“Come on . . . come on!” I yell, flicking switches, pulling on the control stick, but nothing is working. I’m spiraling out of control, going down, down, down.

“Defense system failing. Prepare for uncoordinated landing on Planet: Unknown.” The spaceship says. “No! No, no, no!” I exclaim, but that doesn’t help when I land roughly on a planet.

“Eughh,” I groan, aching all over. Thankfully I’m still in one piece, although I can’t say the same for my control panel. It’s cracked in many places, and completely fried.

My suit seems mostly all right, although a bit ripped. I better get outside, explore the damage.

I get my helmet on, in case I can’t breath the air on this planet.

I exit the ship, walking through the airlock and I take a step back. My eyes widen and my breath quickens. Is that . . . my house?

It is, and there, next to it, is Mr and Mrs. Douglass’s house, just like home. But something is . . . off.

Everything is eerily still, and completely quiet. There aren’t even any birds chirping. I approach my house, taking small, slow steps.

The house key is right under the doormat, typical of my mom. It seems like I’ve landed back on my own planet.

But upon opening the door, I know this isn’t my planet. It can’t be, it can’t be, this has to be a dream.

Because instead of seeing my mom’s sweet smile, my sister’s devious antics, or my dad’s reassuring gaze, all I see are their ruined, bloody corpses.

“No . . . no! This isn’t real! Wake up, Dayna, WAKE UP!” But I don’t. Nothing changes. I run out, running to the Douglass’s house, seeing if they know what happened, if they can help.

But they are exactly the same. Ruined. Bloody. Dead. “NO!”

I sprint for a few minutes, running to the police station I would always drive past on my way to pick up my little sister from daycare.

But upon entering town, all I see are corpses. In cars. On the sidewalk. Everywhere.

I cry a strangled, ugly, sob. What- what happened here?

At this point, my one wish is for whatever happened here to come for me. I want, I need this to end. I need to wake up. But this isn’t a dream.