Loss Of A Sun

It’s still dark outside. I mean, yeah, that’s the norm now, but it still kind of scares me. I’ve never been a huge fan of the dark, or of what hides in it. Still, though, I’m alive, darkness or no.

Between the two of us, though, I really wish I wasn’t.

Even though the window is closed (and locked), I can still hear it. It’s the same sound I’ve been hearing all day, and I can’t stand it. If I had to describe it, I’d say ‘angry-sounding’ and ‘black’.

“Black?” You ask. “Sounds don’t have color!”

Yes, they do. And this one is definitely black.

As I’m sitting here on the kitchen floor, torch in one hand, I can’t help but feel like this was bound to happen. Not that I wanted this; I just knew it was coming eventually.

Apparently, though, he didn’t.

It’s maybe 11 in the morning, and my brother has been gone for about an hour. He told me to keep watch, but quite frankly, I don’t have that kind of nerve right now. So, here I am, hiding in the corner as I wait for that terrible noise to stop. Hopefully he’ll be back soon.

Hang on… did someone just knock on the door? Please no; I don’t want to get up and check…

Ok, yeah. There’s someone at the door.

Getting up while trying not to set fire to every surface I touch in the process, I head for the door... slowly. Ever since we stopped having electricity and basically all power in the house (and probably the world), my house has been, like, the creepiest place to live. The floorboards creak, and there’s dust everywhere ‘cuz we can’t see well enough to clean it. ‘Cuz yeah, there’s no sun anymore.

Oh, yeah. Did I mention the sun died about five years ago? No? Okay, well, it did. Along with most sources of power.

Thump thump.

That’s the door again. It doesn’t sound like my brother’s knock, though. Normally, that would mean I wouldn’t answer it. Except that the world has changed.

Grabbing the doorknob, I take a deep breath and unlock it.

“Hello?” I say, pressing an ear to the door. I’m not hearing anyth… wait. Ok, I can hear something. It sounds like whoever it is outside is talking, but I can’t understand what they’re saying. The voice doesn’t have a bad feel to it, though, so I guess I’ll open the door.

What in the… who are these guys? There’s two of them, both wearing dark clothes. They’re both men, and since I’m only nine, they look huge. As soon as I opened the door, they looked at me like they were surprised to see me. Weird…

“Is… is this your house?” One of them asks, looking around briefly. I nod, then shake my head as an afterthought. “Yea… no. It’s my brother’s.” I say. The talking man blinks, then nods. “Ok. What is your brother’s name?”

I frown. “Um… Alec?”

“Last name?” The man asks.

“Foster, same as mine.” I reply. The two men look at each other for a second. “Is your brother here right now?” The talking man asks. I shake my head again. “No. He should be back soon, though.”

Both men frown, almost like they didn’t want to hear that kind of answer. Then the other man (not the talker) steps forward. “Are you sure he’s not here?” He says in a really deep voice. “Because we have reason to believe he is.”

I frown. “Yeah, I’m sure. He left about an hour ago; I’m in charge until he gets back.”

Another exchange of looks between them. Then: “Alright, kid. If you say he’s not here…”

“I just did.” I say.

“... then can you tell us where he said he was going when he left?”

I nod. “He told me he was going… to… wait, why do you need to know?”

The man sighs. “You know what? Forget it. We’ll do this the not-so nice way.” He says. Whatever that means, I have no idea. It doesn't sound good, though.

“If you don’t tell us where he went, we’ll have to bring you in for questioning.” The other man says.

“Why?! I’m a kid!” I say. Honestly, I was not expecting that, and now I’m officially scared. The first man frowns. “And that makes a difference why? You’re refusing to answer; as far as I’m concerned, that’s a good enough excuse to arrest you.”

“Excuse? Since when does real law enforcement need an excuse?” I hear a familiar voice say from behind the two men. “Also, in case you haven’t noticed, we don’t have law enforcement anymore.”

As the two men turn around in surprise, my first thought is to slam the door so they’ll leave me alone. But then I see my brother standing behind them, and I decide not to. Just in case.

“Who are…” One of the men starts, then stops when he sees my brother’s face. Immediately, he changes his attitude back to authoritative. “Ah, Mr. Foster. Perfect timing.”

“Looks like it.” My brother replies. The man frowns. “We’re here on official business, Mr. Foster. Don’t act so casual.”

“Official business? Let’s see the paperwork, then.” Alec says, holding out his hand. Neither man laughs, even though I thought it was funny. “Mr. Foster, as agents of the G.R.A.I., we have been sent to place you under arrest. Do not resist.” As he’s talking, one of the men pulls out a set of iron cuffs from his pocket.

My brother raises his eyebrows. “Resist? Sounds fun.” When the man scowls, Alec puts on his serious face. “Look, as I said earlier, we don’t have law enforcement anymore. Therefore, you have no authority or power to arrest me. So, either you’re going to leave right now or I’m going to have to make you.”

“Make us?” The other man says in angry surprise. “How could you possibly…”

My brother doesn’t usually let other people talk (he’s still in his teens), so I kind of expected him to interrupt somehow. What I didn’t expect was how he did it. Like, I’ve never seen this before, but what he did was take his fingers and sort of did a ‘snapshot’ getsure with them where he made a rectangle shape and looked through it while closing one eye. You know, like people used to do when they were looking at art or something. And now the two men are just standing there looking at him funny. “Smile!” Alec says.

And just like that, the two men became light. Like, legiterally became light. As in, they just faded into shapes made of golden glow-y stuff. You know, light? As for me, I’m trying not to drop my torch in shock as I watch them shine for a second and then slowly disappear until it’s like they weren’t even there. Then my brother drops his hands and runs over to me.

“Leo, are you okay? They didn’t hurt you, right?” He asks. I shake my head. “Nah, I’m fine. How did you do that?!”

Alec sighs. “Tell ya later.” He says, pulling me into the house and closing the door. Then he takes the torch, looking around the room for a moment and then back at me. “Leo, I’m really sorry about this, but we’re going to have to get out of here.”

I frown. “Wait, what? Like, leave? Leave Mom’s house?” My brother nods. “Like I said, I’m sorry. If we could stay, I would. But it’s not safe here anymore.

“Why?” I ask, following as he hurries into the bedroom, torch in hand. “Why isn’t it…”

“Because they know where we are now.” Alec says.

“They?” I repeat, still confused.

“Didn’t you hear them? They’re G.R.A.I. Remember what Mom told you about them?” He replies, pulling open a dresser drawer and digging through it with his free hand. I start to shake my head, but then I remember. “Oh yeah! She said they…”

“Were dangerous. As in, they want to kill us. Both of us.” Alec interrupts. Apparently he just found whatever he was looking for, ‘cuz he closed the drawer and is now looking at me. “You saw what I did; it’s not just me that can.”

“Can what?” I ask.

“Do what I did. You know, ‘enlighten’ people.” He replies. “Leo, you and I share that ability. The G.R.A.I doesn’t know it yet, but you’re… special, too.”

I frown. “So, is that why they…”

“Wanted to ‘arrest’ me? Yeah. It’s because they want to stop me. To stop us.” Alec finishes. When I keep frowning, he sighs. “Look, I’ll try and explain more when we get to the forest.”

“Wait… the forest?” I say in surprise. “We don’t live anywhere near…”

“We don’t have to.” My brother says. “We’ve got this.” Here he holds out his hand to me. I can see there’s something in his hand, but he’s holding the torch too far away. “I can’t see…” I say. He frowns and moves the torch closer so I can finally see the… locket? Like, it’s a heart locket, complete with the necklace chain. I blink, then look at him. “What good is that?” I ask.

“Look, I know it looks stupid…”

“And girly.” I say.

“...and girly.” Alec says with a chuckle. “But it’s our only way out of here.”

“How is a locket going to get us out of here?”

My brother grins. “Allow me to show you.” He says, opening the locket. As soon as he does, everything begins to fade. The furniture, the bedroom, everything. Everything except for us, anyway. The thing is, though, it doesn’t fade to black, or white, or some other solid color. As I watch, I can see what looks like… yeah, it is a forest. We’re fading into a forest!

“Welcome to our new home.” Alec says with a grand gesture of the torch.

~

I never knew why the world became so bad so quickly. Or where our parents disappeared to. What I did know was that my brother was all I had in this dark existence we both now lived in. Now that Alec has told me, I also know that the world might be saveable. With the power we share, it might be possible.

So I guess the obvious question is… which one of us is going to relight the sun?