When the moon disappeared decades ago, leaving a hard-to-ignore moonless void in the night sky, planet Earth swung into chaos. Climates were everchanging and the Earth’s rotation was altered. The tides crashed into the coast because the moon’s gravitational pull ceased to exist, due to its mysterious disappearance. and irregular tidal patterns caused 99.25% of most seaside towns to be abandoned. Today, however, that 99.25% of abandoned towns will become 100%.

“Nia, go get the dog. We’re leaving in 30.”

“Got it, goober.”

“Stop calling me that! I’m not a teenager anymore.” My brother’s serious face didn’t wouldn’t hold up for a second before he snorted and started giggling, emphasizing the freckles lining his cheek. “Anyways, the truck is fully loaded. The broadcast says the road is cleared. We can leave now.”

I took our dog, Maxie, and hopped in the truck. The stiff, dusty air smelled like wood shavings with a side of sea salt. Just how I liked it. Neal, my little brother, started the engine, not long before the shriek of the blaring alarm covered the sound of our laughter.

The dimples on his face quickly withdrew into fear his fear-filled face. The screen in the middle of our truck’s dashboard lit up.

Incoming tsunami alert. Find high ground immediately. Tsunami alert. This is not a drill.

“What?! I thought it wasn’t supposed to come until Saturday! Dang it.” I quickly started the engine, but Neal stopped me.

“There’s no time. The truck isn’t fast enough with all of this cargo. We have to go to the shelter,” he shouted over the sirens.

Right. Despite the tens of thousands of drills we had done, I still couldn’t act accordingly in a real situation. I should’ve been considering the fact that such a new AI system for tsunami detection could have a prediction off by days.

I nodded and raced out of the car onto the rocky trail that intertwined through our town, filled with hundreds of people, which was now going to be demolished.

The wood houses engraved with flowing patterns and love would collapse into just a pile of junk. The palm trees that danced in the wind would fall, their leaves strewn around the wreckage. Even if me, Neal, and Maxie survived this, where would we live now? It would never be the same again.

“It’s probably the artificial gravity that the UN has been working on. If it malfunctioned, surely the gravity has shifted slightly changed again,” Neal said while hastily hiking through the trees. “Which is enough to alter the schedule of that tsunami.”

I sighed. That’s why our furniture and belongings would, quite literally, be sucked down the drain.

When we reached the hilltop, the shadow of the tsunami loomed in the distance. It got closer and closer until the raging wave wiped away the architecture and property that once belonged to us. Droplets of water splashed onto my face and I flinched as loose beach sand whirled into my eyes. 

When we were just little kids, the reason everyone in the town stayed was because it carried so much culture and memories. We believed that the UN’s promised artificial gravity could guarantee our safety, since this specific point in South America was somehow immune to the moon’s absent gravitational pull. An innovation like that could enable this location to be unaffected forever, without any risk.

I rubbed my eyes. Then, the very thing that claimed to protect us turned our home into wet rubble and debris.