The Day Reading Died

Darkness Enters

If you ever want to know how savage people can get, turn off the lights.

The sky has been grey for over a week and nobody can explain why. The vidfeeds we get all tell the same story and even our scientists can't tell us what's happening. They say it has something to do with solar weather currents or something. I don't know - it sounds complicated and I don't think they even know.

All the crazy religious people are saying this is the end of the world. Unfortunately, Marcus turned into one of those people as well.

"Seriously, start praying now and ask for forgiveness," he told us.

We were sitting in our school cafeteria, crowded around a few tables. Even though the whole world is going crazy, they still tell us to live like normal. Nobody can live normally and I'm sick of everyone acting like they know what they're talking about.

Most of the students and teachers don't show up anymore. My parents still want me here because they don't know what's up and figure this will all blow over. It's also the safest place since it's in the middle of nowhere and away from the people going crazy in the streets. For some reason, the sky is also lighter here than at home.

"God is loving," Marcus continued, "and will welcome all of you into heaven."

"If God is so loving," I piped up, "why would he even allow this to happen?"

"Why do you assume God is a he, Sandra?" Veronica interjected.

Gah! I can't even get a word in with any of these people. All of them erupt into an argument about whether God is a guy or a girl. Who cares? Maybe God is an it, or doesn't exist. Whatever.

The cafeteria windows stretch from the floor to the ceiling, showing the new world outside. It was getting darker each day with all those black blotches growing in number. There was a rumour there were still places in the world where the sky was still blue.

"Have any of you been keeping up with your reading assignments?" Mr. Beeblo interrupted.

He was still wearing that same stupid green cardigan with white dress shirt underneath. Doesn't he have a change of clothes?

"Are you serious?" Veronica asked. "The world's about to end and nobody cares about reading assignments."

Mr. Beeblo's hazel eyes squinted at her and you could tell he was holding back from saying what he really felt. Instead, he relaxed and shook his head.

"You can stop the darkness if you just shine a light on the page," he replied.

What a weirdo! I'd say he's making me feel uncomfortable, but really, he's annoying me. I bet he's part of one of those stupid cults that's causing trouble everywhere.

"Attention all students and staff," the principal's voice boomed over the PA.
"We are now in a lockdown situation. I repeat, we are now in a lockdown situation."

Lockdown? Did the crazies on the street make their way to the school, or is this just another drill?

Nobody was in a rush to move, but the few teachers in the caf started running to round us up and have us sit on the wall away from the windows. As if that'll stop a maniac - sitting quietly in a row.

The lights went off and we just kind of sat there, whispering to each other about what we thought was going on. The grey sky outside looked like it got darker and then the most stupid thing happened.

Mr. Beeblo pulled out his eReader and started reading.

The glow of his screen shone on his face, which caused all of us to go into shock. Devices were forbidden during a lock down and we would all get into big trouble if we used them, but Mr. Beeblo started reading? Really?

"Mr. Beeblo, turn that off!" Veronica shouted.

For once, I finally agreed with her and joined in her protest.

"Yeah. Turn it off. If we can't have our device, you shouldn't be on yours," I called out.

The rest of the students joined in the chorus of calling him out, but he didn't even look up. He was ignoring us!

Finally, Ms. Highcurt, one of the Math teachers, went over and told him to turn it off. How embarrassing that as a teacher, another teacher gets you in trouble. I'm not a fan of Math, but I just became a fan of Ms. Highcurt.

Mr. Beeblo turned off his device and sighed out loud. We all got ready for one of his cryptic sayings that just made him sound like an even bigger weirdo.

"I have failed," he said.

The moment he said it, we felt tremors beneath us. Then, streaks of black shot down from the sky.