NaNoWriMo (Day 2 of 30) "Strangers in the Dark" (49,654 words left)

Day two of NaNoWriMo and I can at least say that it has been going much better than the first day. The soul reason being that I wrote a bit more than yesterday.

Strangers in the Dark (continued)

...It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen, like iridescent ribbons dancing above us. I turned to look at my parents and my brother, Jensen. All of them stood with their eyes on the sky.

“What is it, Talis?” Jensen asked.

“An aurora, I think.” I looked to my parents for confirmation. Both glanced at one another, as though they were deciding what to tell Jensen and me—the truth or the farthest thing from it.

Dad spoke, “It’s something similar to that.”

Every night the colors became more vibrant—greens, blues and purples, then reds, oranges and pinks. And every night, the weather turned warmer. The Christmas snow was melting and flooding into the streets. That’s when the rumors about the end of the world started.

A few families, mainly the ones that owned a summer home in the country, evacuated the city. My best friend was barely allowed to say goodbye before her family whisked her away to safety. The rest of us still waited, hoping the beautiful colors and early heat wave meant nothing more than a little extra global warming.

Mom and Dad glued themselves to the news as every weatherman and scientist fought over their different research. The most common theory was that the sun had reached the peak of its eleven year cycle, creating some of the largest solar flares recorded, resulting in the brilliant auroras, excessive heat, and apparently unparalleled amounts of radiation at the earth’s poles. It all made sense, but what was unclear was how, if ever, these solar flares would affect us. Eventually, that concern was answered as well.

On the hottest day yet, the electricity browned out for hours until it blacked out for good, taking away the lights, the news, the phones, the air conditioning, and anything and everything that plugged into an outlet.

Communications ceased, the twenty-second century fell out of sync, and the darkness grew deeper than ever before...

(327 words)

Looking forward to more tomorrow!