CO2

Chapter Six WEDNESDAY

When I get up the next day, something seems off around my house. It's not just the fact that I'm tired because I was thinking about what happened yesterday all night. And it's not just that my mom is still avoiding me, I've gotten used to that. It's the fact that it's oddly quiet, and all I can hear is one slightly muffled voice that is in no way familiar to me.

I quickly change out of my pajamas and run downstairs to see what's going on. In the TV room, I can see my parents and my brother huddled together on the couch, eyes glued to the small flat screen attached to the wall. My mom and brother haven't even changed yet, and as I sit down next to them, I can see dark circles under my dad's eyes.

"What's going-" I begin, but before I can continue speaking, my brother puts his hand over my mouth, then motions to the TV. I now know that the voice I heard was the news reporter.

"...deadly terrorists that are wiping out entire cities," says the woman on the screen. "A weapons specialist, John Herrington, will speak further on the subject. Mr. Herrington?" I stare at the TV, my eyes wide with fear. An old, balding man appears on screen with a thick binder on a desk in front of him.

"Yes, thank you for that, Abby," the man begins. "We believe that this group of people are destroying the bubbles around the cities, once believed to be impenetrable, with the intent to rebel against the 'fakeness' of the bubbles. They may have created some kind of weapon to shatter the thick glass that makes up the bubbles."

"There are people destroying the bubbles? Why?" I yell suddenly. My mom just looks at me sadly and nods, noticing the fear in my eyes.

"They're terrorists, hun," my dad says. "No one really knows why they do the things they do. Sometimes, there's just gonna be some evil people in the world."

"But, if they're just randomly destroying the bubbles, doesn't that mean that they'll destroy ours? We do live in one of the largest bubbles in the world!" My brother glares at me and puts a finger to his lips, and then motions his head to the tv. I begin to watch with fear growing in my stomach.

"The government is taking the necessary precautions, and creating evacuation plans for each of the cities. It will be hard to stop the terrorists, as they-" The reporter is cut off when my mom presses the power button on the remote. The rest of us groan, wanting to know more about what is happening.

"Come on, everyone!" she says, trying to rile us up. "It's Wednesday! You still have to go to school." I see my brother roll his eyes and stand up slowly. I follow suit, running upstairs to my room after I notice what time it is. I brush my teeth, forgetting to eat breakfast, grab my bag, and run to the nearby bus stop. I check my watch and groan as I realize that in my rush, I got here 10 minutes early. I plop onto the bench, sitting in silence as I wait for the bus.

***

When I arrive at school, most people seem to have forgotten about the fight. They've moved on to the next interesting thing, the terrorists. Most of the kids saw the news in the morning, and the kids who didn't know about it figured it out pretty quickly. It's extremely eerie walking around school. It's as if no one feels like they're allowed to laugh, or joke around, or even be happy.

In my first class, science, all the teacher can really talk about is how invincible the bubbles are supposed to be. He never mentions the terrorists but everyone knows that's why he's giving the lesson. No one can pay attention. There's never been a threat like this to our society. No one is prepared.

All anyone can think all day about is what will happen if these people come into our bubble. According to the news report, we'd all die. I know that's what everyone is scared of, but that's not what scares me. All of the bubbles are completely separate from each other, and we'd all go so quickly. No one would remember us. We'd just be a number on a news report, adding to the amount of people reported dead. There were no names mentioned on the tv when I watched. I don't know anyone outside of our bubble. I would be completely forgotten.

***

At lunch, Lance, Ella, and I sit in almost complete silence. Everyone at school is very shook by the report, as it happened so suddenly. No one can really talk about much without the topic of the terrorists being mentioned.

About halfway through lunch, Ella tries to strike up a conversation. "Hey! Um Sam! What're you eating?" Her voice soothes me for a moment, and I hesitate, forgetting what she asked me.

"Oh? Oh, um, just the school lunch. Did, um, did your parents pack you lunch this time?" I say, noticing she has a small paper bag carrying her lunch instead of the normal school trays.

"Er... something like that," she mumbles. She stops talking, and I wonder if I said something wrong.

"Is everything alright?" Lance asks Ella. She looks up from her stare at the table and turns to him.

"Yeah, um, I'm fine." She checks her watch. "I better get to class." She grabs her lunch and stuffs it into her backpack which she pulls onto her back and runs upstairs.

"I better go too," I say, following her. I've got to try and find her. I don't really know why, but I do.  

***

Okay, so I know that very few people are reading this book, but I just wanna say sorry for taking so long to update and sorry again for the really short chapter. I've been busy with school work and rehearsal and stuff :/ But yeah I hope y'all like my book and if you have any comments, good or bad, let me know!