“Tom! It’s happening!”
“What? Christina, did you say something?”
“The Eclipse! It’s growing dark outside!”
“Get the children! We must get to the Center!”
“Thief! Carol! Jenny! Come at once! The Eclipse is coming in!”
“Just a second!”
“NOW!”

The three children came running down the stairs, one, holding a stuffed bear, another, wearing headphones with the latest boy bands’ music blaring loudly; the last one, the youngest, Thief, came down the stairs quivering in fear at their impending doom.
“Thief, honey, it’s okay! We’ll get to the Center in time. You’ll get to see your friends, won’t that be great?”
“I guess…”
“Come on, let’s go. It’ll all be okay.”

‘And those were the last words I heard my mother say.
The Eclipse, a mini-apocalypse that happens every two years, is when our artificial sun and moon come into perfect alignment. Here on Thrae (Earth 2.0), when the sun goes into an eclipse for a short amount of time, it gets really cold. Cold enough to freeze you in ten seconds flat.’

The family of five ran down the already freezing alleys, by the abandoned Jüi, and to the town center called, namely, the Center.
“Hey!” yells the father, desperation in the crack of his voice.
“No one else in! The Eclipse has begun! If we open the field, the cold will fry the circuits!” yells a cruel looking man from inside the warmth of his sanctuary.
“What? That can’t be true! The frost hasn’t begun!” he yells, beginning to feel that all to well-known moment of fear; the fear of being frozen alive just outside of safety.
“Please! Help us!” he yells just as the frost begins to impede on their already miserable afternoon.

‘When the man said no, all I felt was numb. That cold, unforgiving, numb feeling that you feel when you are sure, dead sure, that you won’t live to see another day. It feels terrible, let me tell you. Then, I felt real numbness. It started in my toes, worked it’s way through my legs, up my spine, and in to my face. I couldn’t move. My eyes move to my sister, standing in front of me; I can still hear her music.
‘I know, we’re better together. Better here than there now…’
‘It fades as I begin to hear my second sisters’ screams. Obviously from the terrible cold pain she is experiencing at the time. It scares me so much, I begin to cry. I cried and cried until I realized everything was silent. I looked to my right, my left, and saw my family just standing there like everything was okay, just, not moving…’

When the Eclipse finally ends as the world thaws. The man, who had just sentenced a family to a death penalty, catches a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. He turns only to see a family of four standing fro- wait, hadn’t there been five?

“Margo!” he yells toward a woman huddled in a corner. “Get out there and help them!”
The woman snaps to attention and heads out into the cold, yet still warm land to hopefully save the family.

Nevertheless, the man still wonders to this day as to where that four, maybe five-year-old boy went to…

‘When it struck me that my family was dead or frozen solid I ran. And I kept running until the day was over. Then, I realized I was an orphan.’