One Final Moment [COMPLETE]

This is the entire story

This story is meant to be read in one sitting. Please enjoy.

Inspired by Ray Bradbury

By Jonathan Cook

One Final Moment

We sat at the stadium where the L.A. heat radiated onto the shining metal bleachers and reflected off of odd angles blinding us as we watched the game.-- Sirens blared in the city, people walked across streets, through malls, parks, and homes. Children played outside in the grass and in their pools, parents sat at their desks tapping away on their keyboards as they always had, and dogs and cats barked at murmured at each other through fence holes and windows. It was a normal day, the simple day, the every-day.

The skyscrapers touched space itself, cast huge, cool shadows that loomed over the entire world. The trees and bushes and grass blew gently in the summer wind that brought great relief to those in the sun, and the players at the bottom of the stadium. The world, it seemed, was at peace. There was no conflict today, here, at L.A. anyways.

He pitched the ball, which ripped through the air towards the bat, ricocheting the ball across the field at an alarming speed, and flew into the crowd in the bleachers. A home run! He had gotten his team a home run! The crowd cheered him as he ran the bases and touched down, getting a four point lead on the pitching team.

The snack vendors scooted in between aisles, shooting them through the air to those who wanted them. "Hot dog!" A man yelled to a vendor, which turned it's metal body towards him, "Hot Dog...Vending..." It shot a wrapped dog to him, "Thanks!" It's head bent down in response, "Of course." It said in a monotone voice, then rolled away to serve other customers.

The sun shone, the clouds glided across the soft, blue sky, birds flapped and cooed each other in the air, and the game went on. It went on into the seventh inning, and I looked at her. The woman I was going to spend the rest of my life with. Brown hair, eyes, and a beautiful smile. She was the light of my life, the love of my life.

When I looked at her, I saw a light, it was a blinding, hot light that scorched the skin. I knew what it was, but I never had enough time to say three words. Three. Simple. Words. There was the same blinding, scorching light from the center of the stadium.

It hurt for less than a second, but then the pain was over. Faster than you could blink. Smoke was everywhere, and someone had grabbed my hand. Over a few minutes the smoke had cleared. I was floating in the same, sitting position that I had been in the stadium--only the stadium wasn't there anymore. She was holding my hand, and as I looked away from her, dozens of huge mushrooms grew out of the ground, coming from seeds from the sky. We all started gliding upwards, everyone in the stadium was going upwards-and as I looked around myself, holding her hand, millions of others followed from the city.

"Couldn't of been any less subtle could ya Snowy?" -SnowTrooperLTz