Only astrophysicists noticed the first time a star went missing. Only astrophysicists cared. Conjecture and theories ignited in the scientific stratosphere, burning up before reaching the rest of us. Like removing a grain of sand from the beach; it was an invisible and irrelevant loss.
An inconsequential hole in the sky.
As the holes grew in number, we started watching, started caring. The night took on a worn, frayed appearance; our sparkling blanket unravelled in front of us. The universe steadily disappeared.
Devoured? Unmade?
We prayed. We cried. We fought.
Now? Now we watch. We wait.
We have little choice.
Word Count (100)
Ah, another Friday Fictioneers, and I’m another long bow from the photo prompt. I’m reasonably sure this is an Arctic scientific facility, but I saw the domes and thought: telescopes. Belted this out during a lunch break at work, so I haven’t had much editing time. Let me know if you spot typos or errors.
FYI – I know that meteors normally burn up in the mesosphere, but stratosphere just felt like a better word. It’s my story and I’ll lie if I want to.
Let me know what you think in the comments, and check out the other 100 word stories here!
Cheers and thanks for reading
KT
Uncertain Tales 
Wonderful piece. If we don’t understand dark matter or dark energy, how do we know the stars will always be there? As Hamlet says “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
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Thanks Mick 🙂
I follow some great scientists on twitter – including astrophysicists and dark matter specialists. It’s fascinating stuff 🙂
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Entropy is a bugger!
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Strangely like the Reader’s Digest version of “The City at the End of Time” Nicely done. You follow some interesting guys.
Meteors burn up in the mesosphere. Some scientific theories, being less dense, burn up sooner, or later. 😕 🙂
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A frightening thought. All of life’s catastrophes start with one tiny incident. Nice one.
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This is an interesting subject, and would be a frightening occurrence.
Great story!
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An eerie story. I can imagine the majority’s indifference, then worry, then panic, then just watching and waiting. Great story, very imaginative.
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The analogy to the ‘removing a grain of sand…’ was beautiful.
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Aliens with star-eating technology?
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…maybe.
🙂
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Wonderful story, definitely one of your best, the mystery, the language. Very very good.
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Nice build up. Eerie, ominous.
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Dear KT,
A rather bleak and eerie scenario. Well written and thought provoking.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Reminds me of Galactus – the villain in Fantastic 4 !
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Great story, brilliantly written with great feeling of foreboding. Very well done !
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Quick, someone start plotting how far away the vanishing stars were! Whatever it is, Is it headed this way?
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There goes the universe. Who’d have thought that we are still around when that happens. Great story.
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What a horrifying scenario! A gripping story about some kind of disaster. No matter what it is, the human reaction to it is so convincingly real. Great story.
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My kind of apocalypse story…bleak, slow, resigned… Good one.
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Oh, my meaning may not have been clear – I meant by ‘slow’ the end of the universe… not your writing, which is always expertly paced.
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A haunting, sad story. Well done.
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Loved it, the steady, calm narrative accentuates the hopelessness.
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KT,
Wow.
I was so tempted to end the comment there, because I’m not sure if I can adequately describe how much I enjoyed this piece. So crisp, so clean, so dark, yet so awesome.
You know how I know this was great? Because as soon as I read it, it made me want to write. I saw ideas for short stories, for novels, for whatever all tightly packed into this.
Thank you for inspiring me. Please keep this up!
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This reminded me of a famous short story whose name, ironically, I cannot remember. It involved Tibetan monks catalyzing the end of the universe by spelling the true name of God. Eerie and thought provoking, just like this little gem. Well done!
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Love the concept for this flash!
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