Blackout

Monday 30th July 2030, 13:30

Sara Williams was having a nightmare. It wasn’t just any nightmare. It was one of those worryingly real ones, where she was aware she was dreaming but still had no control of her actions or what happened next. All she could do was stand there and endure it. Looking at her surroundings only intensified the claustrophobic panicky fears that were pulsing through her mind. The sea’s signature salty scent was a tad too overbearing, the sand too soberly soft and the heat! It was alive; a thick, hot, sticky, breathing wall that was so humid it smelt. The environment was also eerily quiet. Her surroundings were hushed in a deadening blanket of silence. Straining her ears as much as she could, Sara could only hear the soft overlapping of waves and teasing breeze that wafted through the tree tops but failed to reach her sweaty and bothered self. It was everything she hated, her own personal little hell hole and yet what made it completely unbearable was the solid irrefutable fact that she could not escape. She was stuck, stranded, marooned, abandoned, or whatever you wanted to call it Sara Williams had been deserted.
Her terrifying nightmare was real.

Two and a half hours earlier…

Sara’s eyes followed the two changing swirls of colours as the shades of grey entwined together before bursting apart into bubbles of charcoal. At the moment the colour itself was not changing, instead it varied between darker and lighter shades. It was so addictive and alluring to watch, Sara could feel her mood settling already. She flinched when someone tapped her shoulder and the swirling colours were immediately still – an angry black. She tore her eyes away from the mood ring and turned to her left to glare at the boy who was annoying her.

“So, isn’t it just awful how we were forced to go on this trip?” he sighed awkwardly but with an animated gleam in his eyes that suggested he was still just toying with her. Sara rolled her eyes at his lame attempt to start a conversation, before turning straight back to the thin band tied around her finger. The swirls had barely relaxed to an ash grey before she yet again felt a tap to her shoulder. This time he was full on smiling as if it were some kind of joke. Sara smirked back narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to deal with him when her pocket vibrated and her attention was pulled to her FlyMobile D1000 - it was Taylor texting her from the back of the school bus. Sara grinned and poked her head out of the aisle just in time to catch Taylor smiling at her before her head dropped and she was on to texting someone else.

Sara bit her lip just envying her friends who were all sitting comfortably together in a line at the back of the bus. It was so typical of Mr. Kerry to punish her by making her swap seats where she would be ‘less likely to cause trouble’. It was a childish and immature act, yet he still managed to get Sara exactly where he wanted her – sulking like a child sitting next to some stranger. Her growing dislike towards him only deepened when he began to whistle. She unclenched her fists and counted slowly up to ten in her head like how her father was always telling her to do, before she was then able to calmly text Taylor back. Her fingers moved restlessly over the keypad as she also texted her other friends, seeking comfort with their similar complaints about Mr. Kerry. She wasn’t the only one who disliked the teacher, especially after today. Yesterday evening the news weather reports had announced a major but short storm scheduled for the afternoon which would make it too dangerous for outdoor activities and would cause possible temporary power cuts with the ongoing riots and rebels against the power system. Which would mean all school computers and other technical equipment could be suddenly rendered useless, something everyone wanted to avoid. This meant that almost all of the schools in the area had shut down for the day. It was only Mr. Kerry who had so selflessly decided that they all could still manage their Wednesday trip and not have to miss school as no computers would be required and the eco centre they were visiting was completely indoors and safe from the storm.

To Sara it had simply meant that she had been forced to school while her younger brother enjoyed a day off. Even her parents, who were all up for education, thought Mr. Kerry was a bit much. He was such a weird, different teacher; instead of rejoicing in a day off he cancelled it. Instead of setting them long typing tasks from their computerized text books, he had them doing geographical experiments, drawings and a whole load of pointless school trips that no one expected from their average daily geography class. Lastly he was always forgetting everything: marks, tests and reports. Sara was forever asking herself just how much longer he would last at their private school.

“Nice mobile.” The boy next to her smiled as he finally stopped whistling. Sara almost jumped out of her seat, she had been so busy with her angry thoughts about Mr. Kerry. She merely nodded back, accepting the compliment as some sort of act of penance for being such a nuisance. “Sometimes I wish I had a mobile,” he mused, more to himself, but Sara heard and was somewhere between unbelieving and plain horrified. Her hand flew to her mouth as her mood ring turned a lucid green to signify confusion.

The boy only grinned back, “My parents are…” he began, but was interrupted by the sudden jolt of the bus stopping.

“We’re here!” Mr. Kerry’s loud booming voice announced. The bus shuddered to a final halt as everyone hastily made a beeline for the door. Sara just managed to grab her FlyMobile D100 before it slipped off her lap. Her friends were immediately at her side, their school bags in hand. Before Sara could hear the rest of the mysterious boy’s speech he was gone with the surge of the crowd. Instead she made her own way to the exit, grateful for the fresh autumn air that blew in from outside. The air was slightly salty and the unique chatter of seagulls outside were all signs they were near the beach. Sara couldn’t deny the anticipation of curiosity she felt as to where their spontaneous teacher had brought them now.

Luther, one of Sara’s best friends, was already pushing his way to the teacher’s side. He was slightly round, with thick curly brown hair and cute chubby cheeks that Sara knew he hated. His father was founder of “Gadgets’ r’ Us” and it meant that he always had the most expensive new gadgets. Luther prided himself on his laptops and many mobile phones. He was continually discovering new apps and uses for them, and this time his obsession was with the weather. With the unpredictable late summer storms he liked to know when the Sun was going to fade and the rain was going to hit. That was why, unlike the rest of his class, he was wearing full jeans and a jumper, despite the September warmth. He fully trusted every pricey mobile and computer he owned and Luther did not like to be wrong.

“Mr. Kerry, my new watch says the storm will hit us around 12:15, but that the heavy rain will start at exactly two and a half minutes past twelve,” he declared proudly, eyeing the rest of the class and daring anyone to doubt him.

“Your watch can tell the weather?” Mr. Kerry scratched his head, continually amazed at what technology could do these days. “Well, it’s already quarter to twelve now so I guess we should…”

“We should eat our lunch in the bus until the rain stops and then head for the centre,” Luther finished, his lunch already in hand. Mr. Kerry only sighed before stepping back on the bus, already defeated. Still, they were early and a little wait wouldn’t hurt.

At exactly two and a half minutes past twelve the year ten students sat silently on the bus, their faces turned to the windows and their ears straining to hear the unmistakable pitter patter of raindrops. “Any second now,” Luther muttered quietly under his breath. But the rain did not come, or the storm. Instead the cloudless blue sky stared calmly back at them refusing to budge on its apparent promise of rain. A seagull flew past, Mr. Kerry fidgeted in his seat, the bus driver drummed his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel, and still there was no rain. Luther frowned, staring accusingly at the sun. It had to be the sun’s fault of course; his new watch was not wrong.

“Maybe we all need to get up and do a rain dance and then it’ll magically pour down,” the boy next to Sara muttered sarcastically. Swift as a fly, she stuck out her elbow to nudge him in the ribs before slipping back into the queues of irritable students leaving the bus once again. The little hold up meant it was going to take even longer before the trip was over and they were on their way again. Sara couldn’t help groaning to herself. It was going to be a long day. She idly watched her small group of friends as she made her way over to them.
There was Taylor: her face now obscured by her long brown hair as she bent over her Strawberry Bold 3G. Her Strawberry Bold 3G was simply a part of her and Sara couldn’t imagine her without it. If you couldn’t accept that her Strawberry Bold 3G was always going to come first, then you were no friend of Taylor’s.

Next to her stood the twins, Nina and Nathan, and with them, Luther. Nina was loudly chatting to Luther flicking her light blonde hair that Sara secretly envied. Nina was moaning about the storm and being separated from her prized pink Bliss laptop for such a long amount of time, while her twin brother stood neatly out of the way in her shadows, his lanky body fitting perfectly behind her. His hands were stuck in his pockets and Sara didn’t need to look twice for the familiar wireless earphones, so high-tech that they were barely noticeable, plugged into his earlobes. Sara did though; she knew exactly what he and the rest of her friends were like. Well, at least she liked to think so.

“And now we come to the last leg of our journey,” Mr. Kerry proclaimed dramatically as he led his class to the nearby waiting ferry.

“Well, this better be some amazing eco centre,” Nina whined, as she stepped on to the boat, edging away from the sides nervously. Sara held back grabbing Taylors arm. She looked around for the annoying guy she had been sitting next to, ready to point him out to

Taylor, only he was nowhere to be seen and she was forced to quickly board the boat with everyone else.

The minute everyone was seated Nathan had his Camo camera out and was taking pictures of his sister posing on the boat. Mr. Kerry made a move to confiscate it at his job description required him to, but after one stony glare from Nina he quickly gave up and returned to his seat.

“So where are we going again?” Sara asked feeling slightly sorry for the teacher now that she was happily in the company of her friends and not being pestered by some annoying guy.

“Well, you see, that’s the surprise…” he began, instantly perking up, but was once again cut off by Nina who was done with solo shots and was now gesturing for Taylor and Sara to join the pictures.

“We’re going to visit a manmade island,” Nina stated, making Sara wander how on earth she could have already known. She took the camera from Nathan, her face twisting up in disgust at the photos. Sara was about to demand what on earth a manmade island was when Nina immediately did. She explained that is was basically a whole heap of rock that had been continually deposited into the sea until it built up into an ‘island.’

“Oh,” Sara mumbled, mentally asking herself why she had bothered rolling out of bed this morning.

“You’ll understand it more when you arrive,” Mr. Kerry assured his students when he heard the moans and groans, “Plus, a great essay assignment is coming out of these trip; Man vs Nature,” he tried.

Luther gave him a look as if to say, ‘Seriously?’ Out loud he said, “Well, that’s easy, man wins hands down. It’s amazing the new things we are able to achieve today with our highly advanced technology. Man can pretty much do anything.”

“You sound like one of those corny adverts,” Nathan grinned, surprising everyone and making them jump at the rare sound of his voice. Even Taylor looked up from her Strawberry Bold 3G and smiled.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Mr. Kerry explained to Luther. “The island we’re going to visit today was part of a major expansion project which was ultimately abandoned. With the climatic shifts and changes the project quickly failed. In this case nature won.”

Sara rolled her eyes, still uninterested. All she understood was that they would be receiving more homework on top of the course work they already had. “Well, thanks for giving us the answer to the essay, Mr. Kerry.” And with that everyone was silent.
Sara still didn’t quite understand the excitement behind visiting a manmade island herself until they actually arrived. It was smaller than she expected and looked too much like a real island to feel any different. The eco centre that Mr. Kerry had brought them to was even more disappointing as most of it did turn out to be outdoors. Mr. Kerry was the only one smiling when they arrived, as he babbled on about the great essay they would be writing and what a genius he was for bringing them there.

“As soon as we arrive, I want…. Sara and Jude to run down to the centre and check if it’s open!” he asked lightly.

Sara almost dropped her FlyMobile D1000 off the side of the boat, “You didn’t even check if it was open?”

“Oh, calm down Miss Williams, and just please hurry up, while we’re all standing here waiting in the cold.”

Sara could only shake her head. Typical, typical Mr. Kerry. Though he was right about the weather, it was getting colder. The temperature had suddenly dropped and the bright colorful sky was darkening. She was the first to step off the boat looking around impatiently for whoever Jude was. It was no surprise when she realized it was the annoying boy from the bus. Right there and then she decided Mr. Kerry definitely had something against her.
Five minutes later and the two students Mr. Kerry had sent off were still not back. All the students were off of the ferry and the driver was just beginning to set off himself when the rain began. At first it came quietly as soft little unnoticeable drops that caught Nina on her nose and blurred Luther’s glasses. A couple of seconds later it was gushing down, soaking the students in an instant. Without even asking, the ferrymen had turned back, taking pity on the class explaining that in this weather he wouldn’t be coming back for the night so if they were willing he would take them now. Mr. Kerry hesitated, but a loud cracking bolt of lightning quickly made up his mind. The students couldn’t get aboard fast enough, happy that the blessed storm had finally come. Mr. Kerry on the other hand was silently fuming. What a waste of a trip, and then there was the annoying itchy feeling that he had forgotten something. He shrugged it off, casting it off as stress.

* * *

Meanwhile Sara was in the middle of a silence battle. She was bursting to say something, but Jude now seemed resolute on walking silently to the eco centre. It was a complete change of personality and Sara could only sigh and bear it. Instead she looked around her, marveling at how the thin narrow strip of rocky ground and the grass and plain trees were all manmade. Without man the island would not have existed and it was both a startling and amazing thought. It truly was an island though, no larger than four kilometers wide and high in both directions as Mr. Kerry had explained before. Within a minute they had reached the eco centre; a rather run down looking building. Sara could tell it was bad news before they even reached the doors. The eco centre was a small flat building with peeling painted walls and boarded up windows. It didn’t look nearly as nice and cheery as Mr. Kerry had made it out to be. The huge ‘closed until further’ notice sign painted across its doors were a pretty obvious sign.

“Well, it looks like there’s to be no trip after all,” Sara smiled, tired of the silence.
Jude only shook his head and kept walking. “Erm, excuse me, don’t know if you can read but that sign says closed,” she pointed out, “C – l- o…”

“I can read, thank you very much,” Jude snapped flashing her with a glare. Sara raised her eyebrows wondering where the happy, little annoying guy had gone from the bus. She bit her lip, waited and watched as Jude shoved at the front door until it gave way.

“Well, I think I’m just going to head back to the bus, and you know, deliver the sad news to Mr. Kerry,” Sara hinted giving a fake sigh as she slowly backed away from the eco centre.

“You should probably come back too, as the rest of the classes are probably still waiting for us.”

“I wouldn’t be so quick to run off, it looks like its going to rain,” Jude stated as he flicked on a light switch. At that exact moment, as if by command the rain began to fall.
Sara took one look at the grey sky, felt one round drop of rain against her arm, and ran straight back inside the eco centre crying, “My hair!” as she went. She shoved past Jude, tripping over his out stretched foot, and went crashing head first to the floor.

“Ow!” she said rubbing her head, as stars flashed before her eyes. She looked up to see Jude now, smiling as if it were the funniest thing ever. She rolled her eyes, “This is so not funny, in fact I really hurt my… Ow!” Sara winced as a sharp pain shot up from her ankle. “I think I’ve twisted my ankle, I don’t think I can walk. Can you please go and get Mr. Kerry?” she tried sweetly.

Jude quickly stopped smiling. He took one look at the girl sitting helplessly on the floor, clutching her ankle, then outside at the escalating rain that was now thundering down, angrily pattering against the windows of the eco centre. He didn’t really have an option. Before he could talk himself out of it, he ducked outside running the quick walk back to the edge of the island. Sara, now trembling from the cold, carefully drew up her knees to her chest and tried to calm her nerves. She turned first, expectantly, to her FlyMobile D1000, only to find the rare ‘No signal’ sign flashing across the small screen and her heart skipped a beat. No signal… no, this could not be happening. From her school bag she tried her mini laptop – no batteries, her ipod, ipad, iped - all not working. It was horrible, Sara could feel a panic attack coming on. Where was Jude? She tried to count to ten but only made it to five before her fears overwhelmed her. What was she going to do, what was she doing to do? Five minutes later and the lights blinked out, leaving Sara Williams in pitch black darkness. Still, she didn’t need to the light to see that her mood ring was flashing blue – the colour of fear.