Prototype ( Part II )

          I looked at Josh like he was way out of it. He looked at me a bit mad and then looked at Ethan making a face as he pointed at me, like I was the one being weird.
“Well? So are we going to the theater then?” Josh asked Ethan and Chloe.
“I don’t think so…” Chloe remarked with a little tune in her voice.
“I gotta go get my bike from school. I think I want to go home and see what my parents are doing.” I told Chloe and Ethan, as I grabbed my jacket from a chair and began to leave.
“Wait!” Ethan yelled behind me following me, “I’ll go with you…”
“Me too.” Chloe said and followed me too.
“Well?” Josh said to himself as he stood dumbfounded. He quickly grabbed his jacket and ran out the door after us. On our way to school, we saw that most businesses were beginning to close their doors and placing the “We’re Closed” sign on their doors. Josh was finally beginning to worry.
“This is getting freaky, you guys. I mean, it’s like a weird movie or something.” He said with a little fear showing through his voice.
“It’s probably just like…some terrorist attack somewhere. We’re like in a “code orange” and they make a big deal out of anything.” Ethan explained as he looked around.

          Finally we made it to school. Wow…it was so empty and desolate. Like on a Sunday.
I got my bike and we all said good-bye to each other. Chloe and Josh lived pretty close to each other, so they walked together. Ethan and I didn’t live that close to any of them, so we headed out on our own.

          I rode my bike home. As I entered the driveway, I noticed my dad’s car was there. That was strange. My dad is never home early. Usually he’s never even home for dinner. Not that we always eat dinner together anyway. The front door opened and my mom stood in the doorway.
“Chelsea…where were you?”
She sounded mad but scared at the same time…I heard her like this before. It didn’t freak me out or anything.
“I was at school…”
“School let out over an hour ago. Come inside. Your father is home.”
“I know…I see his car.”
“Do you realize anything? Have you even heard the news?”
As I came inside she shut the door behind me. I could see my dad sitting at the dining room table with the cordless talking to someone. He was pretty quiet and serious.
“Mom, is something really wrong? Are we in danger or something?”
“What have you heard?” She said as we walked in the kitchen. She poured herself a cup of coffee.
“Well…I don’t know—that there is no way out of town. That there are people from the government in white plastic suits and masks blocking the roads.”
I put my back pack down and leaned my arms on the kitchen counter next to her. My dad stood in the doorway between the dining room and the kitchen. He and my mom exchanged a stare that seemed to mean something…but it didn’t mean anything to me.
“Go upstairs, Chelsea.” My dad told me.
I could tell he wanted to talk to my mom, and I was so curious that I didn’t want to interrupt it. So I sighed and slowly made my way upstairs. Listening carefully as I went.
“Henry is calling everyone he knows. He can’t find out anything.” My dad whispered to my mom. “I am really worried. I think we need to get what we can in the car, just in case.”
“Oh, Steve, I am so scared.” My mom whispered back. Then it got silent. I think they were hugging or something. As I was going in my room I heard my phone ring. I ran in my room to answer it.
“Hello?”
It was Chloe, “Hi.”
“Hey.”
“Were your parents mad?” She asked.
“Not really…they’re too worried. Were yours?”
“I don’t even know where they are. I am so scared. I am all alone…the TV is dead, by the way, the radio too--I mean, all you can hear is like, clicking sounds on the radio.”
“That’s weird.”
“Can I come over to your house?”
I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to say yes. But my parents…
“Okay, just come over—but hurry up. We may go somewhere.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. I heard them talk.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“Be careful, Chloe.”
“I will. Bye.”
So we hung up. Then I got anxious. I didn’t know what to do. I looked out my window and saw our neighbors loading up their car. I couldn’t see my driveway from my bedroom, but the neighbor waved at my driveway, so I figured my parents were doing the same thing. It was so weird! I began wondering if I was dreaming. It was so surreal…like it just couldn’t really be happening. My mom came in.
“Would you like to help?” She asked.
I just stared at her. She must have sensed my fear because she opened her arms, came to me and hugged me.
I let go of her and asked her, “What is going on mom?”
“Well, the news began to say that communications with us were down. That no one could get through to us. They talked about us like we had disappeared. I tried to make calls outside to Grandma to let her know we were okay…but I couldn’t get through. The line was busy.”
She caressed my hair. She had her compassionate expression. She looked at me like that just last weekend. I was crying because Jonathan, the cutest guy in the entire universe, told Mia that he wouldn’t date me with a ten-foot pole. The Jerk! Chloe told me she made it up because she had a crush on him also. What a…!
“Joan!” my dad called from downstairs.
“Upstairs!” my mom answered.
My dad came upstairs to my room. I just thought about how odd this was getting. Both of my parents in my room at the same time! Well, my dad had rarely been in my room anyhow. Just as he came in a loud rolling sound startled us. It was a helicopter. It was so close to our house that all the dogs in the neighborhood began to bark. My room rattled and stuff on my dresser began to fall. My dad made us get down on the floor.

(Part III Coming Soon!)