The Interruption

“Did you hear it?”

I burst through the door, looking for anyone who might be around to speculate with.

“Wait–you did, too?” my sister said, twisting to glance over the couch.

“What the hell was it?”

“It came on about five minutes ago, right? That’s when you heard it?”

“Yeah, I was in traffic and then the radio just cut out. I figured that old piece of shit grandma gave us had just seen it’s day but then the radio made this crackling noise. Was it on the radio here, too?”

“No, it came through the television.” Jumping onto the couch, I quickly eyed the TV before my sister said, “It hasn’t come back since.”

“Was there a video with it?”

“No. It was weird. Right in the middle of my movie the sound died but then…”

“Hold on. Where are mom and dad? Did they hear it?”

“My phone’s been blowing up. Everyone heard it. Even Uncle Lanny in Alaska! He texted asking if anything weird had happened in the last few minutes. I haven’t heard from mom or dad, though.”

The trembling in my core amplified. “Did you try to call?”

“No.”

“Call them!”

As my sister frantically dialed our parents, I surveyed the neighbors congregating across the street. They shouted at each other and pantomimed their excitement or concern. In a flash, I was back on my feet and out the door. “Did you hear it?” I called across the street.

“They think it went country wide,” our neighbor responded.

“Maybe the whole world,” said another.

“What did it mean?” I asked but they returned to chatting among themselves just as my parents’ Jeep pulled into the driveway.

“Did you hear it?” my sister asked from behind me.

Mom’s brow cranked upward. “Did we hear what?”

My sister and I couldn’t help but share a perplexed look. “Anything on the radio?”

“You heard it, too?” mom said.

“That thing we heard on the phone?” dad added.

They didn’t seem to notice the chatter going on across the street and casually walked to our door like the world wasn’t in a panic around them. “Everyone heard it,” my sister said.

“It came through on your phone?”

Dad nodded.

“I heard it in the car and she heard it on the TV,” I said.

“Strange,” he said to himself. “Let’s go inside.”

I held my ground and said, “What did it mean?”

A wrinkle appeared between mom’s eyes and she let a tense breath escape. “Nothing good.”