a promise unkept

Chapter Eighteen: Explosions

Gwen's POV

3:15. How long was Peter's detention supposed to last again? Oh, right, I didn't ask him. 

Nice going, Gwen.

Groaning, I tilt my head back again the back of my raised bed. 

"Gwen, he'll be hear soon enough. Complaining won't help." My mother says as she sits in the chair next to me, reading a magazine.

"But I'm just so bored," I say back, exasperated. 

"Why not read a book? You used to always love that." she suggests as she turns the page.

Well, anything's better than just sitting here. I lean over to the side of the bed where a bag sits of different forms of entertainment that my mother and brothers brought me when I was first put in the hospital. 

I dig my hand inside, and pull out the first book I touch: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The cover is battered and torn, and makes me remember my middle school days when I became obsessed with Harry Potter. I remember when I finished this certain book, I felt like throwing it against the wall and screaming because of the way it had ended. 

Smiling slightly, I open the book to a random page and read. 

"Harry awoke the next morning feeling dazed and confused by a series of dreams in which Ron had chased him with a Beater's bat, but by midday he would've happily exchanged the dream Ron for the real one..." (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, page 290).

But not even Harry Potter could entertain me. With an exasperated sigh I set the book down. My mother is about to say something when there is a knock on the door. Thinking that it's Peter, I immediately spring up, only to be disappointed when I see my three brothers standing there. 

Hi mom, hey Gwen. Feeling good?" Phillip asks me. 

I nod my head, "Why are you here?"

He shrugged, "I think Grandma was getting tired of seeing us hanging around all day at her house, so she dropped us off here."

Typical Grandma, she was never one for staying in one place at one time. "Is she here, now?"

"She's downstairs getting coffee, but she told us to come on up," Howard says, before coming towards me, "I brought you some cocoa I made Gwen. It used to always make you feel better."

I smile and take the cup, "Thanks."

Looking at the clock once again, I see it is now 3:25. Ugh, could time move any slower? 

We all sit and chat for a while, and eventually Grandma comes to my room to join the conversation. It feels good to be with my family again. Ever since dad's death, everyone's been so distant towards each other. It feels good to be able to talk and laugh like a real family. 

There is a sudden, booming noise outside of the door that shakes the entire room. We all immediately stop talking. Suddenly a static-filled voice comes over the loudspeaker. "This is not a drill. All residents of the Central New York Hospital, please locate your nearest exit and exit the building. I repeat, exit the building. The South corridor is down, residents of this corridor need to locate another exit immediately. I repeat-" But all that we can hear is static.

What about the mentally disabled? What about the women giving birth? What about the children? What about the elderly? How are they going to make it out? 

But I have no time to answer these questions, because the building starts rumbling.

"Gwen! Get up!" My mother frantically shrieks and begins pulling me off the bed. The sudden movement and weight makes my ankle throb, but we have other worries: My room is located in the Southern Corridor. 

We open the door and can see debris everywhere. "We need to find another exit!" I call out, and my family nods in response. We all try pushing back the mess and making our way down the now ruined hallway. 

"GWEN!" My brother shrieks, but it is too late. I look up to see something falling towards me, before I completely black out.

A/N

How was it? I know parts were unrealistic, but for the sake of this story and the characters, please bare with me. Anyways, please read and review!

P.S.- Did you guys like my reference to Harry Potter? Gwen's reaction to the book ending was basically mine when I first read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ;)

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