When the Sun Begins to Die

Chapter 6

Cadence P.O.V

After a while, Josh and I decide to go out and have a look around. If we are going to live here we might as well be familiar with the area. Even if I will not be living in The Oasis permanently, I will need to know where certain things are.

Our building is full of teenagers, most being our age or a bit younger. The base level contains a large kitchen for us to share. Josh and I hear from others that it is restocked often. It doesn't sound half bad.

We don't bother talking to any other people our age. Josh doesn't seem like the social type and people tend to act hostile towards me. It's best that we just keep to ourselves.

We walk down the road. People have been calling this day "moving day," because everyone is moving into The Oasis. The sun could actually explode spontaneously at any moment, but scientists say we have several more months. I hardly believe that.

When the sun first started having problems the government set up monitors to track the amount of radiation the sun was giving off. They wanted to know if it was going to be lethal. I had kept track of several different monitors during that time. The levels weren't harmful, but in the past few weeks, the radiation had been rising steadily. Then the death of the sun might come sooner than they think.

I look up at the artificial sky. The sun is not visible. I'm not sure how thick the actual structure it, but I'm assuming that it must be thick enough to withstand an explosion from the sun, otherwise moving day was pointless.

"Well, this doesn't suck too much," Josh says after a moment.

I laugh softly, continuing to look around. "I suppose not, but that doesn't mean that everyone can sit down in a circle and sing Kumbaya, even in a place like this where everything seems perfect."

Josh laughs softly and smiles. It's nice to see someone smile during a time like this. It reminds me that even when the world feels like it's ending that there are things to smile about. I just have to search for them.

Normally I don't like to smile. It's just not something I do often. Sometimes I will do it to be polite, but a genuine smile is hard to earn from me. I guess that's part of me distancing myself. If I smile I feel like I'm getting close to someone.

'A lot of people are still being friendly and creating relationships with each other. I no longer see the point. I am becoming friends with Josh because he is my roommate and I would like to have him as a friend rather than a mortal enemy. It just makes everyone's lives easier. If he was not my roommate we would not be friends. We most likely wouldn't even be aware of each other's existence. Josh is the only person I'm going to have any kind of relationship with while I'm stuck in this bubble.'