It was a cool night as Adam looked at the sky with bated breath. He had waited all summer for this moment, something that was truly once in a lifetime. It was not every day that a comet would pass over the town. The sky didn’t have a cloud in sight, and the nearby businesses agreed to shut down early to reduce light pollution. He couldn’t have asked for a more perfect night.

Adam was an average sixteen-year-old with black hair and brown eyes. He lived with his older brother Jack in the sparsely populated outskirts of Whispering Oak. Jack was employed in the local observatory. Work had forced him to come in to measure readings of the comet, leaving Adam by himself. It didn’t matter though, he was used to it.

As he was busy setting up his telescope, Adam felt his phone vibrate and answered it. On the other end, he could hear the sound of a party with his friend’s voice barely speaking over the noise.

“Hey, Adam! Where are you?” they asked.

“I’m at home!” he replied. “I thought we agreed to watch the comet at my place?”

“Oh yeah, sorry about that. We were invited to a party at the school rooftop and I completely forgot to tell you. You can still come over if you want.”

Adam let out a frustrated sigh. “No, it’s fine. I’ll just watch it here.”

“Aw, come on! You always talk about wanting to make this year count. You won’t do that sitting at home!”

Multiple voices could be heard from the other end, but he couldn’t make out anything. Adam imagined the faces of his classmates snicking at the idea of him watching the comet by himself. “Even if I take my bike, I won’t get there in time for the comet. Besides, I have my telescope here for a better view.”

“Alright, whatever you say. Let us know if you see any aliens with it.”

A barrage of laughter came from his phone before he hung up. The last thing he wanted tonight was to be reminded of school. He was always known as the quiet, nerdy kid. Yet despite looking nothing like a nerd, that didn’t stop people from making fun of him for it. He wanted to change that. Junior year would finally be the turning point. Or so he wished.

The sky began to change color, signaling the comet’s arrival. This sent him into a panic as he scrambled to make final adjustments to his telescope. Cyan light filled the sky, overpowering the light of the moon. Emerging from the horizon was the comet he had been waiting for. It sported a brilliant tail that cast shadows on the trees below. Everything from its size to its brightness was simply magnificent. For a moment, Adam forgot about his telescope and simply watched in wonder as it soared across the sky.

A heavy feeling grew in his chest. What if this was the highlight of his year? What if going forward it was only going to be more of the same? More bullying, more taunting, and more lonliness. He felt angry, angry that he was ruining what should’ve been a wonderful moment with his melancholy.

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As the comet reached its zenith, Adam closed his eyes. At the start of summer, other students talked about making wishes on it. Adam initially dismissed the idea as stupid, but in that moment he desperately wanted it to be real. He got down on his knees and clasped his hands as tightly.

“If anything hears this, please let this year be a good year,” he whispered. “All I want is for things to be better.”

He held onto this thought for some time before opening his eyes. The comet was still in the air and had given no response to his wish. He let out a frustrated groan. It was just a flying piece of ice, not some magical rock that could grant wishes.

“God, I’m stupid. Why did I think that would work?” he thought.

Peering through his telescope, he adjusted it to see closer into the comet. He was expecting to see a solid sphere, but instead saw something else. A tiny black dot was surrounded by what appeared to be a shell of ice. He focused his telescope to get a better view. The dot gradually revealed to be something curled into a ball. Adam couldn’t believe what he was seeing. A person, no, an alien!

He reached into his pocket and quickly called his brother. The phone rang several times before his brother picked up.

“Adam, what is it? I’m a bit busy,” said Jack.

“Jack, I see something in the comet! It’s not a comet at all it’s a spaceship!” he exclaimed.

“Very funny, but now isn’t the time for jokes. I’ve got to—”

“Use whatever you’re looking at and focus on the core! Just do it!”

A moment of silence followed before he heard an audible gasp from the phone. “I can’t believe it! Something is in the comet!”

Just as he was cheering at the discovery, Adam noticed that the comet was growing brighter by the second. He looked through his telescope to see that the light had overtaken his view. But he didn’t need a telescope to realize what was happening.

The comet was coming closer.

“J-Jack! It’s coming down! The comet is coming down!” Adam yelled.

“What?! Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure! I think it’s coming right for me!”

The comet’s light completely overtook the stars. Adam began to panic, and in his panic, he froze. There was nowhere he could run. All he could do was watch as it fell closer to earth. His brother’s voice yelled at him to seek shelter, but the roar of the comet quickly drowned it out.

The comet soared past his house and towards the forest. A loud crash echoed throughout the land followed by a powerful tremor. It took him a minute to process the fact that he had not died, and the comet had not crushed him. When he snapped out of his trance, he gazed over the balcony to see a patch of the forest was flattened. He looked at his phone to see he had no reception. Calling his brother, or anyone for that matter, was useless.

Something pulled him to rush out into the woods and explore. It was not every day that something like this happened so close to his house. That feeling grew unbearable. He had to know what was there. Maybe if he told people what he saw, he would be popular! He quickly grabbed his brother’s backpack full of hiking gear and rushed out the front door towards the edge of the woods. Whatever was there, he was going to be the first to find out.