The Rise of The Gods: The Rapture

The Calm Before The Storm

    Her long, long dark brown hair was all one could see strewn over pillows, spilling out from under the covers where she was buried, sleeping hard.  She was dreaming of many things. Not typical woman things, but of what the house would look like when her husband was done remodeling, what her oldest daughter would look like with a child in her arms, and maybe a carpet shampooer, the dogs stunk! Yes, the dog stunk bad, and why all of the sudden did her loader at work stink like dog? They weren't allowed dogs at work. Then across the radio came, " Base to the loader..... it's snowing and your dogs want washed rock.  Two ton"   WTF! WTF! Then she bolted up in bed and realized her dreams melded with the real world like always right before she woke up. And the dogs had heard the alarm she did not and needed to go outside. 

    It was 3:30 am, the start of another day. She let dogs out and made coffee and waited for her husband to call while turning on the news. She thought of her dream, " it's snowing and your dogs want washed rock, Two ton." Freaking really? Why did she always have dreams of work and kids and dogs? She never had dreams, like dreams and wondered why. Her thoughts were soon interrupted by the sudden news flash on TV. Lately all anything people heard was the corona virus this and that, restrictions, wear masks, the left this, the right that. This, though, had her full attention. It was about her state, quite a ways from where she lived but still, her state! Wyoming was on Fox News, something was going on about Yellowstone. Scientists knew it was a super volcano, but the world didn't seem to care as tourists by the thousands invaded to see it every year and Wyoming people themselves just seemed to treasure and live it like we did with rest of the state. A known fact was that if it ever blew up the four surrounding states would be gone along with it. The report was saying that activity had set off seismigraphs however geologists, scientists, and data were showing it wasn't volcanic. Animals were leaving and Old Faithful was certainly out of hand. 

    She was snapped from her stare on the TV to the phone ringing, her husband was calling for their morning video chat. She swiped the green and said, " Hi, my love, do you have the news on?" 

    "I do, Felina, my love, I want you to be careful today. We will come home if this is bad." 

    Felina sighed, " I will, I always am. I miss you,love you babe. Don't worry so much it'll be fine, things, no matter what always are."

    It was Brett's turn to sigh and shake his his head, which made her smirk at him. "You're so beautiful, I love you for that even though I don't know why you can take everything life gives like that."

    "What else can someone do, I have never had worrying or freaking out deal with anything. It is what it is. And you are quite handsome yourself, I can't wait til you are home and I can show you how much I missed you this week."

    And with that he knew he was defeated, what man could argue with that? His gaze soaked her in as he watched her get dressed wishing he was there to make her late for work. They went about their morning getting ready for their jobs.

     Felina was on her way in, driving her rural commute, when she felt a tremor rake the earth hard enough to make her car  swerve almost off the road. She regained control, and turned the local news on the radio. About a mile later Brett called saying that tremors hit them too and they bagged it, they were on their way home. It would be four and half hours before he would get there. Suddenly it was like it was snowing but not snow it was gray ash. Holy s**t, she thought, maybe I should worry? It was snowing ash. Maybe this was bad. She had mini moment of panic, what about the girls, should she turn back, where to turn around? WTF IS HAPPENING? She shook this all off and kept going. And arrived at work with everyone talking about it, yet going their ways to start trucks, and equipment and do what they did, make big rocks into little rocks. They were a sand and gravel crusher outfit. Felina was the loader operater in the yard. She loaded all trucks and customers who came across the scale that ordered or came to get to materials they made. The work day was like most any, this broke, that went down, feed the crusher, feed the washplant, push a truck off their pile. FInd a lost diyer go, go ,go. Loud, loud ,loud. Keep her cool, Keep everyone lined out and safe and keep material going into hoppers so there were piles on the ground. That was what they did to earn a paycheck. They did it well and Felina did her part better than anyone before her had. She had pride in that not because she was a woman doing a man's job in a man's world but because she actually liked this work, she was good at it and it paid well enough. She never cared she was a small woman, she cared she was using her brain given to her to work hard and build a life for and with her family. 

    Another tremor hit, this one was bad and caused cracks in the ground. She called brett, and then her girls. He was at the house and they were on their way get her, s**t was hitting the fan. The sky went dark with ash, the ground was splitting worse and shaking hard. Everything stopped, it all went quiet for a split second, that seemed like hours and then the dark sky was light up brighter than the sun could ever be. It light was followed by the loudest boom and then the ground began to ripple like the ocean during a hurricane, one rouge wave of dirt and earth and buildings and trash after another. She had no time to think or wonder, she had only time to react. she slammed the bucket of loader down and rode out this violent, storm that only brought so many questions and change no one ever saw coming. She hung on for dear life while the world dissolved around her. She had nothing to warn her besides this, that life as she, and everyone else knew was forever different and history was one big lie.