1:01am

I’ve been here about fifteen minutes and Dad has yet to answer any of my questions. He said I’d find out soon enough, but first we needed to get inside. I took one last look around and I could swear the sun was starting to show. It’s the middle of the night.

Holly’s fast asleep next to my suitcase on a bed in a room that looks like part of an army barracks. Ray put Dad’s suitcase on the bed in the room next door.

I’m more confused than afraid at this point. I can’t stop wondering what’s going on. Nuclear war? Was the light peeking over the horizon a detonation? Is there a disease spreading across the world? Zombies? How long will we be here? Should I unpack and stick everything in the locker? I’m not cut out to be an army brat. Military lingo and all that rank bullshit are not my cup of tea. I didn’t see anybody in uniform so that’s a good sign.

I’m definitely not unpacking. I need to slow down first. I’m getting dizzy thinking about all this crap.

When we got inside, Dad led us to a doorway I knew nothing about. Robbie also looked puzzled by it. His cute face made my chest cave. Again. His cheeks are so perfectly chiseled; I’d like to take a hammer to them and unchisel him completely.

I don’t even want to guess how far underground we are right now. Ten or fifteen flights of stairs, maybe? I didn’t count. I wonder if there’s an elevator. I would guess so. How else could they bring everything this far underground?

A side note: I have a history with this place. In fifteen years I haven’t missed many days coming here. I thought I knew every nook and cranny, especially after playing hide and seek so many times. If I came here for fifteen more, I still wouldn’t know about this basement. And what a basement it is!

We walked through a kitchen large enough to cook for maybe two hundred people. Big stainless steel doors along one long wall. Probably freezers or refrigerators. Beyond that is an eating area full of tables and chairs like the cafeteria at school. School. What’s going to happen with exams? And graduation if we’re stuck here for a while? Surely, they have a plan. They. Who the hell is ‘they’?

My room is at the end of a long hallway. My room. I’ve already taken ownership. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to own any of it. I’ve only seen Ray and Robbie down here and they went off in another direction. Good. I want him as far away from me as possible. I wonder what he’s thinking. Her, Cass. Not you. Stop it!

I’m so exhausted, but my mind is running in overdrive. I just want to know what’s going on.

Dad’s voice just came over the intercom calling us for a meeting. Gotta go.

2:49am

Just got back from the meeting. Ninety-two minutes long.

Thirty-six people there: Dad, me, five of his colleagues, their spouses and kids, including Meredith, Robbie, his mom, dad, sister, and brother. There are a dozen more including two girls and three boys a few years younger than I am. As soon as I get all of their names, I’ll document here.

Only thirty-six people, when we have room for maybe two hundred.

Dad and the scientists requested that everyone hand over their devices explaining that any communication with the outside could lead to unwanted attention and a possibly bad situation. I didn’t really understand why because we have room for more. I think we should somehow invite others. The more people down here, the more that are safe. There was pushback from all of the adults because they want to stay in contact with their loved ones and hear the latest from the web. The scientists reluctantly agreed, but stressed the importance of not attracting attention. Dad’s face. So nervous. He really wants us to stay silent.

Nobody even mentioned the thought of letting more people down here. I nearly brought it up, but I chickened out. I’ll ask Dad about it when we have some time alone. I have a feeling he won’t be spending much time in his room so I’ll try to get him to the side while he’s working. Maybe we could somehow send a message that wouldn’t attract too many people at once. I sincerely hope there are thousands, even millions, of places like this around the world.

Everybody disbursed and Dad told me to get some rest so now I’m lying on my bed next to Holly. I wish I was a dog so I could get some rest. I want to be as involved as possible in whatever plans they have even if I have to force my way into the lab, but I’m not going to distract from what’s important to them just yet. I’d rather spend some time out of view of Dad’s fearful eyes anyway.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

They all took turns explaining what brought us here. When one’s voice started cracking, another took over. God, I wish they were wrong. I know they’re not. Dr. Petrick called it “the beginning of a new era”.

I view it as the worst period in the history of the entire human race or any other life on Earth. That includes what happened to the dinosaurs.

I recorded the meeting on my phone. I don’t know if I’ll ever watch it because it makes my empty stomach gurgle.

Where to begin? The best-case scenario? The thirty-six of us are in deep shit. And the billions stuck outside even more so.

Okay, I’m crying again. I have to keep hitting the backspace key because my twitchy thumbs keep landing on the wrong blurry letters.

Okay, I can’t face it enough yet to write it down. I’ll be back after giving my mind some time to unjumble everything I just witnessed. Hopefully, I’ll stop crying soon. Or maybe wake up out of this nightmare.

4:51am

My teeth keep chattering, but I’m not cold. Exhaustion finally hit me and I slept off and on. Mostly off because of the noises in the hallway and the episodes of realization caused by the thoughts flying around in my head.

Young kids crying. Stern adult voices. I feel as if I’m either on an airplane or in a restaurant. I wish. I can’t imagine the helplessness these parents feel when they look at their little ones. Or how Dad probably feels about my future. What about the billions of parents and their kids still outside? Or my chances of ever having kids?

Stop thinking of this shit, Cass! Refuse to cry.

By the way, I watched parts of the video of the meeting. I’ll be right back. I need a bottle of water.

5:23am

Sorry. I fell into another crying bout. Every time I try to explain what’s happening, I begin to sob. I can’t do this right now. I’m leaving to see Dad. I hope he won’t argue.

7:49am

I finally saw what they’re calling the “Control Center”, a magnificent room filled with state of the art everything. It’s crazy that we’ve been working upstairs for years with much older computers and equipment. I remember Dad saying that trying to get authorization to buy toilet paper required three signatures. I don’t even want to guess how much the stuff in there cost. Talk about discretionary spending. Whoever authorized this sure did think ahead. How did they keep its existence from us? I’ll describe it in greater detail later. I want to write what’s fresh in my mind first.

One thing: Robbie slinked up behind me on the way there. When he uttered my name, my blood boiled and I shut him down before he even started. I almost blurted out how big of a loser I think he is. Then my insides collapsed and I wanted to grab his hand so badly and rip that hideous ring off his finger. To tell him I forgave him. Yes, he’s still wearing it. I seethed until I thought about our situation and how a romantic relationship doesn’t really matter in the whole scheme of things. Still, my heart aches for my mindset of just yesterday morning. Ugh.

Anyway, when we got there, a locked door greeted us. I banged on it and Dad answered. He told us to leave, but we refused. Robbie gave an impassioned plea detailing how we’re both old enough to accept what’s happening and how abandoning us now goes against everything we’ve been taught by him and his dad. I added how everything moving forward is just another learning experience. Dad relented and let us in. He still doesn’t know that we broke up, but he gave me occasional strange looks when I ignored Robbie the entire time.

So, are you ready for what I’m about to tell you? There’s a large part of me that still doesn’t believe it, but here goes. Hold the tears, Cass. Ready, go.

Yesterday, at approximately 7:13pm, Earth began to drift away from the Sun. Whew! You were able to type it correctly the first time, Cass. To reiterate, our planet decided to take all living things, not just humanity, for a ride away from its giver of life.

Probably caused by the cosmic event of Robbie breaking up with me. Happy birthday, you bastard. Sorry. I can’t help it. Thoughts like that just have a way of entering my mind.

I want to clarify something. Drift is actually the wrong word. Accelerating is what Earth is doing; at least that’s the consensus among Dad and his five colleagues. We don’t yet know our rate of acceleration or what initially caused it. Something must have caused it. Right? A planet just doesn’t decide to pull away from its closest star on a whim. No, it would take a passing near Earth object with significant mass. How the hell did we not see that coming? Will our speed ever become constant? Shut up, Cass! Of course it will. I hope it will.

It’s only been about twelve hours. As I write this, Dr. Petrick is crunching numbers while Dad and the others are analyzing the latest pictures from telescopes around the world. Thankfully, they can still do that. For how long, though? I’d think power across the globe would start failing at some point. What about down here? Reminder: ask about our source of power.

I hope they have some answers soon. Like any of it really matters. Suddenly, my hurting heart and my feeling of loss is inconsequential to the greater picture. Picture? How about a portrait of doom?

At some point, we indeed have to face the simple fact that we are essentially doomed. Now I’m crying again.

I can’t help but think that this will only delay my bathtub intentions by what? Maybe a year?

Gotta go. Dad just walked in with that worried look on his face again.

8:37am

Brace yourselves because it's worse than we thought.

Dr. Petrick finished his calculations. He says Earth is not only gaining speed, it's already traveling at HALF THE SPEED OF LIGHT!