nose pinched tightly shut.
"Please don't be dead, brother!"
Suddenly, his eyes shot open to reveal a torrential blood lust. Oscar sat up, and screamed in an unknown language:
"Y cit hwn! Gweld sut mae'ch bwyd yn edrych!"
He reached out to throttle Penelope's neck, and the two rolled into the hot springs...