When the Moon Hits Your Eye

Lessa Sarah Cirrincione grows up immersed in science fiction and fantasy. By fifth grade, she invents Skalaria, a world ruled by her protagonist, Brinn. Her teacher sees her potential and allows her to use class time to write. Lessa Sarah grows frustrated in middle school with praise that qualifies her talent as “good for her age.” Her parents, both supportive and practical, encourage her to keep writing.

Though she gains acceptance into several prestigious schools, she chooses the University of New Mexico when her father loses his job. She majors in creative writing and adds technical courses to ensure future employment. One afternoon, she sees a young man, Hector, sketching the student union as if it were a ruin. When she shares her stories, he draws Skalaria instantly. She proposes to him. They marry two years later, both taking jobs related to education.

With three chapters completed, Lessa Sarah joins a local writing group, the Albuquirkies. They offer notes, and she revises diligently, but Hector prefers her original drafts. When feedback becomes circular, she joins a new group, the Scrivinators, who tear her work apart. She stops writing for a year.

Later, a workshop renews her confidence. A senior editor, Tamara Nelson, compares her chapters to overworked dough and tells her to stop revising and write. Lessa Sarah returns home, determined to finish her book. Then, the moon turns to cheese.

She stops writing again, convinced that no one will publish a book when the world is ending. Hector tells her to write it anyway—for him, her family, and her friends. He wants to see Skalaria before the end. She agrees.

Clyde Ramsey lies awake at night, haunted by the inevitability of collapse. He visits the Short Stack Diner, where Dave Potter and Alton Nunez soon join him. They discuss how long the coffee will last and half-jokingly plan for a world without supply chains. Clyde confesses that his daughter wants him to spend the end with her, but he dislikes her cramped apartment. He invites Dave and Alton to stay with him instead. He has solar power, well water, and a garden. They accept. Clyde weeps from relief and finally sleeps.

Jackie Hyland visits her first ex-husband, Ian Smythe, now a famous musician dying of cancer. He lives in Hawaii and plans to die under the state’s End of Life Care Option. Jackie learns that he traded away the guitar she gave him—the one that inspired his breakthrough song—for the house. She feels hurt and nostalgic. Ian thanks her for coming and apologizes for the damage he caused. Jackie admits that she once attempted death by suicide after their divorce but says that she has stayed sober for 20 years.

She offers to stay with him until the end, but he declines. They talk until the hospice team arrives. Jackie returns to her hotel, watches the green flash of the sunset, and returns to her room. She pulls the blackout curtains over the windows and cries alone.

Jackie stays in her dark hotel room all day, unable to process her grief.

Jackie stays inside again, lost in thought and sorrow.

Hotel staff deliver a package: a Taylor Koa Grand Symphony guitar and a letter from Ian. He has given Jackie the rights to all his music and writes that she has always been one of his few regrets. She plays “Summer Girl,” the song he wrote after she gave him his first guitar. After she finishes, she opens the curtains and lets the light back in.

Dayton Bailey attends the White House Eclipse Event. He finds the atmosphere somber. Aubrey arrives and complains that the publishing industry has essentially collapsed. Editors are being laid off. No one wants to publish books when the end is two years away.

As totality hits, Aubrey cries. She has never seen an eclipse before and realizes that this will be her last. Then, the light changes. Dayton notices that the eclipse looks annular again. He runs to LeMae Anderson, who confirms the observation. The original moon, which NASA names “Luna,” has returned.

Dayton shares the news with Aubrey. The total eclipse became annular again because Luna is smaller than Caseus. This change means that Earth may no longer face certain extinction. Aubrey storms off, furious but relieved. She tells Dayton to send her a new proposal.

President Boone announces that Luna has returned. The cheese moon has vanished, and so has Lunar One. Equipment lost with Caseus has reappeared. While NASA promises to monitor the situation, the Boone administration advises cautious optimism.

NASA confirms that Luna remains stable in orbit. Caseus could return, but scientists continue to monitor the situation.

Users on the r/Conspiracy subreddit argue that the moon crisis was an elaborate hoax. They claim that solar shields masked the real moon, that Jody Bannon faked his death, and that the global coordination among governments adds to the suspicion. The absence of any remaining physical evidence strengthens their belief that the event was staged.

Ten years later, one third of Americans no longer believe that the cheese moon ever existed. A new generation, too young to recall the event firsthand, engages with it through skepticism and internet lore. NASA continues investigating the phenomenon through Project Caseus, but public interest and institutional support have steadily declined.

A century later, Kainospedia labels the moon incident a mass delusion. Conspiracy theorists initially blamed governments, but public opinion now blames technology and media companies. A low-orbit apparatus supposedly hid the moon while projecting Caseus, leading to global panic. Most believe that Jody Bannon faked his death.