He was back. The trip with Aragon that Stanley had the day before ended up being an investigation of forgotten bridges that were on the verge of collapse. Apparently even the location of certain infrastructure was a mystery to the Algebra council.

“This sucks,” said Stanley.

He was seated at his computer, once again looking at things of arguable importance.

“So many of my favourite novels have posted a new chapter, but I don’t feel like reading any of them,”

Normally the shorter than average man would avoid talking to himself. But there was no one else home today. In another attempt to keep himself distracted, he started trying to recall esoteric geology facts.

“The mineral Adularia is named after a mountain in Switzerland,” he started, rotating his swivel chair back and forth absentmindedly.

His phone started ringing, which he responded to by turning the volume down and largely ignoring afterwards.

“Hyalophane is derived from the Greek word for glass, due to its appearance,”

Finding even the sight of the phone to be somewhat distracting, he turned his chair to face the opposite side of the room from it.

“Celsian is named after that one guy that invented Celsius and stuff,”

His new view extended out into the living room, the centre back of which held a tv that someone forgot to turn off.

“Andesine is named after the Andes Mountains,”

Depicted on the tv screen was a report on a recent car crash involving a truck. It wasn’t far from his house. He briefly interrupted his chain of thought to consider it.

‘Oh, that’s the one isn’t it. It’s been what, a week now? Glad the truck driver is okay, heard he was somehow worse off than us. What a time for the accelerator to stop responding,’

Considering his recent circumstances led him to thinking about the very thing he was avoiding. Defeated, he slowly turned to face his phone once more.

“What am I going to tell her? Everyone was so excited that the bridge project was officially green lit. But they don’t know. Ten years is a long time. Will they even count that as an accomplishment?”

Stanley picked up his phone, trying to work up the courage to return the missed calls he’d been ignoring.

“It’s completely unacceptable. I hate this result. How are we supposed to build momentum with this? To show people that they do in fact have a say in their future?”

He paused, tempted to start spinning his chair in circles just to see what would happen.

“But it’s worthless, I’d practically have to tear through dozens if not hundreds of state regulations. Not to say it’s impossible, but it sure sounds like hell. And I doubt we could sit here comfortably to do it. No. We’d have to leave. Leave my… Home.”

He stopped. Finally realising why he was so hesitant to continue. Stanley put his phone back down, leaving the room entirely. He ended up outside on his backyard patio, which was surrounded by potted and planted trees alike.

“Why even bother? Don’t we elect people to solve problems like this? And yet. Nothing has changed,”

Palm trees lightly rustled in the wind as Stanley breathed in the fresh air. He always found it easier to breathe out there. Presumably because of the amount of life propagated nearby.

“People have been leaving for a long time now. Trying their luck in the hell scape of a city in the south, which is already bloated long past the amount it was designed to support,”

He sighed, choosing to admire one of the fluffier clouds on the horizon.

“The problem has to be dealt with by someone. Didn’t someone say that sacrifice was the best indicator of love?”

Stanley briefly tried to stop himself, before letting go of all reservations.

“I love you!” he shouted as if his soul were being broken in two, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. “You hear me Algebra!?”

“Hey, umm. Are you okay?”

The voice came from across a fence roughly 15 metres away. It was one of his neighbours. Stanley wiped his face before briefly thanking his family for planting so many trees, which acted as a screen between him and the rest of the world.

“Yeah, sorry. Just been a rough week haha,”

“Alright then. Hey, you know we’re always here if you need to talk,”

“Thanks, but I’m fine now,” Stanley said, returning inside before the awkward conversation could continue any longer. “Phew, now to pretend that never happened,”

And so, he was back. Standing before his phone. Preparing to make the call.

*knock knock*

He jerked his head towards the nearby window, unsure if a bird had forgotten that glass was a thing. But there was no bird. In fact, outside the window, there was only a dog. It was sitting on a chair of all things. Stanley could have sworn he’d seen it somewhere, but before he could continue his train of thought, a small piece of paper rose up from the ground and pasted itself against the glass. On it was written, ‘Get Outside Or You Dead’.

“Oh I will alright. And I’ll call animal control while I’m at it,” he said, making a call as he went for the front door.

“Hello, friendly neighbourhood animal snatchers, at your service,” came a voice through his phone.

By this time Stanley was in front of his house, feeling safe in knowing the dog was in the back yard and not the front.

“Hi, I’d like to-“

He stopped, looking up at the sound of a strange rumbling sound coming from the sky. Stanley was greeted with a large ball of molten metal that seemed to be careening for his position.

“Nope,”

And with that, he started running. Upon running for nearly a minute and not hearing the expected explosion, he chanced looking back. It was still there. Dripping molten metal was falling onto his house, tearing into the roof. But the ball itself appeared to only fall slower as it got closer to the building. Stanley watched on in shock as the ball of death slowly enveloped his home, as if a monster that had just found a tasty snack. The brilliant shades of orange, yellow and white soon flowed away, disappearing through cracks in the earth. But Stanley’s home was gone. All that remained was a concrete foundation.