Nuclear | Edgar x Colette

Danger (Pt. 1)

Edgar POV
"Everyone, calm down!" Hana shouted through our fogged vision. "I'm sure there's a reason for this happening."

"Right, there are alien spaceships invading us!" A scream rang out.

Even in the mist, I could hear James sigh, and Aditi giggle. This wasn't exactly funny—where was this green mist coming from?

"Definitely not, Reya, maybe there was an explosion and a lot of green gas was blown over by that," Hana tried to calm the rest of them down.

Nope. That wasn't a reasonable explanation, it didn't make sense.

It took me a while to feel Aditi and James with my sense of touch and sense of hearing. They were right. Your other senses wrrr heightened when your vision failed.

I wonder if this was how it felt for blind people.

"What do you think is happening?" I asked my friends nervously.

"No idea," James admitted. "Miss Hana's explanation makes no sense, but I can't think of anything else. What do you think is going on right now?"

"Don't know," Aditi answered. "I've never experienced this before, ever."

"What's happening, Miss Hana?" Multiple voices called, echoing our thoughts.

Hana was quiet before she said, "I don't know. Everybody, sit down so that nobody gets into any accidents."

And we sat there for multiple minutes, hoping somebody would come to help.

What on earth was going on?

Colette POV
Careful to not make so much as a single sound, I edged further along the parapet, making sure he wouldn't suddenly catch a glimpse of me if her turned around. From a point I deemed to be the safest, I watched him carefully.

He was holding his shotgun and seemingly fiddling with some buttons on it before he pressed it against the door for about five seconds.

Nothing happened at first, but then when he lowered the weapon—thankfully—the door made a clicking sound as if it had locked, and a red sign appeared on the door, from a camouflaged screen near its top.

A few more clicks were heard before the mysterious man did the manual bolt and turned towards the stairs which I was hiding on, toying with the gun in his hand as he headed towards me.

He's coming, I thought in a panicked frenzy. He can't know I've been watching him this whole time...who knows what he'll do with that powerful weapon of his, I don't want to die today...

I quickly peered around him, well aware that he was two flights of stairs below me from the sound of his boot hitting the first step.

I could either turn back to the hallway of rooms where I had come from, trap myself in the maze until he left, and risk getting caught if he tried to check inside them. Or...

To my left, another hallway led away from the main section of the orphanage.

Depending on what was down there, I might have a better chance of escaping before he saw me. Or I may be trapping myself if he was heading to some other facility or room down that hall I didn't know about.

Quick, Colette, make a choice, he's already reached the bottom of the second flight of stairs...I thought anxiously. Any second, he would turn and see me.

I bolted down the mysterious, abandoned left passage, hoping there weren't other dangers waiting for me there.