It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing. Flowers were blooming. Children were running and playing. 

     I first noticed a sign it when I was on my phone. I had looked up at the kids playing, and looked back down, only to see a red tint on my arm. At first, I thought nothing of it. You know, I thought my skin was just getting hot.

     That was, until I noticed it started to become hard to breath. Not to mention, my skin was heating up. I sighed, standing up. I didn't need sunburn. I looked up at the sky, and that's when I saw it. The sun wasn't its usual yellow. No, it looked red. Like, absolutely red with very few yellow specks.

     I rushed inside, not sure what I'd just seen. If I didn't know any better, I'd call it a blood moon. However, that was the sun, not the moon.

     "Hey, did you see the sun?" I asked Mark, stopping at the truck in which him and his brother sat in.

     "Yeah, I see it everyday, Jack," he laughed, lightly punching my arm. "What's new?"

     "No, it's red!" I exclaim.

     Mark looked at me for a few seconds.

     "Yo, what's up with your hair? It's green."

     "What?"

     I looked at my hair. It was its normal black color.

     "My hair's not green," I said, confusion lacing my voice.

     "Huh, funny," he said.

     "Hey, what's up, little man?" Luke called out.

     I waved nervously before rushing inside. My skin felt like it was on fire, and I felt as though I was on my last breath.

     "What is going on?" I asked myself. I walked down the hall of my mansion, sitting on one of the benches in the hall. I placed my head in my hands, trying to figure out what was going on. I knew I could have just been overreacting.

     "Dude, you are so out of it," Mark said, walking up to me. "Oh, did the 'red sun' wash the dye out of your hair?"

     Him and Luke began laughing at his not-so-funny joke. I, on the other hand, just shook my head. They were right. I was out of it.

     "Maybe it's just the sun passing something or something like that," I said.

     "Yeah," Luke said. "It'll be gone soon."
~~~
     Well, it had been hours, and the sun was still red. That didn't ease my tension at all. By now, I knew something was obviously wrong. Whether it was the sun just passing something or not, something was wrong with the sun, and this fact terrified me. What if it was going to explode.

     "Yo, Jack," I heard Luke call out to me, running over. Mark followed behind him. Both of them had a concerned look on their face.

     "Yeah?" I answered.

     "The sun's still red," Mark pointed out. "Even though I still think it's nothing, I'm getting a little worried. Everytime we go outside, it feels like we're being burned alive, it's a little hard to breath, it feels like we're slowing down, and all-in-all, there might actually be something really wrong with the sun.

     I nodded.

     "I tried to tell you, but you never listen to me," I said, fear in my voice. "What are we gonna do? What if we die?"

     Luke laughed a breathy laugh.

     "I don't think it'll get that serious," Mark said, a soft smile on his face.

     "You don't think it'll get that serious?" I snapped. "Have you ever seen a day where there is no longer any living soul on the street? You guys are so unbelievable! You never listen to me when I try to say something's wrong! Even now, you're sitting there smiling like an idiot as if everything's gonna be okay! Everything is not going to be okay! I wouldn't expect you to understand because you always turn serious situations into a joke!"

     "Actually, I'm standing here, smiling," Mark corrected, grinning wide. "I'm not sitting."

     I yelled in frustration, storming off. I wasn't dealing with this right now.

     Walking into my room, I closed and locked my door. I didn't want to see their stupid faces right now. I knew that Luke wasn't as bad, nor as dumb, as he was pretending to be. I knew he thought this situation was serious. It was Mark. He was dragging Luke's attention away from everything.

     I walked over to my window. The sky was a mix of red, pink, and blue.

     "Does this mean the stars aren't going to shine?" I asked no one in particular.

     I'd always loved the stars. There were never many in the sky. However, there were enough for me to look at and dream for. I'd usually go out with Luke and Mark, and we'd lay on our backs and watch the stars.

     I put my hand on the glass -- and instantly recoiled. The glass was scorching hot. I looked at my hand. It was red.

     "What the hell?" I said out loud, staring wide-eyed at the glass.

     Walking over to my door, I opened, only to come face-to-face with Mark. He had his fist raised, as if he was about to knock.

     "Hey," I said quickly, forgetting about earlier. "Have you felt the windows? They're practically burning up."

     Mark nodded.

     "Yeah," he said. "It burnt my hand. It also burnt my steak. We had to try a few times before we got it right. I gave it to Lacy."

     I rolled my eyes. He's so stupid.

     "Mark!" Luke cried, running up to him. "It's Lacy! She just suffocated to death!"

    "It was the steak!" I instantly called out in realization. "It had to be! The windows had to get hot because of the sun, and when you 'cooked' the steak on the window, it got whatever turned the sun red in it!"

     "No, duh," Luke said.

     "Huh?" I asked, tilting my head. Was I missing something?

     "There's people dying everywhere," Luke said. "Since many are using solar panels to power their home, something in the lights, water, and other appliences are killing them."

     I froze.

     "Okay, we need to figure something out," I said, shaking a bit.

     "No, we need to stay here," Mark said, rolling his eyes. "I'm sure it'll pass by tonight.

     "I hope so," I muttered.
~~~
     "Oh my gosh," I gasped in amazement an awe, staring out the glass storm door at the night sky. I had just opened the wooden door and seen the best thing in my life.

     The red in the sky was gone. I was so happy. However, that's not was I was staring at. The sky was nearly covered in stars. The odd thing was in a few spots, stars were clumped together, and in about 4 or 5 other places, the stars formed a wide arch. Needless to say, it was beautiful. A shooting star quickly flew over the house.

     "A shooting star!" I pointed out from the glass door in awe.

     "Yeah," a voice said from behind me.

     I spun around quickly. Mark and Luke stood there, grinning.

     "We should go out there and lay down," Luke suggested. "You know, like the old days."

     I jumped in excitement, quickly racing out. Mark and Luke followed me.

     As we lied down, I smiled. I missed this. I absolutely loved the stars.

     After about 10 minutes, I began to notice something. There was a reddish tint over the red horizon, stretching towards us. I sat up, tilting my head. It stopped, not to far away. I felt it beginning to get hot.

     "Uh, guys," I said, gaining their attention.

     They looked up.

     "Go! Go! Go!" Luke yelled, scrambling up. Me and Mark followed suit.

     The three of us bolted into the house, slamming the screen door. We looked out, staring at the red tint. It looked as if something had just taken a paint brush and swished it against the perfect painting.

     Mark growled.

     "That's it!" He yelled, grabbing a football from the couch. That wasn't there a moment ago. "I'm done with this bullshit!"

     "Mark, no!" I yelled.

     "I'm gonna face this damn thing! Come on, Luke!"

     Luke quickly ran outside and into the driveway. There, they began throwing the football. I tilted my head. Nothing was happening. Maybe it was okay.

     That's when I noticed it. Something was dripping from Mark's arm. It was brown, exactly the color of his skin. It was skin.

     "Oh, my gosh," I muttered. "Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Mark! Luke! Get inside! Hurry!"

     They didn't seem to hear me. Well, Mark didn't.

     Luke rushed up the porch, but he was too late. He began slowing down, as if someone or something was holding him.

     "Mark! Luke!" I cried as they began to turn into a slushy mess.

     I backed up, hands over my mouth.

     "No!" I screamed.
~~~
     Snapping my head up from my pillow, I breathed deeply. It was all just a horrible nightmare.

     I began fanning myself, as it was hot in here, despite my window right next to my bed being open. I lied back down, ignoring the red light that covered the room, and the burning sensation I felt on my skin.

Fun Fact: The parts before Jack woke up actually vividly describe a dream that I had. All of that happened. The names were actually, Mark, Luke, and John.