Freak week part 2

Freak Week chapter 3- The lowest of the lows

Dear Apocalypse Account:

I changed your name again. Deal with it.

I'll be honest, after that musical misadventure yesterday I'm not really feeling the same positive attitude about Freak Week. In fact, I can't wait until it's over so I can hide in my room for a month and try to ignore the fact that the next disaster is just a year away, for this century and forevermore, probably. It's quite frustrating, I wish I could go back in time and shake all of earth by their shoulders, warn them that things will get hairy if they don't take care of the earth. Oh well, it's too late now.

Back to the present, and things have gotten weird. Musical instruments still litter the ground, which would drive collectors, musicians, and pawn shop owners to go and do some gathering, but it's too dangerous outside. Gravity, which usually keeps things at the correct altitude, has decided to go all out with its power. It feels like a giant is pressing down on everything, making clouds firmly attach themselves to the ground and birds try to fly with their bellies digging into the dirt. It's rough out there.

Because we're in the school, we're somewhat protected, but moving still makes every muscle in my body strain with effort. I can almost feel my spine compressing, I'll bet everyone will be two inches shorter by tomorrow. But that's not the worst part of today. Gravity is making everyone literally feel down, sad and depressed as they're compressed. This is the lowest I've felt, (no pun intended) dejected and mopey, even worse than the time I lost my favorite pair of jeans (what, a well-fitting pants can be life changing). And to make the day worse, we have a new inhabitant, whom I would eagerly decapitate if I could lift my arms quick enough.

After unceremoniously inviting herself in the school, Samantha Trepp tried to steal our supplies. I don't know who will be reading this diary, so if you're uninitiated to the dastardly billionaire who is Samantha, I'll explain.

In the early days of the first Freak Week, people were panicking. There was talk that this event would never end, and we'd be trapped in a unpredictable word forever, which is kind of true, but still. It was madness, so somebody decided to profit off of it.

Enter Samantha. Then, only a grad student at the local university, she developed a necklace, kind of like an amulet, that she said would protect everybody from the emotional effects of Freak Week. By the time she rolled the new product out, the first week was over, but she was quick to remind everyone that the next event could come at any time.

So, like fools, we all bought them. They were outrageously expensive, but we thought we were paying for a high quality piece of science that would save us all. People from all over the world were shelling out for these amulets, convinced their problems were over. As you can imagine, they didn't work. The next Freak Week came along and people acted as strange as before, but this time, they were out several thousand dollars, my family among them (we were going to use that money to buy me a car when I got my license, so you'll understand why I have a particularly strong vendetta against her). People tried to sue her for misadvertising, but I guess she paid some pretty good lawyers, because she's still rich, and still hated by many people. She also has a duck, by the way. It follows her everywhere and is known to bite strangers. I hate ducks.

Now here she was, pinned to the ground by gravity, just ten feet from me, and I was full of rage and sorrow. The rest of the school's population lay scattered in a random arrangement, like a bucket of ragdolls dumped on the ground.

I glanced at Mr. Kevin, who looked like he would explode with sadness, which didn't do anything for my mood. Then, feeling like a brick, I dragged myself to Marmie, who was stuck next to Samantha.

"How's it going, Lace?" She was staring intently at Trepp's duck, who for all the world looked dead on the floor.

"Not great. How about you?"

"Horrible. This duck's pretty neat, though, I kind of want to pet it. You know, just a little fluff to lift my spirits." She reached out a slow hand, and...

"Don't you dare fluff that duck!" I tried to stop her, but my arm was just too heavy to move in time. The duck lifted his head as high as he could with his duck muscles, which wasn't far, and opened his mouth to reveal two rows of needle sharp teeth that he burried in Marmie's hand. Samantha looked over and laughed.

"Come on, Trover, be nice." The duck let go.

"The duck bit me." She looked sadder than ever and started to cry.

"Why are you here?" I looked at her with contempt. "And why does your duck have mutant teeth?"

"I dabbled in genetics while I was in school." She looked into the distance. She resembled a magician, thin and angled with a sly face. "And to answer your other question, I came here because the earth is going to be in even more trouble than before if people don't do what I want them to." She smiled, and I got worried.

"You see, those amulets were not entirely useless. Each one of them has a tiny device implanted in the center that will release ozone into the atmosphere, destroying it even more than it is now. I used to go to high school here, you now. All I have to do is get to the activation computor I hid in the school, and those amulets will destroy earth's atmosphere."

"Why would you want to do that? You live here too, you know." Me and Marmie looked at each other not sure if we should believe her. She did sell us fake amulets, after all.

"Why else would I do it? To make more money, of course." She was smiling an evil smile as she took out a glossy piece of paper and handed it to us. It was an advertisement for-

"House shields?" Marmie read from behind me. "What the heck is a house shield?"

"A house shield will be the only thing protecting you from the outside forces once my work is done. Unlike my other product, this will work, and you will need it if you want to live."

"You won't get away with this, somebody will stop you." I hissed at her.

"Who? Everyone's too caught up with themselves this week to notice me, who would try? Him? She laughed and looked pointedly at Crush, who was slumped on the floor." I felt a wave of rage overtake me, and tried to move, only to be too exhausted from the crawl over.

"You're not going to stop me, I see." And with that, she started to pull herself away, dragging her duck behind her.

"Marmie, what are we going to do? We can't let her destroy the atmosphere."

"Well, we're going to have to stop her, and we'll need these guys to help us." She gestured to everyone laying around. It didn't look promising.

"Like Harry will believe us, much less help." I huffed.

"Listen Lace, do you want to stop her, or what?"

I did. I thought about Crush, and how, well, crushed he looked laying there. I thought about how hard it would be to talk to him with constant environmental and emotional disasters. And I thought about how much I would hate to pay any more money to that woman and her stupid duck. And I thought of a plan.

"Marmie, I know how we're going to stop her."

"How?"

"We're going to get to that computer first."