“So what the fuck is going on here?” I ask, casually.

“Well,” he chuckles. A bone china plate with a chocolate croissant is placed on the concrete next to me in my periphery.

“I stole it. Sort of. Well, not sort of. I stole it, but I’m gonna give it back.”

I raise an eyebrow at him.

“Really?”

He grins.

“Mhmm?”

“So where...?”

“My mom’s work. It was in the room full of all the experiments she does in her free time. And...well, she doesn’t have a lot of free time, and she’s out of town right now, so...”

“So you nabbed it?”

“Yeah. Borrowed it.”


”Huh. Well, it’s cool. I don’t suppose you know how it works?”

Ollie smirks at me.

“Haven’t the foggiest. You’re right, though. It’s cool as hell.”

I sip my coffee and poke the bubble, waiting for the sun until a small, bright glimmer can be seen just over the horizon.

“Oh! Ryan it’s starting!”

I smile. “Yeah, I see.”

“It’s so cool!”

“Yes, it is.”

Ollie grins goofily and spills his coffee, moving over to where I stand and practically humming with excitement. He hands me a pair of sunglasses.

“It’ll damage your eyes,” he explains.

The glowing orb creeps over the water and I have to say, it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.

“Holy shit,” I breathe. 
The sun’s edges are clear, and we can see it in all its glory. Tendrils of radiation seep out from the surfaces and I’m breath taken.

A few minutes pass and the sun is well over the water now. Ollie walks over and switches the machine off, and we’re washing in blinding light.

“Ow...” I mutter, and help him clean up the blanket and pastries with my eyes shut.

We stumble downstairs and into the kitchen, dumping our stuff by the door.

I walk over to the high kitchen bar, having a seat on a stool.

Ollie grins at me.

“So?”

I gulp dryly.

“Wow.”

“Mhmm.”

“That was...”

“Yup.”

“That has got to be the most amazing thing I’ve ever...my god.”

He hands me a new mug of coffee and pours us cereal.

“I know, right?”

We talk over breakfast, and soon an alarm goes off on Ollie’s phone.

“Ah shit, we got five minutes.”

I get up and rinse my bowl in the sink, then run to get ready. Not forty seconds later, Ollie’s knocking on the door and I’m not even dressed.

“Are you almost ready?”

“Almost? Almost??”

I can hear him shuffle away.

“I guess not...”

A few minutes later I’m putting on mascara when he barges in.

“Sorry, gotta brush my teeth.” 


I groan, and wipe the mascara from my eyebrow where his elbow bumped mine. 
Toothbrush hanging out of his mouth, he makes a face at me as I try to fix my eyelashes.

“Really?”

“Really.”

He rolls his eyes.

We’re out the door in under two minutes, walking briskly down the sidewalk on the way to school when it happens.

A blue Camry swerves in front of us to avoid some kid in the middle of the road. She can’t be more than nine years old, clutching a colourful folder to her chest.

What’s she doing by herself?

An older woman runs to grab her, but ends up running into the passenger door of the car. I watch in horror as a tan suburban rams into her, and the little girl is knocked down to the ground. She ends up underneath the car between the wheels and the driver backs up, then leaps out of the car to check on her.

They must not have seen her...

“Holy shit,” Ollie breathes.

“Yeah...”

My eyes dart to see something big and blue headed straight towards us.

Shit.

“OLLIE WATCH OUT!”