Domed Judgment

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Darris stood in front of his house with his hands in his pockets as we pulled to a stop. His house was a large two story brick with a full walkout basement on ten acres, mostly wooded. Darris and I weren’t really dating but we had been best friends since second grade. Marcella and I’s budding best friend relationship had been hard on Darris.  My new obsession with all things fashion and girly left him out. I was so grateful to him for agreeing to be my escort tonight to the homecoming dance.

“Why aren’t you in Franklin getting ready?” Darris asked me when I walked up to him.

“Where have you been?” I pretended to punch him on the shoulder. “Playing video games I bet!”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.” Darris said, rubbing his shoulder where my fist landed. His chin rose. “Anthony heard your car. He came and got me. So again, why aren’t you getting ready in Franklin? I have reminder set on my phone. I still have about an hour before I need to . . .”

“No, you don’t.” Anna and I said together. “Your phone is wrong.” I added.

“Aliens have done something to Franklin.” Anna said.

“Whoa! How could I have missed that! Start at the beginning.” Darris rolled his eyes behind Anna’s back.

“Do you have any soda?” Anna asked. It was my turn to roll eyes behind her back.

“Let’s go inside and we’ll explain.” I took his arm and led him inside to the family room in the basement. I loved the wood burning stove that sat in the back corner unused and loaded with books, toys and dust.  It took about twenty minutes to convince him and Anthony that something was wrong.

There were six years between Darris and his older brother, Anthony. Anthony, a former all-state quarterback for the Rebels, arrived home from college early this morning. Darris had hitched a ride with Anna and me so the brother could spend time together.

“Let’s check the internet.” Anthony said. “I’d wondered why my social media had been so silent this afternoon. I’m waiting on replies regard plans for tonight with my former teammates.”

Darris walked over to the fifty-six inch plasma and turned it on, grabbing the remote and flopping on the sofa beside me. They had separate TVs for each game system and a designated one for TV viewing. He tuned it to SNN.

“That’s the same report we watched at my house.” I exclaimed. “I didn’t try any other channels. Try Newschannel 5, local news should be on.”

“Nope. It’s a talk show, but she’s moving and talking very slowly. Was it doing that on SNN?” Darris asked flipping back and forth between the channels. The programs were slow and disjointed. Words did not match the moving mouths.

“Check your cell phone.” Anna said.

“Already did. No luck. Nothing on the home phone also.” Anthony said. He surrounded himself with gadgets of all kinds. “And the internet is technically up but again moving slow and disjointed all I’m getting are error messages telling me I’ve been timed out.”

“What are we going to do now?” I ask. I was officially freaked out, maybe Homecoming doesn’t matter anymore. Were mom and dad okay? And all my friends and classmates? Almost everyone I knew was in Franklin.  Could there really be aliens? Or some other kind of an attack?

“Go to Franklin?” Anthony answered. “What else can we do?”

Everyone nodded their heads. “Okay.” I squeaked, “I want to see my parents.”

“Us, too!” Darris said.

Anna whispered, “I want my mom.”

 I bowed my head to hide my tears and prayed silently. God, I don’t know what’s happening. Please help me. Help my family and friends be okay. Amen.