Curfew

Chapter Seven

For real this time ;)

^^Phoebe 

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I have more visions.

But this time they're different. Instead of being about my family, they're about people i knew in the Before. My best friend Ahlitney is there. We're at her house. She's doing the Pre-Cal homework from that day. I reach for her, but my hand passes through her. She writes down the answer then shakes her head furiously and erases it, before putting her head down on her desk. She stays still for a minute, before turning her head to the door. She opens her mouth and calls back, but I can't hear anything. Ahlitney frowns with a worried look in her eyes. She gets up and puts her pencil down. Hurrying towards her door she stumbles a little at a slight tremor that suddenly rattles the house. Ahlitney throws open her door and runs down the hall. I follow her down her stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, her mom, Eris, is holding out a backpack to Ahlitney. Her mom's already wearing one, and so is her father, Josiah, who is also holding Ahlitney's little brother Jamie. Ahlitney starts to say something, but another tremor shakes them, even bigger than before. Josiah shakes his head and they head out towards the back door.

They head outside through the kitchen, their pace getting more urgent. I follow them, but not really on my own will. They head faster, almost running, towards the back corner of their yard, which is huge, speeding up even more as the tremors get bigger and more frequent. They finally reach the back corner, where a tornado/bomb shelter door sits. Josiah hands Jamie to Eris and throws open the doors to the shelter. Eris hurries down the steps with Jamie and turns on the light at the bottom. Ahlitney follows, with her dad right behind her. He slams the doors closed and locks them as tightly as possible. More tremors shake them.

Eris' eyes widen and she says something hurriedly to Josiah. Josiah shakes his head and runs his hand through his hair (or what little he has left), and tries to calm Eris as she gets more upset. I wish with all my heart I could hear them. Eris hands Ahlitney Jamie, who's crying now, and starts to head up the steps. Josiah tells Ahlitney something quickly and before she can protest he points to the back corner of the room and she goes, trying to comfort Jamie. She huddles in the corner, hugging Jamie, while tears start to fall down her face. Josiah races after Eris, who is starting to pull open the doors to the shelter, with Josiah yelling after her. Another tremor blasts through, and even I fall in my ghost-like state. 

Everything goes into slow motion. Ahlitney wraps into a ball covering Jamie entirely. Eris screams (or it looks like it), and falls crashing her head on the cement steps. Blood pools around her. The roof of the shelter is starting to cave in, and Josiah starts to run towards Ahlitney and Jamie. But he doesn't make it. A huge chunk of cement and dirt fall directly onto his back, crushing him to the ground. His head smacks against the ground a few feet away from Ahlitney, She looks up for a split second and screams. She starts sobbing, burrowing her head back into a ball.

Time fast-forwards. I see the dust settle and the tremors stop. The Bombings are done.

Ahlitney slowly raises her head. Tears streak her dust covered face. Her whole body is dulled in color by dust and dirt. She breaks into a coughing fit. When she recovers, she lifts up the little boy in her arms. He's unconscious. Hopefully. Ahlitney pales. She wipes (or tries to) the dirt off his face and gently shakes him. He coughs once, before coughing a bunch. He rubs his eyes a little before opening them and looking around. Luckily he doesn't look behind him. He looks at Ahlitney's tear-streaked face and pats her cheek with his grimy hand. She gives a relieved sob/laugh. She hugs him tightly, and they sit there for a minute or two. Ahlitney whispers something to Jamie (A/N He's 5 btw), and he nods and closes his eyes. She sets him gently on the ground, and adjusts her backpack. She walks over to her dad and whispers something, which I'm guessing is prayer, and covers him with dirt, so her brother won't be able to see him. I think it's for her too. She then walk over to the right, where a mound of dirt is. She digs through that, before coming across three two liters of water. She then calls to Jamie, who get up and skips over to her. She tells him something, and he nods. they both grab the water, Ahlitney carrying two, Jamie carrying one, and head out. Climbing over the mounds of dirt and rubble towards the stairs. Luckily, Eris is covered by dirt and rubble, except a small portion of her hair. Ahlitney hurries up the stairs and pulls Jamie up behind her. When they climb out of the shelter they have to squint for a minute to let their eyes adjust to the sudden sunlight. But when their eyes adjust, and they look at the world around them. Jamie lets out a sudden cry, and Ahlitney falls to her knees. And as if the sound has been turned on, I hear Ahlitney whisper one word.

"Why?"

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Hey hey sorry it took me foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr to update...

I have been SuPeR busy with school, homework, and tennis. But now I've finally updated! Hope you like this little filler chapter, it gives both you (the reader) and Stella a bit on what happened to her best friend. So Ahlitney's alive! Or she was...

Anyway! I hope you enjoyed this, and if you haven't checked it out already, a picture of Avery (remember her?) is on the previous chapter (Chapter 6).

I hope I can update quicker, but I can't promise anything, sorry!

-Kaitlyn