* * * * *
A boy turns over in the grass, the moonlight illuminating his entire body. The stars are in full force and the Milky Way itself plays a big role. The boy's brother is staring into the night sky with him.
Dark clouds are beginning to sweep the scene. Thunder follows close behind.
Tommy: Kyle, I think thunder is more than what people take it to be.
Kyle keeps his attention focused on the sky.
Kyle: Really? How so?
Tommy: I think it's someone trying to tell us something!
Kyle: Haha, tell us something? Like what? Get out of the way before the lightning hits you?
Tommy: No... like... uh... we're doing something wrong. To the environment... or maybe just in general.
Kyle: Who's we?
Tommy: Everyone. The people of Earth.
Kyle: Sounds like you're quoting some American Indian philosophy there.
Tommy: But I'm serious! Sound waves can be converted on different frequencies and stuff, right? What if someone found a way to convert the sound thunder makes into something we could hear and understand?
Kyle: ... hm. And what do you think it would say?
Tommy: Well... I don't know. Actually... I don't think the thunder is too fond of us.
Kyle: Haha, well no one would see that one coming.
Tommy: No... I think it wants to destroy us.
* * * * *
Ritz is standing in front of her house.
Ritz: Ok, so I'm standing here, in the flesh, alive. After falling into a black hole. This definitely doesn't add up AT ALL.
The lights turn on in an upstairs window. Brian's voice carries out across the yard.
Brian: SPYKE! Where are my Spiderman boxers!? I can't sleep on Friday nights without them!
Spyke: Oh, for the love of Zeus, why the hell did you make up that rule? I have no idea and could care less.
Brian: ... b-but I need them!
Spyke: CAN IT!
Ritz breaks out into a run for the house. This isn't making much sense and she needs some reassurance from her friends. She reaches the front door and grasps the doorknob. Two men in black cloaks appear on either side of her.
???: You don't want to go in there.
??? 2: It will be for the best that you don't.
Ritz does a 360 and backs up towards the door.
Ritz: What the... ok, I have no idea who the hell you guys are, but I'm not going to leave my friends hanging like this. I'm going to find out what's going on!
Ritz whips open the door and dashes inside. She knocks an old photograph off the stand in the entryway. Not wasting any time, she quickly goes over to restore it to it's original position... till she noticed something odd.
Ritz: How the hell...?
In an old photograph of her, Brian and Spyke on the front lawn, she is missing. It's as if she never existed at the time and the picture had been taken without her. Instead it just shows Brian and Spyke standing in a similar pose to the original photograph.
Ritz: Spyke is either getting really good at Photoshop or this is a bad horror movie. SPYKE!?!?
All movement upstairs stops. Brian's hushed voice can be heard.
Brian: Spyke! I think someone's in our house...
Spyke: Quiet! We don't want her to hear us... I'll go get a baseball bat and check it out.
Ritz quickly runs into the living room and ducks behind the couch. What the hell is going on!? They didn't know her anymore!? This makes no sense!
Ritz: Ok, ok, let's think. I went through a black hole. Maybe I landed in some alternate universe? But wouldn't Brian and Spyke have landed here too? So that can't be it... or maybe I specifically was taken out of all existence on Earth, including the timeline itself? But Brian and Spyke would have suffered a similar fate...
Spyke comes running down the stairs. Thunder can be heard from outside.
Ritz: This is... weird... I didn't see any clouds when I came in.
Spyke: Who's there!?
Ritz: ... it's not thunder but... a voice... I need to make a break for it!
Ritz leaps out from behind the couch and runs toward the thunder.
To be continued...
