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Jade laughed as she ran with Bec to the hill where they'd observe the eclipse. She had bought special eclipse glasses for the both of them with her grandpa’s bank account. She could've made her own, but she felt that perhaps this moment would be a bit more fun if she observed it like one of her friends would've. When they reached their observation point, Jade attempted to slip a pair over Bec’s eyes. She ended up giving up after the third time of him shaking them off, and decided to leave them where he could put them on if he chose. The glasses didn't fit well over her actual glasses, so Jade had to more or less hold them up when she put them on. Satisfied with them, she looked up.
The moon had already almost completely covered the sun. There was little more than a sliver left, which meant there would only be a few more minutes until totality. There were clouds in the sky, yes, but they were too far away to block the view. Deciding to pass the time, Jade focused on giving Bec ear scritches for a bit. Very soon, she noticed that the world around her seemed a bit darker. She put her eclipse glasses back into place and looked up at the sun again. The moon was a bit farther along. This process repeated over the next few minutes. Suddenly, the darkening of the world sped up, as if a curtain were being draped over the sun. One more time, Jade looked up at the sun, and watched as what was left of the sliver vanished from sight. Totality had been reached.
Jade took off her eclipse glasses to take in the world around her. It was beautiful. The sky was dark, almost as dark as night, and she could see planets there. The clouds had illuminated at the edges, as if a spectacular sunset were occurring on all sides. Crickets chirped, having mistaken the eclipse for the coming of night. But the most awe inspiring part was the sun. The moon had blocked out the sun's main light, revealing the corona. Most would assume that the corona would look yellowish, like the flames of a children's drawing. It was not. The corona was a bright white with rainbow colors dancing along the edges, with the pitch black center being a stark contrast.
Jade let out a whoop of joy, prompting Bec to howl along. Who could really blame her? It wasn't every day you'd be surrounded by something so marvelous. She looked at the eclipse a bit more, before time finally started to nudge the moon away. She had put her eclipse glasses on just in time for the sun to start peeking out again. She sighed a happy, satisfied sigh, and wrapped Bec in a big hug as the world started to light up once more.
Jade had brought a plain turkey sandwich for each of them, and they both stayed outside until the moon finally left the sun altogether. Jade smiled widely. How lucky they both had been that their island had laid in the path of totality! She rubbed Bec on the head.
“You ready to head back yet?”
Bec yawned, and Jade laughed.
“Come on, let's go home.” Jade said. As they headed back, she peeked through the Eclipse glasses a few more times, though all that was there to greet her has a plain yellow circle. She didn't care. In her mind, it still held the celestial beauty it had a few hours ago. The celestial beauty she was planning on trying to recreate on paper when she got home.