Here Comes The Sun

Dear Margaret White,

We are pleased to inform you that the admissions department at Top Mount University has received your application. In order to continue this process, we request that you submit an original writing piece using the following prompt:

Write an essay about an obstacle you have overcome in your life.

We look forward to hearing back from you.

Sincerely,

Top Mount University

I sighed.

My life is dreary. My life is depressing. My life is dark. My life is-

“Wow, how very creative. I’m sure the admissions team at Top Mount wasn’t expecting Tim Burton to apply to their prestigious school!”

I looked up dully at my older brother, who was leaning his entire face into my computer screen and cackling, his face reflecting the light like some sort of evil villain.

“What would you suggest, Theo? Shall I sprinkle some smile emojis and exclamation points in between each sentence? How about, "I’ve overcome my completely irrational fear of going outside and I just can’t wait to be swallowed alive!""

He rolled his eyes.

“There are plenty of realistic things to look forward to, Magenta. Like…”

He paused, looking around the room for inspiration.

“See! You can’t even think of something off of the top of your head! And don’t call me Magenta,” I grumbled.

“Besides, how is what I said not realistic? It happened to mom.”

“Magent-Maggie,” Theo pleaded.

I stayed silent, blankly staring down at my shadow against the floor.

I wasn’t always this negative, I promise. Up until I was 15, my life was pretty great. 

I was a summer baby, born at the very beginning of July. I think it’s why I craved the sun so dearly. 

It was like a built-in present. The golden rays blanketing my tanned skin in a warm embrace. My chestnut hair glittering red like rubies against the beams of gilded light.

Birthday parties spent at the pool, the smell of sunscreen and fresh pizza pies wafting through the friendly breeze.

Summer camp nature walks, exploring tiny wildlife scattering through the dirt.

Nothing made me feel more alive than the life I used to have.

I missed it. Though homebodies like my brother would disagree.

 “Well, I’m going to go play soccer on my V-Box. If you need anything, dad should be home in like an hour,” he muttered, his lanky frame disappearing into the dimly lit living room.

I exasperatedly hit as many keys as I could on the keyboard, forming a jumble of letters that sounded more coherent than everything I’d written in the past hour, and closed my laptop.

I didn’t have the willpower to continue this essay, or to start it, for that matter.

I sat in silence for a while, until the high strung notes of my public domain ringtone made me jump.

My phone screamed for my attention on the table from where I had tossed it carelessly earlier in hopes of avoiding the daily disastrous headlines that came with our new life.

I glanced down at my best friend’s name and breathed in deeply before pressing “accept.”

“Hey,” I croaked, attempting to sound cheerful.

If she knew I had been moping around all day, she would put on a whole song and dance to cheer me up, and I just didn’t have the energy for her wild antics right now.

“Maggieeee, we’re gonna play Uno and make a candy salad!” she exclaimed excitedly.

“A  candy what?” I asked, almost smiling.

“Y’know, like everyone brings over some candy and we dump it all in one big bowl and mix it. Candy salad!”

I could tell she was very proud of this idea.

“You’re really running out of ideas, huh?” I smirked.

“I’ve got gummy sharks, your absolute favoriteeee,” she sang.

I paused.

“Carmen I-”

“Don’t you dare say no! Maggie, I miss you. You need-”

“Fresh air? Sunlight?” I mumbled.

“Well we obviously don’t have that right now, so we have to make the most of what we’ve got. C’mon Mags, please,” she whined.

“Maybe I’ll join over a video call in a few.”

“Maggie, it’s not healthy to-”

There was a stiffening silence, and I almost checked to make sure she didn’t hang up.

“Okay,” she said quietly, “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay, bye,” I said, “and-”

But the call had ended.

The slate gray tarps against the window shivered as a gust of wind knocked against it.

The unfortunate reality of it was, one day we all woke up inside of a sci-fi novel.

I didn’t pay much attention to the news lately, but I knew the basics. 

They called it the Great Event. 

Terrible name, if you ask me. 

The science guy I follow online, Solar Steve, said that the catastrophe had something to do with something going into the sun and changing the chemical balance or some garbage. That chemical change caused a disastrous reaction in the shadows of living things.

Three years ago today, everyone was living their normal, boring lives.

And then, within an hour’s time of the news, unknowing civilians caught in the sun were consumed on the spot by these sheer, untouchable entities of themselves.

The screams of those caught in the sun still rang in my head like some sort of morbid horror music.

“Where is mom?!”

My dad had gathered my brother and I in his arms, hiding us in a closet like the emergency newscast had advised.

His arms were shaking but his expression beneath his thick handlebar mustache was stoic and the grip on us was vice-like.

My mom had taken our dog, Googly, for a walk. If you think that’s a horrible name for a dog, I would agree. But my mother had thought his eyes, hidden under a sheath of sandy fur, looked exactly like the plastic eyeballs used for arts and crafts and therefore, googly it was.

In case it wasn’t obvious, the two of them never returned.

I can’t think about the details of what happened to them; it makes me shut down to imagine what broadcasters have talked about these monsters doing to humans, let alone the humans I loved more than anything in the world.

This sadly isn’t some dystopian Peter Pan novel. 

We buried ourselves in the shadows to hide from them.

Any living thing could potentially create this transparent monster, human and animal alike. 

For the past three years, we’ve lived like vampires. 

The night is now our day. Once the sun comes up, we hide.

Our houses, once distinctive with terracotta bricks and cream colored vinyl siding, were all covered in the same somber protection tarps, to make sure any and all natural sunlight was trapped outside.

Of course, our modest world attempted to recreate all we had lost with “sun rooms,” where for the great low price of one-hundred dollars, you could stand on plastic grass and bake under a lamp, or bring your dog in for its daily poop.

It wasn’t the same, especially for those of us who chose to avoid the outdoors altogether.

I ended up staying in tonight. 

By staying in, I mean I didn’t video call Carmen. She hadn’t texted me since the phone call anyway. 

My dad came home around 6pm, and brought in stale pasta salad for dinner from the local Italian restaurant. There’s nothing worse than dried out noodles with a side of bread rolls that were so hard, I could’ve scoured the dishes with them.

It was a Friday, so I usually stayed up late watching tv or having virtual hangouts with friends. Sometimes I’d even persuade Dad and Theo to play a board game.

But tonight was just one of those stare at the ceiling and think kinda nights.

I tried to brainstorm something for my college essay. The Great Event already made me a year late at starting, I didn’t want to go for two.

It was still dark enough for people to safely be outside. But, in about an hour’s time, when the midnight blues of the sky started to dilute towards a watercolor gray, dozens of shrill, earsplitting alarms would sound. The clamor of scurrying footsteps and tires screeching would cut through the night until there was only silence.

I peered out from behind the curtain cautiously and curiously.

Across the street, a young couple was taking a stroll, holding hands and swinging their arms up and down like carefree children.

They were probably going to get ice cream from down the road, I predicted.

Just like I used to do with Mom. 

“Two cherry vanilla cones, and a small cup of vanilla for our good boy, please!” she would say, struggling to hold up Googly to the window.

We would laugh as he batted his paws towards the heartwarmed employees, who would usually give him an extra spoonful to lick clean.

My eyes pricked. When would this get easier?

Out in the road, behind the couple was a scraggly brown squirrel prancing to an opening at the bottom of one of the town’s artificial trees.

He must’ve sensed the sky lightening slowly and even he knew it was better to be safe than sorry.

Mom loved animals, it would’ve broken her heart to see the way these creatures hid for their own survival. Nothing could thrive in the dark.

Maybe I would take some veterinary classes, once I felt ready enough to go outside again.

I didn’t know when that would be, of course. You would think someone as pessimistic and sour as me wouldn’t be bothered by the thought of getting caught in the sun. But I guess deep down, I did care, just a little. Because I knew this isn’t what Mom would want for me. 

The sky started to turn stone gray, and I knew I should be closing the curtains soon. 

But I kept watching the world, getting a slight thrill from the closeness of the sun.

And that was when I saw him.

Just off in the distance, a tawny blotch moving amongst the stillness.

My eyes widened, as I crept closer to the surface of the glass pane, the uncleaned layer of dust ticking the inside of my nose.

Was that-

I shook my head. No, Maggie, don’t get your hopes up.

The blotch turned, layers of long fur swaying, trying to keep up with the movement of the animal.

And from behind my little window, I saw two gleaming, bead-like eyes staring straight at me.

“Googly?” I whispered, watching him turn away and run down the sidewalk, carefree.

It couldn’t be my beloved dog, but he looked so similar. What was he doing out this early?

I was so busy staring, I had almost missed how light it had gotten outside. 

Where were his owners? Had he gotten lost? Why wasn’t he trying to scurry back towards the darkness?

He probably missed the sun, just like me.

Slowly, I closed the window, and sat down on the couch.

That dog would find his way back inside, I was sure.

But my mind was stuck on him, the way he almost looked like he was smiling outside.

Or she? There were no visible collar or tell-tale marks of its gender from here.

Shakily, I stood up and started walking towards the door.

I hesitated.

Maggie, let it go.

But Mom wouldn’t have let it go. I was sure of it.

Before I could convince myself otherwise, my hand was on the doorknob, turning it slowly.

There it was, the little scavenger.

I waved, trying to get its attention, but it was too far away.

I couldn’t let this innocent animal die.

With a clenched jaw and a weak stomach, I pushed the creaky door open and frantically flew across the street at full speed, my eyes glued to the dog.

It was eerily quiet outside, even the wind had stored itself away.

My heart struck my hollow chest like a gong as I neared the almost familiar face.

It smiled up at me, its little wet, pink tongue hanging out of the side of its mouth as it breathed hot air against my leg.

“Hey, little guy,” I trembled, still panting myself.

It stood still, as though waiting for me to feed it. Maybe it would’ve been smart to bring some sort of food with me. It was too late to think of what I should have done.

The sky was turning beige. I had to hurry.

I reached towards it, but at the sight of my hand coming closer, it started to retreat further down the block, almost dancing on its furry paws.

It thinks this is a game.

“Please,” I pleaded, bending down. 

A cool breeze suddenly brushed past my shoulders, and I took a deep breath in, closing my eyes.

There was a slight moisture in the air, landing on my parched skin.

It felt good. I felt a spurious sense of freedom.

I chased after the dog, unthinkingly starting to giggle.

It continued to tease me, twirling around my body in circles while simultaneously evading my anxious grasp.

The laces of my tattered converse tickled my ankles as the wind grew stronger.

I spun around in excitement.

My face dropped.

From below I heard the dog whimper and growl, almost like it was fighting something.

Reality came crashing down like a wave; all I could feel was a shock navigate its way through my body. The word no despairingly escaped from my mouth and suddenly the warmth of the sun felt very chilling.

It was darker than a regular shadow, like an obsidian cloud that moved as though it were breathing. Puffing in and out, little wisps combined together into a large entity. But it was also me. The ends of its five fingers connected to mine like a perfect puzzle piece. A loud breeze constructed its figure, almost like a me-shaped tornado.

I cautiously withdrew my hand from its magnetic hold only to discover that my every movement was being mimicked. 

I shut my eyes tight, so tight that I saw patterns dancing beneath my lids. 

Its warbled wind noise grew louder, and I looked up at it slowly. My entire body was pounding from the inside out.

The head of the shadow started leaning into me, the icy air moving through the strands of my hair whipped my face and stung my cheeks.

Maggie, you have to MOVE! My brain screamed, but yet I still stood in place, as though waiting for this horrifying substance to swallow me whole.

How could I run? This was my shadow. It was attached to me and it was activated. 

I remembered all of the news stories I’d seen, the podcasts online where Solar Steve and other experts had analyzed our options in a worst case scenario.

 Was there a way to survive this?

The answer was always the same. 

There was nothing anyone of any stature could do.

“Please,” I mumbled half heartedly as the beast crept closer, until the wind had stolen my breath. 

I gasped for air, and released a soundless screech of pain as the inside of my body grew frigid. It felt as though I were frozen and on fire at the same time as the substance that composed the shadow filled my lungs. The burning ravaged through my body deliberately, like a starved vulture latching onto its prey. I was paralyzed, screaming internally but the only noise was the haunting whistle of the shadow. It reminded me of hearing cars on the highway at night, whipping through the darkness like angry ghosts.

I saw a flash of something that looked almost like eyes and a mouth, and then everything faded to black.

Have you ever looked inside of a kaleidoscope? You know, those little cardboard tubes that look seemingly stupid from the outside but hold a world of glittering colors and pleasing symmetrical patterns underneath?

My eyes struggled to adjust to what was in front of me, and it took a second to remember where I just was.

Vibrant, illuminated colors surrounded me, bouncing off of my body as though I were made of glass.

Was I in heaven?

There was no wildlife, no ground, no sky; it was just an intricate jumble of violet, cyan, and magenta. These pigments rippled amongst what felt like millions of other colors that would've normally been imperceptible to me.

What the hell? Wait, was I allowed to say that here? 

Suddenly from somewhere in the distance, I heard a familiar tone.

“Maggie!”

“Mom?”

A strange shape made more of transparent light than solid flesh appeared before me.

“Oh honey, finally!” it cried, in what almost sounded like my mother's voice.

I stared back suspiciously, then looked down at myself and nearly fell over.

Why did I look like a prism?!

 “Am I hallucinating?”

The shapeshifting rainbow laughed, it sounded like the twinkling noise from toasting two glasses together.

“Welcome to the Sun Realm.”

Well, I think I finally had a decent essay topic.