I
The Explosion
3 AM September 30th Present day.
I heard loud noise from the distance. What could it be? At this hour? Is it lightning?
I checked outside but it wasn't raining. So what could it be?
I checked the time. 3 AM. What the hell? I just slept for an hour. I spent the night looking for headline news with Charlotte. I hadn't had enough sleep.
Hurriedly I picked up my phone and call my best friend,Charlotte.
"Hey Cee? Did you hear? Did you hear the noise?"
"Yes. It's from the factory. Everyone is effin awake now. They said it was an explosion!!" Charlotte sounded excited. In our small town, where a house fire never even happen, an explosion is a huge deal.
"Do you know what it means?" I continued. "It means we have our headline!!" I exclaimed.
"I'll pick you up ASAP!" I told her.
"But, I don't think it's wise to..."
"Cee. This can be our big break." I assured her.
"Alright, let me get my recorder ready first." She said before hanging up the phone.
I wrote down notes to my parents. Let them know I'm going out. Yeah in this small town, you tend to live with your parents. After all, my parents are the owner of the town's newspaper. So I practically work with my parents. Sounds lame, huh?
I was thinking of working somewhere else. In a bigger city perhaps. But they said I need to work on my portfolio so I decided to spend few years collecting more portfolio while working on my local newspaper.
When I arrived at her house, Charlotte had already waited in front of her house. I waved her in.
"You sure it's the factory?" I asked as soon as she got in the car.
"No doubt."
I sped up as if I was late for an exam. Charlotte was my best friend. We grew up together. She moved here when she was 12 with her mom after her parents divorced. As a new girl in a town where everyone knows everyone, it's a bit hard for her to fit in. Especially she was a city girl. At first, she was as cocky as any stereotypical city girl, but turned out it was just a facade.
Not long after she moved here, she got lost in the forest near the factory. Everyone was searching for her, but being a local, I was the one who found her. It was a coincidence though. I like to take a stroll in the forest since it's so soothing and calming.
When I found her, she was throwing rocks at a huge tree stump, cursing and crying. I just stood there until she realized that I was there. When she noticed me, for no reason she started to laugh. I laughed with her, again for no reason. Since then we strangely became besties.
Fast forward to present day. We arrived near the entrance of the factory. And as expected, there are already officers swarming the area. At first we thought it was the police but they wear different uniform and they look a lot stronger and more reliable compare to our local policemen.
"who are these people?" Charlotte whispered. One of the officers waved his hand to us, asking us to slow down. Cee slowed down and stopped. The officer knocked our window.
"May I help you, Sir?" I asked politely.
"Ma'am, sorry but you cannot proceed further. The area around here are now inaccessible until further notice."
"We're from the local newspaper sir. We're doing a report on the incident." Charlotte proceed by showing our press tag.
"We're sorry ma'am, no Press are allowed within the perimeter."
