The Sound (unfinished)

People start to hear a strange sound in the sky.

There was a noise all across the sky. It sounded like a passenger jet, except much louder, and it held in the air without dissipation. To say it was, "much louder" than a passenger jet is a gross injustice. It was loud like an explosive. It silenced everything around it for miles. It silenced every one. Slow at first, it grew louder over a few minutes, and for a noise like that to play into the air for that long was already unsettling. People began to stop what they were doing, to sit up in their seats, look out of their windows, stop walking in the streets.

Dillon parted his curtains to his street at dusk. The road and sidewalks were blue, the sky presenting the final slithers of a pink sun. People who were walking by had stopped, looking up with bewildered faces. He frowned, and felt a deep uncertainty in the pit of his stomach. The streetlamps glowed, illuminating the cold air around them, and cars were still driving down the main road to his right, setting red taillights against the dark forest behind it. He sat at his windowsill for around thirty seconds, trying to get a good look at the sky was difficult from here, however. 

"I'm going to have a look outside," he turns around swiftly, shifting a laptop across the bed. 

"I'm going out too, call me on the phone when you're out there." A girls face on the screen responds as he slips a hooded jumper over dark brown hair. Dillon listens to the bubbling tone of the call ending while tying his shoes at the door, before grabbing his keys and swinging it open. A flatmate is walking by, down their hallway at the time.

"You hearing this?" asks the flatmate, Jake, grabbing Dillon's gaze as he passes by, then walks quickly to the front door. Dillon locks his and follows behind him. Some of his neighbours are also leaving their flats, some standing in the doorways and halls in dressing gowns and pyjamas, the noise of their concerned chatter slowly rising. Outside in the communal area, groups of people cluster in the cold air, unsure of what to do. They look confused, and look up at the sky, the sound looming. It creates a strange, apocalyptic atmosphere. 

Dillon meets with Jake again as they buzz out of the gate. Cars haven't stopped driving at this point, but the number of frozen pedestrians increases. It's louder now he's outside, sounding like it's coming from a deep and yet scattered place. It's chilling, the broadness of it, how it seems to be coming from no where and yet everywhere at once. It's reach, Dillon knows now is at least for ten miles, as his girlfriend still living in his hometown where they met heard it at the exact same time, and at the exact same volume.

Dillon pulls his phone out of his back pocket and begins to search the name "Jess", before he notices a symbol indicating a complete lack of service. His stomach drops. He tries to call her nonetheless, but it doesn't even dial. A voice pierces the deafening rumble. "What's going on?" The other flatmate, John, a tall, skinny blonde, appears beside him. Dillon looks at him wide eyed and stutters, unable to produce an answer. "Think it's a siren, or something? Like, the army?" John asks.

"Doesn't sound like a siren, don't really feel like we're being warned for something," Jake answers with his arms folded, looking up. The weather is overcast, and it's getting darker by the minute. Grey clouds fill the sky, and Dillon can't see far into the distance due to thick fog. 

"I can't ring Jess." Dillon stutters. His flatmates look at him simultaneously. 

"Jess is fine, she's miles away." Jake replies, turning his gaze to the sky once more. 

"No, it's there too." Shaken, Dillon stares at the ground, all colour drained from his face. He's heavily asthmatic and begins to lose his breath as a collective anxiety builds. "I left my inhaler inside, I'll be back in a second." 

"Wait, Jess is hearing this too?" John exclaims. "What the f**k is this?"

Dillon shakes his head and looks at Jake, who's staring at him in shock. "I need my inhaler, I'm going to get it." He rushes for the gate and re enters his flat, unlocking the door and immediately reaching for a bag, with a small pocket containing his inhaler. He sits on the bed for a moment, while shooting puffs of air into his mouth. The laptop sits next to him in a sleep mode, and he wiggles the mouse on the bed to wake it up. A text conversation with his girlfriend displays in the window of their video calling program. He presses the call button, only to be prompted to connect to the internet, which is when he realises it's gone. Attempts at reconnecting on either his phone or laptop all fail. 

Slumping in his seat on the side of the bed, he places his inhaler in his hoodie pocket. Cars start to stop in the middle of the street and horns blare incessantly. He watches from his window, a group of boys his age, probably out for the night, hollering and cheering with beers in their hands. People are either mesmerised, terrified or laughing and screaming with their friends, in the hallways and out on the street. The noise of the people becomes louder, and Dillon places his forehead against the glass of the window, unable to stop thinking about Jess. When it happens.

It sounds like a bomb in the distance. Just a blunt, forceful impact, echoing from somewhere far away. Dillon lived very close to New York, where he was studying. A white flash appeared somewhere, he assumed, that was around the heart of the city.  First it was just a searing light, until the initial explosion ended and a constant and steady rumbling began from what was now a pillar or beam falling from the sky. His eyes widen, unable to comprehend what he is witnessing, his heart palpating wildly. First everyone fell silent, until the rumbling grew louder, and a cloud of smoke and light could be seen travelling quickly towards them. Then they all screamed.

Dillon inched away from the window and sat on the edge of the bed, the soft springs giving beneath him. He stared at the carpet, and began to have memories. His childhood, his parents. He remember days together, holidays, birthdays, Christmases. He remembers his friends and school, he remembers the things that made him who he is. He remembers his dreams, what he wanted from his life. What he thought he was going to get, what he thought he was going to do. He thinks about Jess, how he thought they were going to have a life together. 

Author's Note

I'm a hobbyist, amateur writer, I don't write often but I'd like to start to now, and start improving. Any and all reviews welcome, but I'd really like to know if you mostly founding it engaging and enjoyable.