ⁿᵃᶦˡᵃʰ'ˢ ᵖᵒᵛ

‧₊˚✩ 🪐✩˚₊‧

"THIS IS NO LONGER YOUR HOME" Mom's words shot shards of glass right through my chest to where my heart should have been, but had already sunken deep into my stomach.

Earth is no longer my home.

My mind cruelly replayed that like a broken record as mom filled us in on how exactly we were to continue from now. If I actually heard it, then I should've been sprinting up into my room to grab the last of my belongings.

Now I had to recall the remnants of memories of the last milestones of my life here on Earth, and carry it with me as part of my luggage.

The Jupiter Bay was approximately 42 minutes from here. And from my attempt to read mom's lips after accepting that my ears had given out on me, we have to be strapped into our Jupiters for automatic launch at 20:00.

I trembled as I lifted my left arm to my frozen face. Humming a chewing gum ad jingle to myself to calm my erratic breathing down and get myself together to read just which numbers the big hand and little hand pointed to on my watch.

It's currently 18:36.

I slowly looked up to Tyler, whose jaw clenched up as he roughly massaged his hair — or what was left of it.

He knows. Cam knows. Mom knows — of the little time we have left.

Oh shit.

CHAOS SOON FOLLOWED after the moment of crushing silence. All four of us squabbling around the house retrieving our essentials like it was a treasure hunt. We were all yelling at one another.

The emergency sirens wailed on in its high and low, haunting moan of impending doom.

Of course this is how shit had to go down.

Then, the piano caught my eye — my piano, my precious. I knew now the other reason mom wasn't keen on bringing it with us sooner: She was preparing me to let it go.

I traced my fingers over the scraped in autographs signed: 'NICO + NAILAH' — both 'N's were written backwards and coated in a thick layer of dust. My fingers ached to play just one last song, one last note. So I sat down and placed my hands over the keys.

With one deep breath in and one out, I felt I'd let something go, some part of me. I slowly played the first 8 notes of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, and repeated the tune for a while.

I then continued to recite the chorus of the classic when I heard two voices echoing from upstairs singing --

"-- Mamaaa Ooohhh" their off key pitches startled me as I burst into laughter, listening to my brothers continue their karaoke session, "Didn't mean to make you cry, If I'm not back again this time tomorowww"

This flooded memories of when we used to play Guess the song this way. The piano tunes played across the house, our last memory of this 4.5 year old house, of this 4.5 billion year old planet.

And it's all reduced to a singular moment.

"Hey" mom called me from the other end of the kitchen counter, before sliding three gas masks to me over the marble surface reflecting the kitchen's blinding lights.

I could tell by the light creases deepening with her smile, that she was glad to hear me play for the last time here.

Tyler and Cameron soon joined mom and I by the kitchen, and mom stretched her hands out to us. I held her left, Cam held her right, and Ty completed the circle.

We stood in silence for a moment, the tension so thick and uneasy, but strangely comforting. Cam finally broke the silence with a question that I myself was dying for an answer to: "Is dad gonna make it to our Jupiter in time?"

Mom sulked as she warmly cupped his little face, and pulled us in for a hug. I'm not sure mom knew exactly how to answer his question.

"Dad literally embodies the charisma of the Tom freaking Cruise," Tyler saved the day by making us all laugh the worry away, "Even if it means him jumping off roofs just to make it to us in time...that's exactly what he'll do"

He ruffed up Cam's dark curls as I took in the last details of this place.

From the walls marked with our growth in height over the years, to the colossal crack on the sliding door from that time I chased Ty and Cam with a knife and they ran right into it, down to the blue leather couch that we grew up with.

It all started to fade into memory lane. It felt so surreal that I even started hearing police sirens wailing in my head. Wait, what? No, Those sirens are actually going off and approaching us and I'm not just going insane.

The distant hum of engines starts to grow louder. It steadily built into a powerful rumble that echoes through the empty streets. We all went dead silent.

We all peaked through the window beside the entrance door to see a black cop SUV pull up in our driveway. Definitely not dad's — he'd never have his siren on just for our enjoyment.

I blankly stared at mom's relieved sigh as she strapped on her gas mask and ordered us to do the same.

Behind the one SUV, more glimmers of flashing lights appeared, growing brighter as it approached our empty driveway. A convoy of sleek, police SUVs, all black and chrome, sped from the red to surround our driveway, all choreographed and military-style formation. Like it was the damn white house.

No way. No freaking way. There were at least seven police SUVs that revved with powerful engines, with designs that screamed power.

"That'our ride?" Tyler asked, but it sounded more like an alarmed statement to me.

"Sick!" Cam exclaimed.

Mom pulled our large front door open to welcome the unruly winds to litter sand grains all over the marble floor. The bitter taste of burning sulfur and ash lingered at the back of my throat. That ominous, colossal cloud of dust, swirling and churning, crawled closer and closer, consuming more and more of the city buildings.

The convoy of SUVs had their doors slide open simultaneously, and the drivers wore their polished uniforms. They raised their hands to salute.

At least a dozen of them marched into our house after doing a serious head nod to Mom. They permeated around the house like they owned the place. Some went straight upstairs, others went to oddly specific corners around the house, pulling out keypads to do what looked like coding something into our security system.

Ty jogged into the kitchen to grab something from the pantry of nonperishable food. He got out the one bag of chips we had left, our last meal on Earth: Flaming Hot Cheetos. He whispered 'In the car' before hiding the bag from Mom's view. I nodded, giving him two thumbs-up. I only realised now how empty my stomach was.

"Doctor Cosgrove," One of the officers' sing-songy voice echoed out of the house intercom from where he stood outside. I flinched. I'm pretty sure my brothers did too.

"Officer Hart," Mom replied into the house intercom. I furrowed my eyebrows at Ty, and he just shrugged.

"Cosgrove...offspring. How's it goin'?"

"Could be better, I mean, the world is burning much faster than before," I must've said that out loud from the awkward silence. "I mean-- Uhh, can't complain." I forced an awkward laugh.

"I'd like to understand what exactly's going on," Ty said into the intercom. "If I am under arrest, I would like a lawyer-- Ow!-- Mãe!" He got cut off by Mom cussing him out in Portuguese while pinching his arm. He snickered while apologizing.

"Can you two not embarrass me in front of your father's cool work friends?" Mom loudly whispered at us. We both immediately dropped our arms to our side and stood up straight, earning a groan from Mom that we couldn't help but giggle at.

"D'you guys remember Uncle Isaac?" Mom smiled excitedly as she ambled out of the doorway to greet the driver of this car. The three of us stared blankly ahead as we tried to figure out --

"...Who's Uncle Isaac?" Cam's lisp made everything sound cuter. But he was right about that question; and not even Tyler knew the answer to that.

MOM WAS INFAMOUS FOR ACTING surprised to find out that we didn't remember  who exactly did change our morning diaper on the Saturday of 22 November 2036.

Some of the policemen in black sunglasses loaded our last luggage into some of the other cars. I stood like a deer in front of the abundance of headlights, with the police officers greeting me and calling me 'ma'am'.

Mom spoke with one of the police officers who delivered her a note, most probably from Dad. They escorted us toward one of the SUVs, the third one from the right. Pride and relief swelled in me.

Cam sat on Tyler's shoulders, and I wrapped my arm tightly around his. The fear of being blown away by the wind was now very real.

"Your father has delivered a message to you three, as well," An officer handed a white envelope to me. I felt the heavy breaths of my brothers hovering over me as they nagged me to open it quickly.

What important message do we have the privilege of knowing? The note was blank on the one side, my anticipation festering even more. I flipped the paper over.

"Lemme see!" Cam urged, leaning over on Ty and almost making him fall over. They both leaned toward me and I was now their pillar of stability. I stretched my arm that held the paper as far away as I could from them. "Nal! Give it!"

"Watch it! You're gonna drop our only meal!" Ty held onto the inflated bag of chips like it was the holy grail.

"Ow!" I winced at the sharp tug of my hair in the midst of trying to read a note in this kind of weather. "Stop pulling my hair, baldy!"

"I didn't even touch you!" Ty defended. "And you," He barked, tilting his head back to the little boy fiddling on his shoulders. "I'm gonna drop you if you don't sit fuckin' still."

Cam sulked and crossed his arms. Ty gained his balance again. We were making progress.

We all leaned in closer to read, in Dad's all-caps handwriting:

'ABSOLUTELY NO EATING IN THE CAR, LOVE DAD :)'

We all groaned. There was no way we could finesse Dad with the insane forensics he has access to. Guess I'm eating flame dust, then.

Three car hoots went off, and we lifted our heads up to Mom waving for our attention. She aggressively pointed towards the smiling man next to her, mouthing 'Uncle Isaac!'

We clearly weren't related to uncle Isaac in any way; his pale skin and pin straight jet black hair greying at the edges told us that much. Though, he might know dad — he wore a Police cap from a neighbouring branch.

He had a charming, young at heart energy to him. And he seemed cool — he wore a vintage Nirvana T-shirt, and was fine with the fact that before we cozied ourselves into the 4x4, we all stared up at our dark and empty house.

The finality of it was so cruel. I was leaving nearly everything I knew behind. I was leaving Nico behind. I can't even say it was my full choice to do so. And all I had the authority to do was sink into my seat as the engine revved up.

I watched Tyler stare for longer. He was leaning on the open window frame, looking up at it through his dark eyebrows. I guess he too didn't bother to put on his gas mask.

I couldn't read his face, but his jaw clenched up as he finally saluted at the house, his lips forming a soft smile, before quickly fading. Then, Isaac turned the siren back on along with the roaring engine. Cam and Ty encouraged it — of course they did.

Mom handed Ty a blue and white asthma inhaler, to which he held it up to Cam — cozily seated on a bulky car seat, exactly as he would in our own cars.

"Alright, deep breaths," Ty uttered under his breath, counting down when Cam could let a breath out. Ty tickled Cammy's stomach, and he bursted into infectious laughter. I cracked a smile.

This was our only normal moment, or possibly our last.

I guess we were all drowning in this sense of grief to do anything else other than stare at the black SUVs that drove behind and in front of us, mourning the people we used to be.

Just watching our house through the rear windscreen get smaller and smaller, trying our best to sever ourselves from the overwhelming plethora of emotions.

An abrupt end to a chapter of my life. And what would I call this new chapter?

Thunder is roaring. Sirens are wailing. A storm is approaching. And it is going to blow the whole world to the ground.

I scoffed into laughter as mom tuned into the radio station playing Goodbye Yellowbrick Road by Elton John. And in an attempt to lift the gloomy spirit as we sped past cars on the busy freeway, mom began obnoxiously singing along to the chorus.

"I'm pretty sure this is against the law!" I yelled over the loud music and wailing siren

"Vovo used to play this song back when I was about your age, Nal!" — Vovo is what we call Mom's mom. Mom yelled back as she let the blowing air conditioner lift her straightened hair like in a TRESemmé ad.

"Which was what? A century ago?" I laughed, looking out to the building-sized hologram hovering over us, advertising McDonald's at a time like this.

"If I'm correct, that must've been in the 2020s!" Uncle Isaac peaked at me through the murky rearview mirror as he continued singing along.

"Your mom just exposed how ancient she really is" Tyler leaned over Cam to yell that into my ear, the three of us mocking mom's age.

We couldn't act like we didn't know this song for any longer, so we eventually joined in singing our lungs out.

As we song along, the sudden burst of dopamine had completely numbed me of what I looked out to the window to see. I don't think I fully registered it for a long while.

Directly on the right to the highway bridge with traffic we recently joined to speed through, a wildfire spread so far wide that it reached a tall neighbouring building. The building quickly cracked and crumbled as smoke ascended from it, before the final blow.

It finally surrendered, slowly collapsing beside us, narrowly missing the road we were on, only to crush the highway road underneath our bridge.

It intensified the terrible weather, the wind howling with sand beads hitting our precious huddled up vehicles.

The music distorted away from my hearing in the most eerie way possible, and my lips quivered at a shiver a felt down my spine. The sky went from a deep orange to a dark orange-grey as the sun continuously departed.

And I heard car alarms ringing, and people screaming — children screaming.

I traced the sides of my face to cover my ears at the horror, looking over to my two brothers, to my mom and her old friend — still with a blissful ignorance to their faces.

How can no one else see this?

I peeked behind the headrest of my seat, my lips parting at the wave of dark dust swarming in the distance, swallowing everything in its path. A dust storm was approaching, and fast.

I shivered in an unfathomable grief, a million thoughts running through my head. But I didn't cry — I couldn't.

So I just curled up into a ball to minimise the uncontrollable shaking, and forced myself into bitter-sweet sleep.

THE THREE NOISEMAKERS of the car were finally sound asleep and far away in dreamland. I actually couldn't believe the wailing sirens and howling could knock me out like they did.

And just like that, I was in the middle of a dream. I immediately recognised where I was: The Mother-Ship.

I was in one of those never ending corridors. But they were gloomier and as if they were slowly closing in on me.

And I was all alone, and wickedly freezing — I even felt my fingertips harden, and the hairs on my face frost up as I shivered uncontrollably.

I was in my spacesuit, I was running. From something — or someone. I grunted in frustration of the little distance I was making, before the glass displaying the outside's vastness of dark matter now shattered in front of me.

Blocking my face from the million shards of glass blowing my way, I was swept towards the suction, and off I went to lose myself in outer space.

I hyperventilated at the force I felt blocking my air pipes. My head began violently pounding and I couldn't even feel my limbs as I gagged and choked.

My head felt tighter and tighter like it was going to explode. And then, the multiple voices swelled in my head yelling a million things at once. The louder they got, the more unified they were to yell --

"Nailah, Why are you leaving me?!" They wailed, some voices more distorted than others.

Bone chilling sobs of the little voice I recognised as my late best friend's had paralysed me. Tears streamed down my hot face, soaking my neck up as I desperately gasped for air.

"I'm -- sorry." I strained, swallowing as I gasped for air. The thousand voices continued a chant yelling --

"Nailah! Nailah! Nailah!" they cried. And then--

"Nailah!"

I flinched hard, and shot my eyes wide open. I was back in the car; safe and, somewhat warm. I looked at my fingers — no frost bite. Letting out a breathy shake of relief, I covered my face with my shaky hands.

But as Cameron finally woke up from resting his heavy head on my left arm, that's when I felt the numbness of my poor limb. And I made it worse by trying to shake it back to life — the blood that returned to my arm felt like they were filled with the tiny shards of glass from my dream.

It was my older brother summoning me, that contributed to the most traumatic nightmare I've had — the fifth one of the week. They all seemed to have a similar theme.

I was so caught up in deciphering that sickeningly symbolic, terrifying dream I just had that I'd completely forgotten that--

"Did I just resurrect you or something? Pelo amor de Deus -- Earth to Nailah!" Tyler repeated, his eyebrow raising at my peculiar behaviour. His Adam's apple moved up and down with the spit he swallowed.

"What?" I aggressively shot back, refusing to look him in the eyes in fear of my reality catching up with me in a burst of tears.

"We're here." he quieted down, a light smile forming on his face, "We're at the Jupiter's Bay."

THE US GOVERNMENT SPARED NO expense in building the Alpha Centauri Colonist Program Spaceport. Huge was a wild understatement.

It was ironic how much smoke this placed produced from the dozens of sky-high chimneys.

The awe I was in even made me forget about the triggering dream my mind had put together for me just a few moments ago.

The sandstorm had already swallowed us into its arms. We could barely see anything other than the occasional flashes securing the perimeter of all the lifesaving technology protected in this facility.

We shook like sardines in a packet as the car drove through the series of speed bumps of the building's parking lot entryway. And in we went into the largest parking lot I've ever seen — possibly to ever exist.

Uncle Isaac opened the car roof for us to "ooh" and "ahh" at the spirally abstract architecture of the gazillion floor levels.

Alphabets A to Z all labelled the different floor levels where unfamiliar space crafts parked. I stared up at the large circle-shaped balconies where the vehicles were, for so long that even my neck began to ache.

Uncle Isaac finally dropped us all off right in front of the colossal stackaway glass door with an elevator into the building's lobby.

Immediately as I popped the car door open, the howling cry of the outside storm managed to overpower the whirring of the machinery echoing in the parking area.

And only then after the wave of pins and needles I felt from my waist down, was when I recognized the one parking floor with thousands of pillars all decorated in dark blue, orange and purple 'J's for --

"Jupiters! Up there!" Cam announced, jumping up and down as he tugged on mom's lab coat. There were hundreds of them. And they looked way cooler than in the simulators.

"Wishing you safe travels, Cosgroves," Uncle Isaac smiled. Mom's smile faded off for a moment. "There's still a lot I need to do for this little world of ours."

"And where will you go?" I asked him. He pursed his lips, before giving that warm, reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about me. I know some guys," He uttered, not in a very convincing way. I didn't know what to do with myself. He got us here safely, after all. And he would soon have to face that unruly storm again.

"Thank you for your service, sir," I held up my arm to my head to salute. He returned the salute. Soon after, my copycat brothers did the same.

Mom saluted to the other dozen SUVs with roaring engines and wailing sirens, driving off.

The doors into the lobby finally pushed open to a solar-system themed chandelier, and a small committee of volunteers warmly welcomed us like we were descendants of the royal family.

They handed us these reflective neon tags with 'M25' printed on it. It was like hooking bells on us as if we were cows so we'd easily be spotted by the volunteering scientists.

There were hovering trolleys that took our loose luggage to what looked like the path to the Jupiter Bay.

I squinted at the unnaturally bright lighting — the kind of brightness you find at a hospital right after waking up from a clean knockout.

The only times we've been here for a reason other than the tests and training for the Alpha Centauri program, was for the very few 'take your kid to work' days mom had. And it looked completely different every time we visited.

The lobby was decorated with flying drones and holograms displaying that one Alpha Centauri advert.

I recited the script of the woman speaking over the slideshow that looked like a healthy drink ad, just to distract myself from ripping my ears off. I could not tell you how many times this video was shown to me.

"Welcome to your new life" I mocked

"Holy shit, that voice actually makes my ears bleed" Tyler's words muffled at his hands squishing his face.

"Try working here to provide for your three high maintenance kids" Mom chimed in as she marked our names off on the holographic pop-up collecting attendees, "Vamos."

"Attention all Colonists: Please proceed to your assigned Jupiter pods. Automatic launch will commence in T-minus 37 minutes."

translations

Pelo amor de Deus - For heaven's sake
Vamos - Come on

author's note

Tyler's hair before and after buzzing it all off as requested by frailergirls  and euphoreallia . Bro's still beautiful but you could imagine the shock everyone was in 😭

me after making Nailah suffer: 🕺🕺🕺(it will unfortunately happen again)

prepare some popcorn and soda because the next two chapters are gonna need em 🍿🥤

dedications

candysznn bellalovesfantasy hearts4walkerscobell -acciosanity ST4RRYBL4DE solyyybenonyy euphoreallia saanvinarang_01 kanestrz

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