The Day the Sky Screamed

I was eight when the dark came.

It wasn’t night. Night has stars. Night has air. This was bigger. Heavier. It ate the sky, the ground, and the people all at once.

They didn’t fall. They didn’t burn. They just… stopped like they were erased from the page.

I felt it. All of them. Thoughts crashing into me too fast to hold. I don’t want to die. Where’s my child? God, help me— And then nothing. Nothing. Nothing. The silence screamed so loud I thought my head would break.

I tried to cover my ears, but it was inside me. Too many voices. Too many endings. My chest hurt. I couldn’t breathe.

Mom pulled me. Her hand was shaking. Her voice in my mind was not. Run. Run, baby. Live.

I cried, told her not to let go, not to leave me. She pressed her forehead to mine. I felt her love burn against the cold.

Then the hatch sealed.

And she was gone.

The Sovereign didn’t take my world.

They unmade it.

And left me with the screams.

©2025