The Beginning of The End

We have to get to school

Sophia

My life was reasonably simple for 15 years but it will never be the same again. I don't have anyone I can specifically blame. Even if I wanted to I wouldn't know who to aim my feelings at. My logical brain understands that it was a chain of events that lead to the position I find myself in now. You can't hold a specific person accountable because if one event had gone slightly different there could be an entirely different outcome. Like the sinking of the Titanic. My normal easy life, which wasn't perfect (nothing ever is) but I accepted it, has altered course due to the events that have taken place for 17 years and are still going on today. It is hard for even me to imagine how an event that happened years before my birth could have such an effect on my life right now. Very few people have ever looked back on their life and tried to figure out exactly how it has changed them as a person and affected the situations they are in every day. But now looking back over the things that at the time only seem like harmless yet definitely irregular events I can see how everything in my life has been building up to one point where it will completely lose control. And this was just one of those times.

***

We were caught in the middle of what I could only explain as a natural disaster. The ground was out of control but apart from that nothing I could see had changed. The sun still shone ferociously on; the air was still warm from the sun's rays; the birds still sounded from nearby trees and everywhere, apart from the tiny patch of ground on which we stood, seem settled and busy enjoying the well-deserved sunshine. My feet felt unsteady. The ground shook like an aeroplane experiencing turbulence. Hattie was shrieking. Typical, she's the loudest person I know and she doesn't always know when to shut up but I would never tell her that. All of us were really good friends and I wouldn't want anything between us. Besides, I hardly felt like I was one of them. I still considered myself an outsider who just exists for no reason, of course, they all tell me otherwise but they are not the sort of people who would tell me to go away. I stayed quiet. I was too busy trying to figure out what was going on and stay steady on my feet.

John joined in the shouting match. His strong, confident voice was not as loud as Hattie's but you could feel the power behind his words. There was a puzzled look stretched across Alex's face. He was trying to get to the bottom of this just as I was but he was smarter than me and more likely to figure out something I was struggling to explain. His voice sounded the clear warning and the other two were instantly quiet. But before anyone had the chance to say anything else the ground stopped shaking and I had to focus my brain to stop me from falling over from the shock of the sudden change.

"Scarlett." The name came from Alex, a questioning tone to his voice. That pulled me back to reality. I had been so busy in my mind that I hadn't realised until then that through the whole crazy experience Scarlett had been staring blankly into space and hadn't said anything to anyone. This was strange. Scarlett was the first person to reassure everyone when things went pear-shaped.

It was a few moments until she replied with a slightly confused "Yeah?"

"Are you OK?" The question sounded odd. Alex knew Scarlett better than anyone he never asked how she was feeling he always just seemed to know. Apparently, Scarlett's behaviour was strange to more than just me.

"Of course, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about." I could tell by looking at Alex's face that he wasn't convinced but he took the hint and backed away from the situation. I continued to ignore the obvious signs of fatigue on Scarlett's face and kept my mouth tightly shut. There was an extended moment where we all stood in a confused, awkward silence. The road was still deserted apart from the 5 of us. The sounds of the summer morning continued to buzz all around us.

"Well, that was weird!" As usual, it was Hattie that broke the silence. She was staring at the ground where she stood as if the answer to the question we were all thinking was written there. But if Alex and I were completely clueless, I doubted she would be able to figure it out with her limited knowledge accumulated by reading a billion girly magazines, about 3 pages of any school book we were given and the few notes she copied down from me after each lesson. It wasn't that she was not smart but she just couldn't be bothered to try hard and everyone (including our school teachers) knew it.

Well done Hattie I thought Once again you have managed to state the obvious. I bit the comment back and focused on searching my brain for answers to the question that hung over us like a black storm cloud- What the hell was that? But I could make no connections. All the logic in my head was screaming that it was not physically possible but my eyes and the whole of my body was forced to disagree. In the end, the only logical explanation I could muster was that I had imagined the whole thing. But in that case so had all my friends simultaneously and once again that was physically impossible. It was like sharing a dream although it's a nice idea in theory, in reality, there were way too many things that prohibit it and even if it was possible the likeliness of it happening was verging on impossible at least highly improbable.

"If we don't get a move on, we are going to be seriously late for school" Once again it was Alex who drew my attention back to the present situation. I glanced at everyone else to check that no one had noticed me daydreaming but they were all too busy in their own worlds to notice anything I had been doing. The words registered moments later but no one reacted, still in their dazed state but I check my watch. Alex was right- as always- we only had 5 minutes to get to school and it was still a good distance away, longer than we had if you factor in lockers and getting to class on time. Scarlett spoke before I could.

"He's not joking. We better make a run for it." That got everyone's attention. Any lasting confusion or daydreaming faded to nothing.

"But I hate running" Typical, Hattie complaining again.

"You've had enough detentions this year for all of us put together. We are not about to let you add to that total." It was true. Along with not paying any attention in class and gossiping to anyone willing to listen Hattie never handed in or even did any homework - another thing we accounted to her relax do-what-I-want attitude. If she ever did any work it was with the help of the private 'tutor' her parents paid masses of money to, who did all her homework and taught her very little unless it was what colour suited her best because that is the only sort of thing she would ever listen to. That's the problem with rich parents - they offer you everything to the point that you abuse the privilege.

There was a silent agreement made with our eyes followed by the mental countdown - a cue which we all knew well. In fact on many of our adventures it had helped us escape from difficult situations just as it was right now. At zero all 5 of us took off. It was quite a site so I have been told. Anyone watching us would have seen 5 people all start running at exactly the same time, something believed impossible without counting out loud or some kind of signal but the 5 of us knew the routine so well. We acted as if all 5 of us were controlled by the same brain, in some way we were. Being smaller I had to try twice as hard as everyone to keep up. My lungs burned from the physical labour and my legs felt as if they were on fire. I have never been the best at sports but I have never been particularly unfit. I spent too much of my life trying to keep up with my friends and I pride myself on the idea that if I ever got into any serious trouble I would be able to make a speedy get-a-way which would hopefully give me the edge I need to escape any trouble that had befallen me. Right now despite the tired feeling from the early start and the burning sensation slowly coursing through my whole body I was ready for the run. I had never been late to anything in my life, especially school, and I wasn't planning on starting now. In fact, I very rarely got into trouble at all. I have always tried to stay hidden in the background, keep a low profile and just get on with my life the way I want to. That means not doing stupid things, blending into the crowd, not speaking up when you think it could cause a problem. For as long as I can remember I have lived my life under the belief that if I appear invisible I will be left alone to get on with my life and not suffer the standard problems of everyday life. I have always been the quiet type. My motto is 'If I don't have anything useful to say then I say nothing' and I have never broken that rule. Not yet that is. And therefore I am not planning to break it in the future. But who knows truly what the future will hold especially now.

The route to school was so familiar to me I could make it without consciously thinking about where I was going. I ran through it in my head: down to the end of the road, two rights, followed by a left and then a short stretch before entering the school premises through the school gates. It seemed simple but when up against the time pressures we faced was it manageable.

We were fast but time is always faster. And the bell sounded as we raced in through the school gates. I allowed myself only a second to rest with the others, enough time to simply take a breath, before darting through the main doors. The others followed reluctantly trudging down the corridor rather than the brisk walk we normally acquired at school. I was not going to be late for registration.

I only slowed to a walk when we reached the small stretch of corridor on which our form room was located. The others still trailed a few paces behind me, unenthusiastic looks sketch on all of their faces. I paused outside the form room door allowing myself to fully recover my breathing rate while my friends caught up. Hattie was at the back as always. Clearly unimpressed by having to spend any more time in the prison she had to attend daily until further notice.

We reached our seats as our form tutor entered. Mr Williams was not a bad teacher but his teaching style was as bland as his name. His general attire was boring black suits, neatly pressed white shirts and the odd crazy tie bought by his 7-year-old nephew. His bald head has given him the name egghead of Stanville High, which luckily he takes as a compliment rather than the intended insult. He has a stern expression permanently and is a stickler for the rules which is fine for me being the good student I aim to be but means that he and Hattie have an ongoing war between them. The entire school moans about his ridiculous rules and frightening way of enforcing them which has brought some of the younger students to tears. I think the other members of staff are wary of him but our art teacher has often expressed her concerns whenever she thinks that no one is really listening. And not only do we have to suffer through all tutor based activities with him he is our maths teacher as well.

We went through the standard routine that we were all so accustomed to after being in the top part of the school for 4 years and sunk into our places, the upcoming day of school and not the strange events of this morning on our minds.

***

I personally imagined the normal activities I experience on a Monday. I could never have imagined the strange events that plagued on our lives that day. It still haunts me now, how everything could seem so normal when so many things were changing. Looking back to that time when I believed that leading a simple life could keep me in control and stop my life from spiralling to a point from which nothing will ever be the same again. I had such strong beliefs in my normal life that even if I had been warned I probably wouldn't have listened and discounted the information without even a second thought. Those problems still haunt me now.