Still Untitled

The Hardest Worker's Side:

Everybody has their gaze locked upward at the sky. The massive objects are making their way down faster than ever, and we know that there is no time to escape their wrath. In a few seconds, a lot of us are going to be dead. The enemy in the sky has no mercy. Misery is about to rain upon us, and there is simply no time to escape.

During the last attack, I was lucky enough to have been underground, and lucky enough to have survived, but only to experience yet another attack. There is no surviving this time. The last attack was by a single object, and this time there are three. One of the three is gigantic, and the other two, though huge as well, are smaller than the one.

I take one last look around me— my people are terrified and frozen. Field workers drop their work and stare up in despair; soldiers, our protectors, cannot protect us anymore. This is it.

Although these attacks from upwards have been common enough to be a prominent part of my people’s history, one can never get used to the inevitable. The day it happens to your colony is still as shocking as if it was the very first attack. Because of these attacks, my people have found a way to develop underground. We try to spend all of our time down there, because of this very reason. As much as we try, we must still go up to forage and get the materials needed to sustain ourselves. Oh, how dreadful it is that we can’t find everything we need to survive underground, where we are safe.

I stand here hopeless. What’s the point of spending our entire lives building, working, honoring our colony if this is what fate delivers? Are we cursed? My whole life has been passed in toil— which is what I love to do. My brethren and I spend almost all hours of the day building and bettering our home, for the people, and for our Queen, bless her soul. She is our reason; she is our hope. We take care of her and she takes care of us. I love my home. The home that is about to become no more. Destroyed. The objects are here now. I close my eyes one last time; goodbye.

Leo's Side:

“Hurry guys!” my dad yells at my baby sister, but I know it’s mostly at me. “Dinner is ready, and we don’t want to upset Mommy now, do we?” he whispers smugly. I hate him. He always talks about my mom in this snobby, I’m-better-than-everyone type of way. Well, I’ll tell you something, he’s not better than anyone! My mom says I’m more of a man than he’ll ever be. I hate the way he treats my mom, and I know she does too but she always acts nice towards him. Why?!

I know the only reason he takes us to the park is to pretend that he likes spending time with my baby sister and I. Look at him, walking in disgust like he’s so upset to go home to Mom’s dinner. I feel like I might just lose it tonight.

I look downwards at the tiny hand I’m holding— Luna can barely keep up with the speed he’s having us walk in. Psychopath! My mom is really trying to make it work; the only reason she cares so much about these damned dinners is because she’s trying to act like we’re a normal family. Which we aren’t anymore, because of him.

I must’ve clenched my hand too tightly since my baby sister lets out a loud whine, which immediately triggers my dad to stop his psychotic fast pace and charge towards me. “For goodness sake, Leo, be careful! Luna, honey, it’s okay, it’s okay, come to the car.” I am at fault again.

“Careful, Leo! Stop that, Leo! Enough, Leo!” I don’t know how much more I can take. I hate him. He yanks Luna’s hand out of mine and takes my place beside her. I’m now walking next to the two, staring down on the ground, like an outsider, which I always am.

“Sowwy,” I hear Luna’s tiny, low voice. This isn’t her fault; she shouldn’t be the one apologizing to me, it’s this jack—

“Aw Munchkin, you didn’t do anything. I should be the one saying sorry. Sorry Leo, didn’t mean to yell at ya’ there. I just really don’t want to be late today,” my dad interrupts. His apology is not accepted. This isn’t the first time I hear it— it’s completely empty. I can feel the anger rushing from my stomach to my head, and I know my face is turning red right now. My ears feel hot! I want to scream, hit, rip, yell—

“It’s okay,” is all I can muster. We’re by the car now, and I am dreading the drive home next to him.

Orion's Side:

“Hurry guys!” I hate yelling at them, but that’s the only way I can get my point across nowadays. I’ve become a silent ghost in my own family. In my own home. I don’t want to sound so harsh with my little ones: “dinner is ready, and we don’t want to upset Mommy now, do we?” I add in hopes of softening the tense mood I just caused. I see my son’s face— I’m certain he’s cursing my name right now.

I don’t know where we went wrong as a family. Things used to be great! I was the happiest man on earth when my little ones were born. But now… now Leo hates me, and Luna will soon grow out of the Daddy-is-my-hero phase that Leo, too, was once a part of. I can feel my life crashing to shambles every single day. Even after spending a day at the park with the ones I love, I can’t shake this feeling. I need to get my life and family back together! I feel like a failure of a man. I try so hard to not let my children and wife see this, but I’m afraid they already have.

I just want to get to this dinner on time, to give my wife one less thing to feel bad about.

“Are you even trying?” I can imagine her sad shaky voice if we were to show up late to the dinner she prepared. My thoughts are interrupted by Luna’s wail.

I look back— Leo must’ve pulled her too hard without realizing it. I rush my way back to them: “for goodness sake, Leo, be careful! Luna, honey, it’s okay, it’s okay, come to the car,” I try to comfort my little girl. It seems like I always manage to look like the bad guy. What’s wrong with me?

Maybe I should get professional help. I never spoke about my affair with anyone else besides my wife, who hates speaking about it. I mean, I don’t blame her. I don’t think I’m strong enough to have stayed with her, if she cheated on me instead. She’s so much stronger than me, and I feel more like a coward with every goddamn passing day. I imagine this is why so many marriages end with divorce, especially if affairs are involved. This guilty feeling follows me everywhere I go, and I sometimes want to start fresh. Nothing to owe anybody; a clean sleight.

“Sowwy,” sweet Luna’s precious voice interrupts my dark thoughts yet again, and now the reason for why I stay in this situation is clear as day. My little angel is so brave— she takes the blame instead of me for raising my voice at Leo. She is her mother’s daughter: brave! Now is time to be a better man, for Luna, for Leo, for my family. I use my calmest voice:

“Aw Munchkin, you didn’t do anything. I should be the one saying sorry. Sorry Leo, didn’t mean to yell at ya’ there. I just really don’t want to be late today.” I hope this eases the two of them.

“It’s okay,” my gentle boy replies. We are by the car now. I look down at my watch to see that we are already late.

Luna's Side:

“Hurry guys!” Daddy shouts at my brother and I as he runs to our car. “Dinner is ready, and we don’t want to upset Mommy now, do we?” he says in a lower voice. I don’t think Mommy is upset when we’re late for dinner, so I don’t know why Daddy said that. Mommy and Daddy are usually nice to each other, except for sometimes. Sometimes Daddy yells when Mommy cries, but they always work it out.

My brother strengthens his grip around my hand, and begins walking faster towards the car. We had just spent a fun day at the park, and Leo, my older brother, even taught me how to play catch. We played it for hours today in the grass. It’s time to go now, though, so we don’t miss Mommy’s dinner at home. Everyday we have dinner as a family, and I love Mommy’s cooking! She is the best chef in the world. She asks everybody what they want, and tries her hardest to prepare it all for us. I love my family, and my family loves me.

As we walk through the park’s grass to our car on the other side of the street, I look around at all the beauty. The sun is beginning to set, and the sky is a calming twinkly orange. I love this time of day. I wonder what Mommy has in store for tonight’s dinner. I really can’t wait to see. I look up and I can tell my brother is upset.

I stop in place and begin to cry.

“For goodness sake, Leo, be careful! Luna, honey, it’s okay, it’s okay, come to the car,” Daddy wipes my tears and holds my hand instead of Leo. Daddy thinks I’m crying because Leo hurt me, but Leo never hurts me. What Daddy and Leo didn’t notice is that we had just stepped on what must’ve been a million little ants. We just killed. I feel so sad that we caused this. I can’t stop crying. I remember Mommy teaching me that ants are some of the hardest workers, and that they do everything for their family and their Queen. Mommy is my Queen, and I do everything for her and my family too. I feel much worse after realizing that my family just killed another family.

“Sowwy,” I say to the little creatures, looking down. Leo gives me a look with the tiniest smile, and is about to speak when Daddy says instead of him:

“Aw Munchkin, you didn’t do anything. I should be the one saying sorry. Sorry Leo, didn’t mean to yell at ya’ there. I just really don’t want to be late today.”

“It’s okay,” my brother says. How can they be so ignorant about what we have just done, and act like everything is about them? Would they stop running and thinking about themselves for just one second?

We finally reach the street, and are now closer to the car. I’m so excited about dinner!