My Little Moon

The ocean was raging as it always was. The blue waves, nearly black in this dark light, the only light in this dark sea was the solid cone of light that was emanating from my lighthouse. The Cracked Rock Lighthouse was the only lighthouse, for the small island of Ceste, a somewhat recently found Island near the southern cost of Florida, world renowned for its exotic plants, animals, and weather, which was always a balmy seventy degree weather even in the winter. My little crop of land on the other hand, was a completely different matter. Severe cold, frequent storms, and flooding threatened me and Ace, my golden retriever. I had found him in a dinghy that had washed up on shore, surely from a trading ship that had wanted to travel into the island from a different direction than the Crete passage, probably to avoid the tax station.

The razor sharp rock surely had shredded the ship's hull, letting in hundreds of gallons of seawater, nearly sinking the boat instantly. Ace had probably sensed the danger and had jumped into one of the boats when the ship sank. Leaving him adrift until he came onto my island, a skinny, puppy nearly dying from thirst and hunger. Needless to say, when a report log came in telling of what I needed, I added dog food, a brush, and a leash.

Yet I was not sleeping in my bed as I normally would be at that point, but instead I was outside. Calm nights do not come around often on Cracked Rock, no when one arises I usually am outside on my favorite part of the tiny plot of land, other than the lighthouse. The cabin we would stay in was built out of solid spruce lumber not native to the island. My Triumph's engine rumbled and finally stopped as we rode up to the white walls. Ace dashed out of the side car and began to scratch against the door, his tail sweeping the dust off of the stone place mat. "Ok buddy, calm down." I chuckled as I ducked my hand into my coat pocket and fished out an iron key ring with several brass keys clinking together with one single key carved from wood, impossibly strong and very smooth.

It was this key that I slotted into the doors keyhole and turned, being rewarded with the familiar grinding of the mechanism I pushed the heavy door open. The inside of the cabin was well furbished with couches and pillows with two other guest rooms to the east and west. Ace dashed in and curled up on top of his favorite sofa. As I watched him start to snore, I went over to the kitchen area and filled a pot full of water. As it was filling, I flicked on the propane stove. I placed the pot on top of the flickering blue flames. As I waited for the pot to boil, I strolled over to the cold fireplace and piled wood into a crude tepee shape. I flicked out my lighter and lit a small piece of newspaper, sending it deep into the wooden bowels, it began to spark and filled the room with the sweet smell of burning redwood. As I was admiring the quiet fire. A small tremor passed through the floor into me, barely noticable, yet noticed all the same.

"What?" I said quietly, turning off the stove in case of another tremor. "Was..." I tried to say, yet was cut off by a stronger tremor. I opened the door to the cabin again and stepped outside. What I saw killed the words in my throat. A Giant tear was in the sky, with ragged edges and a bright blue inside that swirled like a miniature galaxy. As I continued to stare a third tremor larger than any of the other two shook through the island. The tear's inside was changing also. It was turning from the light and dark blues to a solid bright yellow with a large black dot in the middle. The tear seemed to be getting smaller as I watched, slowly constricting around the black dot until the dot was shot out of the tear like a cannon leaving a stream of yellow flame behind it. As it flew I feared for the worst. I had seen videos of jets breaking the sound barrier, and I was wondering if an object that was so small could possibly....

The cracking boom was all of the proof that I needed. A ring of air shattered as the thing broke through sound, leaving a echo in the dark night. Yet my real fear was revealed when I stared towards the lighthouse. My life's light, that cone of yellow safety for hundreds of sailors, shattered from the force of fractured sound. I could only stare at the desolation, yet I still followed the object. It was still travelling inland, moving exceptionally fast. I had to make a choice. Follow this thing to see what it was, or pick up Ace and move to the lighthouse to report the disaster. I mounted my Triumph and started the motor that came to attention with a mighty hum. I made my choice.

I sped off in the direction of the projectile, a decision I didn't know, that would change me, for better or for worse.