The Collision

by Anika J.

July 31, the day of the impact

I lie awake and think about the digital article I read. It said an asteroid would collide with Earth and perhaps knock Earth off its axis. The Earth is tilted at 23.5 degrees and the tilt causes the seasons, and our existence. The time of the collision is unclear but hopefully it won’t happen anytime soon. I’m only 10, I would prefer to live. 

I stand up only to get knocked off my feet. I land on my bed. Everything seems to move sideways, as if the Earth itself moved. “Earthquake,” I think. My wooden bookshelf falls over, landing with a crash. I look up and see my books sprawled all over, while the bookshelf itself snapped in half. My room’s light swings off the ceiling. I dive down to avoid the shards of glass. The door to my room is swinging whereas the door to my closet is lying on the floor. The handwritten poster on my door that says “Calliope’s Room” is flying around. In my closet my belongings are falling off the shelf. The clothes drawers are opening and closing. I jump to the side, narrowly avoiding a shard of glass. “This is it,” I think. “The asteroid is here.” But then, as suddenly as it came, the earthquake stops.

I live with my mom, dad, and my light brown dog, Nyx. I scan the house to make sure they are ok. In the kitchen there is a pile of rubble. There is more covering half the guest bedroom, the side without the bed. And the hallway connecting the back door to the kitchen was blocked halfway. My parents come out of their bedrooms. They are fine physically. Hold on… where’s Nyx? “Nyx!” I call out. “Nyx!” Where is she? 

I told my parents to look for her. No luck. We all decide to clear the rubble. I take the pile in the guest room. It is the biggest pile and Nyx goes there more than she goes to the other rooms with debris. I dig around but can’t find her. I grab a big piece of rubble and pull it out. 

The entire pile of debris caves in. 

I leap back. I dig through the wreck but Nyx isn’t there. Thirty minutes went quickly by and no one had found Nyx. It starts to get dark. My parent’s room is the only room without debris. We are going to sleep there tonight. I know that I have to search for Nyx tomorrow. I go to bed with butterflies in my stomach.

Day 1, post impact 

I was right. The asteroid has hit. Electricity has gone out. Trees in my backyard have fallen over. The chairs and my swing in my backyard toppled over. Inside my home is worse. A tree crashed into the ceiling of the kitchen and crushed the kitchen counter. Everything has broken or is on the floor. The toilet also exploded.

Nyx still hasn’t turned up. 

Now, we eat whatever we have at home. If we need water or food, we have to brave the rubble and go to the local grocery store, or what was left of it. The building crashed but the food and water are mostly intact.

 I quickly eat breakfast and run to the debris pile in the kitchen. I pick up debris one by one. Soon I have picked up all the debris in the kitchen. Nyx isn’t here. 

 I go to the hallway that leads to the kitchen. Part of the wreckage there has caved in and I see a hole. I call out Nyx’s name and heard a whimper! There she is, stuck! My dad grabs a shovel to remove the debris and get Nyx out. I call out her name. “She can’t hear me.” I think. 

I quickly grab her treats from the pantry and put them in my palms while I stick my hands through the hole. I feel Nyx jump into my hands. The shovel must have freed her! She was stuck in the wreck here the whole time! But now, thankfully, Nyx is safe. 

Day 2, post impact 

The Earth is off its axis and that has made the equator very hot. But the parts of the earth that are closer to the North and South Poles are cold. I expected to get the hot side because it’s always hot in California. But we are closer to the North Pole! It is snowing here! Snowing in California! Unbelievable. I awoke to ankle deep snow and now it’s knee deep. I ran outside earlier and was instantly met by the piercing cold. I tripped and got a face full of snow. I flew back inside, I was so cold.

I haven’t been in touch with anyone except my best friend from school, and that’s because she is my neighbor. Thankfully she’s ok but her house is also filled with rubble. I’m thinking about my family and friends and hope everyone is ok, and that they…survived the impact.

Day 3, post impact

It’s starting to get very dark at night. There is no sun, but some light manages to squeeze its way through in the day. But after nightfall, you can barely see your own hands. I have a flashlight. None of my other friends have contacted me yet. I wish this asteroid hadn’t hit. How is civilization going to survive? 

Day 5, post impact 

People are starting to take drastic measures. The snow is now just above my waist. People are panicking. Animals are taking shelter in other people’s homes too. Mice are scurrying around everywhere inside. Food is scarce so everyone is hoarding food now. Some people have stooped to stealing. But no one steals in the night because it’s pitch black. My parents put out our empty food cans outside as a replacement for an alarm system. When someone tripped over the cans my parents woke up and the person escaped. Other than my neighbor, I still haven’t heard from any of my friends or family yet.

Things are looking bleak.  

Day 6, post impact

I look outside and see something I thought I would never see again.

I see the sun.

I think I know what’s happening. At first, the Earth stopped rotating causing the sun to disappear. But it must have only stopped rotating for a certain amount of time. It couldn’t stop forever. The axis may be off but now the Earth must be recovering and is probably starting to rotate again.

I run outside and see a crowd of people. Even though the sun is weak I have to shield my eyes from it. It’s a tiny bit warmer and the snow has melted a bit. On the other end of my street I see a crowd of people moving toward us.

“Look!” I cry. Everyone races toward them. I see familiar faces, and realize they are my friends from a different neighborhood. I embrace them happily. Their neighborhood was completely destroyed and they were searching for safer places. They found out our neighborhood was safer. Later on a friend told me they were pretty hesitant to come in case we wouldn’t let them live here. But they had no other option. I told her of course we would let them live with us!

The sun is back, snow is melting, my friends are here. This is great! I look up, spread my arms out and embrace the warmth. I have a feeling that things will work out and we are going to get through this. That we will rise from the ruins and start anew.

About the Author

Anika is a 5th grader. She is known to read obsessively especially during meals and in the car while going for theater, dance and music lessons. Her favorite genre is fantasy. She has published a sci-fi story for the BAWP DigitalPaper.