***NOTE***

Hey reader! I have linked the video to this story. It's an audiobook. Read along or simply listen, either way is fine by me!

https://youtu.be/-eH9qvFy0hs

No one quite knew where the eye came from, or when it opened. An eye, that stretched from beyond the horizon and encompassed the entire sky, had opened only moments ago. Its eyelid was time and space itself, and its owner, well, there wasn't one. The light pollution and smog of any one city did little to shield their respective citizens from the eye. No matter where anyone was at on the western part of the planet, Mexico, Brazil, Alaska, they all saw the eye, and the eye saw all of them.

New York City, for once in its lifetime, stopped with the hustle and bustle and stared back at the eye staring at them. The vehicles traversing the highways which snaked through Los Angeles came to a slow halt. The people of Chicago stood in awe.

Farmers in Iowa, and truck drivers in Colorado, and teachers in Florida, and families in Washington, and anyone else driving along the highway, crossing from one end of the country to the other, pulled aside and stared at the curious eye.

Anyone who could see the eye, which was everyone beneath its gaze, stared in stupid wonder as its focus shifted from the ocean to a city, and then to farmlands, and then at once, the pupil dilated.

The eyelid was the open night sprinkled with stars, galaxies, and the moon. Once the eyelid shut, the eye was no more. It vanished. Into nothing. Those who had gawked at the watchful eye wondered if what they saw was real. Everyone in the United States, Canada, Mexico, well, everyone on the western side of the hemisphere questioned if what they saw was real.

Charles Thomas, father of three and widowed, stood at the edge of his deck. His home was tidy and just what he needed after the car accident; a tragic event which took from him his wife and two daughters. It's been twenty-five years, and he still remembers, all of it, everything. The memories haven't faded, but alcohol has dulled the edge of his pain. He shook off the nightmare and stood, waiting for the eye to return.

His phone rang, and he answered it. A soft feminine voice came through on the other side.

It was his daughter, Lauren, and her tone carried an air of uncertainty and fear. She said, "

Charles walked inside. Two helicopters flew overhead and shook his home. As the picture frame he stared at shook, he said, ""

He walked through his kitchen, and into his living room. Sitting above his fireplace were pictures of his late wife and two children. His youngest daughter, Lauren, was now thirty-four. His middle child, Sarah, would have turned thirty-eight this year, and his oldest, Bethany, would have been forty. His wife, Belle, she'd be sixty-two.

A drunken fool ran a red light and t-boned the right side of Charles' car. Unfortunately, internal bleeding resulted in the death of Sarah, and blunt impact killed Bethany and Belle, as they were on the side of the wayward vehicle.

The drunkard wasn't wearing a seat belt and became crimson paste against his windshield; one can suppose that him not wearing his belt was a good thing, because now he will never drink and drive again.

Charles shook the flashback out of his head and studied Belle's face, her eyes, her smile. This photo, consisting of himself, his wife, and three daughters once gave him peace. Now it serves as a reminder that half of those people, his wife and two daughters, are bones in the earth and dead as stone.

Lauren cleared her throat and brought her father's attention back to the conversation they were in. Charles looked into the loving eyes of his wife and whispered, ""

Lauren said, "we're already packing our bags. David is on the phone now trying to buy two plane tickets, it sucks we have to cut our honeymoon short."

Charles' phone buzzed in his hand. His poker buddy was calling. Charles wished his daughter good luck and sat down at the kitchen table. His house rumbled as three jets flew overhead. He took the call and his buddy indicated he saw the eye. Of course he saw it, half the world saw it.

His phone vibrated again. Another poker buddy was calling, and then another. As he sat at the table, the screech of tires against asphalt reverberated through his home. Charles poured himself a shot of whiskey and sucked down the burning liquid.

He clinched his jaw, and then took another shot as he looked out of his living room window. Four military APCs drove down the street, followed by seven Humvees. They pulled off the road and drove into the vast expanse of desert, leaving behind a shallow plume of dust. Charles nodded and took another shot of whiskey.

Once the edge of the situation had dulled, and the whiskey made him just a bit less worried, he turned on the television, and changed the channel to station four news. The old tube illuminated to life, and two news anchors from Channel Four News, Paradise Nevada, were reporting on the enormous eye.

Alexis, a thin woman with auburn hair tied into a tight bun, clasped her hands together as she said with a taught smile, ""

Her co-anchor, Jason, a businessman type fellow, shook his head as he replied, ""

Alexis pressed her lips together and smirked as she said, "

Jason sighed and buried his face into his palm as he said, ""