The Moment
It was time. The moment he’d been waiting for all his life. Pack on his shoulder, he squinted up at the midday sky where the large reflective vessel was descending. All around him, people were standing, bewildered, in the streets. Cars were stopped, with people leaning out the windows or getting out to gaze at the metallic beast from beyond.

Highway
I rolled down the driver-side window and gazed through the windshield at the landscape passing alongside the highway. Rock music blasted from the radio and the wind roared in my ears. Left arm resting partway out the open window, I bobbed my head to the beat. The sun warmed me, but not so much as to be a bother.

Suddenly, I heard the cars in front of my honk their horns, and distant crashes began sounding. Looking ahead down the slope of the highway, I couldn’t immediately see what the disturbance was, though I almost rear-ended the car in front of me as its brakes squealed. All around me, cars stopped and people began opening their doors, standing beside their cars and peering at the sky.

And then I saw it.

Campus
Jade finished her lunch—one of the less appetizing college meals—and walked out of the dining hall, backpack on her shoulders. It was a sunny day in early fall, with leaves beginning to populate the campus walkways. As Jade walked distractedly, phone in hand, the sun faded—there must have been clouds moving in.
r u seeing this? Her friend, Jamie, texted.
Seeing wht? Jade replied.
the SKY!!
Jade paused, looking up from her phone toward the sky.
 

Your DOOM!
Roy walked past the third ride with a CLOSED sign. Did they have any open attractions in this dump? At last, he reached some sort of haunted house. It appeared to be open. Finally, Roy thought as he walked across the creaky wood floor inside the haunted house. There, he was met with…a clown. A sleeping clown. I bet they didn’t expect anyone to actually come to this place. “Hey,” Roy said as he walked over to the snoring man in a clown’s costume.
He stirred in his wooden chair, then sat up and blinked. “Oh, hey there,” the clown said.
And smiled.

Redacted
[Pause 00:35–00:39]
[00:40] S1: Very well, we have...methods I believe will loosen your tongue.
[00:48] Speaker 3: Hold still.
[00:50] S2: Wait—
[Pause 00:51–01:00]
[01:01] S1: Now, what can you tell me about [redacted]?
[Pause 01:07–01:10]
[01:11] S2: [redacted]
[01:34] S1: Anything else?
[01:37] S2: No.

Absent
Missed You This Morning
Jane,

I didn’t see you at the cafe this morning. Where were you? Did something come up?

Best,

Carl

Carl Hendrick
Assistant Head of Research
[email protected]

Temporal Research Laboratories (TRL)

* * *

Re: Missed You This Morning
everythings fine yeah something came up im busy

Jane Rhine
Head of Research
[email protected]

Temporal Research Laboratories (TRL)

* * *

Re: Missed You This Morning
Jane,

Jane, are you alright? Do you want to reschedule? What you said sounded very important.

Carl

* * *

Re: Missed You This Morning
Carl,

I am well, but I appreciate your concern. I was mistaken. We no longer need to meet to discuss this matter.

Sincerely,
Jane

The Message
It sounded like some sort of SOS, but she could only make out every other word—and even then just barely. Anyone…hear… Emergency…help…  But who could it be? And why did they need help? She tried asking this, but got no response, only static.

Fruit
Shaky hands beginning to sweat, he continued to maneuver the snake around his computer screen, collecting the “fruit.” He didn’t know if he could stop. He didn’t know what would happen if he lost. All he knew was that he had to keep playing. So he did.

The Photo
The group of friends gathered around and stared with wide eyes at the photo displayed on the phone, held in trembling fingers. It depicted them. And something else. In the photo, it stood behind them, unnaturally tall and looming. It wasn’t human.

A Dark Room
Zack regained consciousness. Groggy, it took him a minute to regain awareness. Once he did, he found himself bound to a metal chair in a dark room. He struggled against his restraints, but it was no use. They were too strong. The last thing he remembered was nearing the door of Carla’s house, then they—whoever they were—had crashed through the yard in their black armored trucks and knocked him out.

As his eyes adjusted, Zack could make out faint shapes in front of him. A table? As his hands were tied behind him, and the chair appeared bolted to the floor, Zack couldn’t reach out or move closer to check.

A few minutes later, Zack heard a voice, belonging to a man he couldn’t see.
“Good, you’re awake,” the man said. “If you cooperate, it will be much easier for the both of us.”

Lights. Voices. Memory.
    Young Jim, back at his aunt’s house, sat in a chair by the window, trying to both remember and forget that scene. It had been several years ago, and he had been a mere boy then. He still was, just older. As the sun began to dip below the horizon, giving way to the moon, Jim thought back to that moment when his family—parents, older brother—had been taken. Abducted. Why had he been spared?

Conspiracy
    After two and a half weeks, Cerise was finally accustomed to her…uniquities. Mostly. She only occasionally stumbled or forgot she was walking with metal. She no longer had those daily check-ins with the cybernetics doctors, though they encouraged her to give them a call should she ever need help. Cerise no longer needed a cellphone for that; her brain had implants that allowed for access to the internet and let her make calls and send texts just by thinking about it. That she was not used to. She tried not to think too much about what that meant…what any of this meant.
    The cybernetics doctors had developed a way to conceal the cyborg parts, offering it for free to anyone willing. Cerise had declined. It had felt right, though she couldn’t explain why. Many people stared, a few of them even considerate enough to make a meager attempt at hiding it. Cerise, however, was too busy to care, for there was conspiracy afoot.

Old
He was old. Sitting on his porch in a rocking chair, he gazed down at his wrinkled hands, then across the field and toward the setting sun. He smiled, remembering his long-gone wife. She had been able to turn any day into one like this, and the memory of her sometimes achieved the same effect. He closed his eyes, peaceful, and dozed off.
 

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- Theory