Chapter Two: Noises

~If you are reading this, then realize that you are reading the "Chapter Two" for the old version of "Moment of Darkness." As of this moment, everything is being updated and fixed and the new plot lines are completely different. Thank you all for reading though, :) ~

     Eventually the bus ride had to end, and Silas left my side for a moment, only to be replaced by Gwen Danelski, a raven-haired girl whose electric blue eyes sometimes scared me half to death. Although she wasn't as covered in butter as Silas was, she was still an equal to him; to me, maybe a .little more than that. As he disappeared with his signature pearl white smile, a hand – hard and fast – plopped down on my shoulder. As I turned, feeling half-frightened-to-death, I met two stony bright eyes that dilated wildly in their sockets.

     “Jesus Christ, Gwen!” I exclaimed, resisting an urge to press my hand to my heart. Gwen returned her hand to her side, beaming lightly.

     “Scared yah!” She bounced unsteadily from one foot to the other like a wild animal, anxious to leave its imprisonment.

     “Did you take your drugs yet today, missy?” The smirk on my face was prominent. She swung over to my other side like a monkey as we began to walk along the sidewalk, directed at a tall brick school building.

     “Haha, noo,” Her laugh transformed a little, morphing into an evil thing only possessed by a women in a psychiatric ward. She swished over to my other side again, almost skipping she was bouncing so much. “They're gonna have a cow.” She snorted.

     “Who, the witches?” I chuckled. As though she didn't recognize how I was only messing with her and joking around, her demeanor changed. Her face went a remarkable shade of white; so white in fact, that if I'd decided to toss her into the piles of snow lining the sidewalk, she'd vanish. The once persistent springiness of her feet was replaced with a somberness that was common of when she was going to have a major panic attack.

     As though choking on her words, she whispered, “Who told you?” A dead serious gleam appeared in her eyes, and I felt my breath catch in my throat. Before I could stutter out a response however, she laughed in a voice that said “I got you!”, her feet transforming once more into trampolines.

     “What in the world?” I demanded, and her laugh rolled over into a tremendous roar, her knees almost caving in. She stopped in her tracks, trying to suppress her outburst, but with the dumbfounded look on my face, it cackled into something even louder. All too soon I stepped into her world, the wonderland of her dance that touched everything around her. She couldn't know how the spirits inside of her pressed into me, welcoming into her world and letting me leave my home life back home.

     With that, we journeyed into school, planting flowers with every person we touched.

~~~

     It was around second period, sitting in Mrs. Wolfe's history class with Gwen across the room from me that I heard the noise. It was like a rough hissing noise, sounding far off. I looked around the classroom swiftly, then turned my attention to the front where Mrs. Wolfe stood with a hard frown etched into her smooth features.

     The sound was a little worrying, but I couldn't let it distract me from my work. Trying not to look too suspicious, I put my nose back in the book and continued to fill out the worksheet the teacher had given us, though starting to think more thoroughly about my dream.

     The dreams I normally have are less confusing than this one. Zombie don't just happen in real life, and I trust the government isn't as absurd as they're claimed to be in the movies. What was my dream about? I twisted the thought back and forth in my head, molding it into different storyline twists. I wondered briefly if maybe the dream was more exact than usual, but that was just as crazy as a government gone wild. Maybe it was some of Silas. My dream could be piecing together what I believe I'd feel if I realized Silas didn't feel the same way about me as I did him. That thought shook me to my inner core, and depression swept in like a cloud of hate.

     Out of nowhere, the swarms of locusts that were depression lifted, and what felt like a warm blanket shimmied its way onto my shoulders. In comfort, I attacked my work with a ferocity I didn't know existed, succumbing to a mindlessness of wonder.

~~~

     Finished way ahead of the rest of the class, I sat at my desk, trying not to twiddle my thumbs. I peered outside one of the windows, blinking at what I saw. Far off, the forest seemed to be bursting with smoke. Eyes wide, I caught several attentions of the other who turned also to see what I was looking at. It wasn't long before Mrs. Wolfe was on the phone with the office, reporting the fire. I tried not to wonder whether the noise I'd heard was the evil cackle of the flames, beginning then to consume everything.

     Mrs. Wolfe tried to keep the class calm, which was difficult because everyone was in panic mode, wondering what was going to happen with flames on the horizon. I briefly wondered whether or not they were going to evacuate the school, but where we'd go I had no idea. It wasn't long before the threat of the fire pressed all of the fire alarm bells to ring in the school and we all shuffled outside. I found Gwen and Silas, I panicky just as much as Gwen. Silas seemed to be decently shaken, though much calmer then the bustle throughout everything else.

     “What do you think they'll do?” I asked them, but they had as much knowledge of what was going to happen as I did. We watched as a helicopter appeared in the sky and firetrucks start rampaging the road in front of us. “I'm scared,” I whispered, and Gwen's terrified eyes met mine as well.

     Silas looked as though he was going to give me a hug, but instead grabbed my hand and squeezed. Dissatisfied, I met his eyes looking for a warning, and when I didn't see one, wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug. I almost started balling into his chest, but kept myself together, continuing to press my face into his chest. After what seemed for awhile, I let him loose, though he almost looked upset when I did so.

     The school buses roared into the parking lot at that moment, and I knew what they were doing – evacuating the town from the area. The fire was much larger than the rest of us had suspected, but I imagine with an entire forest being consumed by orange it would have happened sooner or later. I locked hands with Silas and grabbed at the back of the neck on Gwen's shirt, letting her lead us onto one of the buses. I didn't care which bus I ended up on, and I doubted the teachers did either.

     Finally on the bus, me and Gwen sat together and Silas sat in the seat across from us with one of his other guy friends that I knew Gwen liked. We waited briefly as all of the kids were accounted for, and the bus rolled into action. Me and Gwen huddled together, talking quietly, trying to ignore the fire as the engine roared and purred over the road.