Blackout Nightmares

“It’s cloudy today, huh?” My mother woke me up by opening my curtains, letting in what little sunlight there was on that fateful Tuesday morning. That should’ve told us, I guess, since we see rain and storms often here and it was all cloudy. I thought nothing of it, though, and laid in bed for a bit. ‘God, I don’t want to get up, just let me lay here forever,’ I thought. I never was easily woken up, I valued my sleep more than a librarian valued their books. I yelled, “UGGGGHHH, LET ME DIE IN DARKNESS” my mother just rolled her eyes at my antics, we go over this every day, so it’s pretty normal for me to shout random profanities and threats when I’m woken up. Not very healthy, but nothing we ever do nowadays is healthy.

I finally force my dead legs out of bed, dramatically sighing and dragging myself to my closet. I look through it quickly, haphazardly grabbing a pair of jeans and a plain tee, then a red flannel. It was a normal outfit for me, plain and simple, not much effort. I woke up a bit more, so I less reluctantly found my way to the bathroom, but still reluctantly. I combed my hair and brushed my teeth, then went off to the kitchen. I’m greeted with my sister whining and crying, so I try to slip out quietly. As I sneak out to school, I look up. “Huh, it is cloudy,” I suddenly feel some rumbling, and look down at my feet, “Dang, forgot breakfast.”

I walk the rest of my way to school, greeting some people I knew, but mostly just going to my classroom quietly and sitting down, putting my headphones on. I never plugged them in, but I have soundproof headphones, so people can’t bother me unless they touch me, anyways. I lean back, closing my eyes, suddenly feeling like it’s a rough day already, mainly because of the lack of food in my stomach. I look towards the window to my left, the closest one, and watch people frantically running to their classrooms. ‘Bell must’ve run’ I roll my eyes and put my head down, but as I lift my head a few minutes later, I noticed that it wasn’t just dark because my eyes were closed, but the classroom was dark. I look out the window, seeing that it’s still day, or assuming so. I watch rain drizzle down the window, suddenly realising why the lights are off. I tentatively take off my headphones, trying to get a better understanding of what’s about to happen.

See, I’ve never been in the classroom during any sort of storm, mostly because we get a forewarning, or the storm starts much earlier in the morning. I wait for instructions, wishing everyone would just shut up. It astounds me how people can be so loud and not hurt their ears, they must already be half deaf or something.The teacher quiets us down and said that the power probably went out and that was it, just a light thunderstorm, and nothing else would happen so we should calm down. We all get to our seats and read, or play games quietly with each other.

Boy, was she wrong. The principle could be heard very quietly going from class to class and saying something, though no one could translate exactly what. She finally finds herself in our room, informing us that there’s a hurricane nearby. I blurt out quite suddenly, “Oh, of course. Great.” Everyone was pretty surprised at my sudden exclamation, but I can’t really see why. I guess it’s just because I’m fairly quiet and don’t complain. I just close my eyes and pull on my headphones as everyone either freaks out or laughs at my outburst. A few people pat me on the back, and even though it’s annoying, I can’t help but feel proud of myself, just because I’m not very popular and not very funny. I try to keep a straight face, but smirk as I see someone give me a thumbs up. I don’t know how they find something stupid like this so hilarious.

We continue on with our day, but not like a normal day. We played board games and talked, because we couldn’t really do our work in the rain and thunder. My best friend, Hal, was quite scared of the thunder, so I let her use my headphones, it was actually quite cute. I put my jacket on her and played some of her favourite music through the headphones and saw her drifting off when I looked to my side. I smiled slightly and continued reading as she leaned on me. Of course, this couldn’t go unnoticed by anyone. I saw a few people taking videos, or making dumb comments and saying that we were dating. I snarled like a dog and rolled my eyes, then laughed softly. “We’re just friends, guys.” To this, my other friend, Gran, piped up, “yeah, sure. And I’m just laying down.” I noticed that he was standing up, and I squinted at him, but said nothing.

It was the end of the school day, so I had to wake up my dead legs and Hal. I shake her gently and take the headphones off and stop her music. “Hey, come on, gotta get up now, Hally. Hay-Hal, come on,” I kept at the nicknames and tried to wake her up gently. We couldn’t be too late, so I ended up just getting up and leaning her against the wall, then packing up both of our things. Neither of us had an umbrella, so I took my jacket when I saw her little smile, and I knew she was up from that. “Oh you little..” I whisper, and she giggles slightly. I start poking at her stomach, with the full intent of her laughing and getting up. She finally gives in. “Okay, okay,” she laughs out, “I’m uppppppp, loser.” I smirk and scoff playfully, “you’re the one that fell asleep on my lap, if anyone’s the loser here, it’s you.” We joked like this a lot, but loved each other all the same in the end. She gets up and stretches, grabbing her backpack. “Thanks, Snail!” 

Snail isn’t my real name, but it’s a little joke between the two of us. I’ve always been slow on catching onto things, and when I do I usually can’t contain whatever it is very well. “No problem, Cola.” I smirked, knowing just what I’ve said. She once laughed so hard that coke came out of her nose. She hits me slightly as I put on my backpack, I laugh and make my way out. “It’s raining a lot, huh? Your parents are out of town this week, right?” I turn to her as she sneaks up to me. I don’t mind, she’s really the only person I’m fine with touching me at all. “Yeah. And you’re right, it definitely is. Ugh,” she groans looking around, “we didn’t bring umbrellas.” I smirk, “No we didn’t, but that’s what makes it fun!” I step out into the rain, laughing and tilting my head up, making sure to close my eyes. I look back over at her, seeing how antipathetic she is to come out.

See, she and I are different in this way. I enjoy the rain more than the sun, but she loves the sun and hates the rain. I go into the classroom and grab my jacket for her, having already expected this. She puts it on happily and hums, throwing on the hood that’s much too large on her and walking out. I roll my eyes yet again and smile, then walk out as well.

We begin the walk to my house, and stay quiet. We don’t talk at all, because we’re just like that. We don't need words to help communicate how we feel all the time, sometimes just how we’re looking or what we do that gives off how we’re feeling. This is what I like about her; she understands me before I understand myself sometimes. We reach my house, going under the porch as I pull out my keys. “No one should be home yet, so we should have enough time to do our homework in peace.” I open the door and hold it open, letting her find her way in. As she did so, I made my way in, shutting and locking the door behind us. I knew that no one would be home because my mother had left soon after me to go to my grandmother’s house. We go into the kitchen, sitting on the greyish marbled seats and pulling out yesterday’s homework, reviewing it and doing what we missed. A good 30 minutes later, we get bored and finish, making our way to my room.

As we make our way through the hallway, I hear a dark rumble, much like the one my stomach produced earlier, but louder and shakier. I look at Hal and tilt my head, frowning questionably. She looks back at me, seemingly understanding what I mean. “Yeah, I heard that, too. I think it’s the storm.” She shrugs, seemingly nonchalant about it, but she couldn’t fool me. I saw her shaking, going over and hugging her, to which she hugs me back and smiles shakily. “It’s fine, Parker.” I hug her tighter, pulling her in more. “You know fully well it’s not, but whatever.” I let go of her hesitantly, and then we continue making our way to my room.

We play video games for a bit as the storm calms, finally letting in the angelic rays of light. By then, it was already 5:30, so the sun was coming down already, very slowly. I suddenly felt very drowsy, yawning silently. Even though I didn’t yawn very loudly, Hal still caught it. “You know, if you’re tired, just say so.” I look at her sleepily, trying to come up with a good virtuous excuse. “Well, um…” I yawn once again as she gets up, “okay, buddy, come on, lay down.” I watch her walk over behind me quietly, putting a pillow behind me and gently pushing my shoulder down. I don’t give way, so she looks at me accusingly, and I find her next move jumping on me, forcing me to lay down. “I’m not gonna…” I yawn yet again, then close my eyes a bit, “gonna fall asleep.” 

I don’t know how much later it was, but I woke up to Hal sleeping on me and my mother taking pictures of me. I timidly hum, then look at her with angry eyes. “Not another picture, Mom. Not another picture.” She laughs, “That’s fine, I’ve already got a dozen or so. I’m so happy for you,” she says teasingly, “getting your first girlfriend.” I feel my face heating up unwillingly, and my ears begin to burn. I make no effort to wake up Hal, but prop myself on my elbows while looking at the window and noticing how dark it is. Red as a tomato, I make an effort for conversation, “It’s cloudy today, huh?”