When I Awakened

Now Hiring

I walk behind the president as we walk into the newscast building. People seem to be relaxing, so I assume they're on their commercial break.

"I need to announce something," Mr. London announces.

The news broadcasters move out of the way, and Mr. London walks into the screen.

"The president is here and has an announcement," a man whose legs on his desk announces.

"Hello, fellow citizens," starts the president. "We're very glad to have completed the mission of waking up all the children. The military has been fired and banished from our community. Therefore, we need a new batch of people to serve as our protectors. Sign-ups are today, at any time. Come to the middle of town, and fill out a sign-up sheet."

I smile at Elijah, and we walk outside.

"What about your mom, Skylar? Don't you want to see her?" Elijah asks.

"Yeah, of course, don't you want to see yours?" I respond.

"Yeah. Of course, I do," he smiles.

"I think I am going to surprise her with Austin next to me," I say.

Elijah smiles at me and nods.

"Good for you."

Mr. London walks out of the building, and we hop into the car.

"Everyone line up!" Mr. London orders.

A crowd of people rushes to get into line. Each person has one of two facial expressions-- excited or nervous.

I smile as I watch my brother walk out of his car.

"I guess they don't need a convincing speech," he states, tucking in his shirt.

I watch him as he walks onto the stand, tapping the microphone.

"Hey, thank you, everyone, for coming, and being willing to be a part of our military. Everyone, take a piece of paper and fill out the information. I will be waiting at the entrance to collect the papers," Austin says with a glow in his eye.

The line starts moving fast, some people jumping up and down and others with hands tucked in their pockets. It's like watching people are cheering for a Shawn Mendes concert.

I start walking into the direction of the nearest building. It's getting hot outside. I sit down at the nearest table and lay down my head.

.....

"Skylar! Wake up! We have to sort through these applications," Austin exclaims, shaking me.

I look up to see him with a pile of applications. He sits down in front of me, and Elijah sits next to me raising his eyebrows.

"Wow," is all I am able to spit out.

"Let's find us a military," Austin smiles, taking a paper off the top of the stack.

I shrug and take the next paper. A girl with blonde hair and brown eyes applied. She apparently can beat anyone in an arm wrestle. She did gymnastics, took karate, and based on her appearance, she exercises a lot. She would be a great advantage in the military. I slide the paper into my "yes" pile and take another piece of paper.

"Why does this person look like Mr. London?" Elijah starts.

I look over at his paper and see a guy who looks exactly like Mr. London. I look at Elijah and Austin, and they both look at me confused.

"Skylar, do you know something?" Austin says.

"We're in trouble," I say.

Elijah looks at me and realizes our talk with the old military.

"Austin, that's not the president," I pause. "It's the imposter."

Elijah and I share a look and look at Austin. Austin looks like he swallowed a bug.

"Then who is he?" Austin raises his voice.

"I got to go find this guy," Elijah announces, getting out of his seat.

Elijah walks away, and just before he is out of my vision, he gets knocked to the floor, with what I'm guessing is a bat.

I get up and rush to Elijah, only to see the imposter himself. I stop in my tracks. The imposter has the matching brown hair and green eyes of the president. He has such a similar resemblance, it's scary.

"What do you want? We defeated the government. We'll defeat you, too!" I yell.

The imposter took a step towards me, and Austin tackled him to the floor.

"Don't you dare lay a finger on my sister!" Austin yells as the imposter uses the bat to hit him hard in the head. He passes out before long.

I look up at him in terror.

"I asked you a question!" I shout again. "What do you want?"

"I want you and all the other children asleep as you should be," he takes a step closer to me.

I take a step back as he does so.

"Get back here, you little brat!" he yells.

He takes another step towards me, and I take a step back. I look around and try to find something I can use as a weapon. I see a spatula on the desk in the kitchen. I take a run for it as he imposter dashes forward, running into the wall. I grasp the spatula in my hand and run towards the imposter. He stands in one spot and starts laughing as the spatula collides with his stomach. His laughter grows as he takes the spatula and grabs me by the arm.

"Let go of me!" I scream, squirming to escape.

"You tried to kill me with a spatula?" he chuckles, "idiot."

I try to shove down my emotions and throw up my fist. My hand is about to hit his face when he grabs my hand and twists my arm. I wince in pain. I punch his arm, allowing me to finally. He grabs his bat. I start making a run for it, when I feel something hard hit my head, and everything goes black.