As he walked home from school, all Jonathan could think about is how much he couldn't wait to get there.
It had been a long, exhausting day. Waiting for the final bell, he'd laid his head on his textbook, eyes glazed over, staring out the window at the trees. All he could think about is how close it was to the end of the semester, the end of grade 10.
Now, on his walk home, report card clutched in his hand, all he wanted to do was to disappear into his room and read.
He waited on the corner for the light to change. Having turned sixteen just two days ago, he didn't yet have his full driver's license, so he had to walk. This didn't bother him; he was used to being active. Living on a farm with his foster parents, most of the chores had become his responsibility, and he did them diligently.
The stop light changed to a walking symbol. As he stepped into the crosswalk, he noticed people weren't very friendly, mostly glancing at others before immediately looking away.
Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a loud boom echoed out all around him.
Instinctively ducking, he looked up and what he saw was straight out of a science fiction novel.
An absolutely massive silver object moved in the sky above the city, completely blocking out the sun. As it moved, more and more of the sky was obscured,until there was nothing but blackness. Then, a figure appeared in the air around them, flickering slightly.
Realizing this was a hologram, Jonathan immediately paid close attention to the being. It was small, only about a meter in height, with long arms and no discernible legs, waist, or other features - just arms, a torso, and a head. The hologram was yellow, with large black eyes, two slits for a nose, and a very large mouth.
Suddenly, a voice resonated from everywhere at once.
"Greetings humans. I come bearing bad news. Today we have achieved something that is truly a scientific breakthrough.
We have achieved what you call absolute zero. This achievement, however, has initiated an exponentially increasing chain reaction, stopping all atomic energy. It is estimated this universe will cease to exist as moving matter within 2 hours. Therefore, as the last of my species remaining, I have come here to try and ensure our universe will not entirely perish.
All able-bodied humans the age of 16 will be transported to another parallel universe we have discovered, along with myself.
I only have 200 years left to live. What waits in this universe is unknown; our probes indicate that there has been no intelligent life, only animal life. In one hour we shall depart. Say goodbye to your families. I hope you can carry on the legacy of our universe."
With this, the hologram disappeared, leaving behind a profound silence. Then, a voice broke the stillness. "No way! Aliens have been real this whole time, and this is what they came to tell us?"
As if a switch had been flipped, mass panic erupted.
People were running everywhere; others were pulling out cellphones to take pictures, while some were frantically calling their families to see if they'd witnessed the same thing.
Jonathan overheard one conversation. "Yeah, I didn't see a ship or anything but I saw a weird yellow thing telling us we're all gonna die."
Laughing, Jonathan sat down in the middle of the street. People had already abandoned their cars, and he suddenly didn't feel like going home at all.
Flipping open his report card he saw the marks. Nothing good there, so he laughed again and tore it up. "Well, guess I won't be getting in trouble for this one!" He said to no one in particular.
Glancing around he saw another guy sitting down just like him, but instead of laughing, he just had a completely blank stare on his face. Jonathan couldn't blame him; judging by his looks, he was in his 30's, with a large, unkempt beard, and red baseball cap, he looked as if he was trying to remember every important moment in his life.
Then, about 20 minutes later, there was only about 30 of them left in the street, where before, there had been hundreds.
Not bothering to move, Jonathan decided to take this time to try to mentally prepare himself for whatever could possibly be next.
His mind going wild with fantasies from all the books he had read, he had a blank stare on his face just like the guy earlier, but in his eyes was a glimmer of hope, a chance to finally escape this monotonous world, to not be forced to go down a career path he didn't want just to survive another day, make another dollar.
There was a chance that this could lead to something amazing, something fantastical. He also thought about all the bad things this could turn out to be as well.
Suddenly, just like before, a hologram appeared, the same yellow being was in front of him once more.
"Your time is up, to all you humans who are remaining behind, I'm sorry my species actions will affect you. To all who are coming with me, we have have leave now or risk being ended with the rest of this universe."
The last thing Jonathan remembered was the crazy look the guy in the baseball cap was giving him.