“What just blew up?”

“Don’t know,” I said, sleepily, “but whatever it was it made a helluva a bang. I’ll go take a look.”

I slipped on my slippers and hoisted my robe round my shoulders and shuffled across the cold, tiled, floor to the front door. The dogs sat there, waiting to go out for a pee.

“You heard it too, huh?”

Duke and Daisy’s tails wagged in unison and they hopped from leg to leg in anticipation as I opened the door. I caught hold of them just in time, pulling them back into the lounge. I shut the door. Actually, I slammed it shut, I was so shocked.

“What was it? The bang?” Jen called from the bedroom.

I shuffled back into the bedroom, the dogs followed, jumping onto the bed behind me as I sat, sighed, and took my wife in my arms, hugging her tightly.

“There’s nothing there. It’s gone?” I whispered.

“What’s gone? The shed? Not the car! Shit, don’t tell me the ca…”

“Everything’s gone,” I murmured. “There is nothing but black outside. Black, starlight and us. That’s all there is around here. No Earth, no moon. Nothing. The world has blown up and our little house is all that’s left.”

Jen looked at me, giving the dogs an absent-minded pat. Then her face broke into a smile. “You nearly got me,” she shouted, throwing a pillow at me.

“Go take I look, if you don’t believe me,” I said, sombrely.

Jen jumped up and grabbed her dressing gown, putting it on as she padded barefoot to the front door.

“Mind the first step, it’s gone.” I shouted after her.

“What?”

“Mind the first…”

“Mind the first whaaaaaaah…” 

“…step.” 

Copyright © Tom Kane October 2017

Want more on a science fiction Twilight Zone-Type of theme? Read The Ragged Edge of Time, my science fiction novel, on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. Click here to read more.