Children Of The Crucible

Olivia Part 2

I awoke to my alarm making a racket on my bedside table. As I leant over to whack it quiet, I became aware that my head was pounding. It was as if I had been drinking all night and had woken up to a horrific hangover. Not that I know from experience of course.

The room started spinning as I sat up, and I thought resignedly that maybe it actually was important to get a good night's sleep- I hadn't gone to bed till about 4am. I looked at my clock, this time actually registering what it said; 7:02. Brilliant. A whole three hours of sleep. Well, that was gonna get me through a day of school.

I thought for a moment. If my parents had both left for work already I could easily stay home and they wouldn't even notice. They don't normally get home until 6pm at the earliest. I could just phone the school pretending to be my mum and tell them I won't be in. Perfect.

I listened intently, trying to work out if my parents had gone. I couldn't hear anything so I assumed they had left already. There was only one way to tell for sure. I reached for my phone, which I had forgotten to charge overnight. I hoped the 7% remaining battery would be enough to make a simple phone call.

Opening my contacts I pressed home and call. I waited.

Ring ring

Ring ring

My parents always answer the phone. Usually it is a business call or something.

Ring ring

Third ring. It goes onto voicemail after five.

Ring ring

Ring ring

'Sorry, we aren't in right now. If you leave your message after the tone we will get back to you as soon as possible. Beeeeeeeeppppp'

I hung up quickly, not wanting my parents to see a voicemail. They would call me back and I would get in a shit ton of trouble when they realised what I had done.

I swung myself out of bed, noting gratefully that the room had stopped spinning. I walked down the stairs and helped myself to my dad's special supply of orange juice which my mum and I are forbidden from using. He won't miss it. Probably.

Pouring myself a glass, I grabbed a cereal bar from the cupboard. With my breakfast in hand, I returned to my bedroom, and threw myself down on the bed, pointedly ignoring my headache.

I finished my breakfast and tried to decide what to do with my day. Settling on a movie (mostly because it required the least amount of effort), I pluggled my phone in before leaving the room and heading back downstairs.

I sat right in the middle of our leather sofa, adjusting the fluffy pillows around me. My parents have a bit of an obsession with pillows; there is about 10 on their bed, two for each chair in the house and you can barely see the sofa for them.

I turn on the tv, closing over the curtains so the nosy lady next door doesn't see me and come to the door questioning why I'm not in school. That happened a few months ago- I was off because of some virus and she came round telling me that I should be in school and I should care more about my education. I hope she got the goddam virus.

I scroll though Netflix. Why is it that whenever I get the tv I can never think of what to watch, yet when someone else is watching it I can think of a million things I want to watch? I sighed and put an episode of The Office on. I have seen it a few times before, but I enjoy it all the same.

When the credits eventually rolled around, I got up to tackle phoning the school. I decided to call from the house phone since I didn't want them to be able to track it back to my own. I seriously doubt they would, but you never know what the office staff do in their free time.

I cleared my throat and practiced my voice a few times before phoning. An automated message came through the speaker and I pressed the appropriate numbers to 'report student absence'. It rang once before instructing me to leave my message. Here goes nothing.

Ahem.

'Hello there, my daughter Olivia South won't be in today due to a bad stomach bug. She should be back in tomorrow, Thank you.'

I sighed with relief. That went pretty well, if I do say so myself. Back in the living room, I put on a movie and sprawled out contentedly on the sofa, but for some reason, I couldn't pay attention to what the characters were doing on screen. Before I knew it, the credits were rolling. My headache had gone away but I still couldn't properly concentrate. Probably the lack of sleep.

I decided to go and get my phone. Dragging myself upstairs, I wished we lived in a bungalow so I wouldn't need to waste energy traipsing up and down the stairs a million times a day.

I entered my room, making my way towards my phone. It was sitting face down on my lilac carpet, which, once upon a time, had been nice and fluffy but was now worn and slightly discoloured. I bent down and picked up my phone. 93%, close enough.

I pulled out the cable from my phone but as soon as it was disconnected I felt something which I can only describe as strange. It was like an energy was flowing though me, not painful but almost natural. I looked at my phone. It was still charging. What the hell? That wasn't possible- the charger wasn't connected to the phone. Was I- no I couldn't be- was I conducting the electricity? I let go of the cable quickly, and the feeling subsided. My phone was at 95%.

No, there must be something wrong with my phone. I may not be great at school, but I do know that people can't conduct electricity. I was probably just hallucinating due to lack of sleep.

But it was real. That sensation was real, and I was going to prove to myself that I didn't make it up. I grabbed my camera from my drawer, where it had been dead for months, and held it in one hand and held the charger in the other, like I had with my phone. It happened again, that feeling of pure energy flowing through me. I looked at my camera, waiting for something to happen, hoping it wouldn't.

It turned on.

I backed away and sat on the edge of my unmade bed.

It wasn't a problem with my phone.

I looked down at my hands, staring at them in disbelief, trying to wrap my head around what just happend.