Alarm

INTRODUCTION

"In nature, there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences."

– Robert Green Ingersoll

            The sudden blast of noise pierced his ears and made him spring up out of bed. He searched wildly for the source of the sound. What could it have been? He thought as he searched until his eyes were brought upon his alarm clock. Oh.

            He turned off the annoying device, still breathing heavily from the scare. It was 6:30 am. And a Monday. Great. Another day of school. As he was getting ready he heard a familiar voice from downstairs call to him.

            "Adrien!! Breakfast is ready!!"

            It was his mother, he finished putting on the clothes that he would be wearing, a grey coat with a black fur neckline, black pants and black shoes. Afterwards he headed downstairs and ate quickly. He didn't want to be late for school as he knew his mother usually took her time getting ready.

            "Make sure you brush your teeth. And slow down! Goodness, you're going to give yourself a stomachache." She said, concerned for her child's fast eating.

            "I know mom. Hey, can we measure to see how much I've grown before school?" He asked excitedly.

            "Of course, we can. Oh, and don't forget that your ninth birthday is tomorrow."

            "I know, I'm super excited about it." He said as he stood, heading over to the wall with markings from past measurements.

            His mother walked over after retrieving a pencil, she marked.

            "My goodness, you've grown, you're a little over four feet, I think you may have even grown a few inches."

            He smiled, happy to know that he has grown.

            He went upstairs quickly to brush his teeth. He combed his snowy white hair and felt his skin to see if he needed to put any lotion on. His skin was unusually pale and surprisingly cold to the touch, though for him he had been used to it. After all, he's had the same skin color for almost eight years now.

            After he had gotten done getting ready his mother was, surprisingly, already in the car waiting for him. While in the car he thought about getting to school and wondered about how many people would be at his birthday party tomorrow. Once he arrived at school he got out of the car, waved goodbye to his mother, and disappeared into the building as his mother drove off.

            It was a long school day, but Adrien managed to get a few people interested in coming over tomorrow. As the school day ended people, including Adrien, began to walk home while others were either being picked up or getting onto a bus. Adrien was used to walking home though, as his house wasn't that far from the school. As he was getting closer to his house, he felt a small tap on his forehead which then proceeded to become several taps and got stronger and stronger. Oh great. Now it's raining. Though his thoughts were halted as he approached his house.

            The blue and red lights were a little more than smudgy illuminations in the slanting rain. But beneath their glow is the white bodywork of a police car. It's yellow-white headlights spotlight the dense hedgerow to the side of his house. As his eyes moved towards the house his gaze met an unfamiliar orange and red glow, the light seemed to span both stories of his home, though the thick black clouds blocked all windows and any thought that there might be someone inside.

            The next thing Adrien saw was a flash of white light and the feeling of his breath being pushed out of him as he felt himself fall to the concrete ground. Very faintly was he able to make out any words that were being said.

            "That's the suspect! Bring him here..." After that, everything faded to black.