Burning Sky

You squint your eyes, peering into the distance. If it’s what it looks like, the entirety of Klermont Peak is doomed. You have to hope that it isn’t what it looks like. 

Of course, you’ve thought it before. Everybody has. Thought you’d seen it out there, rolling in slowly. But you were wrong. Jakca was right, just like usual. There were a paranoid few that he couldn’t seem to regain the trust of after his big “doomsday prediction,” you included.

Jakca could be right, though. Every citizen believed it. Still, nearly every day, a student in your class would look out the window and, not for the first time, think about how wrong Jakca was that morning.

However, he’d been right so far. It had been a cool day, nice, full cloud coverage. Then again, there was always full cloud coverage.

But if Jakca was wrong, and you were right-

“You there! Are you paying attention?” A hand slams onto your desk, jerking you back into reality.

Your class, taught by the famed humanologist Dr. Gerardi Sr., is in session, but you haven’t been paying attention. Instead, you were looking out the window.

“Yes, sir!” you say, even though you weren't.

“Well, if you were paying attention, you should be able to tell me. What is the human way of conjugating their verb for the word “to eat?” 

“Um. . .”

Dr. Gerardi shakes his head at you, disappointed. “Pay more attention.” He turns back to the rest of the class, but you turn to the window.

You remember the broadcast on VNT from earlier that morning.

“And now Jakca will give us the forecast for today!”

“Thanks, Kipri. Today we’ll have a cold front coming through! Yes, you heard me right! A cold front! It’ll be around 750 degrees today, so make sure you spend the whole day outdoors! No eruptions seem to be in store, so there should be no storms at all. Back to you, Kipri!”

You shake your head, smiling. There seem to be storms in the distance, although it’s hard to tell from Klermont Peak. It’s a long way down, too far to see the city. If it did storm, there would be no hope of getting home in time.

Dr. Gerardi’s voice enters your stream of consciousness. “On Earth, they have blue skies and colorful clouds. Does anyone know what colors the clouds are? Yes, Mr. Linan?”

“They’re all on the human grayscale, liquid white to midnight black, with all the grays in between.”

“Correct, Mr. Linan. Now, does anyone know what shade of blue the sky is, and why it is so blue?”

“It’s Azure.”

“Raise your hand. Does anyone know why? Yes, Miss Celenor?”

“‘Gases and particles in Earth's atmosphere scatter sunlight in all directions. Blue light is scattered more than other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves.’” 

“A textbook answer. Use your own words next time, Miss Celenor. What kind of storms do they have on earth?”

You raise your hand. You’re feeling a little urgent, because this time. . .it really does seem like it’s coming. You don’t wait to be called on. “Dr. Gerardi, speaking of storms, I. . .” you point outside, toward the dark yellow horizon. You can’t finish the sentence. The terror has begun to set in. If it really is what it looks like, it’s the end. 

Dr. Gerardi looks out of the window. At this point it’s a routine, the time of day when someone thinks the storms are coming. “It’s probably nothing. Don’t worry. Now-” 

Dr. Gerardi is cut off by the intercom. Bing! “Good afternoon, students and teachers. It is I, Principal Dween. I’m very sorry to interrupt your classes, but there seems to be the looming threat of doom on the horizon. Tee hee! It is literally on the horizon. If you look out the window there-”

Principal Dween is cut off by, presumably, the secretary. “Principal Dween! Please, focus.”

“-Sorry, sorry! Just a little joke. What was I saying? Oh, yes.” You notice a change in the principal’s voice. It becomes less playful, more serious. “All classes are dismissed at this moment. Do not get up yet, students. Hurry home, before the storm rolls in. If it rolls in at all, of course. Today, it looks serious. Better take the precautions. The school isn’t built for enough protection for the amount of students on campus today. I repeat, please begin your descent of Klermont Peak.” Bing!

You pack up quickly. You need to find your little brother, make sure he is safe. You, unlike others, know the distance from Klermont Peak to the city is much too far to cross before the storm comes. You’ll have to stay in the school.

You get up, say a hurried goodbye to Dr. Gerardi, and run towards the Young Wing of the school. “Xias!” You run, calling loudly to your brother in the hopes that he’ll answer. “Xias! Where are you!”

The storm is drawing near, quickly. You’re outside, running through the courtyard. You have to get inside, to a protected room. Cool wind whips past you, stinging. You see the streams of students cascading down the peak. “No. . .” you gasp. “Xias. . .” What if Xias is in that deluge? He’s. . .he’s doomed, you think, your hand flying to your mouth. He’ll never make it down the peak in time. Neither will the rest of those students. Only a few stay back, the ones who know. The ones who, like you, are paranoid about storms. 

Suddenly, little arms wrap around you. You swivel. “Xias! I’m so glad. . .you’re here. . .” you almost start crying. 

“Pwincipal Dween say we need to be down.” He points down the mountain.

“We’re not going down the mountain. We’re staying inside,” you say.

He thinks for a minute. “But we outside.”

“You’re right. Let’s-” Your arm burns. You look down at the droplet that is slowly melting your skin, and your eyes widen. “Xias, go! Inside, now!” You sprint, the rain falling faster. Every drop that touches you burns. There is no lightning, only the sour smell and burning. “We have to get to a safe room. Come on!”

You grab Xias’ hand and run. Classroom 35B isn’t too far away. It has no windows, nothing to melt through. You hear the rain starting to pound on the roof, and accompanying it are the screams of the students who didn’t make it to shelter. You can’t save them all. Only Xias. Your parents should be safe at work, or at home.

The rain is falling harder than one would have thought possible. You shove Xias into the classroom, right as the unprotected hallway crashes around before you. “Get in the room!” you shout. “The back! Hide under the teacher’s desk!” The rain pours around you, outside the end of the hallway to the open door of the classroom.

You duck your head and run through it.

It burns.

Your only thoughts are-

For

Xias. . .

Let

Me

Get

There

                             *                 *                   *

“Wake up!”

You jerk awake. Everything burns. “What-” You stop. The boy above you is crying, his face a swollen mess of red. His chin is a little droopy. You recognize him-

“Xi. . .Xias?” You start to sniffle. “What happened. . .why. . .where. . .”

“You cowapsed in da wain. . .I went to get you. I didn’t want you t’die.”

“But Xias. . .you must be in so much pain. . .”

“What was da wain? Why we in classwoom?”

“Remember. . . that time I told you. . .about Jakca’s “Doomsday Prediction?”

“Yeh.”

“Well. . .that’s this.”

“But Jakca said no stowms today!”

“Jakca was wrong. He’s not always the best weatherman, Xias.”

“But- what wain? Ewth wain no like this!”

It takes you a moment to decipher his words. Earth rain. “Earth rain is water, but on Venus. . .we have acid rain. It burns. . .it melts. . .it. . .” You feebly make a shrugging gesture. You sit up. “Xias, we have to stay here. It could be days. It could be hours. But we have to. We’ll be here together.”

“. . .My face huwts. . .” he rubs it. “Ow!”

You take a good look at him. He is disfigured now, all because he saved me. “Xias. . .why did you save me?”

“Because I wuv you! And I didn’t want you to get huwt!”

Your eyes start to water.  “But Xias, you saw what happened to my arm. Why did you. . .?”

He shrugs. “I wuv you.”

You pull him into your arms and slump back against the wall. We’ll wait here, together, safe for now. For as long as it takes to be safe outside. The screams from other students have died down now, and I vow not to let Xias be one of those students. You pull him tight to your chest, and close your eyes.

“I love you too.”