Lost on Earth

BOOM!

At 3 a.m. I woke up to an enormous BOOM and then a crash outside my door. I was terrified. It sounded like someone blew my front door right off its hinges. In the dark of my apartment, I thought the building had been bombed. Then another BOOM! I hid under my covers and shook - I had no idea what was going on. Then all around my building more explosions – from the front of the building, from the back, from across the street... I realized they were fireworks, but most of them were exploding on my balcony. The neighbor girl, a feisty 27 year old, came flying out her door, swearing and started yelling at the drunk young men who were throwing the firecrackers on balcony (which is shared). They started throwing the firecrackers at her. She screamed and ran downstairs in a rage, picked up several large rocks, ran back up to the balcony, and started pelting the men with the rocks. I could hear the large stones hitting flesh, and dirt and motorbikes below. They threw more firecrackers at her, which kept missing and hitting my door instead. Inside, I was crouched on the ground of my apartment, quickly packing a bag and changing into some clothes for a quick escape out the back door. Tempers rose, the police were called, there was a fight...I fell asleep half on my bed, half off of it, fully clothed, arms wrapped around my bag. When I walked out of the house this morning there was exploded ordinance all over the balcony, and a pile of sizeable rocks, but no one else was in sight.