The picnic that never started

I’ve always been mesmerized by sunsets. The way the different colors are painted across the sky each night has a different finish. How every day it’s different shades of blues, purples, oranges, and many more. My favorites are the oranges, How orange and red mix together overlapping one another glowing bright like the skies on fire. It’s one of the many reasons me and my mom have picnics so often. We try to be adventurous and choose different locations. Sometimes we travel hours away from Atlanta to explore new parks or hiking trails. And other times we stay close to the city and just enjoy our signature park a little south of my mom’s workplace in the city. I'm graduating this summer and have been looking into colleges. It's honestly been more frustrating than exciting because I have no clue what or who I want to be after High school. All I know is I want to make money and study somewhere in any city. A couple of months ago a college recruiter from The University Of East London emailed me about studying abroad and how easy it is. Seventh grade me would be laughing hysterically because she wanted to go to school in the U.K until she found out they barely get any sun. Although I think moving to London would benefit me now so when I received the email I immediately applied. It’s been a while and I still haven’t heard anything from the university which is starting to worry me. I have been so distracted with London and figuring out what I want to study or what my profession should be that my mom and I haven’t been able to plan any picnics. My mom has been busy with her work a lot lately and we’ve sort of drifted into our worlds. Sometimes I feel as if her work is more important than mine because all we talk about is her even though I’m the one graduating. I wanted to change that and wanted us to have a nice picnic today since the weather was nice. We live about 15 minutes out of the city so I rented one of those city bikes to head around and pick up all of our favorite snacks for the picnic. It was 6 PM and my mom normally gets off work at 7:30 which is perfect timing for the sunsets. I packed my tote bag with my money, This really good book I bought on a whim, And my sunglasses and headed out. My first stop was still a little sandwich shop on the corner on the east side of the city. The outside has a colorful welcome mat, wind chimes, and pots everywhere full of different colored plants and flowers. When you first walk in you get a strong scent of garlic and fresh basil. There are little tables scattered on the side of the shop with a variety of table clothes on each one. When I got to the counter I ordered my mom's and my favorite sandwiches, mine being the spicy toasted Italian and my mom’s being their specialty pesto grilled cheese. I went back to my bike stationed outside and looked around. There were posters and flyers everywhere about the new “Apocalypse” movie premiering this next Friday. I was planning on asking a couple of friends from my work to go see it but lately, I haven't felt like socializing with them because we're not that close of friends, and to me, I don’t feel like being the one always asking people to hang out instead of getting invited. It was now 7 PM and so far I got the sandwiches, our coffees at this signature cafe, and mini tea cakes from the bakery next door to the cafe. I find it cute how they are neighbors and compliment each other so well. I went to the park south of where my mom works and walked down the long walkway till I found a nice shaded area covered by trees. One thing I adore about this park is even though it’s in the city it still manages to hold that nature aspect when you walk into it. It’s like you can escape into this wooded sanctuary and just be at peace almost like you're leaving all your problems in the city. I needed this with all the stress of colleges and picking a career. I set up our blanket and laid out all the food and drinks. Then since I had almost twenty minutes to spare, I pulled out my book and lay there reading as time passed. I was so wrapped up in my book and the fantasy world that I hadn’t realized how much time had passed. Normally in Atlanta the sunsets around 8 PM. When I looked at my phone I was shocked to read 8:36 PM. It must be my phone glitching? I thought to myself because looking up at the sky there it was, The sun beaming high and bright. I unlocked it and went to my contacts to call my mom but when I clicked the dial it went straight to voicemail. I tried sending a text but then I noticed I had no service, Not even a bar. What should I do? I started packing everything back into my tote bag and started heading back. As I got closer and closer back to the reality of the city I could hear honking and yelling. As I exited the park I was confused to see people everywhere running and screaming. Some people were slamming on their breaks and running out of their cars just leaving them there in the middle of the roads. I could feel my heart rate pounding and my hands beginning to shake as I looked around everywhere to see nothing but chaos and overwhelming feelings of confusion and worry. What Is this? I started in the direction of my mom's work and all over people kept bumping into me and pushing one another running but from what?. A block away from her work I stopped and looked at the city clock which now read 8:55 PM. So it wasn’t just my phone. But the sun? It hasn’t set or…Moved? Before I could finish that thought or even think about it, someone bumped into me pushing me to the ground where I dropped the coffees’ all over my outfit and scraped up my hands. I got up and began running faster than I ever have in my life feeling my heart pounding like it was telling me to run faster. As I was running I tried not to look around at the havoc. All over people crashed into one another, some were breaking into stores others were stealing cars. I made it to her work and ran up all 10 flights of stairs and began pounding on the door since you needed a key card to get in. My mom’s best friend and co-worker, Rory, Opened it and as I looked at her face I could see tears in her eyes. I walked in and all of her co-workers were surrounding the office TV. Some were crying, some looked pale like they just were told we were all dying. Are we? On the TV a news reporter began,

“All across the world panic and destruction rise as it seems…excuse me...The sun is not…Moving?” As the reporter pauses to hear more information everything stops as a huge explosion erupts outside. We all rush to the window to see an explosion that is now on fire in the middle of the street. It wasn't small, it looked to be about two car lengths big. Before anyone could say anything we all saw a huge metal piece falling from the sky and once again exploding with impact to the ground. I couldn’t tell what the metal piece was. The TV began making static noise and the reporter came back glitching out every other word. 

“We have a word from NASA…Space control…satellites…it appears…gravity in space…could…be the end”. Before he finished the TV cut out. Everyone stood in silence for a moment, frozen with shock. Some began running out of the office, others began crying. My mom turned around ungluing her eyes from the TV.

“Oh, Sasha,” She says as she walks over to me wrapping her arms around me. When the warmth of her arms hit me it was like every emotion that was blocked from the shock came tumbling out and I cried into her arms. All I wanted from this day was a simple picnic to reconnect with my mom. 

“Mom…Could this really…Be the end?”.