Dan had been active for hours by the time most in the town had only woken up. He felt most productive before the sun rose, and took pride in the fact that he didn’t even need a cup of coffee to be functional, much to the irritation of his roommate. Still a young man at 25, Dan lived in an apartment with his friend Trevor in the busiest part of town which, compared to most other towns, was not very busy at all. As soon as he woke up he always made sure to do his stretches, calisthenics and would also try to fit in a quick jog if he had the time.

Unfortunately today, however, time was running out. Today he had to look his most presentable because today was the day he was finally conducting his first interview. Having studied and earned his degree in journalism, Dan had landed an internship at the town’s primary news station, but up until now had only been given menial tasks around the building; occasionally helping other journalists write an article, or shadowing a superior on their own interviews. Needless to say, today was a massive day in his career, and he knew it. He could barely keep himself from talking the ears off his friends and family.

His excitement for the day persuaded him to leave much earlier than he would have normally. Having combed his jet black hair into a neat slicked style, putting on his best suit and spraying on his most expensive cologne, he left his apartment that day on May 23 at 7:05 AM where he would then catch the bus 25 minutes later. His excitement for the day ahead vastly overpowered the boredom one feels waiting for the bus in the cool morning.

Arriving at work, while waiting for his manager to arrive, Dan was able to watch the stage crew prepping their mics and cameras in the studio where the morning news would be broadcasted. He always admired the set, it was a reminder of what he wanted to accomplish; one day he would sit at that desk as an anchor. In the few instances when he arrived early he always took the chance to admire the setup process, and would even sometimes take notes he thought would impress his superiors if he could ever reference them.

If anyone were to ask Dan’s colleagues what they thought of him, the consensus would likely be that he was wet behind the ears. He held a lot of ambition for his future, but when he spoke about his plans to his co-workers, he always seemed as though he lacked proper foresight. When confronted about this, Dan didn’t give it much of a second thought. It was just the way he was, he lived every day as goal-oriented as the previous, and worked as hard as he could to reach them.

Knowing his manager would arrive soon, Dan waited just outside his (the manager’s, Dan definitely didn’t have one yet) office, admiring the plaques dated nearly 30 years ago mounted in the muted blue hallway that were awarded to them for achievements in journalism. Arriving only a few minutes later, his manager invited Dan into his office.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Alright, so give me a run-down of your guy, what’s his name, what’s his deal, make me confident that you know what you’re doing” he said, gesturing for him to take a seat across from his dark oak desk, which he never fully looked up from.

“Right, so his name is Professor Abernathy, he’s a writer and a physicist who I’m interviewing for his newest published book called “Our World in 1’s and 0’s”, about how our universe could be a simulation in some higher being’s computer. It’s actually a really interesting read, I took the time to go through everything and--” Dan started, before being cut off.

“Alright, alright that’s fine, I’m sure you’ll do great. I was told that he requested to be interviewed at his place,” he said, shuffling some papers around on his desk and stapling a packet of sheets seemingly at random, still not granting Dan any eye contact.

“I’m getting a camera crew ready to leave with you in about fifteen minutes. Is everything ready on your end?” he asked, finally satisfied with the ratio of stapled sheets to unstapled sheets on his desk.

“Uh…” floundered Dan, instinctively reaching for his pants pockets to make sure he had all his essentials. “Yeah, everything’s good with me,” he said, finally.

“Perfect, the crew should be getting ready out front. Once everything’s loaded into the van you’ll be good to go.” Only at his last phrase did he finally look up from his desk, signaling to Dan that he was excused from his office.

“Alright, thank you sir” he concluded, before getting up to leave.

Most interactions with his manager went the same: quick, to the point, and generally without emotion. Practically the opposite of how Dan would have conducted meetings with his employees. But he never let it get to him, especially not today. Heading out of his manager’s office and towards the entrance of the building, he felt his mouth growing more and more into a smile. These were both his figurative and literal first steps as a professional journalist.

Pushing open the front door, Dan prepared to ask the crew if they needed any help, he was in a good helping mood, and he would do anything he could to leave earlier. To his surprise, however, none were loading their cameras, mics or stands into the van, in fact, the cameras had hardly been moved from their spot in front of the building where they had been initially placed to load. All were frozen in their place, looking at the sky with contorted expressions on their faces that Dan couldn’t quite pinpoint. It was as if they were turned to clay and been molded into caricatures of humanity’s most primal emotions: awe, confusion, terror. In an effort to understand what could have caught their attention so intensely, he followed their gaze to the sky.