May 18

Today started as an average day. Everyone at school was talking about the asteroid and the moon. There were rumors that there was going to be a party at Tommy's beach house today to celebrate the Mooncrash, and that there will be no parents and lots of alcohol. 

In math class, if we took a picture of the moon as the asteroid hit it with our phones, we'd get some extra credit to boost our test grades. Turns out that my math teacher is secretly fascinated with astronomy. I think his passion might save my grade.

It was a bit windy today. The palm fronds lining the beachside boardwalk were rustling as Charles and I walked home today. Most of our homework was due Friday or had to be turned in today, so it was a relatively homework-free afternoon for both of us. We decided to take a detour and follow the beach path home.

"Are you excited to watch the Mooncrash tonight?" I asked.

"Not really," Charles replied. "I mean there's nothing special about it. The moon has thousands of craters on it. One more crater won't make much of a difference. And I've got to prepare for SATs too, so there's no time to watch it."

"C'mon," I said. "You're going to miss one of the biggest astronomy events of your lifetime." 

"I'm still not buying it."

I sighed. "When we're old and shrunken and wrinkled and half blind, you're going to look back at this and regret that you didn't choose to spend a couple of minutes of your life to watch this spectacular event."

"Fine, fine," he said. "I'll watch it. Stop with your guilt tripping."

"So it worked?"

"Don't push your luck," he said, and we continued on in silence. 

"Do you miss it?" he asked suddenly, and I looked at him weirdly.

"Miss what?"

"The summers when we were younger."

"Of course."

"I miss it too."

I was surprised. Charles always seemed so focused about the future. I figured he didn't really think about the past. 

"I miss the sun-soaked days on the beach, building sandcastles and having fun. It seems like there's no time for anything anymore," he said.

We made it to his house and waved goodbye. I made him promise me that he was going to watch the Mooncrash tonight, and then I left for my house. I braced for shouts and yells from inside the house, but I was pleasantly surprised with silence. 

Mira and Dad seemed to have made a temporary truce today. Dad even brought out an old telescope from the garage to show Mira how to view the moon properly. Even Grandma and Grandpa, who normally hang out in their retirement center, came to watch it. They cooked dumplings and noodles for our family, and soon the house was filled with delicious smells of Taiwanese food.

I turned on the TV to watch CNN. They had a panel of scientists out with all kinds of charts and graphics plotting out the trajectory of the asteroid as it neared the moon. Apparently, there have been similar events in the recent past, including a small meteor that disintegrated before it hit the moon in 2006, but there has never been anything of this scale in modern history.

They had a whole countdown going on in the background as they cut to clips of how people were preparing to watch the Mooncrash. In New York City, where there was great visibility, thousands of people crowded around Ellis Harbor, some waving signs while others just clinked bottles. 

The most striking thing was a group of people huddled together. Some kind of apocalyptic cult. They believed that this event was going to be the end of the world, so they sat in a circle and prayed for salvation or something like that. They seemed very convinced of their beliefs and very delusional. 

When there was ten minutes left, I sent Charles a text, reminding him that he better watch the Mooncrash. He sent a thumbs up back. May and I opened the freezer and took out a couple of ice-cream bars for everyone to share, and Mom and Dad brought out some old lawn chairs from the garage and placed them in our front yard.

Mr. Hunter invited a whole bunch of his friends over and had a grill out to cook some pork chops and burgers, while Mrs. Gupta had set up one of those inflatable pools and filled it with water for the younger kids in our neighborhood to play in. The whole neighborhood was glowing with excitement as everyone set out deck chairs and telescopes in their yards to catch a glimpse of the asteroid hitting the moon. It seemed like everyone in the neighborhood was taking the evening off to watch this event.

Even though it wasn't dark, I could see the lights from the massive bonfires on the beach and the loud shouts of high schoolers that were already drunk. It seemed like everyone in my grade at school was over there except me. I didn't mind though. Drinking illegally wasn't my type of fun.

As the timer ticked down, the energy in our neighborhood seemed to kick up a notch as people frantically began adjusting telescopes and grabbing binoculars from dusty shelves. The sun set at around 8:20, but it was still bright enough that the moon was a pale reflection of itself, bathed in crimson and pink.

As the timer hit one minute, at 8:29, the whole neighborhood went silent. Dad was craning his neck to get a better look at the night sky through his telescope while Mom stopped chatting with Grandma and Grandpa in Taiwanese. Mira, May, and I fought over the binoculars. Mira won because she had older sister privilege, so May and I had to watch the sky bare. I had my phone out to snap a photograph for math class.

And then you could see it, a bright, white flare in the sky, shooting to the moon. There were echoes of cheering from the beach, but our neighborhood was silent except for a dog barking. Our neighbors, the Hunters, had their hands clasped together. I wonder if they were praying to God or wishing upon the massive shooting star in the sky. I guess I'll never find out.

The asteroid smacked into the moon. You could almost imagine the roars as rock slammed into rock. People started cheering and clapping like it was the end of a show. Only it wasn't. The half-moon in the sky began to tilt, penny sized moon becoming nickel sized and then quarter sized and then half dollar sized and then much bigger until it filled the whole sky. A massive silver rock smack dab in the middle of the sky.

"What the hell!" someone yelled, and half the people in my neighborhood began to scream.

"We're all going to die!" another person shouted. "The moon is going to crash into the Earth!" 

But it didn't. It just lay there in the middle of the sky, crowding out all the stars, affirming its dominance of the darkness at night. 

"I'm going to check the TV," I said, and Mom and Dad just numbly nodded.

I went inside, but when I tried turning on CNN, it didn't work, nor did NBC or other major broadcasting centers. I even tried Fox News. Dad would rather die than watch even a second of it. Our internet was down, and I couldn't get a good cellular connection. Some people were shouting outside that they couldn't access their cellphones.

Grandma and Grandpa brought in the lawn chairs, oblivious to what had just happened and began to pack up the leftovers to bring to their senior center. Eventually Mom and Dad came in along with May and Mira. 

"Do you think something happened?" I asked.

"I don't know," Mom said. "Did you check the TV?"

"Yeah, it wasn't working," I said.

Mom went over to the TV and clicked a few buttons, but nothing showed up. I wanted to walk to Charles' house to see if he knew what had happened, but I decided against it. It was probably too dangerous to do so.

Dad told us that we needed to go to bed for school, but I didn't feel well. Then, I remembered that we had some hand-cranked radio in one of our drawers for rainy days when the power would go out. I grabbed the old thing and gave it a few cranks, fiddling with the knob until I reached a news station.

"I got it!" I yelled, and everyone in our family crowded around the dining table. There was a lot of static, but you could hear a faint news announcer's voice.

"The scientists at NASA say that the meteor was much denser than they anticipated and may have altered the trajectory of the moon, pulling it closer to the Earth. Wait. We're getting unconfirmed reports of massive flooding around New York City and Boston. The scientists are now warning that the gravitational influence of the moon is much stronger now, leading to an increase in tidal strength and distance since the moon controls the tides."

"The beach..." I said. "There was a party at the beach."

"Oh my god," Dad said and turned another shade of pale. He ran outside and began yelling about the beach party. There were panicked shouts outside, people yelling about their kids and how they're at the beach. A couple of people grabbed flashlights and some people tried to organize a rescue team. I'm not sure if they were successful since it sounded like chaos outside.

The radio signal was coming and going, so I tried the TV again. No luck. The radio began blaring loudly, drawing all of us back to the table. May was sitting in her chair in shock with Mira while Mom tried making 911 calls for the beach, but all the lines were down. Grandma and Grandpa were confused, but I think they understood what was going on. 

"This is the governor of California. Under the advisory of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, I am sending out an emergency broadcast for all coastal counties."

He then listed out all those counties, including ours and others that have major cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. 

"All those living under 30 feet above sea level must evacuate immediately. I repeat. All those living under 30 feet above sea level must evacuate immediately. There will be tidal surges of 20 feet in most areas and individual areas can reach up to 30 feet of tidal surge. All residents living in at-risk areas must evacuate immediately to higher ground."

"How high above sea level are we?" Mira asked.

"Eighty feet," I said. "I remember learning this in middle school."

The governor continued, "If you are unable to evacuate, move to higher ground in your area of residence like rooftops and wait until help arrives. The National Guard has been deployed and will be conducting rescues. Make sure to stay calm and may God bless America."

Mom took her phone and tried calling her sister in Taiwan, but there still wasn't a good cellular connection. I don't think they live close to the ocean, but with the massive tidal surges expected, who knows. Then she went into her room.

May was just silent the whole time, and then spoke up and said that she wasn't feeling well, so she went to bed. I think some of her friends were at the beach party. I told Grandma and Grandpa that they could stay here tonight. May moved back to my room while they moved into the guest bedroom. I clicked on the TV and got some reception. The news announcement was grim.

"The damage has been devastating to the East Coast of the United States with estimated casualties in the tens of thousands. New York City and Boston are completely flooded as the national guard struggles to rescue the many in need. But the situation is much more dire in the Southeast. Major cities, including Mobile, New Orleans, Corpus Christi, Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa, Savannah, Charleston, and Chesapeake are all completely submerged as the governors in 22 states declare states of emergencies."

I turned down the volume of the TV. "Do you think everything's going to be alright?" I asked Mira.

"I don't know," was all she said.