No Escape

"Everyone else is here, right?" She asked, using her free hand to dig in her pocket.

"I'm doing fine," Evan responded calmly. "This kinda reminds me of this thriller flick I saw the other day. It was called "Lights Out"... heh. Get it? Eh..." Evan realized how out of place his usual anecdotes were at the moment and went silent while also hiding his actual uneasiness.

"For now, we should go back into Rockie's room and stay put." Arris said, like a true leader, even in a minor emergency. "There's no place else for us that we can be safe in easily for now, and we're just outside anyway." He stated quickly. "Don't wanna slip on the tiles and the elevatoes are down, so."

"Arris is right, we're not gonna do much for ourselves standing out here," Evan said, once again obviously masking a tone of concern.
 
Alice felt Sora pressing up against her, but decided against bringing it up. She didn't want to embarrass her friend, and while she didn't want to admit it, it was helping her calm down a little bit too. "Yeah, I think that heading back is a good idea... they'll probably have the lights back on in a few minutes, anyway." She gazed around, finding Patrick approaching them. "Hey, there you are! We're going to wait in Rockie's room until the power's back on," she informed him as she turned back to the door. "Come on, Sora," she whispered as she entered the room again.

Rockie took advantage of the sudden darkness to hide her terror. Unfortunately for her, Alice shined her light in an area that made Rockie's wide eyes and pale face easy for the group to notice. "Do you have any idea what's happening?" she squeaked.

"It sounds like the power's out... some nurses were going to go check in on it. Until then, we're staying in here," Alice heaved a sigh as she spoke. "You're not afraid of the dark, are you?" A smirk crept across her face. Teasing her cousin at least made her forget that she was scared, too.

"Of course not!" Rockie stuttered. "I'll be fine, Alice..."

"Good, because we'll be waiting in it for a while."
 
Sora followed, nodding when Alice spoke to her. She was really scared, and when the light shone it was clear that Sora was as scared as Rockie was. She was clinging tightly, her bag trapped between them.

She wasn't letting go anytime soon.
 
Patrick made his way back to the room, It wasn't very far but he still waved his lighter in the dark mostly because he liked playing with fire. In the darkness with his orange flame as light, he slowly grasped the handle until an amusing thought came to his head. *BANG* he slammed his palm against the door making it slightly echo against the hall way. Well shit, I forgot about that he thought, It didn't really matter too much. He still waited outside the door for a little bit if only to better deny making said noise when he went back in.
 
Arris took a seat on Rockie's bed, a hand on hers. "It's OK, it's just a power outage, right? It happens. Even if something happens, I won't let anything hurt ya. Promise." Quick, to the point as Arris always was. He heard the loud "bang" on the door, and took up a defensive stance as he approached it, slowly. "State your name." He said plainly. The walls were thin enough he could be heard just outside thr door, but it was obvious there was a tinge of fear in his voice.
 
Claire was grateful that dance was canceled tonight, that way she was able to visit Grandpa. She wished that she could visit more, but she was so busy. Yet at the same time, he was getting weaker. The stroke had left him weak and with ventilator to assist with his breathing. She hoped that he would be out of the hospital soon, but things looked bleak in his current condition. The nurses didn't share her hope either.

She had spent the last hour with him, telling him about her life and, well, just talking. Talking about home and memories and worries and anything else that came to mind. He seemed to like that. The meds that were helping him with the pain and recovery only left some of the grandfather she had known left to interact with, but at least it was something.

Claire looked at the clock and realized that visiting hours were ending. She didn't want to leave. But she still had so much to do before she could go to bed. Agh, she despised the thoughts of how much homework was awaiting her.

Still, she got up to leave and kissed her grandpa's forehead. She headed down the hall, past a room full of chatty teenagers. Usually the third floor was quite, especially at this time of night. But it seemed like the hospital was the place to throw a party now a days. She chuckled at the thought as she passed.

Hmm, they look familiar. I think they are in my grade.
Claire continued down the hall as the generators whirled and then die. She stopped and looked around in the darkness, ignoring the startled responses of her classmates. She paused before continuing down the darkened corridor. She heard as some other people followed to the stairs. She glanced behind to see a couple of her classmates headed in the same direction, but then they turned around to head back to their room.

Something didn't feel right.

But she couldn't figure out what.

She continued walking towards the exit.

Isn't there usually backup generators, or something, for hospitals?

After all, plenty of patients need electricity just to live....
Claire let out a strangled scream from the sudden realization as she bolted back down the hall towards her grandfather's room.
 
The sudden bang on the door ended up making Alice grip Sora just as tightly as the girl was gripping her. However, she figured that she should at least put on a brave front, especially for Sora's sake. "If you're here to cause any trouble, you're outnumbered... who are you?" She spoke in a loud tone, though her voice was still a little shaky. The following scream from somewhere else down the hall made her skin crawl. She dropped her phone and stayed close to Sora.

"Is there anything in the cabinets?" Rockie asked after muffling her own scream. "We need to protect ourselves." She struggled to sit up, prepared to deal with the pain of walking on her broken leg if the need arose. She wasn't going to go down like this, and she wasn't going to let the others get hurt, either.
 
After a minute of slight shouting and waiting Patrick completely blanked his face, nonchalantly walked into the room with a quiet "hey" before taking his seat and fiddling with his phone. "So powers out I guess" he asked not looking up from his phone.
 
"You really need to not pull that bullshit. You put us all on edge, whoever screamed did so too." Arris slowly relaxes his hands, but a glare stayed right on Patrick's face, courtesy of Arris' annoyance towards the man. "As for stuff in the cabinets, Rockie.. Well, not really, the cabinets are usually used for just patient storage, and unless you had a knife or something on you before you came in, then we're kinda unarmed." His hand scratched the back of his head quickly. "In fact, most of the time, unless you're a guard or snuck something in, you're unarmed cause hospitals are no-weaponry zones.. Unless someone else here has something on them, we're kinda sitting ducks." He said, walking slowly back over to Rockie's bed. "At any rate, I'm not liking this. That nurse has been gone for a while.."
 
Patrick just raised an eyebrow "What are you even talking about man? Am I not allowed to use my phone or something" he said in annoyance
 
Patrick just raised an eyebrow "What are you even talking about man? Am I not allowed to use my phone or something" he said in annoyance
"No, but pretty much everyone knows that the loud bang and you coming in after, even a bit separate, was no coincidence man. You freaked everyone out in here dude." He said, the anger being quite evident in his tone. He wasn't so sure this Patrick character was to be trusted after all, I mean, the one day he does show up and then suddenly loud banging on the door and lights going out and screaming? At least he knew a bit about some of the others, but this guy? He barely knew him.
 
Patrick just threw his hands up in exasperation "What the hell man I just-" Seeing the expression on Arris Patricks's face was covered in sympathy "You know what" he said calmly "Sure I lit up some fireworks because I was bored, now can you calm down you look like you're going to have a heart attack" his face staring at Arri's with worry feeling bad about how frightened the other man must be at the situation right now.
 
Claire managed to find her grandfather's room in the dark, but just barely. Her eyes were adjusting slowly, though she still wouldn't have seen much with the amount of tears welling up in her eyes. Her stumbled into the room to find a couple of the nurses around her grandfather's bed, one holding a flashlight and taking a pulse, and the other now pumping air manually into her grandfather's lungs with a manual ventilation system.

The light shifted to Claire as she stumbled in. One of the nurses recognized her from earlier. "Claire," she said, firmly, but kindly, in response to the clear expression of distress on her face, "you have nothing to worry about. We will take care of your grandfather the best we can. He is stable right now, just weak, like before. You need to go, visiting hours are over now. There's nothing you can do, okay?"

She took a few deep breaths as the nurses attention shifted back to her grandpa. She let the nurses words sink in. They made sense, she couldn't do anything here, she was just in their way. She gave a weak okay and walked over to her grandpa. She stoked his head and reassured him that everything was going to be okay. It was more for herself that for him... But she felt a little better as she turned to head out.

She turned back as she approached the door, her brain fuzzy with questions. "Why is the power out?" she bluntly asked. She could see the outline as the nurses shrugged. "I don't know, this hasn't happened in the time that I have been working here. But they'll fix it soon. Power is essential to the hospital, but we are prepared for situations like this. It will be back in no time."

She took that as her dismissal, but she didn't get far. She walked down the hall, shaking from the trauma of thinking she had almost lost her grandpa. Nearby she could hear conversation, but registered none of it. Claire collapsed in a chair outside another room, curled up with her dance bag on her lap and quietly cried.
 
Claire let out a strangled scream from the sudden realization as she bolted back down the hall towards her grandfather's room.

"What the Hell?" Evan could hear the volume of the scream even as he stood in the confines of Rockie's room with the others. However, Evan couldn't help but focus on the argument between Patrick and Arris feel his own tensions rise upon hearing them bicker back and forth. Regardless of who was in the right, he felt it was the opposite of constructive given the situation, like a couple of dumb horny teens thinking it's a good idea to screw while occupying a haunted house.

"Alright alright, you guys, let's just simmer down a bit," he said, walking in the space between the two. "We've got enough problems goin' on, we don't need this on top."

He turned to Patrick however, and retorted his grievances from earlier. "Although, lighting fireworks for no reason is also something I wouldn't call constructive." Evan sighed and adjusted his glasses, realizing how he sounded. "Look, I don't you that well and I don't like putting people on the spot, but just chill out here for now, alright? Everybody needs to keep a cool head right now."

Claire collapsed in a chair outside another room, curled up with her dance bag on her lap and quietly cried.

"Speaking of which... if you don't mind, I'm going to go check on who screamed. They sound close, and more importantly, outside in the dark. Big no-go, obviously, so you know... Evan to the rescue, heh." Evan couldn't help but force in a little humor as he made his exit out of the room. Hopefully, his intentions to keep morale up would be acknowledged.

As he walked, Evan used the flashlight on his phone to guide him on his path across the hallway. He eventually ran into what he assumed was the source of the scream: a girl around his age sitting in a chair, crying.

He lowered his flashlight to his side and went over to the girl, aiming to be as gentle as possible given her apparent downtrodden nature. "Uh... hey," he said, softly, crouching down to her level by her side. "You alright?"
 
"We've got enough problems goin' on, we don't need this on top."
Patrick sighed "Yeah, Tension's are pretty high. Fighting won't do anybody any good" he said serenely although he was already trying to defuse the situation way before Evan had told him to and wasn't even shouting at that point

"Although, lighting fireworks for no reason is also something I wouldn't call constructive."
Internally Patrick was seriously asking himself how anybody could mistake the sound of somebody hitting the door as fireworks. Truly it just baffled him how much people would reach to conclusions just to blame him for something.

"Speaking of which... if you don't mind, I'm going to go check on who screamed. They sound close, and more importantly, outside in the dark. Big no-go, obviously, so you know... Evan to the rescue, heh."
"I'll come with you" Patrick volunteered "Probably not a good idea to just wander about in the dark you know" he laughed

As Even walked out the door Patrick followed him with his lighter spreading an orange glow throughout the hallway where he saw Evan slowly made his way towards a crying girl. Not really feeling like he could help too much Patrick just sort of kept his eyes open throughout the hallway.
 
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Claire heard footsteps and saw a light gradually getting lighter. Crap, she had drawn attention to herself. Now the nurses will make sure that she leaves for good. Part of her wanted to stay till the power comes back on. Power on means her grandpa has a more guaranteed and stable life source. Not that she didn't trust the nurses....

He lowered his flashlight to his side and went over to the girl, aiming to be as gentle as possible given her apparent downtrodden nature. "Uh... hey," he said, softly, crouching down to her level by her side. "You alright?"

She was startled for a moment, expecting the voice of a nurse, not a teenage boy. And his voice sounded familiar, like they had known each other from somewhere. Maybe a class, perhaps? She raised her head to try to identify a face with the voice.

She was temporarily blinded by the bright light from what appeared to be a cell phone, so she couldn't see his face. She ducked her head again, rubbing her eyes from the irritation of the light. She'd rather just stick with the power coming back on, or the dark... and she felt like everyone now knew that she was still here.

"Sorry," Claire choked out "my grandpa is just really sick. The power outage freaked me out, but the nurses are taking care of him now. They told me to go home, but I just wanted to stay till the power comes back on. Shouldn't be long now." She murmured, hoping that that would be enough for this boy to leave her in peace. However, she did feel a little calmer.

She did notice from the hue of the light that another boy was standing out in the hall. He looked so ridged and on guard. What did he have to worry about? she wondered to herself.
 
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Noticing the girl look at him Patrick just waved and smiled "Don't mind me I'm just not very good with the whole comforting people business. Patrick by the way and this is Evan we were visiting a friend when this whole business when down" he walked slowly towards Evan "Pretty annoying this whole blackout thing. It's got everybody on edge." there was an awkward pause for a little bit "So... Let me just say what my acquaintance here is probably going to say" He tried to give his friendliest smile "Our friend's room isn't far from your grandpa's you want to wait with us until the power goes back on? Or well I'm assuming that's what he was going to say" he turned to the guy next to him "You were going to say that right because if you weren't then I assume the right to claim the idea as my own" he laughed.
 
Claire heard footsteps and saw a light gradually getting lighter. Crap, she had drawn attention to herself. Now the nurses will make sure that she leaves for good. Part of her wanted to stay till the power comes back on. Power on means her grandpa has a more guaranteed and stable life source. Not that she didn't trust the nurses....



She was startled for a moment, expecting the voice of a nurse, not a teenage boy. And his voice sounded familiar, like they had known each other from somewhere. Maybe a class, perhaps? She raised her head to try to identify a face with the voice.

She was temporarily blinded by the bright light from what appeared to be a cell phone, so she couldn't see his face. She ducked her head again, rubbing her eyes from the irritation of the light. She'd rather just stick with the power coming back on, or the dark... and she felt like everyone now knew that she was still here.

"Sorry," Claire choked out "my grandpa is just really sick. The power outage freaked me out, but the nurses are taking care of him now. They told me to go home, but I just wanted to stay till the power comes back on. Shouldn't be long now." She murmured, hoping that that would be enough for this boy to leave her in peace. However, she did feel a little calmer.

Evan lowered his flashlight to the ground, hanging onto Claire's words with a heavy heart. "Your grandpa, huh... hmm..." He crouched down beside her. "I getcha. I came here to visit a friend of mine who got hurt, but... that must be really hard on you. Especially now with whatever's going on now," Evan said, before making his tone a bit lighter in order to provide comfort.

"Hey, so... I know you've probably got a lot of things going through your head right now, but I just want you to know that--"

"Don't mind me I'm just not very good with the whole comforting people business. Patrick by the way and this is Evan we were visiting a friend when this whole business when down."

"What the--?" Evan looked over his shoulder. "Oh... Patrick. I didn't notice that you were following me..." In truth, Evan had an inkling that Patrick was around him the whole time. But did his best to ignore him given all that he had done since the lights went out was annoy him with his random antics and start fights with his friends. And given Claire's current state, he didn't even want to think about how much grief he'd cause her.

And so, he hid his annoyance of knowing that Patrick was around again and spoke to Claire once more:

"Well, as he said, name's Evan. I'm cooped up with my friends in the room where my other friend is staying. I was gonna ask--

"So... Let me just say what my acquaintance here is probably going to say" He tried to give his friendliest smile "Our friend's room isn't far from your grandpa's you want to wait with us until the power goes back on? Or well I'm assuming that's what he was going to say" he turned to the guy next to him "You were going to say that right because if you weren't then I assume the right to claim the idea as my own" he laughed.

"Uh, can you stop doing that? It's annoying," Evan said briskly, letting his own personal frustrations leak out a little. Sighing and realizing how he was acting, he took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, I'm getting a bit on edge..." he said, although what he wanted to say was "I'm about two seconds away from feeding you to Arris, you manic pixie douchebag."

Calming himself down, he turned to Claire again. "But yeah, the point is that if you want, you can come and hang out with us until the lights came back on so that you have some company. It's totally up to you though," Evan said, stealing a quick glance at Patrick to see if he'd say something else.
 
"Oh... Patrick. I didn't notice that you were following me..."
With a shrug Patrick replied "Well I did tell you I was coming didn't I? You didn't really respond so I guess yeah..." he said awkwardly
"Uh, can you stop doing that? It's annoying,"
"Which one, guessing what you're next words are gonna be or interrupting you because I was kind of talking before you..." The grinning man made cheesy spooky gestures "Maybe I'm a psychic wOoOOoO so spoppy" then waited a second "Or maybe i'm just saying what a normal human being would do... I mean I assume that's what normal people do I haven't really interacted with a lot of people..."
"Sorry, I'm getting a bit on edge..."
"It's cool man" he said calmly "I have that affect on people" he leaned in close to whisper loudly "I'm kind of an asshole if you haven't noticed yet" he grinned"Maybe that's why nobody seems to actually talk to me" he shrugged "Lots of shrugging today I guess I don't really know how to express emotion other than meh then shrug or maybe it's actually because i'm terrified at the situation and am trying to overcompesnsate, I mean it's probably the first one" Patrick said out loud to nobody in particular.
Evan said, stealing a quick glance at Patrick to see if he'd say something else
Noticing Evan glancing at him Patrick became confused "What was that? was that like some knowing look?" he said curiously "I- Wait, was I supposed to say something, Wait let me think" his face was deep in thought for a few seconds "I don't like sand it's course and it get everywhere, Bonds of people are the true power, I don't need a weapon. My friends are my power! something-something everything's going to be ok and we're in the twenty-first century and not in some eighties horror flick where all the main characters are dumbasses and if worst comes to worst we can just use a fire hose and do a die hard out the window" He just kept rambling like a crazy person clearly unphased by the current situation "Seriously though if you want I'll leave you completely alone and I swear that basically, every person in their clique is normal... I mean as far as I know, you know?"
 
Evan's eye twitch as his attempts to hide his frustration at Patrick became less than subtle, now touching his nerves on more personal notes, mostly his use of quotes. What the hell is up with this guy? He thought. What kind of mentality takes you from Anakin complaining about sand to the stinkin' Die Hard scene? He's like a low-rent Deadpool. Great, now I have an entirely new reason to dislike this guy that hits close to home. What's next, is he going to become a co-writer on my freakin' script? He'd better not, or I'm gonna--

Realizing how many negative thoughts were running through his mind, he stopped himself and put his glasses back on. Not the time, man. Not the time. He once again turned to Claire, his back facing Patrick in order to further keep his cool and also to more easily mask what he was going to tell Claire next. "So uh, yeah, it's totally up to you." He then leaned in a little closer and whisper to her, shielding the side of his mouth with his palm. "And between you and me, I can totally understand if you're not up for the idea if Captain Loudmouth behind me is upsetting you. We're not friends with the guy, but he showed the Hell up out of nowhere and he's been doing nothing but antagonizin' folks since he got here. You that noise earlier? He did that just for shits and giggles. Seriously."
 
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