Splintered

A single streak cut across a section of the sky like the contrail of a jet, but this was somehow different. Wider maybe. This is how it ends.

            The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and the sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss

                   -Revelations 9:1, 9:2

 

“Hey, Bill?”

            “Hey, Bill!”

            “Hunh?” William Thompson perked his head up and blinked as the sunlight strained his eyes. “D****t Vick, I was dreamin.’”

            “Your wet dreams’ll have to wait. Look up there, whaddaya suppose that is?”

            He stretched his legs out and got to his feet. Vick was sitting on a rock with a fishing pole in his right hand and his left hand pointed toward the sky.

            “I swear, if you woke me up ‘cause of one-a-ya damned birds, you’ll be fishing with your teeth.”

            “I’m pretty sure it’s not a bird, Bill”

            Looking at the sky wasn’t as uncomfortable for Bill’s still sleepy eyes now that they were adjusting. He admired the clear sky and the breezy day. It was warm enough to be considered spring, but it seemed that winter was still tenaciously lingering.

            “Okay, what am I looking fo-“

            But before he could finish it realized exactly what it was he was looking for. A single streak cut across a section of the sky like the contrail of a jet, but this was somehow different. Wider maybe.

            “Well I’ll be… I didn’t read about a shuttle launch today. At least I don’t think I did” Bill said foggily.

            Vick laughed as he reeled his line in.

            “If that was a launch the smoke would be coming from the ground not the sky, man. Where’s your head?”

            “It’s halfway in dreamland, would be all the way if you hadn’t woke me up to show me your funky cloud.”

            Bill sat next to Vick and started looking through his tackle box, occasionally peering out toward the lake. Water lapped at the rocks they were sitting on, splashing droplets of water toward their feet. Vick cast his line and the whirring of his reel was punctuated by the distant plop of the weight.

            “I think it’s growing.” Vick stated

            “How many times do I gotta tell you those pills from the internet don’t work?”

            “Shut up,” Vick chuckled “I’m talking about my ‘funky cloud’”

            “Maybe it’s a shuttle coming in and not going out.” Bill suggested as he ran his hands through his hair and looked up at the sky. It did indeed look like it had grown considerably. He opened the cooler, pulled out a can of Michelob, cracked it open, and sat down at the foot of a shady oak tree. “I’m gonna finish my beer and go back to sleep. Don’t wake me up unless you pull in the Loch-Ness monster with that dinky rod of yours.”

            “You act like it’s a crime to come out here and enjoy nature.”

            “No I act like it’s a crime to wake up a tired overworked man trying to enjoy one of his few days off.”

            “You call that paper pushing you do work?” Vick joked “Talk to me when you got a real man’s job.”

            “It’s called corporate hell for a reason Vick. I’m convinced that a salary is just a nice way of saying ‘indentured servitude’”

            “You’re still a pansy.” Vick went silent and cast his line again.

            Bill fell back asleep and dreamt he was the pilot of a space shuttle as it was leaving the atmosphere. Meanwhile, the streak in the sky grew much wider and longer as the sky became littered with more funky clouds.

           

Author's Note

I told myself I wouldn't write any stories until I was done with Chapter 1 of Imako, god I'm such a liar. I had this idea and it had to be put into word form. I'm not nearly done with it yet so please just review on what is written. I have a feeling this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Reviews

[Michael]

As I mentioned in my note, this piece is not nearly complete, it's just what I wrote down to get it out of my head. Thank you for your review though :)

[Bella-Marie]

A story that didn't have much plot. It was like a little piece of a real story. I liked it very much.