Hazy Dusk: Yesterday Morning the Sun Shone Bright, Today Earth Saw No Light.

By Orjuana Khudari

Without the sun, the earth would be nothing and humanity would not exist. So what if one day the sun suddenly collapses? And humanity is challenged?
Seventeen years old Roxie Williams lived through the change and discovered her new abilities which she once believed were only in books and movies.
But more discoveries were on her way with the fading of warm spring days.
The icy air and snow blankets of April rose questions of following the wrong calendar and the differences between time zones but the truth was beyond the imagination of humanity.
The truth challenged the intelligence of everyone.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Apr 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490734798

Orjuana Khudari

Orjuana khudari spent her childhood in Saudi Arabia, where she began writing her own lyrics in Arabic at the age of eight. With her family, she moved to England where she spent her teenage years. Her written work varied since then, with two different languages she explored her interests in writing stories. Hazy Dusk was her first published novel written at the age of seventeen, hoping to write more in the near future.

Book preview

Muted cry…

R aindrops were falling steadily, like children bouncing from leaf to leaf. The sound of the dripping rain reverberated in Roxie’s ears and the rays of refracted light slowly bent through the drops. She leaned across the blurry glass watching the drops sweeping to the other side of it. She ran her fingers downward, following the little trails they made, as her body shivered faintly. Putting on her coat and taking hold of her little fluffy rabbit hat, she went down the stairs to the front door.

Roxie turned the door handle and opened it, keeping her hand on the handle; she gazed outside and took a long, deep breath. Liveliness ran through her. With a smile, she let go of the handle and closed the door after her. She pulled her hat on to prevent wetting her long, curly caramel hair, as the drops rained over her head.

She walked slowly then, holding her head high, keeping her ears open and listening to every drop of rain falling. She took a hair band from her wrist and quickly pulled her hair into a messy bun, securing it under her hat. Her hazel eyes watched the raindrops journey from leaf to leaf and then follow the others onto the ground to create little puddles on the road.

Hey, Roxie! As her friend May, came into view, Roxie’s interest in watching the raindrops evaporated.

Roxie smiled under the pouring rain, watching her friend jog towards her. May’s dark hair was uncovered and drenched. The rain glued the tips of her hair to her neck, covering her cheeks. May!

Between raged breaths, May’s slouched body asked: What are you doing here? It’s raining!

Says the girl with soaked hair. Roxie rolled her eyes at her friend’s state, but couldn’t help but let a soft giggle escape her.

Hey, May nudged Roxie’s side playfully. I was in town when it started raining!

Do you realise how lame that excuse is? Roxie grinned, noticing her friend’s shopping bags. What were you doing in town in the first place, young lady?

I was only buying my dear grandma a present for her birthday tomorrow, Ma’am. May smiled sweetly, as she nodded towards her shopping bags. Since they were thirteen years old, Roxie, May and Taylor, had been intrigued by the Victorian speech. Mimicking the Victorian delicate choice of words and polite terms became a habit for the three young girls. Now that four years had passed, their love for mimicking Victorian manners still lived between them.

Shouldn’t you have checked the weather first then? Or am I not being reasonable enough? Roxie challenged her friend, as she crossed her arms over her chest.

You’re right, my lady, I should have. May faked the most apologetic expression she could—she glanced downward, but kept her green puppy dog eyes on Roxie’s. They had no rule about who exhibited a higher status than the others; sometimes one of them would be in charge, while two obeyed her. Other times, one would be forced to obey the orders of the other two, or at least respect them.

Roxie nodded at her friend, uncrossing her arms. You’re forgiven. In return, you are to deliver a happy birthday message from me, to her Majesty, your grandma. As they began to mirror the Victorians four years back, other friends or random kids from school gave them sideways glances. However, the three girls soon had the others admiring their Victorian manners. Not that they addressed anyone other than each other with Victorians speech, but their classmates seemed to enjoy the exchanges they shared.

Yes, that would be— May couldn’t finish her sentence, because headlights appeared behind her. She turned her head to look around, to notice a car only a few feet away. May and Roxie ran out of the car’s way, clutching each other’s hands.

What was that driver thinking? Roxie said, as her hazel eyes glared at the back of the passing car.

Gee, I don’t know. But that was close! May shivered beneath her almost shoulder length hair. Maybe they were just rushing home for the night.

Unlike you, shopping in the cold, wet rain. Roxie glanced at her friend and stuck her tongue out.

I came home straight after it started pouring—well, I was on my way home… May grinned sheepishly.

You better get going then. Roxie shoved her friend in the direction of her house. Before the first week of primary school ended, May, Roxie and Taylor began a little friendship, with no knowledge of how long it would last. However, their little friendship deepened as they grew together.

Yeah, it’s getting cold, aren’t you heading home too? May asked shivering. No wonder she was shivering; she was wearing a yellow sleeveless shirt with black tight jeans and sandals. Roxie observed her before looking down at her own clothes.

Roxie was wearing her navy blue coat, Wellingtons and a random pair of jeans. I’m warmly dressed, she thought, as she wiggled her eyebrows towards her fluffy rabbit hat. I just wanted to watch these raindrops, Roxie extended her left palm, But you interrupted me! Secretly, Roxie couldn’t blame her friend for her choice of clothes, since technically it was almost spring.

I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you were busy, May winked at her friend, smirking. I’m gonna run home, though, before I freeze. As soon as May let out those words, she turned and ran towards her house, waving at Roxie.

I’ll see you tomorrow, Roxie waved back and continued her walk up the road as a memory crept into her thoughts, making her smile. She remembered how she and her two friends’ obsession with the Victorian Era had made them each beg their mothers for Victorian dresses to wear to the end of term school party. Roxie remembered how the gorgeous fabric felt against her fingertips.

They had to wear two pieces to complete the look of the dress connected complete with clips and ties. All three dresses had high V-necks. Victorian ladies wore either one or two skirts, but the girls decided to wear two skirts.

Their underskirts were longer, forming a short train, and their top skirts looked like aprons. Although all three dresses were the same design, each girl wore her favourite colour. May wore yellow, Roxie wore royal blue and Taylor wore teal, making her naturally red hair glow. Roxie’s lips smiled even wider, as she walked remembering the joy the three of them felt that day.

Before her thoughts could wander even more, she heard something.

A baby’s voice. Her eyes blinked, and she turned her body around to look everywhere within her vicinity, recoiling her caramel hair while she turned around again, slower this time. But there was no movement anywhere around her, although she could still hear the voice. It wasn’t a crying noise, or laughter either.

To her, it sounded like a scared baby, a baby her eyes couldn’t see, but just hear with her ears. A baby that was calling—calling her. But why? She turned once more and then ran down the road till she was standing at her front door. She stopped to catch her breath and then froze.

What was that all about? She wondered silently. The cry was gone, or at least she couldn’t hear it any more. Not only had the baby been muted, but the rain stopped too.

Lost…

F ar away, an alarming sentence rushed to every corner of the huge physics laboratory, making every lab technician stare worriedly at the person who owns that voice: We’ve lost control of it!

Try again… An average sized man walked through the lab followed by the other lab technicians who clearly revered him. His slightly tanned skin blended in with his sandy blonde hair. His wide, grey eyes could not conceal his excitement. His thick eyebrows showed interest, but exposed his fear at the same time. Even though he was a young man, only in his late thirties—almost forty, he appeared to be both wise and intelligent.

I can’t find it!

We lost it!

It fell out,!

And then it vanished, exclaimed a choir of voices, sending everyone in the lab spinning into worry.

Track it down! The man’s grey eyes widened and then ran across the screen, whirling around and around trying to find a clue.

After what seemed like an eternity, he looked away and turned to his helpers. Unfortunately, it’s nowhere to be found, but it can’t stay hidden for long! We will be able to track it down in the morning—we must do.

What if it fell to an unknown planet, Mr Jones? asked an elderly man, looking through his glasses at his deputy head, tiredly.

Let’s just hope it didn’t. Now go and rest for tonight, because we will start working early tomorrow morning. With his order, every member nodded and cleared the area.

Mr Jones walked out after he and Mr Jackson, head of this physics laboratory, discussed their situation. On his way out Mr Jones closed a few doors behind him, checking on the labs, till he closed the last door. Glancing up, he read every letter within the four words lovingly: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.

It had been his dream since he was eleven years old and there he was, finally working on a major project to save his loved ones and everyone around them. Nothing had ever prevented him from fulfilling his dream to save this planet, the humans’ planet Earth and nothing would stop him now.

*   *   *

How was college, darling? Roxie’s dad asked her, as she walked through the door from college the next day. He watched her enter the kitchen and approach the fruit bowl; she picked up each apple, in order to choose the most perfect one of all, like she always did. She washed the chosen red apple under the low tap, tilting her head to the side faintly to watch the water droplets removing the dirt and sliding it down the drain to float around. Down went the water and the dirt, beginning another long journey, maybe an endless one.

Fine. She gave her a dad an elongated one worded answer whilst walking out of the kitchen, heading towards the staircase. But before reaching the stairs, Roxie popped her head inside the living room and looked around to her right, exploring what sort of day it was. It seemed normal—at least to her parents. Yet her head was somewhere else, too far away, a great distance away.

Are you alright, sweetie? She turned to find her mum, sitting on the other side of the room, looking away from the TV screen at her daughter and then back at the screen. Her mum was watching the news, the weather reporter babbling on about the recent change of weather and how it had rained most of the week.

Yeah. Her answer came, even though she felt otherwise. Her mind wouldn’t stay focused on one thing; it kept leaping from one thought to the next, taking her away from reality. Ever since the previous morning she had been thinking about that baby, wondering who it was and why was it there alone on a rainy day. Ugh, my head will never stop this nonsense, she thought.

She couldn’t get that little, desperate voice off her mind; it was stuck there, glued in her head, repeating rapidly in her ears over and over again. Just then, her eyes blinked twice. At last, she had an idea, something she could do: Mum, can I go outside for a walk?

If it makes you feel better, off you go, answered her dad, while her mum nodded. Before walking away from the doorframe, Roxie thought twice: why waste time going for a walk, when I could spend an evening with both of my parents? Having both of them home at the same time during the day was quite unusual.

Since her mum worked as an assistant for disabled children all year round, her mum was barely home. Her dad was also rarely home, since he worked as a police officer. However, she doubted the little desperate voice would leave her alone to enjoy the evening. Hurriedly, Roxie turned towards the door for a moment and just stared.

Terror ran through her body for a few seconds. She doubted she had enough strength to be near the voice again. She turned once more and headed towards the stairs, ignoring her new idea.

*   *   *

Roxie’s eyes opened the next morning to the comforting sight of her bedroom surrounding her,