"I don't see anything..." Zero muttered, squinting through the telescope.
He turned it left and right slowly, hoping to catch a glimpse of something—anything—in the night sky. But all he saw was a pitch-black void.
Tia facepalmed. The exterior lights of the house flickered unnaturally, almost like they were reacting to her irritation.
She walked over to the front of the telescope, popped off the lens cap, and held it up in front of Zero's face with exaggerated flair.
"A-ah..." he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.
"Now try it."
Zero nodded as he leaned in again. This time, the darkness was gone—replaced by a sprawl of brilliant lights scattered across the sky.
"How do I zoom in again? It's kind of blurry..."
"Here, let me see." Tia leaned down beside him, twisting the focus knob of the telescope.
Zero's eyes widened as the image snapped into clarity—hues of purple, yellow, and turquoise bled together like an abstract painting stretched across a navy canvas.
"It's beautiful..." he gasped dramatically.
Tia giggled.
Zero glanced over. "What's funny?"
"Nothing," she said quickly, covering her mouth as another laugh slipped out. "It's just..."
She paused, her smile lingering.
"I never thought I'd see you interested in something like this."
She walked over to a nearby sofa and picked up a 12mm eyepiece from the table.
"Especially something this nerdy—like astronomy."
Zero chuckled and stepped back from the telescope, watching as she returned. Her figure was silhouetted against the soft glow of the night sky as she swapped out the eyepiece.
"I don't think it's nerdy," he said, adjusting one of the dials absentmindedly. "The sky's massive. Everyone should get to enjoy it."
"...Yeah," she murmured.
Zero leaned back in. The image was now much more magnified.
"Annnd— I can't see anything again," he said flatly.
"Try turning it this way. You should be able to see Saturn, I think," Tia suggested, pointing toward a patch of sky.
Zero adjusted the telescope slowly, raising it a little. After a moment, a faint yellow orb came into view.
"Oh hey, I think I see it!" he grinned.
"Really? Let me look!" Tia said, stepping closer. But just before she could peer in, Zero noticed something odd.
A round shadow clung to the edge of the planet.
He frowned. Tia nudged him aside playfully, leaning in for a look.
"Whoa, that's amazing," she whispered in awe.
Zero walked to the front of the telescope and wiped the eyepiece with his sleeve.
"Hey! What are you doing? Move your hand!" Tia protested.
"My bad. I saw something weird in the lens."
"Huh?"
"In the lens, like—" He cut himself off, stepping back to peer in again.
The shadow was still there. Bigger now.
"It's still there..."
"What are you talking about, Z?" Tia asked.
"Here. Bottom right. There's a shadow—" He stepped aside to let her look again.
Tia adjusted the telescope slightly, peering through. She was quiet for a few seconds.
"I don't see anything..." she said.
An awkward silence followed.
"..."
"..."
"Let me check one more time—" Zero reached for the handles.
Suddenly, a loud buzzing erupted from the house behind them.
They both turned instinctively. The lights inside and outside the house flickered violently—then died, plunging the balcony into darkness.
"Damn it. Not again…" Zero muttered.
Tia tapped him on the shoulder. "Z, look."
He followed her gaze toward the city. Large sections blinked off and on like a failing light switch. And then—total blackout.
Only the stars remained, and even they seemed to dim. It was as if someone was slowly turning down the volume of the universe itself.
"This is the third time today..." Tia murmured.
A symphony of security alarms beeped faintly in the distance as power returned— not just to the house, but to the city as well.
"You think this is still from that storm last month?" Zero asked.
Tia shrugged. "Could be. I'm not sure."
Her phone buzzed. She pulled it out and glanced at the screen.
"Ah, it's my mom. She's here..." she said, giving a soft smile. She patted Zero's back as she walked over to begin packing up the telescope.
"Already?" Zero asked.
Tia laughed. "Yes, already."
She moved to the couch and began disassembling the scope.
"You're lucky I'm even allowed to come over. My dad still thinks you're a girl. If he knew you were a guy, he'd kill me."
Zero joined her, kneeling beside her to help pack.
"You're telling me? Your dad's like seven feet tall. He'd squash me like a bug," he smirked, reaching for a lens on the floor.
Tia reached for the same lens, their hands touching.
They froze.
Their eyes met, and for a moment--- it felt like the stars themselves paused their shine to gaze down on the two.
She leaned in slightly, eyes fluttering closed, lips moving closer.
Zero panicked. He grabbed the lens off the floor.
"H-here," he stammered, thrusting it toward her.
Tia blinked, pulling back. She looked at the lens, then at him. Her expression shifted to one of soft disappointment.
"…Thanks," she said quietly, tucking it into her bag. She stood and slung it over her shoulder.
"Doesn't your dad work for Orpheum? Maybe he could invent a shrinking spell or something—turn mine into a gnome," she joked.
"Shrinking spell? He's a scientist, not a wizard," Zero replied with a weak smile.
"A shrinking ray sounds more on par."
Tia laughed, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.
They left the balcony and made their way through the spacious, empty house. Downstairs, they stepped out onto the front porch. A gray car waited at the curb.
Before Zero could speak, Tia hugged him.
Caught off guard by the warmth, he smiled and hugged her back.
After a moment, they stepped apart.
"...I'll see you at school?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said, locking eyes with him—just for a moment—before glancing away. She let out a quiet sigh and started walking toward the car.
"You better text me when you get home!" he called out.
"Yeah, yeah. Be seeing you, playboy," she smirked, glancing back over her shoulder as she slid into the car.
Zero blinked. Playboy? Before he could process it, the car honked and pulled away.
He waved, then stood in silence.
...
Zero facepalmed.
"What the hell is wrong with me?!" he yelled. A neighbor's dog barked in reply.
"Why do I keep freezing up like that? Am I stupid?" he groaned, slamming the door behind him.
Upstairs, Zero collapsed onto his bed, upset. He grabbed the remote and flicked on the TV. The lamp beside him flickered as he turned it off.
The screen bathed the room in light, blaring noise he barely registered—just something to drown out his rushing thoughts.
Face buried in his pillow, frustration gave way to exhaustion.
A news anchor's voice echoed faintly as Zero drifted off, a crisp graphic on screen read:
Breaking: Orpheum Identifies Source of Citywide Outages
After many weeks of unexplained blackouts across the city, Orpheum Industries has launched an emergency briefing.Their researchers now believe the outages have been caused by, and I quote: "concentrated buildups of electromagnetic energy."
These buildups are so dense, they appear to warp the air around them…
Footage rolled: streetlights flickering violently, a transformer suddenly burst into sparks—before freezing in midair. A pale shimmer rippled through the air around it. A low hum grew louder.
They're calling them "rifts." Most are temporary distortions in physical space—unstable, but ultimately harmless.
However…
Recently, more of these occurrences have been appearing—and staying. Growing in both size and numbers.
The screen cut to shaky phone footage. A man's face was blurred, his voice raw.
"Hey—yeah, so, uh... I was on my porch when I first saw it..."
"Just a few feet away, I could see the air... folding in on itself.Like the sky turned inside out..."
"It had to be taller than my house— haha..."
"The weirdest part though?The noise. It didn't sound like electricity, or lightning, or... a
microwave or I dunno... whatever I thought an 'electromagnetic energy' would've sounded like,
you know?"
"Uh, It kind of sounded like something growling."
"Like some kind of animal, maybe...?"