The world – at least as I knew it – stopped.
Regular life was cast aside like an outgrown snakeskin. Everyone still wore their work attire and clutched their coffee cups, but for the first time in what felt like forever, all of our eyes settled in the same place.
As the moon prepared to pass between Earth and the Sun, we looked upward with bated breaths. Phones buzzed in pockets ignored. Necks craning, eyes straining, ears echoing with terms like “totality” and “corona” instead of whatever new dude a Kardashian was dating.
I only lasted a few moments, and from my vantage point the eclipse was just partial. But for those moments, everything changed. The world dimmed. Temperatures dropped. Even the birds were calm.
Then it was over.
Everything back to normal again. Everyone went back into apartments and schools and offices, and humanity drifted apart.