Blackout

Thursday 15th July 2013, 13:35pm
“Where have you been?” Sara snapped through dry lips as a figure pushed its way through the building’s doors.

Jude pretended to ignore her as he peeled his soaking wet jumper from his t-shirt. The worst thing he hated most about being in a bad mood was being with someone in a bad mood. It was annoying to have to creep around that angry person, almost sure that anything you said or did would be enough to set them off into a shouting torrent. It was like trying to have a conversation with a starved bear, you were just asking for trouble. Now, Jude was trying and failing not to gain eye contact with Sara. He knew that what he was about to say would more than upset her. Sara was now no longer shivering from the cold but sweating from the heat and the pain from her ankle was giving her a migraine.

“Typical!” Jude said pointing an accusing finger at the small pile of technical devices at Sara’s feet. “You turned straight to your mobile. Shocked to find no signal were you?”

Sara, already not liking the accusing finger, was quick to defend herself, “Don’t look at me like that and duh, of course I knew there would be no signal! I was just… um, testing, you know, making sure. Plus you were gone so long! What did you expect me to do? This is not how I wanted to spend my day; injured and stuck in some stuffy old building. At least we’re going now, help me up would you? Are Mr. Kerry and the others outside?” Sara tried to peer outside the windows, but the little day light Jude had let in from the door wasn’t enough.

Jude took in a deep breath, “Well this may not have been how you wanted to spend your day, but it’s probably going to have to be how we spend the night.”

Sara’s eyes were instantly on him, narrowing until they were mere slits on her clouded face as she scrutinized him to see if he was joking, - he very clearly wasn’t.

“Don’t…don’t… don’t tell me…” Sara gulped as her breath quickened and it suddenly became harder to take in air. “Please don’t tell me they’ve already left!” she finally gasped, her hand on her chest, feeling her speeding heart beat.

“Just calm down… Sarah wasn’t it?” he asked innocently and then swiftly dropped the matter after one hateful glare from Sara. “Look, just calm down. Put your head between your knees if you feel you’re going to be sick, and try to breathe normally,” he comforted. “Everything’s going to be fine. Look, it’s even stopped raining outside,” Jude smiled.

Sara bit her tongue before she could make a smart remark about just how much she cared about the weather right now. Still, it wasn’t Jude’s fault they were stuck here. Everyone knew Mr. Kerry was a bit dodgy, but leaving them behind from a school trip, there had to be a law against it! You just didn’t do that, just thinking about it, had Sara’s knuckles balled up in fists.

“Hey, hey, easy tiger,” Jude said snapping Sara out of her thoughts. Now was not the time for panicking. “There’s no point in hyperventilating. If you took a second to chill you would realise there is a very easy solution out of this dilemma,” Jude smiled, looking not at all sure himself as he emptied his pockets and school bag.

“Really? Well I’m dying to hear it, and I mean seriously dying. Until we get off this island and back home I don’t know how we’ll survive; cut off from society, all alone with no way of communicating… well at least until I get my mobile working.”

“Yeah, of course, just at least until you get that mobile working,” Jude parroted, echoing her words after he had loaded them with sarcasm. Sara bit her lip, helplessly watching him leave, - again. She couldn’t help shivering, despite the heat. What was she supposed to do now? She was already feeling slightly claustrophobic of the eco centre, now that she knew she was really and truly stuck on the island. She was about to get up when she felt that nagging feeling at the back of her mind, telling her she was being watched. She felt goose bumps rise on her arms as the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. It occurred to her that she was only in the front of the eco centre, right at the front of the island. There was still the whole back of the building; empty rooms and hallways all clothed in darkness. But what if they weren’t empty… the thought scared her, even though she knew she was probably just scaring herself. Sara was sure she could hear voices, and not just whispers, but footsteps too.

Sara mentally slapped herself. She was probably just imagining it. The best thing to do was to do something. Sara Williams did not sit around waiting for someone to rescue her, she was smarter than that. Instead she would find a way to make the call for someone else to rescue her. That would be the smart thing to do. Already the determined smile had returned to her face. Though there may be no signal in the old eco centre, she knew that outside she would have a better chance. Slipping her FlyMobile D1000 into her pocket, she crawled over to the old reception desk and pulled herself up, being careful not to put too much of her weight onto her ankle. It didn’t hurt nearly as much as it had before and Sara knew it wasn’t broken. She could sort of even walk, limping along with a pause every now and then to catch her breath. She wished Mr. Kerry could see her now; see the consequences of his actions as a teacher. They were going to have to fire him after this Sara could already see his sad face as they dismissed him. That was what kept her going as she limped outside, wincing at every step.

She didn’t have to get far to find what she had been looking for. It was a normal tree, like the few that were scattered around Media city. It was tall and wide enough so that it would be fairly easy to climb. Sara told herself she didn’t feel the least bit worried as she stood underneath it. So what that she hadn’t ever climbed a tree before and definitely not with a painful ankle. There was a first time for everything and Sara could already see the reassuring image of her mobile telling her there was a signal. Without thinking, she grabbed at the first branch, using her upper strength to pull herself on to it. She let out a deep breath that had been easy. Then she reached for another all the while clinging to the trunk so that her full weight still wasn’t on her ankle. She flicked open her mobile but instantly closed it again once she saw there was still no signal. And that was how she continued. She climbed higher and higher continually surprising herself at how easy it was. Her head still throbbed from her headache, and her arm muscles were screaming at her to take a rest, but she had come so far and was almost there. There was one last branch before they got too small to hold Sara’s weight. She was so close, so nearly there…

“Having fun up there?” came a small, taunting voice from down below. Sara couldn’t hear and instinctively looked down to call out, “Whaaaaaat?” But the minute she saw the ground she realised it had been a big mistake. In one last desperate attempt, she quickly opened her mobile to check for the signal, before the world was spinning round as she lost her balance, and all too soon the ground was coming up below to meet her.

She hit the ground – hard, landing awkwardly on her good leg and arm. Seeing stars, she rolled onto her back too tired to even attempt to move.

“Hellooo, Sara, anybody in there? Tell, me how many fingers do you see?” Jude teased with fake sincerity as he knelt over her. “Do you need the kiss of life?”

Sara sat up so fast she knocked heads with Jude, causing her skull to ring out in even more pain. “Ow!” she scowled. “You know, I really think I may have actually broken my arm or leg.”

“Really, can you move them?” Jude replied with a little more concern as he rubbed his own temple.
“Yes, but…” Sara began but stopping herself before she wisely decided to give up. At least she hadn’t landed on her ankle. “Anyone would think you thought you were a doctor.”

Jude sighed. “My mum was a doctor,” he said simply before turning back to the eco centre.

Sara followed, “Was a doctor, I didn’t know people stopped doing a job like that. What did she do, injure a patient?”

“No, but they did call her double o seven, license to kill.”

“Seriously!” Sara exclaimed.

“No,” Jude smiled, “But that’s interesting how you’re so naïve to believe everything you hear.” Sara opened her mouth to complain but Jude spoke first, “Actually, she had a better job offer.” Sara didn’t much like his mischievous, sinister smile but chose to ignore it. “So while you were… climbing your tree, I managed to find the solution to our problem.”

“Really,” Sara said doubtfully, reaching for her discarded school bag. She rubbed her ankle softly before standing up. It didn’t hurt at all now. “You know, before you disturbed me I had actually just found a signal and help would have been on its way right now,” she stated.

“Really,” Jude said in disbelief while gathering up his bag and jumper. “Though I have to say it was quite a wild apple tree, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one of us found a worm crawling around inside.”

“So what’s your genius idea then?” Sara demanded as she followed him out from the eco centre and back down the pathway they had come.

“It’s simple really, what I didn’t realise before, is that we are only five hundred metres away from the city, no more than a kilometre. We can swim there.” Jude explained walking in such a fast pace, Sara had to jog to catch up.

“Swim? So you measured, the distance and know that it is exactly five hundred metres.” Sara couldn’t keep the skepticism out of her voice.

“Well yeah, something like that. It’ll be easy and the tide will be with us, we can get home before morning. Besides our only other option is to stay the night here, and who knows what nasty animals are lurking in these woods?” Jude joked a twisted smile lighting up his face.

He had her there, “I’m not five you know. But, I did hear something earlier on, in the eco centre. It sounded like there were lots of people in there…” Sara mused, shuddering as she remembered the voices.

Jude abruptly stopped walking so that Sara almost crashed into him. He swiveled around to fix her with a serious stare.

“What?” Sara sighed.

To her surprise he took her by the shoulders, “I think we really need to get you back, and find some help. It looks like you may have taken a harder fall from that tree, than you think.”

Sara gave him an annoyed shove before stepping past him and continuing to walk down to the sea. Within minutes they had reached the edge of the island and Sara’s last final shred of willpower to continue vanished. The five hundred metres before her stretched to what looked like five kilometers. She couldn’t do this.

“I suppose I should tell you now that I’m not a very good swimmer,” Sara said nervously.

“You’ll be fine. It’ll be a quick short swim to land.”

“And, what if..”

“… If it gets too rough, we can easily turn back?”

“And what about…”

“…we can always come back afterwards for our school stuff?”

“And…”

“…I promise to fight off any monstrous sharks or man-eating fish that may threaten our lives?”

Sara gave him a nudge, but she was laughing. Smiling she stepped deeper into the ice cold water and began to swim.