The Tilt of the Earth - Chapter 2

 "What the hell was that?"  Miranda whispered in the stillness of the early morning.  She placed her coffee mug down on the glass dining table like a feather falls to the floor.  Hunter stared at his master with alert and ready eyes.  With two hand signals, Miranda motioned for him to be quiet and lay down.

"What's going?"  She heard her dad's voice pierce the air.  She pressed the mute button and put her pointer finger to her lips letting him know she needed a minute.  

Miranda focused towards the back door where Hunter was still like the center of a hurricane.  She eyed the black file cabinet on the right side of the blue door.  Inside was her laser pistol.  She tip-toed over and opened the top drawer with silence and precision and laid her hands on the weapon.  

"Who's there?"  Miranda commanded, ready to respond with the pistol.

"Miranda?"  A voice that belonged to another time was barely audible.

"Shit!  Penny?"  Miranda let our her breath.  "Hold on."  

She marched over to the glowing pad on the wall and unmuted her father.  "Dad?"

"What the hell's going on.  I was ready to send over a support team."  

"Nothing for now.  It's just Penny. Remember that sad soul who used to be my neighbor from way back when?"  She frowned into the screen where her father smiled.  "Well, for some reason she's at my door."  

"Glad that's all it is.  Call me back later, honey."  Her father's huge image went black on the video screen.  

Miranda stroked Hunter's head, "Good Boy.  All Set."  She whispered and cooed to her beloved guard dog.  

Poor Penny, she thought as she marched over to the door.  She always felt like she wanted to help the woman who once was famous but now homeless.  Everything went south for her after the incident.  Not everybody responds the same way to tragedy.  Or the uncertainty of the invasions that descend as the seasons pass.  Summer was the spaceships that surfaced from the Atlantic causing tsunamis around the world.  Fall was the orbiting of the satellites that interfered with all Earthly communication.  

She peeked through the peep hole, just to be sure, before she turned the knob. And that's when she felt the earth move.  It wasn't her down-n-out neighbor Penny standing ready to cross her threshold.  It was a creature like she'd never seen before.  Tall and lanky.  With no real face other than two glowing orbs that might have been eyes.  Miranda held her breath and fingered her pistol.  She wondered when this day would come.