The Awake

The Attacks (Finalized)

My name is Drayton Castillo and I am awake. I was at school when the attacks first began. I still have nightmares of the chaos. In the dawn of the twenty-first century, a terrorist army had developed new, high tech military bioweapons and were attacking every major continent in the world. Only minutes before the hellish judgment day started, I was sitting in my English class next to my friends, Ben and Zach. Ben was smart and always kept us happy especially when we needed it. He had short brown hair, warm brown eyes and was shorter than me by a little. Ben was known across the school for telling really bad jokes. Not mean or inappropriate jokes but amazingly corny and poorly timed jokes.The only reason you would laugh is because they were so bad.

"What did the elements say when they heard my jokes?" Ben asked us.

"We're in english, Ben." Zach pointed out. I smiled, but didn't laugh. Ben ignored his comment and answered.

"That's soDIUM funny. I slapped my NEON that one." He emphasized. Some of the people around us turned to him and shook their heads, before returning to their conversations. I gave a chuckle and Ben smiled.

"That was bad." Zach laughed. Zach was a bit different. He was the shortest out of our trio, and had dirty ginger hair. He was skinny but extremely athletic. No, athletic, but too lazy to do any sports. Zach was a good kid but society took its toll. Besides running faster than us, his more hidden talent was thievery. Zach took every opportunity he got to attempt snatching something from someone else. He had once stolen my watch, right off my hand, without me noticing. Some would say this is a bad way to use a gift. I say it's awesome. Just then Zach peeked behind him at a girl's backpack on the floor beside her chair. A water bottle sat open next to it. He scooted his chair back, purposely knocking over the bottle. The girl saw the water and sprung to action. She quickly picked up the bottle trying to save her bag from getting wet, but it was too late. Zach jumped up and apologized a hundred times, while using his jacket to dry her bag.

"Thanks. Sorry about your jacket." She thanked him for helping before he sat back down. The girl returned to her conversation as if nothing happened. Like it was completely normal, Zach pulled a small box of girl scout cookies out of his wet jacket and tore into it like he hadn't eaten in years. With a mouth full of cookies, he mumbled. "Ya wonp somp?"

"I'll pass." I said smiling. Those two were what got me through school. Besides the bullies, no one really paid much attention to us. We were pretty invisible to the kids at school. Nothing about us really stood out. We weren't the smartest, we weren't the strongest,we Definitely weren't the coolest. But we stuck together like glue. I had met Ben and Zach in choir class. Zach had been explaining to Ben how he had gotten a girlfriend from a different state and was super hot to her, when we first talked. Instantly, they were my best friends. The three of us were chatting about normal stuff like girls, upcoming tests, and dinner when in the middle of our conversation, an announcement came over the speakers above our heads.

"Students, may I have your attention please," our principal, Mr. Allison spoke over the chatter of students. He sounded very concerned and out of breath. Instantly all ears were listening. "There is a national emergency. The United States is under attack by a foreign force. We have been informed to hold you until further notice." He spoke with a shaky voice. Students looked at each other or at the teacher in shock. With the intercom still on, a second voice could be heard faintly. Mr. Allison replied and continued. "As far as we know, there have been bombs dropped on American soil."

"This can't be happening.. This isn't happening!!" A boy started panicking. Everyone else shushed him and continued listening.

"The military is defending in way possible and.... What?.. Planes?.. Oh good god.. More information will be given at a later time! Everyone make your way down into the basement, quickly and calm-" He was cut off by the sound of an explosion in the distance. Right away, people started to panic. Girls screamed and cried out for their parents.  Some students scrambled for the door, right after the first bomb hit. The floor rumbled and things hanging on the walls shook crazily. I looked over at my friends to find them both looking at me with worry on their faces. Reality snapped.