«Please take me to my destination» I asked urgently.
The driver looked at me in disbelief. «Boy, have you perhaps gone mad? We have to escape!»
I swallowed. The asteroid continued to move as the air acted as friction; there wasn't much time left. Just like us, the other cars stuck in the traffic - which never stopped increasing - began to ring in the hope of being able to move, but the reality was that deciding to stay inside the cars would have been our grave.
«Thanks for the ride!», I exclaimed quickly, before grabbing the door handle.
«Where are you going? Did you hit your head?! You haven't paid me yet!»
Without listening to the taxi driver's complaints, I opened the door and jumped out of the car. The sky had slowly started to change color and strange ash began to fall as if it was drizzling. I hurriedly headed home, as it would have been useless to linger any longer. I darted as fast as I could into the middle of the street and passed about twenty cars before my breathing hitched, forcing me to slow down. I stopped completely, catching my breath with eyes closed and holding my hands on my knees. I couldn't say how far I had traveled but, for sure, I wasn't even remotely close to my home. I took a deep breath, ready to set off again towards London Bridge, but the gigantic explosion coming from the sky brought me back to reality. The shop windows shattered and I tripped, falling to the ground disoriented.
From the side, I heard a high-pitched voice, «Mom! Mom! Is it the fireworks?»
The words came from a child who was in his mother's arms a few meters away. The woman's son was pointing at the sky in front of him with his fingers, so I was forced to look up. I saw the vault of heaven split in half, almost as if someone had cut it cleanly. The asteroid split and from it rose a strange gigantic boulder that almost blinded my vision. The blue flames thinned out as that strange object shattered the meteor into multiple pieces. The back of the asteroid split apart and, due to the explosion, masses of rock began raining down in all directions. I watched as buildings were hit and knocked down, cars and their drivers crushed, but these were but small misfortunes compared to what was passing through the sky. Unlike the mass of reflective rock that rose higher and higher until it froze in the celestial vault like an immobile star, the front part of the asteroid began its descent with an even steeper inclination than the initial one.
I focused my attention only on the descending meteor. It was a mistake, as the back rock would soon become transparent. I got to my feet only to discover that I had scraped my right knee and had a bloody scratch on my left wrist. The asteroid was now lower and lower, I assumed a few meters from the River Thames. The idea that the asteroid could sink into the river without causing too much damage cheered me up for a moment, but then life reminded me to never have too much hope.
Reality is cruel and unfair; in this story it is the only certainty that could be admitted.
I waited, immobilized by terror, with bated breath. Subconsciously, my body tensed in anticipation of the impact that… didn't come.
I didn't dare relax but, for some strange reason, the meteor was still moving. I saw the people still alive pass me to cross the street and escape. I was pushed and ended up hitting my hip against a car. I grunted from the blow but a gust of wind brought my attention back. Asteroid 2001 FO32 crashed with a deafening noise. I didn't see it directly, but the shock wave pierced my eardrums. I ended up being thrown to the ground hard and struggled to look up. The river water reached such a height that it momentarily exceeded that of the buildings. I felt the muscles in my face tighten in fear. The water began to move downward, ready to crash down on me, as a flock of birds swirled nearby. Some nearby citizens closed their eyes, but I saw the scene clearly. The animals suddenly stopped as if they had entered a state of stasis, a crystalline barrier seemed to have risen in front of us. The water descended rapidly, but the transparent wall blocked it, forcing it to fall perpendicularly into the river.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Another crash, then once more. The earth shook violently under my feet, but death did not come. I breathed heavily, in total panic.
The cars' radio stopped again to transmit a second signal. I approached a bright red Bentley to listen, the man still gripping the wheel not even caring that I was clinging to the door.
«Asteroid 2001 FO32 has crashed. London Bridge collapsed. The death count is still a matter of speculation. Citizens are asked not to go to the surrounding areas and to remain calm.»
I let myself fall, resting my back against the front wheel of the car. I wanted to pretend that I hadn't heard that message or that I didn't know that my house was right in the neighborhood before the bridge. Maybe the crash hadn't swallowed up my building too; the meteor could only have stuck nearby. I hugged my knees to my body, running my hands through my hair in doubt.
I wanted to fool myself. Of course, my mother had managed to get home on time. She had taken my father and just got stuck in traffic, it was possible, right? She must have done it, she always managed to do anything. I thought that maybe she might have been blocked at the entrance to the neighborhood, perhaps she had never quite reached home. That meant that my father, however, would not have been able to escape. Negative thoughts began to take hold of me and I couldn't help but imagine my mother still stranded on London Bridge, helpless as the asteroid swept the entire structure to the ground and everything around her began to give way. It was the vibration of the cell phone I still had in my pocket that shook me. Back in reality, I replied.
«Adam! Mom doesn't answer, where are you?» my sister asked desperately.
I remained silent for a second, trying to maintain a reassuring tone. «I'm on my way.»
«You have to come back here immediately! They ordered us to stay in the courtyard, but there’s a lot of chaos. Iry and I are in the girls' locker room, they say we can't leave school!»
"They don't know about the asteroid. How come they didn't see it?" I wondered.
The news sent to the radio probably hadn't yet been put on the internet, but they couldn't have failed to notice it. I breathed as I convinced myself that Sarah was still in the dark about everything.
«Are you still there? Adam? Adam!» called my sister. I heard the enormous tension in her voice.
«Yes», I said, before adding, «Sarah, don't move, I'm coming back.»
«Okay but-... you» the signal seemed to skip for an instant.
«Sarah? What did you say?»
«Adam no... be... pro... ce... fa... et... pa... Ad...»
The call ended because the line had stopped working. I thought that it was an event that was all too unlikely, especially when compared to the fall of the meteorite. I stood up again and accelerated in the same direction I had come.
"I have to hurry."
I looked at the phone screen one more time just to confirm my suspicion. It was off. I had left it charging all night, so it was impossible that it had already run out of charge all of a sudden.
The asteroid appeared to be interfering with cell phones. This wasn't a normal thing. I darted between the cars, my breathing becoming increasingly labored, unable to get rid of a strange and uncomfortable sensation, as if a bloodhound were on my tail. I felt the need to hurry up and go back to school immediately.
There was something not right about the whole story, starting with the asteroid crash. Central London hadn't been wiped out thanks to that mysterious barrier, I was still alive. Perhaps it was intuition, a sixth sense maybe, but my instincts would soon prove correct.
They were coming.