The Change of Meteors - Creative Contest Task 2

This is my submission for the Creative Contest Task #2

Here is the original post

Tom walked into the center of town. He sat down on the same bench he did every day around this time. He looked down at his Rolex, still working after all these years albeit slightly dinged in some places from daily use. He took a moment to gaze around the park. Over the well maintained green grass, the recently painted gazebo that was situated under a large maple tree, and the sky twinkling in ever so slightly through a lense-like thick dome. Dome A-13. The place he had called home some 34 years ago. This is a story about friendship, pain, and free-thinking.

Everything started when he was 54, living as a decently paid Accountant in New York city; the big apple. He had lived his entire life up until this point around the New York area. He loved the city, he like his co-workers, he liked his job and loved being an accountant. There wasn’t much more to it than that. Living in a city with a population of over 8 million people can be fun, but it can also leave you feeling a little lonely, like a little speck in the universe of things. Tom had a nice 1 bedroom apartment on the upper east side. He worked many many hours since he worked for a huge law firm as an accountant doing their books, and the time off he did have he spent mainly at home with his cat Fresco.

On an ordinary Tuesday afternoon Tom went to go get his daily coffee from the cafe down the street. His work provided tons of gourmet coffees but he loves the lunch time moments of just getting out of his office and walking a couple of blocks listening to the sounds of busy New York. After he went in and order then walked out with his nice coffee with a hint of chocolate, he saw a crowd staring up. A bunch of people everywhere he looked were staring up at the sky. It was a beautiful sight at the time, a midday meteor shower. As residents, business people, and tourists alike all looked up at this rare sight, especially considering it was daytime, one of the meteorites exploded. It seemed to explode anyways since there was a large flash of light and that meteor was gone. A moment or so later and it stopped. All the on-lookers turned and went about their business. Feeling pretty happy about his decision to venture out today, Tom made his way back to work and finished off his day, excited to return home to Fresco.

Over the next couple of days Tom noticed something different. Every time he looked in the mirror he swore he looked a tad bit older.
“Maybe I’m not getting enough sleep.” He said to himself, while he poked and prodded his face a little at the new found bags under his eyes. He evens more he thought he saw a gray hair but chalked it up to now being possibly tired.

Saturday morning he woke up to find Fresco struggling to get off his favorite chair. Fresco seemed almost exhausted, the same way that Tom was feeling. While he was getting his morning coffee together in his kitchen and a bowl of cream out for Fresco he heard a small thump. He looked out of his kitchen towards the sound and immediately saw Fresco trying to life his head ever so slightly off the floor from a position laying flat that he did not seem comfortable in. A small whimpering meow left Fresco’s mouth.

“Oh my god!, Fresco are you okay?” Tom rushed over to Fresco, his best pal.
The cat looked up at him with pleading eyes. Without a moments thought Tom went back into the kitchen to retrieve his phone and called his veterinarian for an emergency appointment, his usual Veterinarian was out of town so he had to take the on call one. He was in the vets office not even 15 minutes later.
He watched as the Vet checked over his cat.
“There’s nothing I can do Tom”, the Vet said.
“What do you mean there is nothing you can do?! What is wrong with him?” Tom asked nearly frantic.
“He’s old Tom. Clearly it’s his time.”
“That makes no sense. Fresco is only 3 years old. How can he die of old age?” Tom asks.
“Only 3 you say?” The veterinarian turns to his computer and types a few things and starts to scratch his chin. “I don’t know what to tell you, I’m sorry. I see here on your pets chart that yes the cat is supposed to only be 3, but based on my assessment he seems much older. And based on his lack of strength and energy it may be worth just spending your last remaining time with him while you can.”
“But I don’t understand…” Tom slowly said.
“Tom. Take a good look at your cat. See how his eyes look tired, how there are white whiskers and little gray hairs all around his eyes and mouth? Those are typical of an old cat.”

For the first time today he noticed what was being pointed out to him. He did look old. He wondered how he hadn’t noticed this before now. He hadn’t always been like this. He remembered him being spry as a young cat until earlier in the week. They spent most of the previous weekend together either Fresco on his lap while he watched some television or when Tom was just throwing little cat nip balls around the house for Fresco to chase, attack, and get excited with. He had been so busy this week with work and so caught up in himself that he didn’t notice Fresco getting slower, and less interested in things.

Tom returns to his house, alone, and a bit distraught. He came home and turned on the television, anything to take his mind off Fresco. After an hour of trying to accept it, he opened his laptop and typed in the search engine. Cat dying of old age when really young

He started to find links and links of other people dealing with the same loss he was. Tons of deaths. While he was searching he came across a news article from a small publication by the name of The Maine Herald. The writer was talking about a rise in deaths of pets that seemed mysterious as they all died of old age but were actually cut down in their prime. He kept reading and the writer was alluding to people possibly being on the path to doing the same of dying prematurely due to excessively quick aging.
“What? Great this guy is a conspiracy nut.” He closed the lid of his laptop and decided to sleep. He was tired and emotionally burnt out. Nothing could bring Fresco back and now he was just punishing himself. He slept, tossing and turning most of the night, finally deeming it a lost cause at 5 am. It was Sunday. No work that day, and no Fresco to look forward to spending time with.

He couldn’t stop thinking about that writer at the Maine Herald. He opened his laptop and went ahead and looked him up. His name was Joey Ryernd. He had posted another article just that morning about 30 minutes before Tom woke up. He read it, and again it was the same topic, but this time with some names. Apparently there were quite a few people that had passed already. They were in their 60’s seemingly at a good point in their life and all of a sudden just aged excessively and died. Then at the bottom of the page he mentions something about a Dome and the fact that the scientific community knew about the possibility of this happening. It wasn’t well know apparently but they knew it was coming. He picked up his cell phone and contacted The Maine Herald hoping to get in contact with Joey. He did. They talked for hours. He found out that the meteor caused something to happen in the Earth’s atmosphere which disrupted it and started to cause anything with a pulse to age at a quicker rate. They talked about a Dome, a few of them that were just getting off the ground on where they had found a way to make an atmosphere inside of it for people, animals, and everything to live that was identical to the atmosphere on Earth. On thing was you had to stay in the Dome. They had hit it off and seemed to get along.

Joey mentioned that he had a place at one of the Domes, and was planning to move to it in a couple of days.
“Look Tom, honestly I have an extra ticket in if you want it. You are the only one that seems to believe any of this crap, so if you want it it’s yours.” Joey said on the phone.
“You don’t need it?” He asked.
“Nah, it was for my wife, she um…” Joey said with his voice breaking a bit.
“She was one of them you wrote about wasn’t she? That’s why you are so knowledgable and invested in spreading the word isn’t it?” He asked, hating to hear the confirmation.
“Yes.”
“You know what? Ya, I’m coming with. I got nothing here and I am not dying like this.”

They made arrangements and parted ways on the phone. Wednesday came along and Tom packed his car and headed out to the area of the Dome that Joey had mentioned and given him information for. They had confirmed with each other earlier that morning. 9 hours later and he arrived. He pulled up to a very large Dome in the middle of nowhere in a grassy field. There was Joey sitting on a bench outside the Dome reading a book. He recognized him instantly from his profile on his newspapers website.

The rest is history. As Tom sat there waiting and thinking about that time, his best friend, now of 40 years showed up beside him. Just the person he had been waiting for.
“How’s it going this morning Tom?” Joey asked.
“Good man, same as always.”
They may be old but they had faced the last 40 years together, Tom now 94 and Joey 95. Joey still does his writing in the Dome newspaper that he created, and Tom does their accounting.