Allison LeMieux

This is the end, she thought, looking up at the comet in the sky. It was so near now that she felt she could reach up and grab it out of the sky. We’ve stopped it coming for so long, and now there’s nothing we can do.

“Mommy, Mommy!” A little boy raced up the path, bare feet slapping on the cement.

“Hey, baby! Where’ve you been?” She swept him up in her arms and twirled him around, her ears filled with his joyful giggles.

“I was talking to Mr. Lawrence, and he said the sky rock is coming to visit soon!” He looked up at her, eyes big and mirthful.

She settled her little boy in the crook of her elbow and frowned. “Is that so?”

“I’ve always wanted to meet it in person!” He squirmed out of her grasp and slipped to the ground. He ran to their garden, lush with flowers, berries, and vegetables. “We should make a lunch party for it!”

She smiled sadly as she watched her little boy fill his pockets with flowers and gently cradle a ripe tomato in his small hands. He brought it over and held it aloft reverently. “Is that the one, baby?” He nodded solemnly. He took her hand and led her back toward the house.

“Regina!”

She turned and saw Tucker Lawrence standing on the other side of their fence.

“You go get lunch started,” she whispered to her boy, nudging him toward the door. “I’ll be right there.”

“Regina, how are you doing?”

“The sky rock is coming to visit soon? Are you serious?” She strode over to the fence and pointed a finger at his chest. “Stay away from my little boy, Tucker.”

He held up his hands and took a small step back. “He asked about it, I was just trying to be delicate. I didn’t want to scare him.”

“He wants to make lunch for it,” she wailed. “He picked flowers for it. He thinks it’s coming over to visit, when it’s just going to—” She pressed a hand over her mouth to hold in a sob.

“Isn’t that better? That he has no idea?” He reached over the fence and put a hand on her shoulder. “Regina, sometimes naivete is better than knowing. I envy his youth, to be honest with you. He won’t ever know what’s going to happen if you don’t tell him.”

She ran her hands through her hair and took a shuddering breath. She looked up at the looming shadow in the sky. “Do you want to come over for lunch?”

 

The little boy placed small, plastic plates in front of Mr. Lawrence and Mommy. Each plate had a tomato and cheese sandwich, three berries, and a little pile of granola. In the middle of the table, he had put some of Mommy’s tulips in a vase. She didn’t like it when he picked them, because they don’t grow back until the next spring, but she didn’t scold him this time. Instead she smiled and kissed his forehead. Mr. Lawrence reached for his sandwich.

“Not yet, silly!” He smacked at Mr. Lawrence’s hand. “We have to wait for the sky rock to get here! It’s rude to eat without the guest.”

Mommy laughed, but her face didn’t look like it was laughing. She gave him a look he hadn’t seen before, and she pulled him into her side. “The sky rock is running late, baby. It won’t be here in time for lunch.”

“Oh.” He hugged Mommy’s side and frowned. He had made lunch for nothing then, if the sky rock was running late. “I guess it’s okay for us to eat, then.”

 

 

Regina’s kid was so blissfully unaware. It hurt. Tucker watched as the little boy painstakingly built them sandwiches and put some of Regina’s tulips in a vase. The kid was so happy and thoughtful and bright, it wasn’t fair that he was going to die. Tucker had lived enough that he had made his peace with this comet business from the very first official report.

Watching Regina and her boy, though? That had been the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. Regina had been trying so hard to keep her little boy in the dark, to let him live his life and have fun and not have any idea that the world was about to end, and it wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Cheers!” the kid cried happily lifting his paper cup in the air. Tucker lifted his own cup and tapped it to his. Regina followed suit.

“Cheers, kiddo.” He smiled as he took a drink of his lemonade. Regina must have poured them all while he was spaced out. “I’m sorry the sky rock was late, buddy, I know you were excited to make lunch for it.”

“Yeah.” He looked down at his lap, but quickly perked up again. “I saved a sandwich for when it arrives, though! It’s in the fridge”

“That’s a great idea, baby,” Regina said with a sad smile.

They sat at the table for maybe a half hour, talking about tomato and cheese sandwiches, determining the best way to go sledding in the summer, and laughing at the little boy’s antics.

But then the earth began to rumble.

 

She could tell that Tucker felt the tremors at the same time she did. They locked widened eyes across the table. She could feel herself tearing up, but she felt a small hand on her arm.

Her little boy was looking up at her with big, worried eyes. “What is that, Mommy?”

She got out of her chair and knelt before her son. She was sure her voice was shaking when she finally spoke. “You know how the car grumbles when it pulls into the garage?” He nodded. “Well, baby, that rumbling is the sky rock pulling up to Earth.” He frowned.

“It’s loud,” was all he said before he darted toward the front door.

“No!” she cried, but Tucker was faster than her. He lunged out of his chair and snatched up her little boy.

“Hey! Put me down!”

Tucker laughed weakly and shook his head. “We shouldn’t go outside right now, kiddo.”

The little boy kicked his legs futilely before sagging. “Why not,” he whined, drawing the syllables out.

She plucked her baby from Tucker’s arms and held him to her chest. “Because, baby. We don’t want to get in the sky rock’s way.” She buried her face in his hair and felt as the rumbles in the ground got louder and stronger. “It’ll be here soon.”

 

 

The walls began to shake, followed by the furniture. Things began to rattle off of shelves and hooks and crash to the floor. Her baby began to cry and the house shook violently all around them. They were knocked to the floor, but they were unable to get back to their feet. Tucker led them, crawling, to an interior room, and shut the door behind them.

Her little boy was wailing and clinging to her neck. The two of them collided with Tucker in a little pile in the corner of the room. They clung to each other, tears wetting shirts and hair. The sound of breaking glass, collapsing walls, and breaking furniture filled the air alongside the deep, constant rumble.

She could feel her bones shaking beneath her skin. She could feel Tucker’s bones shaking. She could feel her baby’s bones shaking. The noise and the quakes were so deafening and piercing and painful.

Tucker leaned into her ear. “Thank you for lunch, Reg,” he whispered, his broken voice barely audible.

She let out a desperate sob and clung tighter to him.

Her little boy wrapped his arms tighter around her, forcing out the little breath she had left. “I don’t think the sky rock is very nice,” he wailed, his face soaked with tears.

She pressed her lips against his cheek. “It’s not your fault, baby. I promise.”

 

Soft ‘I love yous’ rang out through the deafening noise, and tight hugs fought against earth-shattering movement.

They lay, huddled, clinging to each other for dear life, as the noise only grew and grew, as the walls cracked and split around them, and even still as the comet smashed into the earth.

 

And everything was still.