Fallen Star

Jane Foster was watching the stars. Every night was the same. When she couldn't stand another second of equations and calculations, she would slip outside and scan the skies. She was waiting for someone. Jane's house was a modest cottage on the edge of a quiet suburb. It was close enough to town that transportation wasn't a problem, but remote enough that nobody noticed her nightly vigil. There were a few scattered trees in her yard, but mostly grass of varying lengths. Jane was sitting on the grass, waiting. The stars looked the same as they always did. She wondered which was the one she was so connected to. She knew it was too far away to be seen, but still she searched. She wondered if tonight would be any different from all the other nights. How many weeks had it been since she had last seen him? Had he forgotten her? She wouldn't blame him. He had worlds at his fingertips. She was merely one woman. A star twinkled at her. She turned to look at it, musing on the processes and reactions involved in such a beautiful phenomenon. She wondered if he ever watched the skies. The star twinkled again. It seemed to pulsate slightly. Jane looked more intently at the star. Stars don't generally change shape. She scanned for the color change that would indicate a supernova. It pulsated again and visibly grew in size. Jane began to get to her feet. This called for a telescope. As she started back to her house, she glanced over her shoulder. That's not normal. She thought to herself. It was quite the understatement. The star was now the size of a golf ball and was increasing rapidly. It was also shooting multicolored sparks and arcing down toward the ground. Then Jane forgot how to breathe. He's Back. She watched as the star grew until it was larger than the moon. Soon its light blocked out all of the stars. She became aware of an increasingly high-pitched whistling noise. She could see now that it wasn't a star at all. It was more like a meteor. It was moving too fast to see for sure, but it was something and it was about five seconds away from impact. She could guess what the something was. She moved back a few steps as a flaming blur crashed into the ground thirty feet across her yard. It didn't make much difference, and she was thrown roughly on her back by what felt like a small earthquake. She was back on her feet in a flash and sprinted toward the crater. She wasn't sure whether she was shouting or thinking or neither. Her feet were assaulted by an assortment of acorns, loose stones and other debris, but she didn't feel it. She simply ran. In the darkness she saw a form arranging itself and rising to its feet. "Thor!" She screamed. She somehow ran faster. And then she stopped. It wasn't Thor.