Ashley lit a small candle before she rolled her makeup kit out. With each application of a powder, cream or glitter she thanked the Beautiful One. When she was done she blew the candle out and kissed the statue of the androgynous idol.
In a corporate meeting room a CEO places one thousand dollars in a dish. The CFO lights the stack on fire. Members of the board take out their cellphones and scream "BUY!" and "SELL!" at the top of their lungs while the green paper burns. With any help, The Powerbroker will bless their 3rd Quarter earnings.
Inside a small barn in Kansas a mother shows her son how to slit the throat of a calf so it feels no pain. The two drag it through the fields, blessing the seedlings in the ground and invoking The Harvester.
Carlo places the gun against his heart. Outside, in the blasted ruins of a city with a name he couldn't pronounce, a battle rages. The sound of an Abrams treads encourages him to pull the trigger. The gun doesn't fire and he knows he is blessed by the Warrior, and will not die today.
"Like candles blowing out." Bruce leaned against the railing and looked at the sky. One by one for a month, the stars had increased in brightness before completely fading away. It was minor at first, only high powered telescopes could see the distant stars winking out, but soon anyone that looked up could see it. The death of warmth and light.
"What's actually doing it?" Cam passed Bruce a hot glass of tea and leaned against him, looking up.
"The papers say something...something approaches the star. A shape. It disappears around the star's...uh...curoso?" Bruce waved his free hand trying to find the word.
"Corona, I think." The warmth of Bruce's shoulder felt good in the chilly autumn night.
"Yeah. It enters the star, sucks it up from the inside and then moves on..." The glow of the city down in the valley didn't interfere with the stars much, but lately, after the announcement, it had become harder and harder to see the disappearing suns. The blaze of fires and smoke had clouded the sky. Rioting, looting, murder. Humanity was backed into a corner and it was attacking anything that came near.
"And it's coming here next. One of these objects?" Cam, knew the answer, but he hoped Bruce would say no. Would hold him close, kiss him and say that it's going to pass our little part of the galaxy.
"We won't notice, for eight or so minutes, after the sun is gone. That's what they said. The last rays of light will warm us and then disappear."
The wind picked up and smoke drifted toward the cabin from the hell below.
"It's getting cold."
You're an astronaut in a spaceship/spacestation far from earth and you're beginning to see things. [prompt submitted by jarkind]
You're an astronaut in a spaceship/spacestation far from earth and you're beginning to see things. [prompt submitted by jarkind]
The hum of the ship is my constant companion. There are million different sounds, but by now they're all lullabies. The ship is trying to trick me into falling asleep. Lure me into a state of safety and then vent me out the airlock. Just like I did to Bhagat and Kelly. Shoooooof. Pop. Pop.
I've considered disabling the auto grav. Allowing myself to float around, letting my muscles rot into nothing. The thought of me flopping down on the ground like some jello filled ballon makes me laugh. I force myself to laugh harder, and then to scream until my throat itches and begins to bleed.
"You're doing serious damage to your vocal chords" O'Brien says, spinning in his chair. How I hate you O'Brien. Hate that you are commander. Hate how you got the fame for those first steps on Europa. I hate the way your skin has greyed and that you've voided yourself all over the floor and have started to liquify.
"I did some serious damage to your head" I rasp-mumble at the corpse. "Computer show me Earth"
The screen in front of O'Brien's body flashes and then is dark. Stars make feeble attempts to shine in the black. I can't see Earth. Can't see home.
I begin to cry and O'Brien laughs.
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