The Starfall Courtyard

The news that my father was critically ill pierced through the city's clamor, and I raced through the night to the little courtyard back home.

When I pushed open the gate, I saw transparent, jellyfish-like spheres floating all across the sky, no more than a few feet above the roof.

Three pale blue-white moons hung above the jujube tree, while several long, wingless aircraft hovered silently over Uncle Zhang's yard next door.

They looked like enormous metal rulers, perfectly motionless and so cold they took my breath away.

When I counted the seventh transparent sphere, a dark red seam silently split open beneath one of the aircraft.

I fled back inside and bolted the door. From the inner room, I heard my father rasp, “The sky... has it split open?”