Dear Inspector, It Was The Ghosts

Part one, Chapter 4 -Broken

Once again Robyn was seeking comfort in Julius' arms. Her eyes were sore from crying, her entire body aching. The caretaker came up to them after a few hours of Robyn sobbing. 'I'm sorry. It should've been me. I was instructing you all but prioritising myself. It's all my fault.'

'It isn't.' Robyn looked up, her vision blurred with tears. 'I'm not the only one who's lost somebody today. Don't blame yourself for any of this, please.'

The caretaker wordlessly went back to moping in his corner. Julius' art work was hung up around the gym to brighten up the darkness sweeping over the seven remaining people. Five people who'd been lost along the way, three of which she loved. Three of which she would mourn and miss forever. 

Suddenly, a grumpy looking KJ walked over to where she was sat and handed her a phone. 'The signal has come back up. Call whoever you need to.' Robyn took the phone gratefully and pulled out her own. The service wasn't working on that one, only KJ's. 'Kathy, Xia and March built something over there to make it work. We've all called our parents. You should too. Especially your dad.' KJ dropped his gaze and went back to talking to March. 

Robyn copied out her dad's number and pressed call. It rang three times before her father picked up. 'Hello, who is this?' he sounded drained of energy. 

'It's me, Robyn.' The conversation went on and on, but every time Robyn tried to mention where she was or what had happened her voice stopped working, as if an invisible force was preventing her from saying what she wanted. 

'So, Robyn, where's Sam then?'

'They're-' her voice cut off and the phone screen went black. Robyn handed the phone to KJ. 'It's de...' she wanted to say dead but after the events of the past day it didn't seem like the right word to use. 'It's out of charge.'

'But it was on full charge when I gave it to you?' KJ looked accusingly at all four girls stood near him. 'The machine-' He waved his hand at a small windmill contraption. 'Is stupid.'

'It runs the battery down but it still gives service,' Kathy explained. 

'It worked better than expected, to be fair,' March said, siding with both KJ and her friends. 

'At least 5 of us got a call.' As Xia spoke, KJ nodded. 

'I didn't want one anyway.' Five heads turned to where Julius was stood. 'I've got nobody left.'

'Me neither.' The caretaker stood by his side. 

KJ groaned and stamped on the metal contraption that was meant to be useful. Robyn heard a slight whir as the machine powered down, then silence. KJ shook his phone around, hopelessly trying to get it to work. No matter what he did, the service didn't come back on. 

Seven people sat in the gym, the excitement of being trapped slowly wearing off. The caretaker and KJ missing a friend, Julius mourning his sister, Kathy, March and Xia not knowing the people who'd died very well but fearing for their lives, Robyn holding desperately on to the memories of Sam, Benji and Joey. They would not be forgotten as long as she lived. 

Then again, would she even survive this? Could she begin to hope that the same evil thing that'd killed Sam would not kill her? Additionally, if she survived, how would she explain the bodies and the way they hadn't escaped. All Robyn really knew was that she was tired. It was only a few hours since she had slept, the time 3 in the afternoon, but it was dark outside and time wasn't working in the school anyway. A year could've passed since the phone call, two years before that. 

Unless she escaped, there was no way of knowing what was going on in the outside world. She wondered if Al and Dan had got married, because who knew how long it could've been. She thought about how worried both sets of parents would be, even if it had been just one day. She couldn't imagine what they were going through right now. Would Al have told Elli about the call yet or not? Would he mention the fact that Robyn hadn't mentioned Sam once, and had gone silent when he had?