1 day before the sun disappeared            

            “And the weather for this evening is a high of 99 and a low of 90”, the weatherman continued to talk as I got up from the couch. I opened the back door to my mom working in the backyard. I could feel the heat from the sun along with the breeze coming from the open back door, both a nice combination. 

“Mom its 98 degrees out here, how are you not hot”

“Well, when else do I have time to do this”

She gave me a smirk and continued to work on the garden.

“I hate summer, I want it to be November already”

1 year later        

I woke up to the sound of someone yelling. It sounded like screeching cats mixed with the sound of an alarm. This wasn’t uncommon for us and started to get worse in the past six months. Robbery has been more common since supplies were getting hard to acquire. Matches and food were the ones needed most and yet the ones we could hardly find. Technology was the hardest. Everything had been shut down from the freeze so there was no internet. I walked into the kitchen turning on the light that sits on the table. Mom came out soon after. Mom never recovered from the sun, its departer left her devastated. We sat in the kitchen until it was silent outside.

“Astoria, we need to go find supplies, let’s go”

We wrapped up in layers and grabbed everything we needed. It was dark and cold outside. We had nothing but a flashlight to get to the store and come back. We got to the store, people trying to find any shed of food they could find. Mom found the stock room which had some canned goods, she gave them to quickly shoving them in my jacket pocket. The batteries just screamed at me to take them, so I did. Watching the people search was so depressing. One day changed all our lives. We made it back home closing and locking the door. Mom put our belongings up somewhere and it was time for bed. We only had an old watch to tell time. I got in bed covered by blankets and the small lantern next to my bed hoping to fall asleep.

            I woke up to the front door opening. It was silent and something felt off. Mom would never leave the house without me. I heard something shatter from the kitchen. My heart was beating fast leaving no room to breathe. My door swung open, and two men entered my room, one tall and skinny, one shorter and stockier. They threw the lantern against the ground causing it to be pitch black. I heard them talk and open drawers and closets. I heard them going through the house taking everything we have. I heard mom yell. I tried to get up, but the broken glass dug into my feet like tiny swords. By the time I made it out of my bedroom they were gone leaving us with nothing. Mom was in her bedroom with a small flashlight clutched in her hand. She was crying, smooth warm tears streaming down her face. Seeing her cry made me miserable. I helped her up both of us crying and in physical and emotional torment.

“I miss the sun, I miss the warmth, I miss the way it gave us light and life, I really miss it”

I hated saying it but the more I live without it the more I truly mis it. By saying it surprisingly made me feel warm inside. Warm like when the sun was still around. We cleaned up and to our surprise they had still left a few cans of food and the matches we had gotten the day before. Just enough to last us.