Ephemeral: An Apocalyptic Novel

Chapter 2

Dulce

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. It was falling: the school. Chunks of it. Only the roof and second floor, which was just beyond strange. The chunks that were mid-air and crashing against each other were clean cuts. The destruction went deeper and deeper, as if to make the holes that were created more prominent. A loud groan made me wake from my daze.

The panic and chaos was unbelievable! I couldn't die like this...in fact, no one should. This was a pathetic way to die...but it was all happening so fast. So many thoughts were coursing through my mind as people fled and the school's roof fell apart.

Why is this happening?

Am I going to die?

Dude, stop filming! You're gonna die!

Shit, if everyone could get calm, we would get things done faster.

FUCK YOU BITCH WHO JUST CLIMBED OVER EVERYONE! THERE'S A SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL FOR YOU.

Do we really have to scream? We're out of harm's way!

It's so quiet.

Everyone smells like sweat and fear and this guy next to me is breathing way too hard.

What if this whole school fell over right now?

Once the school had stopped falling apart for good, the teachers collected their current classes together. I walked into the lunch period group, which had diminished almost half the size it was before. As I stood patiently as the teachers kept roll, I felt someone grab my arm.

"DULCE!"

"Holy shit, what?!" I yelled back, turning around to face the rude ass.

It was Elijah. Ta-dah. I pulled my arm away.

"What's wrong with you, calling my name out like that?"

"I was just checking for you. I thought you'd be gone. Look at the size of this group! What happened?"

"I don't know but it's really freakin' bad. You missing anyone?"

"Yeah, Jared."

"How could they have gone missing? We were all there, running and...he couldn't have gotten smashed, right?"

"No one got killed...I think. They just disappeared."

A megaphone was taken out and over the chattering crowd, blared, "WE NEED EVERYONE QUIET AND CALM! PLEASE KEEP ORDERLY AND DO NOT LEAVE SCHOOL GROUNDS UNLESS PERMITTED."

Everyone shut up except for the few that were sobbing their eyes out. The teachers' quiet murmurs of checking names slowly filled the field. Elijah's friends, Aiden and Derek, slid next to him.

"Hey, you!" Derek whispered.

I snapped my head towards him. "What?!"

"What's your name?"

"Dulce."

"Cool, mine's-"

"Derek, I know. And he's Aiden."

"Whoa, how do you know that?"

"It's not anything confidential. Everyone knows you guys." I closed my eyes and shook my head in disbelief. "Are you serious? You guys think no one knows you?"

"LUNCH PERIOD! QUIET!"

After roll was checked, they made us all assemble onto the bleachers and ground of the field. Ms. Deye climbed up the stairs of the scoreboard platform and clicked the megaphone on.