It was an Indian summer, or, as they said on Alternia Street, it was an Alternian summer. The sun blazed down and could cook your skin if you let it, but in the suburbs people didn't care. Out of the eleven houses on the block, only three didn't have people on their lawns: the old Megido house, second to southernmost on the east side, which was empty; the Maryam house, whose residents stayed inside because they sunburned easily; and number 413, where the grass was yellowing despite futile attempts to use sprinklers. Everywhere else on the block, children were playing, and their guardians were swinging in porch chairs nearby.
Sollux Captor rode his bike slowly, a bag full of magazines around his waist. He was supposed to be the paperboy, but no one bought the paper anymore, and today his load was composed mostly of the new GameBro issue. He passed the Peixes house first. Feferi Peixes was tending her garden, a lush if somewhat over-watered patch of flower beds. She waved cheerfully. "Hi, Sollux. Almost done with your route?"
"Almost." He tossed her a magazine. "I haven't read it yet, so don't spoil it for me."
"Thanks!"
He moved on to the house on the other side of the street. In the driveway, Terezi Pyrope and her friend Vriska Serket, a girl from down the street, were argueing. "I don't care what the 'rules' say," said Terezi. "You just made them up."
"I'm telling you, this is how you're supposed to jump rope," Vriska said, and she demonstrated, doing complicated legwork in midair. Sollux threw a magazine at her, and it distracted her enough to let Terezi knock her off balance. They continued to argue as Sollux moved on to the next house.
Nepeta and Equius, next door neighbors, were playing together with Nepeta's cat. Sollux was sure one of them had a GameBro subscription, but he couldn't remember which one, so he just tossed one in between them. He crossed the street again and threw an issue on Vriska's empty lawn, and then he slowed a bit and stopped.
There was house number 413, in all its peeled-paint glory. Sollux could see last month's issue of GameBro lying mushy and untouched on the doorstep. This was odd, because Karkat used to really like GameBro. Sollux wasn't too surprised, though - the Vantas family had become recluses lately, ever since they had taken in Karkat's orphaned cousin. Sollux left a new issue overtop of the old one before moving on.
Downhill from 413 was Sollux's own house. He threw an issue on the lawn and told himself he'd read it later.
Across the street was the Nitram house. Tavros had been sorting his FiduSpawn deck, but was distracted by the summer butterflies. He'd cancelled his GameBro subscription a while ago, but Sollux still waved as he passed. He reached the Maryam house next and left an issue on their lawn.
Now there was only one house left. He always hated delivering there, more than he hated delivering to creepy-ass 413. It was the Ampora house, and the Amporas weren't friendly people, especially Eridan, who seemed to dislike Sollux in the same way that a cat dislikes a mouse. At the moment, Eridan was lazily waving around a tree branch. He hadn't noticed Sollux approaching. Sollux steadied his bike and waited for a moment.
No one on Alternia Street had seen the slowly growing speck in the sky, but it was there. And as Sollux debated whether he should deliver to the Amporas, the speck fell and hit him, crushing through his skull like he was made of glass. He fell off of his bike, and his body slid ungracefully downhill.
A tiny meteor had left a smudge of soot on the pavement.