CHAPTER ONE: RENDEZVOUS

It was ten o’clock. Rye was biking home, and had just turned left onto Pekei from 32^nd, when he saw a bright star in the sky, brighter than Polaris, and in the middle of the Great Bear. While Rye wasn’t much of a stargazer, this particular star caught his attention very quickly…it was orange…and gave him a very strange feeling which couldn’t be described.

“Huh.”

Rye quickly raced up Pekei to his apartment. He quickly chained his bike and ran up the stairs to his apartment. He unlocked his door at 2E, and rushed inside.

“Hey, Rye. Welcome back! You seem exhausted.”
“I know, mom, I just need to get something from my room, I’ll be back quickly!”

Before Rye’s mother could say a word, Rye rushed to his bedroom. Rye’s mother was curious to see what his son was being so frantic about. She saw him digging through his closet.

“Rye, what’s going on?”
“There’s this weird-looking star outside. Look out the window, d’ya see an orange-looking star?”

Rye’s mother looked outside, but couldn’t see it.

“No, I don’t see anything!”
“We aren’t at the right angle, then!...AH! Here it is!”

Rye finally found a telescope in the mountain of unused toys that was his closet. He put it on the tripod, and carried it outside.

“C’mon, ma, let’s go!”

Rye and his mother rushed outside onto the sidewalk across from their apartment. He held the telescope up to his eye, pointing it at the star, only to find that it wasn’t a star…and that it was slowly getting bigger, and seemed to be leaving a trail of dust behind it. It was a meteorite, which now seemed to approach them faster…until they realized it was passing over them several miles up in the night sky.

“That meteorite’s going west from here, and I don’t think it’s going to land anytime soon…my only guess is that it’s going to land near...Ellay, Twoson, Onett...” Rye’s mom said.
“Sorry for all this trouble, mom. I’ve just been a bit…antsy…I guess it’s because of that nightmare I told you about this morning…”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Just let me remind you, though, that that nightmare was just a nightmare, nothing more, nothing less. This city has stood tall for years, and it’s seen everything from revolution, to civil war, to riots. But this city has stood tall in the face of such disasters. There will always, always be a Fourside, Rye.”
“Y-yes, Mom, It’s just that…*sigh*, nevermind.”

Rye and his mother slowly walked back up into the apartment.

“Normally, I’d be playing video games all night long on Friday night, but…I just feel out of it tonight, I don’t know why. I’m going to get to bed early, okay, mom?”
“Sure, Rye. Just change into your PJs first!”

Rye changed, and went to bed. As he was slowly falling asleep he heard the usual sounds of traffic, people’s footsteps, and the clattering of the elevated train a few blocks away slowly turn into something else entirely…