on friday morning, joanelle was awakened by her alarm beeping. she groaned, and rolled over to turn it off. she quickly got out of bed and unplugged her phone before her body decided to lull her back to sleep.

she stepped into her bathroom and flicked on the light. she glanced in the mirror, her eyes only half open, and noticed the frazzled girl with bed-head standing in front of her.

"hngh," she grunted. it's no wonder she was single.

she turned the shower on, and after getting undressed, got in.

about 18 minutes later, she stepped out and tied her long, blonde hair back in a towel in one quick motion.

she briefly turned on her phone that sat on the bathroom counter and saw she had a text from james.

hey, what are you up to today?
sent 7:49

she picked it up and replied,

Just work.
sent 7:54

ok, how about i come over tonight then?
sent 7:54

Okay!
sent 7:55

joanelle finished getting ready and drove to work, completely unaware that tonight would change her life.

•••

at 7:00, she arrived home. her instinct told her to collapse on the couch, but she resisted the urge and bustled around the kitchen instead. she made herself a sandwich, grabbed some notebooks and a coat, and started to head towards what looked like a supply closet. however, when the closet door was opened, it revealed a hatch of some sort with a ladder leading up towards her roof.

she climbed the creaky ladder and lifted the trapdoor.

on the small but relatively high rooftop, she had a telescope set up. the moon was especially bright that night, and the beams of light glimmered on the silver body of her telescope. from the ledge of the rooftop, you could see nothing but expansive fields. there were no lights to be seen that could disturb the night sky.

joanelle pulled herself out of the hatch and set her supplies down. she tucked her notebook under her arm and went to position the telescope.

once she had done this, she sat on the ledge of the roof to eat her sandwich.

she stared up at the sky above her in a trance. she was so lucky to have a a dependable, predictable life doing what she loved. she didn't know what she would do if it was torn away from her.

she vaguely began to wonder when james would arrive, but the thought was dismissed when something else piqued her curiosity.

some large shape whipped across the sky. it was much too big to be a bird, but much too small to be a plane of some sort.

her forehead crinkled in confusion.

again, a shape flew through her line of vision.

it was moving too quickly for her to see what it was, but she noticed a sort of... fiery trail behind it.

she leaned forward a bit on the ledge to get a closer look.

and then she was falling.

A/N: what is this chapter?? i'm so sorry flitt