Life As It Is

Swinging Chandelier

-Ava's POV-

I suddenly feel very cold as the cozy blanket I was sleeping under is ripped off of me.

"Ava wake up!" I hear Emily whisper.

"Five more minutes." I groan, man was I wrong when I thought I could function on five hours of sleep.

"Someone's at the door!" I can now hear the panic in Emily's voice. It takes all my willpower not to pull the blanket back over me and go to sleep, but I get up instead.

"What do you mean?" I mutter, still half asleep, not really registering what she just said.

"Someone, is, outside, banging, on, the, door." Emily repeats very slowly and I realize why she is panicking.

"Uhm don't let them in?!" I blurt not knowing what to do and now I am equally as scared as she is.

"Should I look?" Emily queries.

"I guess, just don't let them see you." I shrug, unsure if it's the right choice.

Emily slowly walks to the front door, quiet as a mouse. She kneels on the end-table in front of the door and looks out the eye hole. It's dead silent.

"I don't see anything." She whispers confused.

"What do you mean?.." I carefully and slowly walk over to the door, then stand beside her.

"I don't see anything, you look." Emily invites as she steps off small table.

I climb onto it and look through the eye hole just like she did. I don't see anything either. I decide to stand up and look through the window at the top of the door.

I stand up quickly and forget there is a low light directly above me.

"Ava!-" Emily tries to warn me but it's too late. I hit my head on the low hanging light. I look up and see it swaying back and forth. I cover my head as I see the ceiling start to crack. Seconds later the light smashes onto the ground.

A low suffocated growl comes from the other side of the door, and the banging starts again.

"Wait there-" Emily runs into the kitchen, grabbing towels and placemats. She throws them onto the ground around me so I can get off the end-table without cutting my feet.

"Nice going." Emily teases me.

"I'll check if Jayce woke up." I tell her and walk down the hall to his room.

The door creaks as I slowly open it. The light from the living room shines onto Jayce's face. His eyes are closed and his chest moving up and down with each breath he takes. Yup he's sleeping. I close the door and head back to the living room.

I see Emily standing in front of the TV with the remote in her hand. She's repeatedly pressing what I think is the on button but the TV isn't responding.

"Ugh what the heck! Stupid TV won't turn on!" She huffs, frustrated.

"I think you should get some sleep." I tell her and she obediently hands me the remote.

I fiddle with the remote buttons and manage to get the TV turned on. I spin around to share my achievement with Emily but she's fast asleep, wrapped up in the soft red blanket.

The TV starts to buzz with what me and Emily call 'Bees in a snow storm'. It's pretty much just a black and white fuzz. I tap the remote on my thigh then change the channel to 5. At least this channel works.

I sit down on the floor beside the couch. I turn on my phone a see a text from the boy I walk home with.

It says 'Are you okay?' I turn off my phone, not wanting to answer. Geez Ned doesn't take hints. Or even listen in general if he's still crushing after I told him I'm not interested.

I grab Emily's phone instead. As soon as I turn it on I see that the YouTube app has a notification. I tap on it and roll my eyes as the YouTuber she always calls cute uploaded a new video. I look at the time and see it's only 3 am.

I boredly tap on the 'popular on YouTube' section, only expecting videos of kittens stuck in jars and anything with Jimmy Fallon.

The videos take a minute or so to load but when they do I'm shocked and a bit horrified. All of the videos on the popular page either have the word zombie or death in the title. Well except for 'I really like you by Carly Rae Jepson' but its also horrifying seeing that song made it on the popular page.

I decide to watch a video named 'What's happening?!' It starts off just a boy my age talking to the camera, like a vlog. But then what looks like people, start trying to smash the window directly behind him. He looks shocked and horrified at the same.

He picks up his camera and runs down what I see is a hallway. A dark chestnut brown door is opened then closed.

"I don't know what's going on. My parents went out on a date to see Jurassic World, so I'm home all alone. Those things. I don't know what they are, they look like people I know." his voice quivers and I see a tear roll down his cheek.

"One of them- One of them looked like my girlfrie-" he breaks down into quiet sobs.

I rewind the video back to when the people are banging on his living room window. After taking a screenshot I go into Emily's photos and zoom in on it.

In the video I could only see faint outlines of the things, but now that I zoom in closer, I sense something familiar about them. Something's ringing a bell. I just can't put my finger on it.

I almost jump out of my skin when I hear Emily mutter "Prime Minister, they're here." as she rolls over onto her side.

That's it. The website. The government website. The article about 5KT12, it described what victims of the disease look like. And the people in the video match the description.

Bloodshot eyes, check.
Pale skin, check.
Going after anything living as a meal, check.

"It's real." I whisper, realizing Emily wasn't just pulling my leg.

I drag my finger across the screen so the video is back to where it was before I rewinded it.

The boy is still crying into his hands. About 20 seconds later his sobbing subsides and he looks up at the camera.

With sad pleading eyes he says "I know this is only the first time this has happened, but I can't help but feel alone. All alone. If anyone else feels the same way or if anyone else is watching this, please comment. I really need it." just as he is reaching for the off button on his camera, a fist smashes through a window in the background.

"Oh no-" the screen goes black.

I'm left wondering. What happened to him? Is he okay? What was that? All of those thoughts rush through my mind, but one thought more than any others. Could that happen to us?

I look up at the clock, it reads 6:00am. One hour until I wake up Emily and we figure out what we are gonna do.

Hmm. How can I kill some time? No more YouTube that's for sure. I've been slapped in the face by reality enough for one day.

There's only one thing I can think of to pass the time without waking anyone up. So I dreadfully reach over to my phone and unlock it. I tap on my messages and it brings me to Ned's unread message. I text him back saying 'Yeah, I'm fine.'

Almost immediately he answers my text. 'I can't sleep, the victims are outside my house.'

'Same here.'

We talk about our current situations, and what we think is the government is going to do about it.

At exactly 7:00am I tell Ned I have to go. After getting up and stretching I walk over to the couch Emily is fast asleep on.

"Wake up Emily." I shake her shoulders roughly.

"Ugh." she grumbles.

"You gotta get up I have to tell you and show you something!"

"I'm up, I'm up." She sits up and rubs the sleep out of her eyes.
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Good chapter? Bad chapter? What do you guys think of this book so far? Please vote if you like it and comment too! Thanks guys. 

P. S: Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same thing.