"Mina get over here already!" Lyn yelled, adjusting the unusual glasses resting on her nose.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Closing the door behind her, Mina ran to join her friend outside. "It's not like a shooting star you know. It lasts longer than a few seconds."
"I know, but still it's something we shouldn't miss one moment of. Here." Lyn handed Mina a pair of glasses. "We're really getting the best view here."
Living in the countryside, there weren't many 'bad' areas that would block the view, but still Lyn's family home was a pretty ideal place to watch the solar eclipse. The humble home sat on top of a hill, not a steep hill but it was higher than most other homes. From the backyard Mina could even spot her own home located not too far out.
"Are your parents going to watch too? And Chunnie?"
"Yeah, they are actually up on the balcony right now."
Mina looked behind her to the house and smiled seeing Lyn's parents and younger brother wave to her from the balcony. They too also wore the same strange but necessary glasses. Seeing them, she felt a little saddened. The other day, her own parents had left town momentarily due to a call informing them of her grandmother's sudden sickness. Being a devoted daughter, Mina's mother immediately left to take care of her own mother, with her husband deciding to join her. Mina wasn't sure when her mother would come back, since it depended on her grandmother's health. But her father would have to comeback within the next three days because of work. For now, she hoped that they'd also get the opportunity to see the eclipse wherever they were at the moment.
"Heads up! There it goes!" Lyn yelled excited. Mina scrambled to put her special glasses on and looked toward the spectacle. Turning her head, the bright blue sky grew dark and the temperature immediately dropped. A marvel of space, the solar eclipse was truly something incredible. Even though the moon was attempting to completely block the sun, it still shined brightly behind creating a fantastic image.
After a few minutes had passed, the dark sky brightened once more as the moon continued to move away from the sun. "That was awesome!" Lyn said, completely in awe of the event. "Really that was just... Wow!"
"Really amazing!" Mina agreed. "I don't think I'll ever see something so unbelievable with my own eyes ever again!" Still looking at the heavens, the friends continued to stare at the sky and enjoy the nice weather.
- - -
"You really should just spend the night," Lyn said, standing at the front of her house as the sun continued to set. "You're home alone tonight right?"
"Well I don't wanna be alone, but I forgot to let in the dogs. It's going to be cold tonight." Frowning, Mina reluctantly took a couple of steps forward. "We're going to check our results together tomorrow right?"
"Yeah, call me before you come over. I'll see you tomorrow!" Lyn yelled, waving goodbye.
"Okay, See you tomorrow!" Turning around, Mina moved at slow pace. Reaching into her denim short's back pocket, she pulled out a small silver mp3 player and put her earphones in. Having walked from Lyn's house to her own so often, Mina had created a perfectly timed playlist that ended when she'd open the door of her house. Pressing play, she continued to walk as the sky above her grew dark.
By the third song, Mina was more than halfway home and passing though some of the local crop fields. Taking a moment to stretch her arms, she looked upwards. Seeing something sparkling in the sky she squinted, trying to determine whether it was a star or a plane. Realizing that the color the object gave off didn't match either and continued to get larger in size, she froze. Mina's eyes then widened and fell agape as she watched what she now thought was a small meteor, fall directly towards her at an unbelievable speed.
Under the night sky she let out a scream, believing that she was about to meet the end of her life. 'It was a pity.' She thought. 'Almost done with High School and finally ready to live life as she wanted. To have to die now... She had so much yet to experience. Like leaving the small town and traveling the word and falling in lo-... what about her parents? and her friends? No, no, no!'
Falling backwards and tightly shutting her eyes, Mina heard a deafening crash and felt the earth below and around her shake. Feeling a few tears fall from her watering eyes, she knew it was over.
She was dead.
Alone and scared, she had died. Eyes still shut and unmoving she was surprised to hear her music still playing softly in the distance. Slowly opening her eyes she found the same dark sky above her, as well as the same ground beneath her.
Was it possible that instead of going to Heaven or Hell, that she was stuck in purgatory? Did she become a ghost, doomed to wander the earth?
As she panicked, she found that her body seemed to be still intact, in fact she could move both her arms and her legs... Maybe she wasn't dead after all. Mina took a deep breath and gathered whatever strength hadn't left her as she thought she was about to die, and stood up. Looking around, she found no signs of the meteor she had seen hurdling towards her moments before. Maybe she really was just going crazy.
Still unsure of her current existence or lack thereof, Mina began walking, hoping to find another person to validate her existence and sanity. As she walked, she noticed something she had never before seen... right in the middle of a small deserted field was a large depression in the earth. Being familiar with the area, she knew that the entire field should be even ground.
Walking closer she realized that whatever she had seen in the sky must have created the depression. A sigh of relief passed over her lips; at the very least she wasn't crazy. Looking to the center of the depression she saw a steady trail of smoke lift into the air. Feeling as though she had nothing to lose, seeing as how she was probably dead, she walked towards the center to get a better look. Approaching the center, Mina stopped dead in her tracks when a final cloud of smoke lifted into the sky and she saw the form of a man.
Although the sky had become dark, and light was obscure, she could make out every angle and feature of its apparent angelic face. Whoever it was, or whatever it was, it was injured and weak. Crouching down but looking upwards at her, the figure's eye's glowed and followed hers. Seeing its gaze on her, Mina felt unusually calm and continued to approach. If she was in fact dead, maybe it was an Angel welcoming her into the after life.
Seeing the girl continue to approach them, the figure stood up and with the sound of a roar, a pair of flaming dragon wings appeared behind them. Feeling the heat of the flames, Mina stopped moving closer and screamed but couldn't seem to run away with her knees suddenly giving out.
Perhaps she was actually going to hell.
- - -
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