What is even happening to me?
A horrible headache throbbed through my skull, like my head was about to burst.
Am I going to throw up…?
"Hey, you good?" Siris asked, worry clear in his voice.
"Oh, totally! There are just random asteroids falling from the sky. I've never felt better in my life," I replied.
Siris rolled his eyes. His sarcastic personality came right back.
He really does adapt fast…
The teachers rushed us into the emergency shelter the moment they saw those… weird, shiny stars.
"Those stars were really pretty," Siris said, his eyes glistening as if something had caught his interest.
"But you were hesitant earlier, weren't you?" I asked.
"Of course. It was such a spectacular view, and they were telling us not to look and just stand there waiting? Obviously I didn't want to leave," he explained.
"But I'm not dumb enough to sit there and watch asteroids fall on my head."
"That's suicidal," I said flatly.
Siris looked at me like that's exactly what I was saying
.
"But do you really think those were asteroids?" I asked after a pause.
"What else could they be?" he replied.
It was eerily quiet inside the shelter. Even the teachers looked tense.
Honestly… who wouldn't be?
"They could be alien eggs or spaceships, you know," a voice chimed in from behind.
I flinched.
How long had Xylia been standing there?
"Oh—hi, Lia," I said.
"Hehe, sorry. I couldn't help it. You guys were talking about something interesting, and I got bored," she said casually.
"The students are really quiet now," Siris noted. "Even though they were screaming earlier."
"That's thanks to the teachers and the class reps — from other classes too," Lia replied.
"Hm. Didn't some of the reps panic as well?"
"Of course! But they calmed down after a while," she explained.
Siris still looked unconvinced.
Those two really had completely opposite personalities.
The only thing they shared was an absurd mental toughness — like they could survive being locked in a time chamber for a thousand years and still stay sane.
BOOM.
A loud explosion echoed from outside.
Students screamed.
We could see Michael and the other teachers struggling to calm everyone down.
BOOM.
BOOM.
The sounds kept coming. Whatever was happening out there… it was chaos.
"…I really hope my parents are safe," Lia whispered, her head drooping slightly.
The explosions continued for a while.
Then… silence.
….
A wave of relief passed through the shelter. No one spoke at first — no one dared to — until a student finally asked:
"Is… is it safe now?"
"We're safe!" someone shouted.
Cheers erupted. Some students laughed, others cried. People hugged, jumped, celebrated—
BANG. BANG. BANG.
The steel door shook violently, the sound echoing through the shelter like a heartbeat gone wrong. Dust trickled down from the ceiling.
Something slammed into the steel door.
The cheering died instantly.
The door bent inward slightly
What… is out there?
My breathing grew uneven. My palms were soaked with sweat.
Why do I keep feeling this way…?
This sensation — something I can't put into words.
No one screamed.
No one moved.
It felt like the entire room was holding its breath.
BANG.
The door bent inward.
A sharp metallic screech cut through the air as the hinges strained, twisting under a force that no human could produce.
My head throbbed violently.
Something was outside.
Something that wasn't supposed to exist.
"D-don't open it…" someone whispered.
Too late.
The door burst inward with a deafening shriek of tearing metal.
----