Twelve years back, the land collapsed, the sea rose. Ten years later, the asteroids rained down, the other planets gone.
Then, the Subzero started.
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A year after the Late Asteroid Bombardment, a winter came that seemed t...
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5
OUR PLANE WAS DESTINED to descent at the supercontinent Pangaea Ultima, Northwestern Division. The plane dove at the stratospheric mantle of clouds, plunging to let us behold the aftermath of the catastrophic destruction that was hidden from us for days. The span of waiting was enough. It's time to remove that curtain and exhibit the flabbergasting to the audience.
Passengers, who talked about for days what they expected to see under the concealing clouds, found their answers at the window. Everyone, besides our family, stood and stuck their face to assess. Confused silence dawned. The same silence when they saw the televised broadcast. I asked Mommy what was happening. She did not answer. Mommy who just stared ahead, gone zombie-like to us, like an inoperable robot or deaf. To Daddy, I asked the same. He glanced outside, shrugged, then said it was nothing precious, then zeroed back his attention to the book he was reading for days.
I want to see it, Daddy, I said. Dad looked at me. You want to see it? I said yes. He stowed his book and started unbuckling my seatbelt. Don't ask too many questions to Daddy, huh? He said with a teasing smile. I pouted. Just how many of them? Three, he said, and I was free from my seat. I stuck my face against the window. Pronto, my eyebrows creased, my silence uniting with the other's.
The outside was. . . outside. It was the materialization of what I imagined whenever I heard about Africa. Mountains ended the extent of vast orange land. Afar situated a lake, the only place where trees clumped. The majority of the land was vacant. If not, grasses occupied them. It would be Africa if there were animals, but none. No lions, zebras, deers, or giraffes. The only animal I saw was the starling flying with the swarm of planes. Even the starling seemed lost, could not decipher what happened, or why he/she was flying alone.
I faced Daddy who was looking outside, too. "Did the monster do that?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Monster... you mean that—"
"Daddy, that huge water hand reaching for us? Remember?" With an arm gesture mimicking the superwave.
His cheeks puckered when he smiled. A sad one. "Huge water hand, huh?" He nodded. "Yup. The monster did it. Do you know what really happened?"
"It cleaned the cities. New York included."
Another nod. I don't know if it is an understanding nod or a yeah-whatever nod. But he seemed in a deep thought, though. "You paid attention at the broadcast, didn't you?"
"Daddy, you're asking too many questions."
His lips twitched. "I won't ask now."
After a moment of staring outside, I wondered, will the monster come again? Will it reach for us again? I asked my second question. "Are we safe now, Daddy?" He smiled. I think it's not genuine. He smiled to convince me. He said we were safe, no monster, and that we'll be in a camp somewhere the plane will land. I nodded, convinced, of course. I stayed in his lap, thinking about my next question.
