A Permanent Solar Eclipse

One Shot

It was during a winter evening at around 3:50 when all the lights went off in my school. The winter is harsh. It turns dark so fast that the impact of the sudden power shut down in my school was impeccable alongside the screams of girls. The well embellished emblem of the school which shone through the darkness of this horror was the only source of light for my fellow students and I. "Why the sudden power shortage?" was probably the question lingering in everyone's mind.

Taking this chance to escape my mundane psychology class, I hid under the table for a few minutes in case the light was to turn on again and they would realize I am missing. The psychology teacher rambled on about how we should keep calm despite this circumstance and truthfully only she seemed to be in a panic. There was chatter all through this darkness and big objects were beginning to become visible. That's when I crawled away from my psychology class. The walls were my lead as I grasped anything to get an understanding of how to move around the school even without the slightest light. I reached a door which led me into the darkest room I had seen yet going around the school. There was a shadow near the door which grabbed my wrist and my instant reaction was to scream and kick the hand off my wrist.

"That hurts, idiot!" I heard a girl's voice.

"Ah sorry, didn't know there was a person in here," I panicked looking for any way out of that situation.

"I'm scared. I'm the only one in this classroom; will you please stay with me?" I didn't recognize her voice. Who she was and what year she was in was questionable.

"Ah, I don't mind as long as I can escape my psychology class without being noticed," I laughed as I sat on the floor somewhere next to the door and the girl. "I hope you don't mind me asking, what's your name?"

"Ivory, what about you?" She asked. I had never heard of anyone in our school called Ivory. She must be a new student or something.

"Zen," I replied back, shortening my name from Zenure. I don't know what my parents were thinking when they named me that. 

"That's a strange name," She laughed and I awkwardly laughed alongside her. I agree.

Somewhere along our conversation, she held my hand as we waited for the lights to turn on again. I was strangely nervous despite never having seen the girl who was holding my hand. 

"You know it's not that odd for me to be in the darkness, I was just scared as everyone in this class ran out as soon as the lights turned off leaving me behind," She whispered. It was quiet and suddenly I found myself whispering in response.

"Why didn't you run away with them?" I asked and there was a long pause.

"I can't," She said softly and that's when the sudden realization hit me. 

"Can you walk?" I asked, nervous. I may have ended up in the infirmary in the dark talking to someone who must use a walking stick because of a broken leg.

"My legs are perfectly fine," She laughed and I laughed alongside her. 

I was beginning to enjoy her company as I hope she enjoyed mine as well. We talked for a long time about lots of random things throughout the dark like our interests and I know we were going to be trapped in school for a long time as it must already be night time without us realizing it. 

After a few hours, it seems, I couldn't hear her voice anymore but I know she was breathing. 

"Hey, are you sleeping?" I asked which is such a stupid question to ask. 

After a while, I felt a hard object lean on my shoulder and I knew instantly it was her head. She was leaning on my shoulder. My interaction with girls is fairly limited. I've never had a girlfriend or held hands with anyone or anything of the sort because I've never been interested in anything like that but now that I was kinda experiencing a situation like this, I found myself feeling breathless.