Had Paige been paying attention as she ran helter-skelter through the house, she might have taken note of the TV news broadcast that was playing on the TV sets in the living room and kitchen.
“Satellite telescopes have now confirmed that the meteor that is being tracked is indeed what scientists have dubbed a ‘planet killer.’” The anchorman stared unflinchingly into the camera, his voice steady and heavy with gravitas.
Paige found the hairbrush she had been looking for, but spared only a little thought for why it had ended up in the living room rather than the bathroom, and no thought at all for the tiny tooth marks on it. A testament to her haste.
She walked past the kitchen TV without sparing a glance for the aging scientist who shared a split-screen with the grave anchorman. “We have measured the asteroid and estimate that it is roughly six times as large as the meteor believed to have ended the reign of the dinosaurs, some sixty-five million years ago.”
The anchorman’s face became, if possible, even stonier. “And this asteroid is heading towards Earth?”
“There is some question as to whether Earth’s orbit will bring it into the path of the Asteroid. As the meteor passes Jupiter, its course will be affected by that planet’s gravity. There is no way to tell at the moment.”
Paige bee-lined for the bathroom, brush gripped tightly in her hand, the television no more than a droning in the background. She reached the bathroom and stepped in front of the mirror. She smoothed her Prom dress down with one hand and lifted the brush.
A dark shadow passed over the sun. Birds fell silent as if the dark shape covering the sun cast not a shadow, but a blanket of dread apprehension. Paige’s hand froze in the act of lifting the hairbrush.
Centered between her eyes like a Hindu beauty mark was a large, red pimple.
“A zit!”
Her scream sent the birds back into flight, so loud that the cloud passed over the sun as if chased away by the shrill cry, returning warm sunlight to the neighborhood.
Paige’s mother sighed without looking up from her newspaper. “Paige, it’s not the end of the world…”
