Hey Lovelies!
A bit ago I did a Men of Ottilie with the character Aaron! He is the star character of End of the Line. Well, one of the stars. Sorry to say I tend to write my stories in Male and Female POV's which you will learn as I hopefully get more out there. End of the Line you learned about Aaron who is tough and takes on the world, his counter part feels the same heavy weight on her shoulders. As Aaron is stubborn Lauren is his soothing friend that helps him along their journey. Lauren is a Leading Lady
Lauren
Auburn hair
Blue eyes
Self Sacrificing
Motherly
Sweet
Understanding
Peace maker
Leader
Scene:
Our neighborhood was having one
of those very family-oriented, corny block parties as a celebration for Labor
Day, which it has every year. I, being seventeen at the time, didn’t like being
at the celebration at all. First of all, the party wasn't exactly for my age
group. The parents thought we were still into the little ponies and treasure
hunt games. Secondly, most of the kids in my neighborhood were younger than I
was, and the few who were my age were able to escape the festivity. Later I
would wonder, Was it worth staying at the
gathering and living or escaping the party and possibly dying?
I was hanging around my little
brother, Sean, during the party since my parents were with the other adults.
They wanted someone to stay with him so he was being supervised. They were able
to go drink while I was here waiting in line for a smelly animal, whose long
face looked even more excited than mine at being there. I loved my brother, but
I just didn’t want to be outside on the blocked-off road, with people racing
around who weren’t ashamed to show their enthusiasm.
At the time, my brother was six
and fearless. Slightly on the hyper side and full of questions, he tested my
patience at times. At the moment, he was holding my hand, jumping up and down
and searching for his miniature friend, Paige, so they could go on at the same time.
My brother had a girlfriend.
I was currently single. Okay, so
I went on a few dates. I didn’t need a full hand to count the guys, but I just
never really had a full-out, real boyfriend. I’ve never had the genuine, strong
emotions toward any of the guys I went out with. It was frustrating.
“Lauren, there she is! Paige,
over here!” yelled Sean, letting go of my hand to wave his in the air while still
hopping about. I was starting to blame those double-chocolate cupcakes for his
energy.
I smiled, not sure whether to be
embarrassed or to think his behavior was adorable. A little girl with dark red
hair in long pigtails came running over to us. She was wearing a yellow shirt
with a big kitty on the front. She was wearing yellow shorts, one of those
little kid matching outfits you later yell at your parents for, wondering what
they were thinking when they bought it. Yet Paige and my brother were too cute
together.
That’s when the sky started to
get darker. The past week, the sky was getting an odd glow of obscurity, not
that I really noticed since I always kept my shades closed from laziness ‘til
my mom threw a fit. The sun still set at night, but always had that little morning
glow to it. Almost like a storm was about to start, but no rain ever fell. At
this point, the sky wasn’t pretty to look at, possibly looking worse than it
had previously. The atmosphere gave me the chills, to be honest.
“Sean, you want to go in and
watch a movie with Paige? It looks like it is going to start raining. I’ll make
you guys a big bowl of popcorn,” I said, letting my voice fill with excitement
to try and draw them in.
I really hoped they wouldn’t pull
the “I haven’t gone on the pony yet” card. The sky was giving me the creeps and
I wanted to get out of there. I shifted from one foot to the other with my arms
crossed over my chest. They looked at each other and whispered, their tiny
hands cupped to each other’s ears. Then they both glanced at me and agreed to
see a movie. I sighed in relief as I took their hands so we could stroll back
to my house. I had to tell my parents and Paige’s parents so they wouldn’t
worry when they didn’t see us outside.
We walked to the Jones’s back
yard where most of the parents were sitting on the porch at the tables they had
brought. Their laughter could be heard clear as a bell from the front yard
where the horses were. Finally, I saw my parents sitting on deck furniture,
drinking some form of alcohol that appeared summery with fun, tropical colors. Someone said something funny that
had the parents howling once more. I would have needed aspirin if I were with
them the whole time.
“Mom, Sean and Paige want to go
watch a movie at our house. They’re getting bored.” I added the lie knowing she
wouldn’t care about that little detail because she’d seen right through it.
We were close, and she knew her
two children very well, our likes and dislikes even our very small habits. A
lie could be sensed from another floor in or out of the house by my mother.
“Honey, didn’t you at least try
to have fun?” my mom asked, pushing a stray piece of hair behind my ear before
looking down at my brother.
I looked into my mother’s bright
jean-blue eyes. I’ve got the same ones while my brother has green eyes. Sean
and I both had the same auburn hair my mother had. Mine was curly like my
grandpa’s, and it fell two inches below my shoulders.
“Lauren, how about you take Cole
and Jill with you to watch the movie? They’ve been here playing cards the whole
time. They’re probably bored out of their minds.”
“Okay, Mom, I’ll take them.”
It wasn’t like it would affect
me. They would be watching a little kid movie. I didn’t care. I had no problem
admitting I still liked Disney movies.
I turned around to see Cole (who
was sixteen) and Jill (who was fifteen) playing war with a deck of cards,
looking really bored and sitting at a circular, wooden picnic table on the deck.
Mandy, on the other side of the table, sat with her head rested on her folded arms.
At nine years old, Mandy was an only child, so she attached herself to the other
neighbors. I walked over to them with Paige and Sean at my side. They were
whining about how they wanted the movie now.
The movie that I had to talk them into seeing was now taking too long to get
started for their taste.
“You guys want to get out of here
and watch a movie at our house?”
The two of them gazed at the
cards as the parents continued on with high pitched laughter and then glanced
at each other. They got up and trailed the three of us to my house. The door was
unlocked since my parents lived next door and the whole neighborhood was
outside, so we didn’t have to bother with carrying around keys. I pushed open
the door; then the six of us headed downstairs to the basement. Flicking on the
lights, we got to the corner of the basement, which my father had separated
from the rest of the basement. In this spot my dad built a sound-proof room so
everyone in the house wouldn’t have to listen to the video games or the shows
that would be playing.
We walked in and I closed the
door behind us. Sean and Paige ran over to the shelves of movies in order to
pick one they both would like. Their eyes gazed at each title. The other three
went to the table and started a new game of cards, whispering to each other. I
guess they couldn’t really talk with the adults always chuckling. It was always
a lot easier to talk when the adults weren’t in hearing range. I was the same
way at times.
The two finally picked some
Disney movie so I set it up and then sat on the couch with them. I put my thin-rimmed
glasses on so I could get the screen to focus a little better. Forty minutes into
the movie, when all of us were settled and calm, it started. The house began to
vibrate and the TV went black. The lights flickered, then went completely off.
The two little ones bellowed in annoyance, but that quickly turned into
apprehension. My nerves were set off as I felt my hands start to shake along
with the rest of the house.
Thinking quickly, I pushed all
six of us under the table that just a moment ago was the home of a card game. I
mentally thanked my mom for putting the old kitchen table down here instead of
getting rid of it. I drew Sean closer to me as we squeezed as close as possible
in order to fit. I buried my face in my brother’s hair as I felt the fear of
death breathing down my neck.
As the tremor continued, heat and
a gagging smell filled the basement. Paige started to cry into my shoulder
while holding tightly to me. Her tiny fingers gripped the top of my shirt. I wrapped an arm around Paige
to bring her closer to Sean and me. I could feel the sweat on my body from the
heat, but I didn’t care. All that mattered was getting through this.
The sounds of wood buckling and glass shattering were muted against the clashing noises that I
couldn’t pinpoint. The TV fell over and the screen shattered, shooting glass
fragments around the room. The shelves that once held DVD’s and games quivered
before collapsing to the ground.
After what felt like forever,
though it was more likely just over an hour, the earth started to wobble less.
Eventually, it completely stopped and the world seemed still. It took me a bit
to even realize the shaking had stopped. The sudden quiet left a new air of
heat on top of the New Jersey
humidity, which already lingered over the state. A weird stench filled my nose,
nearly burning the inside of my nostrils. I didn’t want to move for fear the
floor would be taken from right under me. My legs were probably as undependable
as the house had been just a moment ago. Slowly, I let go of the two little
ones to creep out from under the table. I had to pry their fingers from me.
None of us wanted to let go.
“Where are you going?” asked Cole,
looking very worried.
The others were appearing more
frightened than him. All of them were still clinging to one another. Mandy was
holding onto Jill, trembling. Jill’s dark eyes were wide with fear as she held
onto Cole. Paige and Sean attached themselves to Cole since I was gone. They
were too petrified to move.
“Stay there, you guys. I’m going
to see what just happened.”
“I’ll go with you,” said Cole,
starting to shift to see if he could find a way out from underneath the table.
“Cole, stay with them.” I tried
to muster up a hiss of an order, yet my voice wavered. “Someone needs to keep
an eye on everyone, so you stay.”
I tiptoed toward the door. Each
step was hesitant. I was preparing for the floor to start moving again. I could
see the door only because steam poured through the cracks of the frame. I went
to open the door, but I could feel the heat radiating from the door knob a few
inches above it. Knowing I had to go through, I grabbed the blanket from the
couch and wrapped it around the knob so I would be able to turn it.
When it swung open, I never
thought I would witness anything like it. In front of the door, a rock the size
of half my house blocked the stairs, a searing smoke emanating from it. The
little of the sky that could be seen was black, and an eerie red glow striped
the dark clouds. Utter silence has never sat well with me. There wasn’t even
any laughter from where the parents were.
We needed to get out of there right
now. This was all very, very bad. “Hello!
Someone help us!” I screamed, my voice cracking with panic several times.
After what seemed to be the
hundredth time of high-pitched screeching for help, I felt tears in my eyes.
Smoke drifted around me, irritating my throat and eyes. I fell to my knees, wondering what
just happened and why no one was coming to help us. I coughed, feeling the
smoke filling my lungs. My throat felt raw from the yelling. I knew I had to
get the kids out of here if there was any chance of surviving. I got up and
pushed some of the ash that was mixed with parts of my house off of my legs. That
was when I heard a sound.
“Help!” I screamed, feeling a little
relief come.
I stared up in the haze to try to make out the
face above me. I couldn’t, but it was someone who could help us out of here. Ash, drywall, and God
only knows what else was clogging my sight.
“Is someone down there?”
“Yes!” I shrieked, not able to hold back the
jumpiness of my nerves. “Yes, there are six of us down here! Can you help us?”
“There are six of you?” His voice was deep. “So
more people did survive.”
I took a deep breath because I felt sick
after his last sentence. “What do you mean?” I questioned, not really sure if he
heard me.
“Hold on a second. I’ll come down and help
you guys!”
Rope appeared a few minutes later. I didn’t
bother moving, since I was stuck where I was. I watched the stranger as he
lowered himself down to help us. When he was a few feet above the ground, he
let go and landed right in front of me. By the little light provided by the
scarlet, smouldering sky, I was just able to see who was standing in front of
me. Part of the reason I could tell who it was is because I had seen him so
often.
Cutting this scene short ;)
End of the Line
