The Fall of Us

Chapter 8

Iris

11:46 am

The power just had to go off while I was on the toilet, didn't it?

Perfect timing Universe.

I walk out of the stall and start searching for my bag. I find it on the counter, where I take out my phone to turn on my flashlight...but it was dead. Great. I don't bother washing my hands as I turn for the door. I walk out into darkness, red lights the only thing illuminating the hallway.

The door shuts loudly behind me as I walk further out.

"Hello?" I hear someone call out to me about 20 feet away to my left. It actually sounded like..."Hey, we were on our way to class when the lights went out, but now we're thinking about going to the lobby instead. Did you want to join us, just to be safe?" Jesse asks me, still not aware of who I am. He probably wouldn't notice me anyway when the lights came back on.

"Okay. Yeah I'll join you." I respond.

I can make out a few more silhouettes following closely behind each other as they start walking towards me.

"Iris?" I hear a familiar voice say.

"Seth?" I call out to the figures.

"Hey." Seth comes into view.

Me and Seth only have a couple of classes together. He always asks to partner up with me when there's a project to do. Sometimes I don't, sometimes I do. My friends always tell me how much he's crushing on me, but I don't believe that, or I just don't want to.

"Hey." I say back.

We start walking down the hall, following the red EXIT signs. As we turn left around the corner, we start to see sunlight, streaming out of closed classrooms. Knowing that we were able to see each other somewhat clearly now, some of the boys glance at me and an expression of recognition spreads across Owen and Jesse's faces, except for the smallest guy who keeps looking at me with an amused look.

It's creeping me out.

We hear loud thunder from very close by I assume, but I don't know how there could be any lightning and thunder on such a beautiful day.

Nobody talks for the rest of the way there. I can feel a lot of awkward tension between everyone.

By the time we make it to the lobby, we start seeing students and teachers taking the stairs on the far left side of the lobby that heads downstairs towards the gym.

"Hey guys!"Jesse's friend, Riley yells jogging towards us.

" Hey man, what's going on?" Jesse asks him.

"Everyone's supposed to go to the gym, I guess."

Jesse nods slowly. "Have you seen my brother?"

"Nah man, but everyone should be in the gym at this point. He should be there."

" Okay, lets go."

We all make our way downstairs towards the gym from the lobby. Jesse goes off searching the crowd entering the gym, as Owen follows. I guess that's my cue to go off on my own.

I break apart from the group to go look for my best friend, Skai. Bet she'll know what's going on? She always knows what's going on. I enter the gym, the light is coming from the windows above the bleachers. It was packed with people scrambling around, I could barely see through the crowd. She's a platinum blonde, which should make her stick out easily. As I make my way to the far corner near the bleachers, someone grabs my arm spinning me around. 

Skai.

"Did you hear? Everyone's phones won't turn on-it's like the power outage took those out too." She says.

Hi to you too.

"Really? What's causing this?" I ask her.

"I'm not sure, but it probably had something to do with the lightning storm."

I start to speak, but the Principal's voice quiets the students. "Everyone, please take a seat."

All the students find a seat on the bleachers, and me and Skai take a seat close to the front.

"This is a very serious situation and I would appreciate it if everybody followed instructions." Principal Grayson continues.

"Why aren't our phones working?" A student yells.

All the students start to talk over each other, concerned about the same thing.

"I have a bad feeling." Skai says to my right.

I nod slowly. "Me too."