I’m sitting in my grey square cubicle, while on a research trip to NASA in Richmond, Virginia. I’m over fifteen-thousand miles away from my home in Australia. I am learning an abundant amount of information on this trip, and meeting many people who have had an immense impact on my life. Although I am liking it here in the United States, my heart is back home with my beautiful, glowing bride who is pregnant with our first child. The small miracle we have been trying desperately to have, will finally make us a perfect little family of three. Family has always been my main priority, my parents instilled this value in me at a young age.
I miss my parents, Suzanne and Rich, every day, and have for the last 11 years… They both, died in a tragic car accident, leaving my wife and I to care for my 17 year old brother Colin. I am anxious to be reunited with my family in Australia in a week, and even more excited to meet our baby that is due in three weeks. I’m praying my daughter doesn’t decide to come early into this beautiful earth. We are thrilled about our addition to the family, and I’m counting down the days until I get home to be with my wife. I can’t wait to smell the aromas of her special homemade cinnamon rolls, play with her beautiful hair, playfully squeeze her, make her laugh, and above all, raise our first child together. It seems after 28 years, my life is just beginning. I’m ecstatic to see what is in store for the rest of my life, time is still abundant. These past few years my goal had been to transform into a new man. I have changed from my rough past and given up those bad habits that held me back. In the past, I always dreamed about the life I am living now, it’s never too late to start living. Like Eleanor Roosevelt said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” I am one who has never stopped believing to get where I am today.
I just woke up on a gorgeous day, there isn’t a cloud in the sky, and the sun is shining brighter than most days. I’m making my favorite Folgers black coffee to take to work, and my day begins like every other routine day. I talk to a few people here and there, while networking and researching astronomy throughout the day. The only thing different about today is that I am going to leave work early at 1:00 pm, because my reoccurring throbbing headaches have returned again for the seventh time this month. I’m meandering my way through the cars in the parking lot to find mine. All of a sudden through the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of a dark shadow speeding across the blue sky. I turn to look, and the shadow was black and ominous followed by a tail of fire.  Ooooh my gosh, what the heck is that? Intensely, I keep watching and waiting for something to happen. Where did it go? Then it registers in my mind what is happening as I can see something in the far away distance. There is no time to act, I know it’ll be a short few minutes before… All I  hear are ear-piercing gut reaction screams to my left and right. My heart is thumping a million miles an hour with fright. It feels as if it is going to rip through my broad muscular chest. I don’t exactly know what is going on, but deep down from the bottom of my gut there is this instinct that is telling me it is not going to end well.
I see a huge cloud of smoke in the distance, and after three seconds I literally hear an earth shattering boom, almost as if the sound was in slow motion. It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced.  The indescribable sound causes my ears to ring, and my senses to become disoriented. The sounds of the explosion disappear, and the world becomes silent. I am beginning to feel like I am the only person in the world. Everything in me is scared and frozen with fear.
I’m sitting on my cloth seats in my old 1999 Ford Taurus.  I often escape problems in my life by listening to my music in the car I’ve had since I was 18. Now, I am white knuckling my steering wheel with my eyes clenched together tighter than my fists trying to control my fear. I have no idea what is happening around me. I will not open my eyes, as I am afraid that the world will look so disastrous that it will be unrecognizable. Did my wife see this disastrous occasion? Is she alright? Is the baby born yet? What is going on? These questions are seared into my mind, and I can’t seem to focus.
********************
At that moment on the other side of the world, Byron's wife, Zaylee is in the delivery room.
I cannot believe this is happening. I am giving birth to my first born child without her father. At the same time I know something crazy is going on in the world, just by listening to the frantic tone in the nurses' voices. This disaster is not helping in anyway, I am in so much pain and under so much stress I feel suffocated. Thoughts are racing through my mind like a tidal wave. Instead of the joy of birth of my child I am thinking about things people should never have to think about. Now, the nurses say they can see my daughter's head, but the picture frames on the wall come crashing down causing a loud distraction to the delivery staff. The room is just spinning, I feel as if I have vertigo, I wish that what the case.  I don't completely understand what is happening as I can’t see outside. No matter the disaster I am in, they have to deliver the baby, or there is no chance my baby will survive.
  She is finally born after 7 hours of labor and ear piercing-screams. I am in the   recovery room, alone, holding Byron and is first born child. I can’t help but wish he was there to experience the first time feeling with him. I imagine so many scenes within my mind of the future, and soon it all comes into full consciousness of what was happening while I was in labor. Something very serious had happened around me in the world. My hormones go crazy like any mom in distress, and I starts to sob. A stream of black tears from my mascara flow down my face, and drip from my square chin onto the baby’s pink hat.
*********************
I aggressively open and slam my car door seeing a sun brighter than ever, and  I am sweating unusually. I sprint into the research lab to see if any of the other  astronomers know what is going on with the world since I am completely unaware of the event that just occurred. I step into the lab to see a circle of researchers talking a million miles a minute.
“Hey, what going on,” I say
I get about 17 different answers.
“Shush, one person at a time, now tell me what has happened?
My best friend Cole, who trained me when I first got here, spoke up. With terror and fear in his voice he managed to say, “A ferocious natural disaster has occurred, and we probably don’t have long to live…”
I stop listening, only wondering what was going on back home in Sydney, Australia. Thoughts of sorrow are flowing within my brain, this is the end of my life that was just beginning. Maybe I should have started living sooner, and not waited 28 years. It really is too late to start living. I just realized I totally zoned out what Cole was saying.
“Wait will you repeat that, I didn’t catch it.”
Of course everyone is frustrated and scatterbrained, so I get many eye rolls, but being the great friend Cole is, he starts from the beginning with his intense voice that is adding suspense,“A ferocious natural disaster has occurred, and we probably won’t make it living on Earth for more than a week. An asteroid has hit the earth leaving us with unknown possibilities. It wasn’t a typical asteroid researchers often predict will hit in hundreds of years. It was an asteroid that is smaller in size, but at least five times faster in speed making it more destructive. This asteroid hit in the middle of the pacific ocean, and went through the entire earth leaving it in two large pieces floating like bubbles in our solar system. The possibilities are unpredictable, and we have no idea what will happen, we are all just going to stick around, and wait it out to see what happens.”
I think about the information I have just interpreted. Helpless, we sit in silence. After awhile I think of my wife yet again. I wonder to myself for the millionth time, how is she? Just then it hit me like the asteroid supposedly hit the earth, overwhelming me with mixed emotions. Using my geographical knowledge, I know that the pacific ocean is in between the US and Australia. That can only mean that my wife and I are separated potentially forever!  If the earth split between the US and Australia that means that we are on two different pieces of earth, and we aren’t even confident we know where the other half is. Silence fills the room, my dark brown eyes that compliment my short buzz cut hair, fill with tears, as I know I have just potentially lost connection with my wife and my everything… forever. Immediately, I get on my iPhone to call her, and it is just a long and low monotone beep. Our phones don’t work because phone poles are down. How will I ever be able to think straight again if I don’t know what condition my wife is in, and if my child has been born yet?
I walk out to my car in the scorching heat that is increasing rapidly. I’m just ready to get out of my business casual outfit and into my pajamas, then lay my 210 pound and 5’10” body onto my bed. I just want to go to sleep, and when I wake up have everything go back to normal. 
After a short, restless nap I woke up and left for work to see if they have discovered any new information over night.
“Byron Byron, both pieces of the world are ending within the next two days, but in two completely different ways.” said a guy I’ve been researching with.
“What, how’s that possible?” I said unsure of what I just heard.
“Well you know how the earth is in two pieces?”
“Yes.”
“Well when the asteroid hit the earth with great speed that speed carried over and knocked the piece of earth that we are on at least 40 million miles out of our orbit, and the other half got shot 100 million miles out of the normal orbit. Haven’t you noticed the hot temperatures lately?”
“Yes, I was sweating worse than a sinner in church, and it was as if you could just feel the temperatures increasing by the second. When I went out to my car this morning I could barely sit on my seats they were so hot.”
“That is because when we were knocked 40 million miles out of orbit we were knocked 40 million miles closer to the sun. In about one or two days the earth will leave us to die from intense heat. The air conditioners aren’t going to be able to keep up with these high temperatures. We just have to plan on dying at this point there is no way around it, because I know for a fact, I can’t move the earth 40 million miles.”
Silence.
“I don’t even know what to say.”
“There’s more…”
“I don’t know if I can bare anymore news, I’m too overwhelmed. All I want is to be with my wife.”
“Well you probably want to know this part too....”
“Okay, get it over with.”
“We got pushed towards the sun, but the other half of earth, is in the opposite scenario right now. You know how I said they got knocked 100 million miles out of orbit?”
“Yes.”
“Well when they got knocked 100 million miles out of orbit they got pushed further away from the sun, and they are experiencing extremely cold temperatures. The skin won’t be able to handle it if exposed. Their bodies will shut down ending their lives. Everything is freezing over there. The heaters can’t keep up with the negative temperature. We have never seen anything like these two problems, but they are happening. Temperatures are opposite and so extreme life cannot be supported on either half of the Earth.”
“I want my wife, but I’m stuck here in the US with all of you. Take me home.”
I feel like dying right now. I’m going to die. I am crying in fear. I want to go home. I want my wife. I wish I knew if my daughter was born yet. I wish I could meet her before I die. That’s all I want at this point. I want to see her, she’s probably going to be beautiful like her mom… All I want to do is give up, It is hard to believe in my dreams when I know that they will never come true.
How is this happening. I am looking down at my phone and it says “Facetime from Zaylee” how is that possible. Maybe the phone poles are just down but our wifi still works and that’s why we can facetime. I answer immediately to see a little baby's face pop up on my screen. It’s my daughter. I start to tear up, she’s more perfect than I thought she would be.
“Hi Hunny, how are you? Are you alright?” I said to my wife.
“Yes, I’m doing alright so is our beautiful baby girl Paisley.”
“That is so good to hear, I have been worried sick about you two.”
“I’ve been worried about you as well. When are you coming home?”
“Wait, you haven’t heard?”
“No, what happened”
I explain the whole situation to her, leaving us crying in silence. We both know that we won’t be able to see each other before we die.
I say to her, “No matter what happens I want you to know that I have loved you since the second I laid my eyes on you. I couldn’t have asked for a better soul mate than you. My parents would be so proud of our accomplishments. I’m so sad that I couldn’t be there for our baby’s birth, but at least I get to see her before we die. I didn’t think I would even get to do that. I’m beyond thankful to have someone like you in my life. I am the luckiest man in the world. I guess this is our goodbye for now, I hope to see you again soon. I love you just as much as I did the first day I met you, and thanks for making all of my dreams come true.”
With tears rolling out of her perfect crystal blue eyes she says, “I love you so much too. I don’t think we need to worry about our futures, we just need to trust God. Don’t worry we will see each other again some day, I promise. I love you, see you soon.”
I hear the call end. Those words she said are enough to reassure me that we will see each other soon, and I will see my daughter as well. I am believing with my whole heart that in the future I will see her again.