Thomas Charton's Story

Thomas Charton

Thomas nearly fell asleep listening to the robots long and monotonous lecture, putting his head in his shoulders multiple times. Soon enough, he did actually fall asleep. His eyes closed was the only darkness he wasn't fearful of. Tom suddenly woke up to the sound of classmates screaming in the hallway. He jerked his head up and saw only darkness.

Tom immediately shouted,"Oh...oh god! Is this another one of my nightmares!?" But it didn't feel like a dream at all. Tom's greatest fear had came true- he was alone in the dark. He squinted his eyes to look a little, and couldn't see any other classmates in the room. Did I sleep past the school's closing hours? No, that wouldn't make sense. Someone was screaming and the teacher would have caught me sleeping eventually. Tom walked a little further, carefully holding onto any table he could until he bumped into something. He shrieked and backed away until he nearly fell on the floor. He looked up and noticed his own teacher, frozen. Tom quickly looked to the always-on computers at the side of the room and his assumption had confirmed- there had been a blackout. Tom tried laugh it out, assuming it would be temporary, but his fear of being alone in the dark was overcoming him. He found the classroom door and opened it into the hallway. He could sense other people around him, and let out a long breath of relief, happy he was no longer alone.

Tom called out, "Is anyone there?" It was a silly question, of course someone was there, however Tom really wanted someone to speak to.

Elise Fleane
I listened intently as the girl of my age explained the situation. The whole school was on lock down. There was no possible escape. Of course I should of known that since our community was based on technology but I was known for my ditziness and my blonde hair which, of course, made me automatically stupid. Still I felt truly dumb when the younger girl spoke, agreeing with whom she called Cara. I felt my face flush. I had never been one to care too much about technology and had never bothered to learn about it, unless it was school related. I glanced at my brother who was also rolling his eyes at my stupidity.
Not wanting to seem totally a fool I thought about the plan Cara, if that was truly her name, was proposing. It was definatly rational but they needed to spread word. “We should round up everyone and get them to a room with a large cappacity. The cafetiria sounds good. Or the autotorium. If we’re gonna stay the night we need supplies and food. And if the gym has some showers we can use those too.” I had never been in the gym since, being placed in a semi advanced class, I had been able to opt out of the choice at the beginning of the school year. Waiting for a reply I studied my surroundings. My eyes, although adjusting, were pretty useless in the black out. However they could make out two figures, one being “the boy beside me” (As I called Allen) and another girl; probably the one calling for help.
Further down the hall way, amongst the shouts, laughter, and screams, I could barley hear a voice. “Is anyone there?” It was slightly stupid in my opinion since the noise was obvious, but I kept that to myself. No use beating other people down in this situation. I wasn’t one to do that anyway, or at least I hope. “We’re over here.” I called in an attempted enouraging voice. But it came out soft and feeble, not at all what I had intended for. Turning back to the growing group I let my mind wander. Was it possible for the people outside the school to turn the power back on? Or were they faring the same black out? Either way, I was sure that it would be nearly impossible to gain entry inside the school. It was probably only to be opened from the inside. I sighed and waved off mythoughts.
Calliber Fleane
I rolled my eyes at my sister. It was kind of embarassing since we were siblings but not many people knew that. I for one shut up when it came to family. Elise, on the other hand, opened her perfectly glossed lips and gossiped all the way to the other side of the universe. I wish she would saty there but she always came back. I couldn’t really be mad at her now with the nawing sensation in my stomach. I was pushing the fear back but that didn’t mean it was gone. It still crept stealthily into my mind and whispered of the darkness ouside of the dim lights of the phones. I shivered slightly and forced my mind back to the conversation at hand.
Elise was talking about some sort of plan that involved rounding up kids. I felt out of place with these teenagers. Of course it probably had to do with the fact that I was rejecting them each for some stupid reason that was unknown even to me, but still I wished for my own group of friends. Even as the group grew comfort did not come. I longed to clutch at these people and hang on just like the little boy hanging onto the girl name Carla or Cara or whatever. Instead I just glared.

Cara

I smiled as the young boy, danny, pressed himself into my side. I patted his head and kept whispering to him that everything would be okay. "I was on my way back to class when the lights came off... I didn't see anybody else..." the girl said. I heard a voice, distant, calling out to see if anyone was here. I watched as Nicole basically insulted the new girl. "Stop Nicole.. Your being rude." I hushed her and I saw Elise's flushed face. "I'm sorry she made you feel this way." I whispered to the girl. I felt obligated to apologize. “We should round up everyone and get them to a room with a large cappacity. The cafetiria sounds good. Or the autotorium. If we’re gonna stay the night we need supplies and food. And if the gym has some showers we can use those too.” the girl said. I nodded in agreement. "I agree with Elise..." I said. “We’re over here.” Elise said to the voice in the hall.. It was probably meant to be a shout but it was soft... I looked at the boy glaring, wasn't he Elise's brother. I wanted to say something but I just stood there silently.

I watched as a boy and a girl hobbled over to us slowly. As they got closer I noticed the young girl was injured. "She's hurt her foot," the boy said. "Is there some sort of plan?" he asked. I nodded. “Someone will have to care for her and if the injury is serious she should be taken to the hos- infirmary. I’m sure there are some bandages there.” Elise said. “So far I think we’ve agreed to round all the students up. And I guess we have to stay overnight so we’ll need food and rooms. And the showers, if there are any, should still work, even without electricity.” Elise continued to explain... She was calm and sounded sure, a much better leader than Cara. "Then what are we waiting for?" the boy asked, clearly annoyed. I frowned. He needed to chill out. "Why don't we go to the auditorium or gym? They're probably big enough. Someone can go tell the classrooms and I can take a look at her foot," the boy said. "That sounds good." I commented. “It’ll be perfectly fine. I’d say the auditorium is good. Or the gym, whichever’s bigger. I can help round up the students.” Elise said. I watched as Elise introduced herself. "I'm Cara..." I said. She introduced her step brother then as Cal. "The auditorium's bigger, so that would be the best," the boy with the rude attitude said. He continued and said his name. Allen. "Why doesn't everyone go round up the other classes? I'll take her to the auditorium." Allen said. "That sounds good... We'll meet up later." I said.

“I’ll go get the rest of our class! I forgot my pil- um, purse in there anyway.” Elise said, slipping... I looked at her but didn't question anything. “I can take the hallway that our classroom is in and someone definitely needs to take the elementary and middle school division.” Elise continued. "I heard people wandering the halls so I'll go find them alone.." I said, looking down the hall. “I’ll meet you guys in the auditorium.” Elise continued and I watched her go. "Hey what are you guys gonna do?" I asked the rest of the group.

Samantha
The boy was nice to me... I was sure he'd much rather find help and get out rather than helping me around so I valued his care a lot. We hobbled through the hall, me clutching him as a human crutch. We slowly walked towards a group of voices, cellphone lights helping guide us to them. It took a minute or two though for us to get to them. "She's hurt her foot," I watched the boy tell one of the girls more than the rest of the group.. "Is there some sort of plan?" he asked and I looked at everybody expectantly. “Someone will have to care for her and if the injury is serious she should be taken to the hos- infirmary. I’m sure there are some bandages there.” The girl replied. “So far I think we’ve agreed to round all the students up. And I guess we have to stay overnight so we’ll need food and rooms. And the showers, if there are any, should still work, even without electricity.” the girl said... She sounded sure. "That sounds good." I winced, feeling the pain and nodded. "Then what are we waiting for?" the boy said. "Relax." I whispered. "We just got here and were still figuring things out." I sighed.

"Why don't we go to the auditorium or gym? They're probably big enough. Someone can go tell the classrooms and I can take a look at her foot," he said. "That sounds okay." I smiled through the pain. “It’ll be perfectly fine. I’d say the auditorium is good. Or the gym, whichever’s bigger. I can help round up the students.” the girl said. "That sounds good." I said. “We could all meet up after we do our jobs. I’m Elise Fleane. I suppose we should learn each other’s name.” the girl introduced herself. "I'm Samantha." I whispered. I saw her explain who her step brother was. Cal... "The auditorium's bigger, so that would be the best," my helper suggested. "I'm Allen Carraway," he continued. Allen... That was a nice name. He explained that Allen and I would go to the auditorium. "Why don't we go to the infirmary?" I asked him.