A Mushroom Cloud or a Lost Love? Both!

Date: 1/17/2026

I was over my home's rooftops, looking at the horizon just like I used to do as a little kid. When I spot a weird airplane that could move really fast and stop middle air to turn around as if gravity doesn't exist. Later on, I found out it belonged to the Americans and that their president just announced he might just nuke us. I knew what to do, take my family to the car, and drive as fast as possible to the most uninteresting city in the state and hope that a nuclear winter doesn't happen. If that was the case, it was a bit late. I saw a mushroom cloud forming on a distance, and when I took a good look, I thought, "Shockwave!". But all that I felt was an instantaneous heat all over my body and too much fear. The explosion was way too far, and all I could think about was to save my parents and my pets. So I started running to them, they saw what happened so I didn't need to convince anyone. They jumped in the car, I put our pets with them, my dad's bird, and our little chihuahua too. It was time to leave, but for some reason, I went to the rooftops again, and it was as I passed through a portal. It kind of took me back in time, as if none of that happened. And I could feel that it would still happen, but only a good time later. I felt like being watched by the government, but it wasn't ours. As if we were taken over. I couldn't tell if I was a child or an adult because I felt like both at the same time. I was playing with a giant kite shaped like a dragon. While holding, I could think that I should just mount on it and leave that place while they're watching, but it wasn't that easy. My adult mind would keep my imagination grounded. Whenever I felt that strong wind and the kite taking height, I would give up. A neighbor was having some sort of tea party, and one of the guests went up the rooftops to call me, said he would take care of my kite. I went down their house, funny enough, they had an elevator for only two floors. So I went down with them. Down there, at their kitchen, I began to realize who they were. A freshly formed family and friends. And guess who's the housewife? A girl I used to date and only after losing her because of my many lies, I fell in love with, Tamires. But she's not home, I only saw her photograph over the microwave. Inside the refrigerator, there was a huge centipede. My reaction couldn't be worse, but one of their friends said that it's their weird little pet. After all those uncomfortable feelings, I remember checking on the price label of the breads bag to see at what time Tamires would usually go to the supermarket. It said it was bought on a Monday, at around 7 am. I did that because I wanted just a chance to talk to her. The guests saw my fear of that centipede, and they started playing with it. A girl took it and came in my direction with a malicious smile. It was enough for me to take that elevator up and leave. On the rooftops, again. I was so confused. I couldn't know if I went back in time or forward. I had already lost that girl and she already married, but I was also a child? Those rooftops weren't even supposed to exist anymore. All I knew was that the timeline was messed up. More neighbors showed up, and I was tired of looking to the horizon. So I went home. I quickly climbed down the walls of our garage and went inside the corridor. There, I found my parents perfectly fine, as if nothing happened and I couldn't stop smiling and saying that they wouldn't believe what I had to tell...