When All The Adults Were Gone

Chapter 4 - Phones and Files

Part of my plan was to see whether our phone and internet connection were still working. They probably wouldn't because the new presenters weren't in their places behind their desks. The thought suddenly hit me that maybe this was happening to everybody. Maybe all of the other houses in the world were getting the same strange television images. I left Jamie at the top of the stairs and made my way back down the stairs. The image of the spilt coffee and the deserted toast still lingered in the back of my mind as I entered the kitchen once again to look for the phone.

I walked to the corner of the kitchen where the home phone base usually sat. But as I made to pick up the phone I realised it wasn't there. Confused as to where the phone could possibly be when nobody could possibly have used it, I began to look around for it. Next to the phone base there was a small pile of letters and leaflets and just general rubbish that always got posted through the letter box. I lifted up the pile of paper to see if the phone was hidden there. But to my disappointment and frustration it wasn't there.

"Jamie?" I called. An immediate thunder of footsteps echoed through the silent house. "Y-Yes" He said breathing heavily as he ran through the door. "Have you seen the phone? It's not here" I said pointing to the empty phone base. "Umm..." He scrunched up his face with thought. I stood there trying not to laugh at the ridiculous look plastered on his face as he tried to recall where he had seen the phone last. "I know! I know! I know!" He shouted just like one of those kids in class who was desperate to show their knowledge. "Where is it?" I asked growing impatient. "Daddy was talking to someone last night he went in his office with it. I saw him." He said matter-of-factly. "Thank you!" I said and I rushed out of the room.

I half ran to my dad's office. The phone call must have been important for him to go to his office with the call. He usually just answered the phone in front of Jamie and I. I pushed the door open and stared at the messiness of his office scanning for the phone. The room was the same boring beige as the rest of the house and in the corner of the room was a coat stand with my dad's army jacket and hat hung up. Next to it was a dark wooden desk that was cluttered with pieces of paper work and pens with a black laptop set in the middle of all the mess. I walked towards the desk. You couldn't even see the wooden surface because of all the clutter. I shifted some of the paperwork and the title caught my eye. 'Experiment 103' Attached to the front of the paper was an image of a large piece of silver machinery. There were many tubes and wires and many large sheets of metal sticking out of the huge machine. I scanned the page but didn't understand it. My physics knowledge was limited but it obviously made sense to somebody because they had written a whole essay about it. I didn't understand any of what I was reading so I set it down. As I did so another piece of paper caught my eye. It was a letter from the generals and parliament. 'Experiment 103 has been given clearance to be carried out by Professor D. Heartly' I read. I peered at the signatures and saw that all of the Warrant Officers and generals and MPs and even the Queen had signed! I just didn't understand what the experiment was.

I put the experiment files together and finally saw the small silver cordless phone I had been searching for. I had got so caught up in the files that I had almost forgotten what I was looking for. I picked up the phone and felt something stuck to the back of it. I turned the silver device over in my hand and saw a neon pink post-it note. On the post-it, written in my dad's messy writing was my name. It was a note;

'Scarlett, I'm sorry. Take these to the offices. Find someone who understands. Dad xo'