**Hidden Within — Chapter 1: The Fall**
It was a suspiciously quiet night. I looked up at an odd star — strange enough that it almost seemed to be falling.
"Falling? There's no such thing as a falling sta—"
**SRCCCCHH!!**
"AAHHHHH—bleh…"
Then, silence. Pure silence.
A meteor had fallen to Earth.
But it was no ordinary meteor. Something was inside it.
---
"Alright everyone, that's a wrap for today! Pack it up and come back tomorrow for the last shoot!" the director shouted.
"Aww man, why so early?" I groaned.
"**BECAUSE I SAID SO!**" he yelled back.
"F-off," I muttered, moonwalking toward the exit.
---
**Ring! Ring!**
"Hello, who's this?"
"It's your mom," she said.
"Oh shi—Mom! I told you not to call until I got home! What if I was still filming?"
"I *don't care!*" *click*
"MOM! Arghhh… why'd you hang up!?"
---
**VROOOM!**
As I neared home, I saw a strange, glowing light in the sky.
"What… is that?" I whispered.
Then it moved — fast.
"Wait—why's that thing heading straight for my house!?"
**CRASSSHHH!**
"MOOOOOM!"
---
I slammed the gas, but a fallen streetlight blocked the road.
The whole neighborhood was *gone* — demolished and drenched in red.
Another meteor streaked across the sky, forcing me to swerve.
"WHY!? WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN!?" I screamed, tears spilling down my face.
Sirens wailed in the distance. Ambulances and police cars were trapped in dead traffic. Helicopters circled overhead as another meteor — massive as 9/11 itself — came crashing down.
"AHHH!" people screamed.
I saw my friend crawling out of the debris — before kitchen knives, flung by the blast, impaled him.
"WHY!? WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!? WHY HIM!?"
Someone else tried to run — only to be crushed under a falling door.
The neighborhood was gone.
Painted in red.
And I just stood there, frozen in the middle of the street, traumatized.
---
The police found me hours later and dragged me to safety.
When I woke up in a hospital bed, it was already morning.
The TV showed my house — or what was left of it. Rubble. Fire. Blood.
My home was gone.
My money was gone.
Everything… gone.
I stared at the screen and then thought to my self."I'M COOKED!"