Beyond the Hedge

(21) Beyond Gone.

I do not own that picture but I wish I did.

What we heard was different from what we saw. Which was hard considering that the lights when off the same time that explosion did.

"PRINCESS!" Reggie yelled. He dived toward me, away from the computers. All I saw was his blue shirt come after me.

At first Reggie ducked and everything went in slow motion. We didn't know where it came from, if it was from the screen or from the exterior of the treehouse. I was thrown out of my chair and I heard Alexander grunt like he was thrown on the floor. Both guys ducked to cover their girlfriends-I mean girl friends- when we heard it. I saw a flash, like the first time Reggie touched me back by the riverbank. I have to remind myself to ask him about that later.

Reggie held me close and if we weren't in this situation I would say something like "Woah. Moving too fast there buddy." I clutched onto his shirt anyway in fear I was, you know, about to die and hid my head under his shoulder. He was breathing hard and I felt his heart beating against his chest. Everything was quite, the sound of the explosion echoing in my mind. Without a doubt, I knew that Reggie was doing the same thing- which was thinking about our friends (even though I don't even know how Alexander knows Reggie). I looked up at him and I'm sure my emotions mirrored his.

"It's okay." I heard him mutter. Again, it was dark and a boy was close to me. This sounded oddly familiar and I tried my best not to think of the person that was with me before. Does it usually hurt like that? That one stab going straight toward your heart? Really?

It wasn't until I heard Ashley screaming that I knew that someone had exploded the place they were messaging us. I snapped back to reality so fast that I could've gotten whiplash.

To my surprise, the camera turned back on and it was clear focus. From my angle, I saw my best friend clutched over in pain, her head next to a bag of nacho potato chips. I would have laughed, for her sake, but refrained. That's what she was eating when she called us. Nothing says saving the world than hacking satellites and eating nacho potato chips.

She was really in pain."Oh my flipping McNugget. Holy Mackerel. What the hell-"

"Ashley, Dumpling, listen to me. Don't have a panic attack on me now. Come on, babe. Listen to my voice." Alexander spoke in a panic.

I punched Reggie's chest until he got off of me. I jumped up in front of the big screen and, in a panic, grabbed the largest mic by the biggest computer. I watched as Alexander carried Ashley in his arms and held her closer to the screen. He looked like he wanted to yell "What do I do?" at the top of his lungs until someone answered with something step by step.

"The emergency generator will initiate in five, four, three, two, one." Siri said and when the countdown was over the lights were back on. I kept my eyes focused on the huge screen, the same one that just minutes ago showed us Quinn playing with her Grandfather. From the corner of my eye, I saw Reggie look at me and I could see he was worried.

"Stephanie! Help me! Tell me what to do!" Alexander cried.

I was a total mess. I was pretty sure Ashley was hurt. She usually-

Ashley screamed in agony. I looked up at Reggie as I started to tear up and I yelled for Alexander to do something. She was crying silent tears.

"Do something! What happened?" Alexander cried, yet again.

"Make sure she's okay, Alexander." Reggie tried to reassure him but I was still panicked.

"-or may the Elders love you I will reach through the screen and kill you myself." My anger scale went from zero to a hundred real quick.