Below Freezing

AM: Expanded Version of the Microfiction, "Below Zero". Here's the link to the 'trailer' of the story:

I felt this story could be expanded into a longer story, feeling there was a lack of details and clarity. I'm more of a short or chapter story kind of writer. Plus, I left it on a cliffhanger. There is a part two in this story, which will come out sometime in the future. Keep in mind that things were added or changed; therefore, it is not a direct copy of the Microfiction.

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My home was once warm and had different climates, making our place unique. Our planet is now bland, cold, and depressing.

It’s been two weeks since Earth was kicked out of orbit.

A year before this happened, Astronomers informed us of a second star passing inside the solar system, beaming about having a temporary second star, maybe even bigger. It was the same size as ours, just casually roaming the Milky Way.

Everyone noticed the second star appearing a little bigger than the Sun. It was so bright that it could be seen at night. My phone got a fair share of pictures of this spectacle. Every student had a hard time looking away, so much so that teachers covered the windows up.

Some students looked nervous about this rare phenomenon like something terrible might happen. We used to call them paranoid cats. Scientists didn’t say anything other than wearing sunscreen was mandatory for going outside. It would warm up, but nothing new in the Bahamas– more beach and ice cream.

The star moved away when June arrived, growing into a tiny dot in our night sky. We were all sad. But as the days passed, our Sun grew smaller and smaller in the sky. It was like a best friend that gave us warmth and brightness to our day, but we moved away, leaving us alone and having to start again.

I wish we could text with the Sun and ask, ‘Hey! We missed you. Can we come over?’

Astronomers and scientists were quiet… Too quiet for our comfort. We were begging for an explanation. When the media was still live, they dodged questions as if they were afraid to tell the truth.

Just like our world leaving the Sun, our society fell into night. Everything was shut off. It was too chilly to leave our house, but the mass hysteria didn’t end. People were going rogue, robbing stores, burning down buildings, violence, and screaming. Crimes overcame the police force. It was terrible in the cities, and we were in one. I lived with my guardian, Castra. Our apartment wasn’t spared; even someone was hurt on our floor. In a desperate attempt, we fled to a less dense part of the Bahamas.

I thought that in a time like this, people would band together to prolong humanity’s survival and cope. Of course, not everyone was horrific. We sought refuge in one of the houses in Hope Town. Trees surrounded it, and it was by the ocean. We met Maddox, Caster, Jazar, and Delphine. They were escaping from the same thing.

After two weeks of the starless Earth, I imagined the planet as a bleak, icy cocoon everywhere. The thermostat measured 1°F outside before I left to collect sticks and small wood piles from the backyard for our fireplace inside. Maddox and Caster built it because no heat was installed in the cottage. We used it to keep warm, cook food, boil snow, and clean ourselves and the house. It didn’t help that it was snowing and windy outside. The weather hasn't turned off yet.

The wind gusts turned the snow and freezing rain into rocks. If it were any bigger, it might be raining swords. I was covered in many layers of clothing and was still cold. Working in eternal night sucked. Frostbite numbed me and gave me nerve pain at the same time. I never thought I would have to go through this in my life.

I looked back to see Caster and Maddox on the back porch, drinking booze. Fluids I couldn’t have. Castra and Delphine were inside, probably talking about girl stuff while cooking or gardening on shade plants for food.

“So, this is what it feels like in the north and south?” Maddox jokingly shouted. He chuckled to himself, trying to lighten the overcooked-humor Caster. Jazar was out there looting things because he was ‘too radical to stop’. Hot-headed, but Jazar was our protector.

“They are better prepared than we are,” Caster replied monotonically. “Their power might still be on.”

“It must be much colder there–”

“So? It’s going to get inevitably colder here too, Mad.”

He was right. Soon, it would be too dangerous to go outside. I turned back to search for more sticks before I dragged the wagon back to the porch, still listening to Maddox and Caster talking.

Maddox asked, “How cold can it get?”

Caster answered while shrugging, “Absolute zero.”

Maddox chuckled. “Translate into actual temperature, please. Thinking is above my mental state.”

Caster sighed before responding, “-459.67℉.”

I paused. That was a really, really low number. How could humans survive in that temperature?! I couldn't comprehend what I would feel if it reached the universe's lowest temperature on Earth. We would be ice sculptures for aliens once they visit– if they could survive.

“Jesus,” Maddox mumbled.

“Who knows? Earth might not reach that point. Earth has internal heat, after all.”

I finally snapped out of my shock, feeling my body getting hot. I quickly scanned the ground for sticks, twigs, or small wood. I glanced at the wagon. It was almost full.

Looks like we need to chop down these trees soon, I thought before picking up the handle and began walking to the house. Gosh, I can't wait to get inside the house with the fire on.

“I think we should have a polar plunge,” Maddox suggested with a big grin, “or create a D-I-Y snowcones. Better yet, use those giant icicles as weapons whenever we get attacked. If ambitious enough, mold the ice into axes, armor, and swords, so we can roleplay as heroes and assailants will freak out.”

Caster pulled the bottle of beer from his hands. “I think you had too much to drink,” he implied dryly, "and Dungeons and Dragons."

Maddox looked offended. “Too much?!” He gestured to his bottle in Caster’s hand. I couldn’t tell how much he had to drink. “I only have half of it! Not enough to hallucinate Jazar as a penguin sliding in the backyard!”

“That’s why I removed it, so you don’t get to that point.”

They all stopped once they saw me. The wind had slightly died down, giving some invisibility. I was panting, shaking, exhausted. The minutes felt like hours. “I think we need some lighting out here,” I said breathlessly.

Caster walked off the porch and took the handle from me. “Get inside, kid,” he ordered, worried.

“Thank you!” I sighed in relief while running back inside.

Caster and Maddox delivered the firewood next to the metal can housing our fire while I crashed on the couch. Windows were opened to prevent the build-up of carbon monoxide and smoke. I gritted my teeth while the heat became unbearable for my body, so I removed some layers of my clothes.

Castra noticed and rushed to me, removing my gloves and feeling my hands. “It’s hot,” I whined. Jazer wasn’t here to scold me for fussing, so I could show my distress.

“We aren’t used to this climate, Ambrose, but still wear some layers because hypothermia is no joke,” she said while massaging my hands and blowing on them. Maddox placed another load of firewood next to the firecan. “I might have to talk to Caster about not allowing you to go outside.”

“But I want to help,” I whined.

She shook her head. “No arguing. I’m trying to do what’s best. Your father would kick my butt if I ever let you die under my care.”

“I know.”

“Don’t argue with your mother, Ambrose,” Delphine warned from behind. She was doing whatever in the dining room moments ago and decided to sneak up on me.

“She’s my guardian,” I corrected. Delphine knew that.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Guardian, foster, surrogate– mother doesn’t have to be by blood.”

I didn’t say anything but nodded. I was very close to Castra. She was my aunt, my father’s older sister. My father and mother divorced when I was young, and my father won custody because my mother was going back to the middle of the United States, where she previously lived before meeting Dad. She didn't want the hassle of me being shared across seas. They were never yelling back and forth when I was around them. She said she loved me and cared about me. I was free to visit her any time when I was older. She moved to the United States not long after the settlement. Dad was great, but he died from a heart attack when I was eleven. I had been living with Castra for three years. She said she didn’t mind if I called her by her name.

Maddox dramatically made a burring sound before shaking his body like a dog. At the same time, Caster walked in, brushing the snow off his clothing. “We almost turned into snowmen,” Maddox joked while sliding the door.

I sarcastically said, "I would've put a hat and a scarf on you to keep you warm out there." I sometimes wonder what it was like to build a snowman since it was tropical here. "I would be flipping out once I see you guys moved."

"Sing Christmas carols for us," he teased.

Delphine warned, "Don't. Start. With. That."

I tipped my head back and relaxed, trying not to lose it while my body was heating back up. Castra sat next to me, making sure I stayed alive.

The peace was short-lived, however. We heard audible cursing from the front of the cottage. Jazer burst through the entrance with fury, clutching a paper. We all glanced at him, wondering what made him so angry. “Even with extinction, they still left most of us to die!” He growled before slamming the paper on the table so loud that I winced.

“What do you mean, Jazar?” Delphine asked, confused.

He looked at her and snapped, “How about you come here and read this paper?”

Delphine and Caster walked to him, studying the paper on the table. “Where did you get this?” Caster asked.

“Looting an abandoned mansion,” Jazer replied. “I’m not surprised, but what the heck?! They built underground facilities to prepare for this cataclysm! They knew! They fu–”

Castra covered my ears, glancing at Jazar with annoyance. He noticed what she was doing. His words were muffled, but I could read his lips: He’s fourteen years old! No need to baby him. He’s old enough for swear swords.

Castra removed her hands from my ears. Annoyed, she said, “I would still not allow the f-word. Too many people say it nowadays.”

I smirked and said, “F-word.”

My aunt gently smacked the back of my neck. I grinned wider at her. She sighed and rolled her eyes before relaxing back on the couch.

Maddox quietly walked over to the table and looked at the map. “Do you know where this facility is at?”

Jazar picked up the paper and flipped it over. “It’s in Elbow Cay.”

We all paused for a moment. “That’s not too bad…” Castra replied. “Walking from where we are will take less than two hours.”

“Without the snow,” Delphine added.

“It’s by the Lookout House,” Caster implied, “very small, hidden in the trees.”

Jazar glanced at him, confused. “How did you know?”

Caster shrugged. “I’m assuming. It looks like a large basement door on the ground. I never saw it until after the Sun started going away. I was taking a walk.” He focused on the paper again, squinting in his eyes before pointing to something. I’m too far to read. My body was feeling better, no longer shivering, and the burning was dying out. Jazar, Delphine, and Maddox looked where he was. He noted, “It says it’s right there according to the photo, which is definitely from Google Maps.”

“The worst part is that this was in a mansion!” Jazer began to rant again. “They let the rich live in underground facilities while we become nothing.”

“It may not be solely the rich, Jazar. They could’ve selected random citizens and renowned experts in important fields,” Caster replied.

Jazar glared at him. “How would you know that, Caster? I’d never seen me or my neighbors get the mail about this. We can never afford computers, so no emails. The media mostly showed the glam of the Bahamas, not our places. Besides, the Earth has more room underground, so why couldn’t–”

Maddox interjected, irritated, “It would take much more time, Jazar.”

Jazar reddened even further, from a pink starfish to a red pepper, as he stared daggers at Maddox. “What did I say about cutting me off, Mad?” He scowled. “I’m close enough to beat your–”

Caster tried to speak, “Enou–”

“Hey-hey-hey!” Castra stood up from the couch, her voice the loudest in the room. I flinched from her volume. She pointed at Jazar. “No beating someone up,” she then pointed at Maddox, “and no cutting someone off. Have the respect to let him finish.”

“I thought your sonny yonder would be more of a pain,” Jazar's eyes darted at me before back at her, “but you somehow always find me to irk me more.”

She didn’t seem fazed by his comment. “I’d rather you go after me than him. My brother would be furious from Heaven if his son would be assaulted by a man with no restraint.”

He didn’t say anything. Silence perpetuated the air. The wind pushed against the house while the snow and sleet pelt against it as a foe. It was as eerie as a haunted house.

Delphine broke the silence. “So, what should we do?”

Jazar aggressively beamed, “We would go over there, sneak in, and live in their underground world, to live without the ever-growing cold!”

“We don’t know how their economy works down there,” Delphine pointed out.

Caster sighed. “If they invited reputable people, they hired them for jobs to have a self-sustaining community. They could be paying money but have the resources to trade, while our stuff is free but limited. We can be self-sustaining, but God knows how long it will last.”

“I actually agree with Caster for once," Jazar stated. "We won't live in this house long! My bet is we will probably be alive for a month until we timber to death. We won’t be able to supply our living fire because we can’t go out to get lumber. It’s either we move now while we still have a chance to travel, taking breaks along the way so that we can find our way in.”

“So they can find us ‘useful’,” Maddox began while bending his two fingers on each hand, “What were your past jobs or hobbies?”

“Firefighter,” Delphine responded.

“Not bad,” Maddox commented.

“Motherhood and grocery clerk,” said Castra.

“Motherhood is not a job,” said Maddox.

Castra groaned and responded, “You never get a day off once you have a kid, Maddox. You also get no medical insurance, no pay, but if you are a nice parent, your kid might give you a nice nursing home as a 401K.”

What?

“I'm unemployed,” I said before Maddox could say anything to my aunt. "No working permit."

Maddox gave up arguing and answered, “A craftsman.”

“Private investigator to a security guard,” Jazar grinned a bit. It's better than seeing him angry.

We looked at Caster, who stood there in silence. “What was your job, Caster?” Jazer asked.

He stayed quiet briefly before somberly saying, “A physician.”

“I say worth enough,” Maddox shrugged with a smile.

“Pfft! I don’t give a hell of a lot regarding our previous lives. All of us are going,” Jazar said lowly. He looked at the clock on the wall, still ticking after the power had gone out due to the cold. It read 10:36– a.m. or p.m. didn’t exist anymore.

“We should get some rest,” Castra suggested. “We would leave in the morning when the Sun comes–” she caught herself before frowning.

We heard the shrieks of a man outside, along with gunshots. It sounded a mile or two away. There were survivors other than just us. This was nothing new than hearing screams that someone was about to die. When we fell into anarchy, the cries filled the night for hours in the city. It freaked Castra out. She locked our door and made sure I got a safe sleep. She stayed up for a long time, only to pass out from exhaustion. It was a cruel place that we needed to adapt. It was everyone for themselves. It was a shame that we couldn't help them. Jazar warned us that coming out to help them would jeopardize our survival. We could be tricked, be targeted, or they were already dead.

Jazar shook his head and started heading towards the front door. “Lock the doors,” Jazar commanded while he locked the front one up. Caster and Delphine began moving. “I’ll close these windows and cover them up with the curtains. We will keep the back ones open. Stay quiet. I’ll take the first watch.” He glanced at me. “We will leave in a couple of hours. Go to sleep, everyone.”