The Ties of Family (RotG Fanfic)

Chapter 50

Exclamations of shock and surprise mingled with the sound of frustrated groans erupted from the four kids. Almost instantly, cellphone screens lit up, contributing a little light to alleviate the darkness. Sophie dropped the book back into her bag, and lunged out of her seat towards the window, where she peered out over the snow piled up against the glass at a landscape of darkness beyond. The street lamps were out, too. She scanned the road for any signs of approaching vehicles, but there was none. She hadn't been expecting any, anyway. Her thoughts wandered over to that boy who had just left. Where was he at the moment? Had he managed to get to a shelter? It seemed unlikely. And in this darkness, would he ever get to one? Sophie shivered, not from the cold, but from the thought.

"I think it's the substation," spoke up one of the kids, as if it wasn't already obvious. Sophie leaned back in the plastic chair, and closed her eyes for a moment, frustrated and exhausted. Her stomach was starting growl as well. Not for the first time, she thought about the Guardians. What on earth (literally) were they doing? Her eyes flew open and she sat up, oblivious to the amount of chatter that had grown in the past five minutes. Her mind traveled down the dark hallway, winding through corridors till it reached the cafeteria. Food. What she needed at that moment. Was there any chance that she could break in? She envisioned the lockers. Had she stored anything in there?

"Hey, what about the heat?" said her friend, all of a sudden, startling her out of her reverie. Sophie turned to face her, but wasn't exactly sure if she was looking straight at her friend's face. She was reminded of those times when there were black-outs at home, and they were constantly tripping over furniture and relied fully on their sense of hearing and memory of their furniture's locations till they could get to a torch. With nothing to do, they would usually sit cross-legged on the floor in Jamie's bedroom, where the boy would begin rattling about Pitch Black. Young Sophie would sit opposite him, listening intently, not quite sure if she met his eyes. Older Sophie couldn't care less, though.

"What about the heat?" Sophie responded. "It'll stay on, wouldn't it?" She glanced at the dark area where the window was. She could sense the snow was still falling. And the snow level was not going to stop rising. It was freezing out there. The heating had to stay on. But then again, the heat ran on electricity as well. Sophie swallowed. No power, no electricity, no heat.

Perhaps the Guardians were having an off-day and Pitch was on duty instead.

#

There was nothing left to do but to go to bed. Jamie decided to sleep in his mother's room that night, out of concern for her. Mrs. Bennett had lost her appetite and seemed rather lonely. As he walked into the room and announced that he would be accompanying her that night, Mrs. Bennett didn't even look up; merely continued staring at the glowing numbers on the digital clock on her bedside table. Jamie crawled up to his mother. "Sophie will be fine, mom," he assured her. "The high school's got everything. They just have to be resourceful. It's a two-storey building and the cafeteria has enough food stocked up to feed at least five hundred students for about a week, or more!"

Silence hung between them. Mrs. Bennett seemed to be processing her son's words. Jamie just lay there beside her for several moments, not really expecting his mother to reply. But after what seemed like forever, she finally spoke up. "What if she's all alone there? What if she's all alone in that huge high school? It's all quiet and the snow just keeps falling. She'll be so frightened." Mrs. Bennett sounded frightened.

Jamie hadn't thought about that, but he was sure it was not the case. "I doubt that, mom," he said, in as reassuring a voice as he could muster. "There would be at least one teacher. And maybe a couple of other students. I mean, you can't forget the ones who were in detention. They would usually head home late. So it's likely they're stuck there, too, like Sophie is." Mrs. Bennett was still not convinced. Jamie went on. "When you think about, mom, it's good that she's there. What if she left with one of the buses? I don't think they made it far in this snow. It's worse to be trapped in a bus and be snowed on. We'd all prefer a high school building any day, don't you think? And if you had gone to fetch her, you could be stuck in the snow, too."