IMPACT

A blur of commotion began where there was silence. A whisper, a flash, and then the world lay still. Time froze in place. The mother, still carrying her child, crossing items off her to-do list. The elderly couple, holding hands and checking for cars as they began to cross the street. The gang of young boys, riding down Main Street on their bikes, racing each other to see who could go fastest. One of them, however, had stopped. He stared into the distance, down the street and into the wasted desert, out towards the horizon. It was he who saw the blip first. The abnormality. The spark that changed the town of Sanctuary forever.

Time began to crawl. The blip, originally a simple flash of light falling through the sky, grew brighter as it dove into the earth. The light spread, blinding everyone in its path, as the heat grew stronger. In the distance, the land erupted, a cloud of dirt and dust forming on the horizon that rushed towards the town, intent on swallowing it whole.

Then came the force. A wave of shock that barreled down the street, turning the world upside down. Store windows shattered, sending glass in every direction, as street lamps exploded, raining shards of glass. The dust rolled in, whipping through the streets, carrying rocks and glass with it. It bit into our skin as it raced by, leaving teeth marks on all it encountered.

Then came the roar. The deafening, screaming sound that shook the ground. The dust continued to push us back as the sound pierced our eardrums, demanding to be heard. The roar was joined by screams, echoing through the cloud as children cried out for their mothers in agony with no reply to be heard.

Time sped up. The dust grew thinner. Mothers sheltered children as cars did cartwheels in the air. Young men linked arms with the elderly as they ran from falling debris. Small children, who had been laughing only a second before, cried as they fumbled down the street in search of their mothers, lost in the panic and confusion.

Time returned to normal. The dust settled around us as we stared at our oblivion. It covered the town, transforming it, creating a scene more akin to an apocalyptic thriller than a Sunday afternoon. In the distance, a plume of smoke rose, a beacon leading us towards the origin of our destruction. Those who could stood to survey the horror around them as a grave truth washed over us: our town would be Sanctuary no more.