Stay...Calm

Chapter 22

The next day, for reasons unknown, Ms.Kion was unable to teach lessons. When questioned, Mrs.Daniels said it was because of "high stress and little sleep." Her whereabouts are unknown, but Mrs.Daniels has to keep herself busy with Anais. Therefore, it was handed over to the newcomers to teach. He sat the kids on the floor in front of the chalkboard and wrote down an old saying.

"'Get Paid, Get Laid, Gatorade,'" He announced, pointing to each phrase. "Any of you twits have any clue what that means?"

Pauline raised her hand. "Three things that won't happen to Horace."

The whole class started laughing, Victorine's high-pitched titter over all of them. Edd's eyes went right to her.

"You're weird," he said.

"I like being weird, it's fun," Victorine giggled. Edd knit his eyebrows.

"I think I like it better when you shut up," he mumbled. "So-"

The sound of a distant explosion cut him off and silenced the whole classroom. After a tension-filled pause, Buckley ran out of the room and hit the alarm. Everyone rose and started to rush out of the classroom. Keeping her eyes forward, without checking to see if anyone was following her, Victorine marched right down as quickly as her legs would take her. The booms didn't sound too close, but she wasn't going to take any chances. Sandstone hallways, cold staircases, and grand staircases all whooshed by without a thought. All she could hear was the air whistling past her ears, pushing her hair against her temples. Before she knew it, she was at the door of the bomb shelter.

She was about the third one down to the bunker. Ms.Kion was already there and probably had been right there for a while. Standing in the middle of the room, on edge. She sat on the edge of a bed as she watched people file in. Rather hastily, residents gathered up into the room and seat themselves on the beds. They stared up at the ceiling, listening as the explosions got more distant.

"Stay calm," Ms.Kion reassured, half assuring herself. "Stay...calm."

Worry started to build upon the faces of some of the people. Yolanda clutched Jacey's hand. Melissa held her baby up to her neck as her eyes fixated on the ceiling. Thelma hugged her knees to her chest choked back a sob. Pauline hugged a rugged doll as she glanced at her feet. It was the kind of doll that one would have since they were a child, and never leave behind come what may. Buckley and Horace played a game of rock paper scissors that consistently went: bot scissors, both paper, both rock. Edd just didn't give a crap. As loud as the explosions seemed, Asha kept the corners of her mouth curved up.

Jacey's forehead wrinkled as she got more and more on edge. Parker smiled a little, crossing his eyes and sticking out his tongue a little. It was enough to make her giggle a little.

"Ya think we're being kinda wimpy about this?" Horace questioned.

"Like when you refused to charge your phone because that This is Us episode scared you?" Buckley pointed out.

"The slow cooker wasn't on but it still exploded! Sorry I didn't want a Kentucky-fried death!"

They bickered for about half an hour, and the crowded room became more and more unfocused. The booms all subsided, but it was hard enough to hear. Victorine, noticing this, sneaked off to a corner, where she saw behind, a bulky cabinet, an opening. It was a hole in the wall, cutting right through. It looked like something made by a sledgehammer, used as viciously as possible to get through the stone-hard walls. But the big storage unit was pushed right in front, covering it up for the most part.

The distance between the big piece of furniture and the hole was jarringly thin, but nothing that Victorine couldn't pull off with delicacy and silence. Her curiosity moved her closer and closer, her toes supporting her weight as she climbed over. She glanced over her shoulder once more to see that the room was still distracted. Closing her eyes and preparing, she slipped right in.

When her squeezed-shut eyes finally opened, she was right in the hole. She'd landed sitting on her heels, with her face down and palms flat on the floor. She looked up to see that the hole was its own passageway. She stood up (which apparently the ceiling allowed her to do), and kept walking. She kept her pace slow, taking in details of this place. The walls and ceiling were all dirt, but oddly symmetrically. The end of the tunnel seemed so far away, that it was nothing but a tiny, fog-ridden outline.

She had to be walking through that tunnel for a good six minutes until she started to feel a chill that went down the bone. The air became thin and almost painful to inhale. Her feet started moving quicker because her toes felt number. All of which felt unfamiliar to her body in the past weeks. It was starting to feel like...a chilly winter late morning.

Before she knew it, she was at that light at the end of the tunnel. It was shiny white daylight, coming from the ceiling. It peeked through wide crevices in a trap door, and onto three-steps made of hard-packed dirt. Victorine climbed up them, and with all her might, pushed over the heavy trapdoor. It squeaked and opened up, pouring tons of light in right her eyes. She was hit with the smell of frost-covered grass and a dense, freezing wind gusts.

Her eyes slowly opened, and she saw a blue sky lined with low, fluffy clouds. She looked around as the air filled her lungs. The grass was powdered with inch deep snow (and probably bug corpses at this point). She saw grassy light green hills ahead of her, and leafless trees now barley laced with the slush. Not another life-form was in sight, but nature still surrounded her. Every nerve seemed to be relaxing as she slowly turned around, taking in this place she hadn't seen for who knows how long. And behind her, in the distance, was the mansion.

She could only think one thing: This is the way out.

Snapping out of her daze, and realizing the time, Victorin crawled back down into the tunnel. She slammed the trap door, making dirt raining down. Luckily, none got onto her. She ran back through the passageway as fast as her little legs could carry her. The thought of that chilly, outside paradise was going to stay in the storage of her mind, ready to whip out just in case...

She got back to the shelter sweaty and tired. She squeezed back in and sat on top of the cabinet, waiting for the people in the crowded shelter to notice. They were starting to get ready to pack up and go, but Lee spotted her.

"WHERE THE F*** WERE YOU!?" She yelled.

"Doesn't matter," Asha sighed, taking her hand. "It's time to go anyway."

She was led up the stairs, with elbows nudging her in the side until she was up in the grand living room, where the crowd went one way and Victorine went another. Sitting by the fireplace was Gina, with a smile on her face.

"I was here the whole the time and none-" she exclaimed.

"You hear something?"Melissa asked.

"Probably nothing, hun," Jacey responded. Victorine looked at them, then at Gina. She

went right to the girl's side, who had her fingertips to her forehead. She looked up at Victorine and smiled.

"I know that people hardly let me finish here, but I gotta say-" She began. And she was almost pushed right into the fireplace as one of the boys yelled something immaturely while running from the shelter and laughing. Trailing behind him was Buckley, who spotted Victorine and giggled. He rushed up to her, and whispered, "I saw that," before running away.