Nothing is Perfect

0:4

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜰᴏᴜʀ
ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ꜱᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇ ɪꜱ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴɪɴɢ
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"Well, there's definitely a simple explanation," Casandra said after no one had heard from their parents since they arrived back home.

"Like what?" Jason asked.

"Like, um," she was quiet for a moment trying to find an answer, "they were evacuated. After we left and there was a miscommunication, and we were brought back here by mistake," she responded.

"Someone would still answer a phone," Kelly replied, standing next to Harry.

A few kids nodded their heads.

"Maybe they're asleep?" Dahlia suggested hearing her voice; Harry turned to face her.

"Or, I don't know, maybe they're someplace without reception. They're in a shelter with no reception or something." Cassandra said, receiving confused looks from some of the teenagers. "Maybe someone will answer the phone tomorrow morning," she added.

"Maybe it's not safe for us to be here," Elle said with her arms crossed over her chest, looking directly at Cassandra.

"A couple of hours isn't going to make a difference." Casandra reasoned, "We'll figure this all out in the morning! Right now, we should just...uh, go home," Cassandra said after a short pause. "Yeah, we should just go home. And anyone who doesn't want to...uh, be alone can come back to our house," Cassandra said and glanced towards her sister, who nodded with a smile.

"Is that your advice, Cassandra?" Harry asked, his voice laced with annoyance. "Yeah. Yeah, Harry. Just go to sleep."

Cassandra walked up to Dahlia "you want to stay at my place," she said kindly.

Debby looked at Dahlia, waiting for an answer; Dahlia thought it was best to stay at home just in case her parents might come back earlier. She shook her head "it's fine, we are going home, but I'll text you." "Ok, be careful, and if you two need anything, you know where to find me," Cassandra said, placing her hand on Dahlia's shoulder.

"I'm going to go to sleep," Debby said as Dahlia locked the door.

"Goodnight"

"Night"

The following day Dahlia woke up and tried calling her parents again when she opened the door of their room, and they weren't still there. She even called 911 to see if they had any kind of information, but no one answered, which freaked her out.

Trying to clear her mind out of the negative thoughts she was creating, she decided to go for a run.

She left a note on the table just in case Debby woke up and she wasn't still back from her run.

It felt nice the breeze of cold air hitting her face as she ran her reddish hair blowing back.

She didn't realize how far she had run until she stopped in her tracks, almost tripping the road stopped and was replaced with a forest the concrete had grass and trees coming out of it. "What the hell," she mumbled out of breath, exhausted after her run.

She walked slowly, getting closer to the forest when a car close behind her stopped. Harry unbuckled and got out of his car.

Dahlia glazed back over her shoulder to see Harry walking closer to where she was. Harry was out of words which was new for Dahlia to see.

"Do you need a ride," Harry said quietly, still looking in front of him. She looked back at the car where Luke, Grizz, and Clarke were sitting with confused expressions on their faces. "Sure," Dahlia said, not sounding too sure of her answer.

She walked to the car and took a seat between Grizz and Clarke. Grizz gave her a small smile which she returned.

Harry drove over to the other side of town where the railroad were, but the boys and Dahlia were shocked to find out only half of the railroad, the rest covered with trees.

None of this was normal; Dahlia got her phone out and called Cassandra.

A few minutes later, a few High School students, as well as Cassandra, arrived.

"Maybe we're dreaming, " Allie suggested, playing with her necklace.

It would be a weird dream if everyone had the same dream, and Dahlia was sure she wouldn't be dreaming this.

"Maybe this is just some elaborate fucking game. Like, someone built an exact replica of our town and just put it in the middle of nowhere, and if we just walk....this way or that way or any way, eventually, we'll get back to the real world." Harry said, leaning on his car. "I'm not saying it makes any sense," Harry said when no one said anything.

"There was a smell, and then it went away, and it came back, and the buses came for us," Cassandra said, taking a few steps. "You're gonna just work this out. Cassandra? Like, a logic problem? I mean, without a flicker of a doubt?" Harry said annoyed.

For as long as Dahlia could remember, Harry always hated Casandra; she didn't know why and wasn't close to him anymore to ask or care to know his answer.

"The world doesn't just turn upside down without a reason. We are not in some play-within-a-play, okay? Clever is not the same thing as true. There is a point to everything; there are answers." Cassandra replied.

"That's right," Helena spoke up as she rested on Harry's car. "God doesn't just play games with people for fun."

"All right, look, Grizz and I will get a group together, and we'll go hike out here through the woods, okay? Like a search party," Luke suggested.

Dahlia nodded, thinking that was a good idea; maybe they could get someone that could help them.

"Do you think it's safe?" Casandra asked. "Yeah, sure," Grizz said. "Grizz knows what he's doing, and if there's people out there, we gotta find them, right? You know, to get help."

"I'm leaving. I'm hungry." Harry said abruptly.

"What," Dahlia said out loud before she could stop herself.

"You're leaving?" Allie asked, walking closer to him.

"Yeah. I got a house with a refrigerator with food inside of it, and I'm gonna go eat it." He replied smugly.

Dahlia shook her head, not believing his reasoning

"You can't just leave." Cassandra said.

Harry did just that; he left annoyed and alone since Kelly didn't go with him. It seemed like they were not in a good place in their relationship since Kelly was looking down at her hands, not wanting to look at Harry.

Dahlia wondered what that was about.

After Harry left, Campbell sent a text to everyone sharing what they just found out "shit," Dahlia whispered as many kids arrived at the bridge wanting to see it for themselves.

She needed to go home to Debby; she started to make her way home without even saying goodbye to Cassandra.

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