And that was that. On a June morning about a year later, the Event transpired. They rained from the sky like flaming meteors, and rivers of despair scorched the Earth and coursed through our bodies. I don't feel like getting any more romantic or specific than that.
To be honest, I had completely forgotten about it. About a month or two later, I rose from the basement long enough to spot Perkins riding down the street of my family's house on a bicycle. He jumped off the bike, his legs in the running motion before he hit the ground as the bike crashed into a telephone pole. He sprinted to our door, bashed it open, and hugged me, breathless. In a barely intelligible stream of words, I managed to decipher, "I tried everywhere...your apartment, Wes' apartment, Matt's, Julie's house. All not there. I figured you'd be here." I heard the names "Matt" and "Wes", and it all came back, and my spine turned to ice.
My mother stood in the doorway to the basement steps, a startled look on her face. "We have some coffee downstairs, would you...would he like some, uh, coffee?" Without taking my eyes off Perkins, I motioned for her to get some. "Why?" I asked. "What happened?"
"It's happening. I can't believe, I don't know, it's all happening, I think." Perkins fell to his knees on our living-room floor, and I swooped down to try to catch him. He flopped the rest of the way to the floor and rolled to lay on his back. He stared at the ceiling. "I think so."