CHAPTER ONE
The black jet, facing the five-o'clock blue sky like a rocket, revs to life. There is an evil growl and a murmuring drone. Seats and seat belts rattle. Eyes squeeze, hair raise, and skins crawl. To Kirby Hayes, silence has already been his life but touching knees with a man and wanting that like a homo … is new.419Please respect copyright.PENANAbPTRh9gHPh
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The shuddering is over. They realize the engine has been turned off. Silence again. Their knees still touch and feel warm. Being a deaf Iowan farmer boy with holes in his jeans, Kirby pretends to notice the knees and checks out the guy sitting next to him. Wowza. Is he a movie star? Some kind of heartbreaker?419Please respect copyright.PENANALMRIr5zTyV
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The black-haired guy has a dark stoic face that jerks up and eyes, jungle green, that study the ceiling speakers. He listens to an announcement. Kirby can feel the bass of the pilot’s promising voice but couldn’t discern the words. It’s irrelevant, something about a little delay before launch. And he’s seen this guy before in line at the airport, dressed in a gray jumpsuit. Gawrsh, with a husband-like face too. He probably has three girlfriends waiting for him when they land.419Please respect copyright.PENANA3x4Is75WqB
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Kirby shifts focus down the rest of the aisle where others are heavily strapped in with them. They’re mostly dressed up for a fundraiser gala with their nicest suits and dresses. The seat belts are heavy military grade. He squints, still unable to see them well. The windows let in the winter dark, five-o'clock blue, and the only lights inside are golden blinking scintilla and the small overhead one directly above Kirby and a male model. Suddenly that light goes out.419Please respect copyright.PENANA98h7GD8VBg
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In the dark, a smartphone lights up Kirby’s face.419Please respect copyright.PENANArLQkknssLF
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It rests in a hand belonging to Chance Gott, bearing a text message: Hi, they said just a spook. The jet revs up again but this time the shuddering and the eerie wail come with that awful deja vu feeling. Kirby's illuminated freckled face reveals a smile.419Please respect copyright.PENANAvJCpYAmPRB
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He types a message back, which Chance murmurs. “Thanks. By spook, do you mean false alarm or malfunction?”419Please respect copyright.PENANAAzQx66bBkz
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Chance types back: I mean, accidents. Things that go wrong. 419Please respect copyright.PENANAWjGNKBeakG
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Kirby and Chance stare, frowning a bit. They stifle laughter. How morbid. Before their discussion could turn into conversation, and imagine if it had, another announcement cuts in with a muffled static voice. Those sharp jungle green eyes stare at Kirby. They glance sometimes at the ceiling speakers while the ears listen. And their knees dig further than ever. Their legs linger.419Please respect copyright.PENANASHDr4AHKaq
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It feels so savory he could die forever. He’s Alice on the way to Wonderland. He’s Neo leaving the Matrix. He shouldn’t have toked two bowls like a pothead this morning. At least he had remembered to clean out his mouth. He licks his teeth out of pure pleasure. It tingles all over from head to toe, like when you’ve swam in rough waters too long and your body swells from withdrawal. Kirby would melt right now. Who cares if something goes wrong or if the jet goes boom?419Please respect copyright.PENANAXGU2sHR0fe
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Boom! The jet takes off through the clouds. No fireworks. No balls of flame. A thin pillar of smoke fans out through the sky as one would imagine angel wings. The air turns cold inside the jet, unearthly cold. Their ears pop. Their eyes connect over adrenaline and addiction.419Please respect copyright.PENANAnmXOPv7iPu
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Flashes of the dawn warp through the windows, golden sunshine flashing across their faces. Beautiful. They check out the windows and see that they’ve left the troposphere at twenty kilometers. They enter the stratosphere.419Please respect copyright.PENANApotBXH769R
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Nothing else stirs this vast airspace. It is a higher plane so barren and calm. Kirby and Chance are en route to the world’s first and only satellite city. Skyden. The jet soars among stars to a particular diamond shape in the sky.419Please respect copyright.PENANAyj8uLfDH8w
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Skyden, the space station that orbits planet Earth, glows a neon pink diamond so large it can be seen as a mothership from the ground. It is adamantly set in the stratosphere but not the mesosphere or any higher to avoid the International Space Station and the meteors. Safety reasons, because no one likes getting crushed by space rocks.419Please respect copyright.PENANAsiJuozLJM1
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Until now, the famous and crazy three million souls are able to afford that luxe bling-bling Skyden life. Kirby couldn’t wait to be one of them. He also couldn’t imagine being one of them. What they’re calling the next Hollywood (and the eighth wonder) has become the world’s definition of success and ergo the greatest source of his worry.419Please respect copyright.PENANA1Y7t1lnKkA
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Not only do you need to be insanely successful and ambitious to make a blip on Skyden’s radar, they require incredible grit, composure, and perfect mental health. He cries at a finger splinter and would almost faint at the sight of blood. Not drops but with enough buckets, his lungs would shut down.419Please respect copyright.PENANAu994jLGSMD
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Even the thought of an oxygen leak on Skyden is enough to stir a slight panic.419Please respect copyright.PENANAWNKEVBo8jR
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You must have designer clothes, unlike Kirby’s worn down jeans. He fidgets with a growing terror. Breathe, he insists. Normalize. Compartmentalize. You must have clear pores the minute you step foot in their airport because the paparazzi and tabloids are meticulously “whoa” in their hunt for flaws. Of course he’s got pimples and stray hair he’s not proud of. He’d be mildly not okay with it if no one prints the blown-up photos of that on magazine covers in grocery stores and broadcasted on some jerk’s somewhat popular Youtube channel. On top of that, you must have a sense of humor since success breeds contempt.419Please respect copyright.PENANAFrQcqFT0Ux
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If they spin something about my deafness being weakness, it won’t matter. Kirby thinks this, as he doesn’t view it as a problem. He forgets that he’s deaf in a noisy world sometimes, and it isn’t until certain moments that he’s finally reminded of his individuality. The noise doesn’t matter. In fact, it’s often his solution. With no distractions or haters to overhear, he slips into this deep ocean or the ozone and instrumentally write a novel or screenplay.419Please respect copyright.PENANA2sznRdxv1J
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As it turns out, winning a screenplay contest gets you an internship at the most expensive place in the world to live. His movie is a disaster parody of Skyden and Titanic. It basically explodes, thanks to human ignorance. Titled “Sky’s Falling!”, it would soon go on to be an instant blockbuster. Naturally, people love the drama of their demise. And here he is, boxed and shipped to a floating drama industry, hoping that no irony comes of it.419Please respect copyright.PENANA4BVcIAWMFW
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Yes, he’s aware of his paranoia. It’s been known to get out of hand.419Please respect copyright.PENANAsNOuu0SUqi
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But then again, what’s keeping Skyden up in the air? What’s to stop it one day from falling out of the blue? What if, say, a spook does come along?419Please respect copyright.PENANAPYvyHCBJjm
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Being a breakout writer sounds sort of fun, Kirby thinks with care when the walls shake. Being brother to another breakout writer sounds just as fun too. He remembers his older brother from ten years ago as this tall, cynical guy with a broken nose and a mane of locks. The memory of his face isn’t fuzzy. He’s his brother.419Please respect copyright.PENANAbmJaa0as06
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He remembers the itty-bitty mole on his neck and the dark circles under his dead gray eyes. Until today, they hadn’t directly seen each other again. Today would be their first time. Kirby and their parents do search for Viggo on television and online blurbs now and then, just to see how he’s doing and whether if he looks happy. But Viggo never sought them out. Are they forgotten, one of the insignificant?419Please respect copyright.PENANAfQgar8RNWc
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Now that Kirby is another Hayes brother in show business, everyone compares and contrasts them. Which one is a better writer? Which one is hotter? This is true and inevitable, but this isn’t what offends him the most.419Please respect copyright.PENANAw2KD6TvyKc
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Rivalry isn’t the problem, it’s the rival.419Please respect copyright.PENANAhPMO7Ql17P
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When they’re alone, bitterness would boil to the surface of Viggo Hayes’ freckled face. It would contort his sweet side into complete ugliness. This ends up as part of Kirby’s nightmares that replay his brother’s silent and wrathful screams. His shoulders turn sore, recalling the bruises. He tries not to dwell on the why. Maybe it was homophobia. Or something else, some kind of deeper jealousy. Honestly, he could not care. Before Viggo left the planet to live on Skyden, Kirby Hayes had been a kid who mainly kept to the background. He had feared that once he felt brave enough to show the world who he was, his brother would come down from the clouds in a vengeful zap of lightning. And then, apocalyptic punishment. But no more. Kirby is old and tired enough now to know that is a phobia.419Please respect copyright.PENANArT12eWKhv5
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What harm could his brother really do?419Please respect copyright.PENANAYWFhkGFRps
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Kirby tries forgetting the televised moment Viggo lies through his perfect white teeth to the earth how proud he is of his little brother and looks forward to his long-expected arrival, despite the crawling-under-the-skin fact that they never spoke to each other in a decade. He blinks. It sounds good to get his brother’s approval, sure, but he doubts the sincerity. It’s still a nice indirect gesture. His brother would wait for him at the airport with an obscure smile when they land. The paparazzi expects them, of course. Their reunion would be buzz for ten minutes.419Please respect copyright.PENANAC8WDdzVRtb
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The jet docks into the space station. When they touch down with a thud, his stomach flips. The engine turns off, and all the overhead lights come on.419Please respect copyright.PENANAEmGUiDF8Y4
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As people unclip their belts, Kirby looks to his right and sees an empty seat. Chance Gott has already ghosted without a trace. The shock is so great, it takes him a minute before disappointment creeps in. Huh, did I dream him up?419Please respect copyright.PENANAlcXE01VtLS
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He pulls out his own phone, seeing a missed opportunity. Should have asked him for his number. Right. His harem of three girlfriends, forgot about them! Never mind ... Kirby steps forward through open sliding doors. Here we go, Skyden.419Please respect copyright.PENANA241COqnrrs
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A silhouette stands between him and a monstrous sea of flashing cameras.419Please respect copyright.PENANAWW1KRYIi2Y
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Kirby sees such vivid glares he has to shield his eyes.419Please respect copyright.PENANAzCvJFou0zc
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He waits for the darkness to dissipate. Viggo Hayes stares him down from Kirby’s tangled bed hair to tattered jeans. Kirby roots to the floor, paralyzed by the sight of his brother and his new neon orange eyes. They’re colored contacts, he’s sure, but they jolt him in some way. Must be his pinpoint pupils of punishment. His dark dirty blond hair is slicked back like it’s the Oscars. Viggo’s dressed in a sharp black tux with sparkling orange sequin and twittering orange lights. His titanium black wristwatch glows orange. He mutters with scorn, “Figures.”419Please respect copyright.PENANAZnwlD5n15y
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What did you say? Kirby snaps at him in American Sign Language.419Please respect copyright.PENANAdQvWKbBoJY
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I said it’s a party, you dork! Viggo throws him a bundle of a matching black tux and polished shoes. They’re worth at least a grand and looks recently bought. Now get dressed before they suspect. You will not embarrass me.419Please respect copyright.PENANAA86kfDEBSl
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Blushing red, Kirby buttons up. His brother has said this not to be mean, Kirby knows this because there’s too much orange ferocity in Viggo’s threatened stare. It’s like gazing into the eyes of an anaconda or an arctic wolf. It’s unblinking and hypnotic.419Please respect copyright.PENANA7ilw0YIZPP
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While it is true that Kirby could ruin both of them, that is the last thing he wants. For some reason, his brother finds this hard to believe, and well, that annoys the hell out of him. He buttons up his tux.419Please respect copyright.PENANAOfm6hLmreB
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His brother stands behind him, raking his bony fingers through Kirby’s hair. This evokes some weird closeness and bittersweet nausea. Who said you could touch me? He wants to say but does nothing. He allows it.419Please respect copyright.PENANAu0AnIxJTw0
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The Hayes gaze at the blue planet beneath, both brooding whether if they love this new normal more than they love being estranged brothers. Despite being known to be writers, they got nothing to say.419Please respect copyright.PENANAkCqfl7PFcL
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"There." Viggo plucks a fiber from Kirby’s shoulder. Now you fit in, sort of.419Please respect copyright.PENANAyUnVZcd5F2
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Kirby pretends that doesn’t hurt. Then he grins, remembering why he’s here.419Please respect copyright.PENANAMqzfJbpo30
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He asks: You nervous? 419Please respect copyright.PENANAKmfbFaItkS
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Of you? Viggo grins back with tight lips, as if to hold back his secrets. This is Skyden, little bro. What you should fear is yourself. The world is watching, trust me. 419Please respect copyright.PENANAwWKp2prc2b
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Thanks to you, I’ll be fine. Kirby says.419Please respect copyright.PENANARPqYOPUiF1
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He searches his brother’s eyes for a sign, some kind of betrayal that gives him away. He realizes there is none. No remorse, no sorrow. Not an ounce of softness. Not one twitch of ugliness. Nothing. He realizes the itty-bitty mole on the neck had been removed and no dark circles can be found. Instead of dead gray eyes, they’re psycho orange. At least Viggo’s nose is still broken and familiar enough.419Please respect copyright.PENANA4k68xOyy5m
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But Kirby could no longer deny it. In his ten years on Skyden, Viggo Hayes has perfected his face.419Please respect copyright.PENANAnhRE7gLB0V
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You can always get back on the jet, Kirby. His brother says this too casually. Kirby could feel the wind get knocked slowly out of him and ends up wheezing. They will understand. The constant pressure can be too great for anyone.419Please respect copyright.PENANADHTvdyTFBX
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Kirby hesitates at the offer. He visualizes himself back in the jet. Huge relief would flood mind and body if he were to turn back now, that is true. He could fasten his seatbelt together and wait there nice and quiet, respectful and safe. But to always dwell and risk a mediocre life of regret? No no no, that’s too dull. How could he do that to himself? He would not go back today! No-brainer. His feet would not touch earth just yet.419Please respect copyright.PENANAw4BwhTEuMt
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Viggo, no way. I just got here. Kirby stares his older brother down indignantly from lack of support. Viggo seems left speechless at his little brother’s resolve. His mouth mutters, “Really.” The way his eyes dart, his mind is working.419Please respect copyright.PENANAPdTUnNbNFr
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Viggo is quick to comment not to take him so seriously, that it was only for laughs. Kirby nods in response. He hardly believes him but good point, he did get defensive there. Shouldn’t have taken the bait. It won’t work as easily next time, Kirby has decided. I excelled in each psychology class in high school and community college, all straight As. His hands ball into fists. I'll win my peace of mind. I have to.419Please respect copyright.PENANAAKEjCyxPcf
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Ready for the Walk? Viggo says rhetorically.419Please respect copyright.PENANAzPu7Y3MLLq
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They walk through the paparazzi’s gunfire of light bulbs. Several seconds down the red carpet already feel like a whole day. Thousands of photographs of each nuance and facial tic snap and engrave as data for all time. The Hayes brothers put on big brave smiles to show that they’re another king of the world. Interviewers roar names and questions like feverish baboons. While Viggo’s learned to tune them out, Kirby doesn’t have to. He hears silence and sees strobe lights and nightmarish beautiful people. They ride the moving walkway through the city, like a cruising dream.
Oversized colors would bathe the dark with a new mood. Yellow washes in! The yellow-orange Viggo points to the yellow Arcade Palace that has every video game console and cartridge ever made. It brags having the leading virtual reality software. The yellow shrinks out. Magenta flutters in. The magenta Kirby conceals his goofy smile. His heart leaps as he watches the magenta Arcade Palace sail on by.
The moving walkway is one strip of treadmill that goes around Skyden. That way, no one gets lost or ever feels the panic of being lost. Kirby however feels panic. He squints ahead that long road of people getting on and getting off. He looks back. The long road behind magenta Viggo recedes into a flood of turquoise glow. It is an odd mesh of New York City and Los Angeles with their chrome skyscrapers and imposing television screens and godly posters of Broadway and Hollywood.419Please respect copyright.PENANAHPZ7YpTQNd
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Speeding bullet trains travel overhead. Neon robots wheel around, acting as proxies remotely controlled by customer service. There is a sheer volume of air conditioning that can be confused with a lilting breeze. The palm trees remain unruffled. The lawns are perfectly manicured, not to mention the celestial sight of crystal clear fountains lit up in rainbow colors.419Please respect copyright.PENANAMWrgPWqiSC
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They wander, passing by the lunar observatory deck that faces the enlarged Moon and the constant meteor showers. Kirby stares, slack-jawed. It's humongous and so dead as if it has always been dusty styrofoam.419Please respect copyright.PENANAaTGGgQfNli
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They meander, passing by the earth observatory deck that faces the round globe and the distant jet planes. They seem as small as ants. Kirby attempts to rub the goosebumps away from his arms. His neck is so stiff. So tense.419Please respect copyright.PENANAd2sIEJd2j7
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What he’s written in his disaster movie is nothing compared to this. The constant trepidation, this terrible feeling, of being carried at the zenith of the world without any visible strings? A life built here must be based on pure faith. The question is when, not how, will the floor under their feet rise in free-fall.
The walls stop, and gigantic windows begin. Stars and constellations become their tapestry instead of loud imposing colors. The earth’s glow brings serenity. Kirby can see the jet has taken off, getting smaller on its way down.419Please respect copyright.PENANAU2EJdI9nKZ
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Have fun, Kirby reminds himself. Nothing bad’s happened to this place at least. Ever. It’s just you, of course, pessimistic and nihilistic as usual. Shake it off. Start your life over from scratch. He regulates his breathing, making sure his stomach inflates. Perfect mental health. Don’t let it get to your head.419Please respect copyright.PENANAsWeqbtxC2S
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Boom! The jet that had gone back, the very one, explodes in smithereens.419Please respect copyright.PENANAsefmj1VXFl
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Fireworks. Kirby jerks his head. Balls of flames. Viggo stares. Apocalyptic punishment. The bulletproof glass windows of Skyden rumble from the close impact. This horrifying jangle of echoes fills the satellite city, turning millions of heads and seizing millions of hearts. Viggo shouts a helpless “Oh!” at the disaster. Even Kirby could hear and feel it. The gong of death.419Please respect copyright.PENANAU4nY158i40
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Nervous chuckles and frantic shouts spread and cover everything like volcanic ash. A strange shell-shocked state. It is as if the people have said a little prayer and returned to the grind. Because what else can society do? Who had incinerated out there, may their souls rest in peace, soon become dismissed completely and ignored. That could’ve been me, Kirby jumps to the conclusion.419Please respect copyright.PENANA8TYcQEvZ6j
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His pocket vibrates.419Please respect copyright.PENANA1PwmS7xqwA
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He brings out his phone. Embers rain down. They are trickling tears that eventually peter out in the eternal night. They smolder with sorrow. Beautiful. He reads a text message from a private number.
Hi again, so sorry I vanished. Nice meeting you!419Please respect copyright.PENANAfJyzPJB0kx
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Kirby’s hand trembles. He begins to feel spooked.
The brilliant fireball dies down before the people realize there are bits and pieces, glinting remnants floating their way. Kirby squints. What is ... that?419Please respect copyright.PENANAS6WSHiNtRG
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The people cry out, thinking they’re about to be torn apart by metal scraps. Viggo and Kirby shield their faces, bracing themselves. Instead, burnt body parts slowly come out of the dark, thudding into the glass. Thud ... thud, thud, thud.
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Jack Steele Adams419Please respect copyright.PENANAr8PpPotWDD
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