Chapter 3: ADDENDUM - DAY 1

4:45 a.m. Still in a rush of adrenaline after tonight. There are things happening in one's life, at a particular time, which pile up even more pressure on what one is going through, and then there are other events that release some of the pressure because they are so big, so large in scale and scope that even one's struggles take a back seat when they occur. Tonight was one of the latter. I managed to take my mind off Audrey for a few hours and, even though I have spent most of the night awake, like I have done most of the nights so far, tonight was a completely different affair.

I turned on my laptop to tune into mindless online programs that could numb me to sleep, only to find all social media sites flooded with pop-up bubbles and notifications from groups that had #Safe in their titles. I instantly thought another terrorist attack might've occurred either in the US or Europe, but a series of photos and video links showing what appeared to be an asteroid or meteor, shed some light on what was going on.

This is taken from the NASA's website: 'A 15-meter-wide meteorite, which astronomers believe it had broken apart from Asteroid Orphana, entered the Earth Atmosphere at 12:21 pm PST, before burning out in air dust, leaving a trail of gas and debris over the Lake Tahoe, Sierra Nevada. The burst of light was five times brighter than that of the Sun and the object is estimated to have hurtled through the atmosphere at 8 miles per second. Witnesses on the ground have reported that the object split into about 7-10 smaller parts, almost like an 'explosion of fireworks', before eventually hitting the ground and blasting windows from the neighboring buildings. The bulk of the remaining meteorite is thought to have hit the southern shore of Lake Tahoe, with a force equivalent to 1000 TNTs. No deaths have been reported but more than 1000 people have been injured mainly because of broken glass and debris falling off buildings'.

Lake Tahoe is about 55 miles from where I am. If the biggest rock hit there where did the others parts land? 12 pm. That was even before my classes had started, and there wasn't one mention of it either in the classroom or by a member of staff. How come I didn't see any light from the explosion?

At about 2 am (I actually thought it was much earlier than that) my dad opened the door to my room in his usual manner, no knock, no warning . 'You up, as well? Are you watching any of these? About the meteor? It's all over the news.' 'Yep', came my fast reply, happy that, for once, we are both connected by a talk which isn't personal, and doesn't require either of us floundering for an answer that will reassure the other that we are both OK. 'It's so close to where we live', the adrenaline making me state the obvious. 'Are you kidding?' Lake Tahoe is a stone's throw away', said my father from across the room as he opened the fridge and 'releasing it of the weight' (his own words) of a six-pack of Budweiser. 'It's practically in our backyard'.

We sat down and he downed the six-pack, in silence, staring at the CNN, of which my father says it's only good if 'big things happen in the world', but otherwise a big pile of 'misleading Republican crap'. A flurry of reporters from all over the world, from the BBC to Al-Jazeera, camped in the neighboring shores of the lakes, almost all apologizing for lack of clear footage from the impact zone, due to night falling over these parts, and debris, mud and fallen trees scattered around it. About a dozen or so pieces of amateur footage and dashcams, showing the meteorite blazing through the Northern Californian sky before impact, interspersed the live broadcasts, and they reminded me of those I had seen when the Russian meteor had hit Siberia a few years before. I asked my father if he recognized any of the eye-witnesses being interviewed but he said '55 miles is quite a distance; it's not totally your neck of the woods'. A brief statement from the White House followed, which gave a scale of how big this was. Just knowing that the President was acknowledging the shock waves the meteor had sent through the entire US and across the ocean instated some sort of importance and responsibility in myself as I knew I was fortunate, somehow, to be part of all this; and that luck, hopefully, had made it that I was here now and not in New York.

Forgot to mention that, in all this flurry, I received a Facebook message from Ella, telling me she'd heard the news and wondered if I was ok and safe. 'Yes'... and then I struggled to find words to continue the message. Better leave it like that, for a while. But then I felt guilty she might take it personally or think I was mad at her, so continued to reassure her I was ok. Here's a copy/paste for you: 'Manic? Isn't it? It's about 55 miles from where I live and I didn't even see the 'bright light' they mentioned on the news.' I wanted to continue with an 'although I did hear a loud bang during the class' but that would have been just a lie to impress her and it wouldn't have worked since I know she panics all the time, especially at the thought I would be so close to danger. Ella was quick to reply: 'I'm happy you're ok. You must feel great, though, knowing you were so close to it.' We then continued to exchange overly-friendly lines about how asteroids are closer to my world than hers (she works for a real estate agency) and how frightened she would've been had it been her living in Northern California and not me. She went on to describe how well she was doing with this new guy she'd met and I took it all in like a good sport and listened to how well he drives a car and how I should have learned to drive all the time we were together. The conversation fizzled after about thirty minutes, when she told me she had to get ready to go to work (it's 7 am on the East Coast) but assured me she'd stay in touch. It took my mind off Audrey again and made me realize how awfully lonely I've been these past few days and maybe she felt like that too. I'm thinking of sending her a text message again.