New Prompt (for September 14, 2022):
"You rush into a church to stop the love of your life from marrying the wrong person. Not paying attention, you shout "I OBJECT" only to realize it's a funeral. The deceased immediately rises in perfect health. All eyes turn to you." {credit to u/Eva_Aurora in r/WritingPrompts}
Old Prompt (from August 24, 2022):
"The moon doesn't exist. It's a hologram put there by beings unknown. One night it says 'Error 404' where the moon should be. You go to tell your roommate but all you find is a red glowing 'Error 404' hovering above where they should be sleeping." {credit to @writing.prompt.s on Instagram}
My Story: The Night the Moon Disappeared
College was much harder than I expected. I was falling behind in all of my classes and could barely attend anything my friends wanted me to go to if it wasn't on the weekend. But this weekend was the time for me to get caught up. Midterms would be next week, and I needed to know all the important information before taking them.
After my last class on Friday, I went to the library. From three in the afternoon until well past sunset, I toiled away on my work. My eyes felt like they would fall right out of my head from all the reading and typing I had done. I needed a break, and thankfully, the universe knew it.
People rushed out of study rooms at the top of the library and nearly trampled each other on the stairs. I quickly packed up my books fearing I was in danger and raced out the back door. Instead of breaking away into the crisp air of the night, I slammed into the back of a stranger.
Consumed by the madness that was happening above, I hadn't worried about what might be in front of me. The person still hadn't moved, which struck me as weird.
"I'm sorry. I didn't see you there." I tried to move past him. "Excuse me."
As I rounded the corner, there were more. A huge cluster of people who didn't even realize I was there. No one turned. No one moved. It was hard to believe they were even breathing.
"Guys?" I asked. "If this is a prank it's real funny."
Still, no one moved. All their gazes were fixed on the sky. I shouldered my way around the group to see what they were so focused on.
When I finally made it out from under the building, I saw clearly why they were unmoving. Instead of the moon resting in the inky sky, there were words.
ERROR 404
They illuminated the courtyard just as the moon would, but something else caught my attention. There was a pile of books along with a backpack in the quad with the same words hovering above them. Panic filled my chest as I realized what had happened. A student had disappeared like the moon.
As I tried to rationalize what could have possibly happened, all of our phones buzzed and beeped in unison. For some students, that was enough to knock them out of their stupor. Others kept their eyes locked on the sky.
Though I struggled to free my phone from my pocket, I eventually got it out and quickly unlocked it. there was a text from the campus security.
"Dear students,
We are aware of the situation with the moon. If you are not yet, please return to your place of residence immediately and stay there until further notice. Our administration is working with the government and waiting patiently for how to move forward. Campus will be closed until further notice."
I watched as a few students got their friends' attention and took them back to their dorms. I followed the group that was headed back to Stephenson Hall. Along the way, we ran into more hovering messages with different school supplies scattered around the sidewalk.
In a daze, I sprinted up the steps toward the third floor. Other concerned students stood in the hall clustered around windows whispering to each other. Others cried in their rooms on the phone with their parents. Some even took the lockdown as an opportunity to sneak girls onto the floor.
With it being nearly midnight when this happened, I guessed my roommate didn't even know about it yet.
"Frankie, dude, you're never going to believe--"
As I rounded the corner to my room, my heart dropped like a stone to my stomach. Instead of the silhouette of my roommate in bed, the same error message floated above it. I bumped into the wall behind me as I backed out of the room without taking my eyes off Frankie's bed. The guy I had spent the half year getting to know had vanished.
"Spence?" Joey, the RA, asked. "You alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"They got Frankie," I muttered.
Joey peeked into my room. "Dang. He's the fifth one on this floor."
"What happened?" I asked.
Joey shook his head. "I don't know. You can sleep in the common room with the others tonight." He put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Let me know if you need anything."
When I felt like I had gained some composure, I slipped back into my room and grabbed my pillow and comforter before making my way toward the common room. Three other guys my age were making themselves comfortable. No one really talked. We all had just lost one of our closest friends. It was safe to say none of us would be getting any sleep tonight.
*****
Joey and some men in suits came to talk to the five of us that had lost our roommates around one in the afternoon the next day. I volunteered to go first since I had overheard at least two of the other guys crying last night.
It didn't take long for me to realize the men were government employees. They were gathering information about the missing people to curate a report. All they wanted was information about the supposed "Frankie" that I had been living with for the past few months.
Did he talk about a family? Yes. Did I ever meet them? No. Did he have issues making friends? No. What did we talk about? Sports and video games. Did he ever seem weird to me? No. Did he ever do anything that disturbed me? No.
They were gone as soon as they came.
A few days later, the sun presented with an error message. More students disappeared. Seven more people joined us in the common room. The original five did our best to comfort them. Mostly, that meant awkwardly holding their shoulders when they cried or tapping their back in a hug.
Mason, one of the original five, ventured back into his room two weeks after the moon disappeared to grab his computer and private server. If there was ever anyone on this floor that I had been afraid of before this whole thing, it was Mason. He was a hacker with connections to the dark web.
It was time to read the government documents and dark web theories.
"They're saying they were sun and moon children," Mason said.
"I don't understand." I took a seat beside him to see what was happening on his screen.
To use plain English, they were sentient beings that had formed from pieces from solar flares and fractals of the moon. Somehow, they had traveled around space and become humanoid. Something was now attacking the planets and stars.
"The Galactic Force will get them." Sam rocked back and forth. He was in mid-conversation with his roommate when he disappeared.
"No," Mason said. "They're planning to relocate."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"There's a bill in the senate right now to collect one thousand people from each continent to send them into space in cryosleep. They will be launched toward a distant galaxy that will take hundreds of years to reach." Mason read a little further. "There is a planet like earth there that they are going to try."
"What about the rest of us?" I asked.
"We wait and see what happens." Mason frowned.
I woke up with a gasp. There was drool on my astronomy textbook. I glanced at my phone. It was a quarter to midnight.
A college girl tapped on the door to the library. "Library closes in fifteen minutes."
"Thanks." I wiped the dried drool off my chin. She left. "That's the last time I do astronomy homework after robotics class."
Happy Writing,
Ally Mac
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