Inescapable Escapism

I stared at the projector screen blankly, watching as the bodyguards closed in around the Prime Minister again. He quickly moved back towards the door he’d emerged from not long before. He didn’t give anyone the chance to ask questions, I realised distantly. He said they’d have time to do that later, but he was gone before people even had time to react.

Maybe he meant at a later date. He could have already planned another briefing, a chance for people to ask an actual expert some questions about what he’d just said, but he never said. Perhaps he just wanted to get away before the crowd started to riot.

It was starting. As the door shut behind the Prime Minister, leaving a few bodyguards standing guard outside, shouting began to ring out through the speakers, but the image on the screen changed quickly, shifting back to the studio where Brett, the news reporter from before, sat.

His expression was blank and somehow much calmer than it had been before the Prime Minister’s speech, and he even smiled as he laced his hands together on the table before him.

“Well, that was a very informative and brief briefing,” he said with a chuckle that sounded a little sarcastic. “Our science and environmental correspondents have already begun analysing the speech as well as the claims put forth in the leaked document, so if you’d like to gain more insight, make sure to head on over to our website, where you can read all about it. For now, I’m going to pass you over to Landon for the weather. How’s it looking out there today, Landon?”

A startled-looking man in a suit stared at the camera with a panicked smile plastered on his lips. He didn’t speak for a few seconds, just long enough for Mr Stout to stand again.

“Mr Hodgkins,” he said, looking around for him. “I believe that’s all we need to see.”

The head of IT rushed forward as the weatherman finally recovered.

“Sunny,” he blurted out before blinking several times and appearing to take a deep breath. “Well, as you can see from the map…”

The rest of his words were drowned out by the whispers that sped through the hall. It seemed like everyone was talking, speculating about and trying to understand everything we’d just been told. I tried to listen to them, attempting to keep track of the countless voices around me, but it was impossible.

My brain refused to absorb what I was hearing. I felt numb and strangely unsteady. It was like the world had been knocked ever so slightly out of place. Everything was tilted and not quite right. It didn’t feel real.

The world looked wrong. It was wrong. It felt almost like I was watching it all from behind a window, not actually part of that place at all. I was distant, removed from what was happening, and I couldn’t work out if I was in shock or if it was just because it was a different world. I was new to it and hadn’t been there for that long. Perhaps it was just taking a little while to feel normal.

I glanced up at Nolan, wanting to say something to him, tell him it would all be alright, or maybe just hear that from him, but I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t say anything to him. All I could do was stare as my breathing started to speed up.

“Quiet, please,” Mr Stout called from the front of the room, but his voice was barely audible over the panicked conversations that were happening.

No one paid him any attention. They all just continued to speak without even looking at the head teacher, and I couldn’t blame them. If I were able to talk, I’d probably ignore him too.

Some people were crying, I realised as I looked around again. Quite a few people were crying. Should I have been? I wasn’t even upset, but maybe that was wrong. Perhaps the normal reaction was to cry, but I didn’t even feel sad. I didn’t feel anything, really.

“Quiet!” Mr Stout tried again, his voice slightly louder that time.

It still wasn’t enough, though. A few heads turned in his direction, but not many. The volume of conversations didn’t drop at all, and for once, he seemed actually frustrated by it. Normally, he didn’t really care when people ignored him, but he did look annoyed. It was a weird change.

Did he have anything to say, though? Was he actually going to give us any more information, or did he just plan to send us back to class? I hoped not. How was I meant to go back to my German class and focus on whatever stupid thing we were learning? I had nothing against the language itself, but I hated how it was being taught in our school. Our teacher was bumbling, and we were forced to memorise ridiculous phrases I would never actually use in real life.

I have four horses. That was what we had been working on. The teacher was making us pretend to own a stable, and we were having to talk to each other about the number and types of horses we apparently owned. There was a test planned for the end of the month too, so we had to learn every useless word before then. Someone had asked the teacher why those words were on our vocab list, pointing out that very few people owned horses, but the teacher just gave some mumbling answer before telling them to keep practising, and it infuriated me.

“Shut up!” Miss Vickers screamed, causing the hall to become silent immediately.

It seemed like no one even dared to breathe as we all stared at the woman at the front of the room, her face red and her cheeks tear-stained. Even the head teacher was looking at her in shock, but he recovered surprisingly quickly.

“Yes, yes, thank you, Victoria,” he said, and I had to bite back an unexpected laugh.

Her name was Vicky Vickers? Surely, that couldn’t be right. Her parents couldn’t have actually named her that. It was basically just the same name twice. She would have been bullied for it, for sure.

I leaned towards Nolan, opening my mouth to speak before stopping myself. I was being cruel, I realised. I was about to mock the teacher’s name, and that was so unnecessary and mean of me. Why was I acting like that?

Plus, there was nothing wrong with her name. It was a little… unexpected but kind of cool. Superheroes always had names like that. Their creators seemed to love alliteration, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if there was a superhero out there with a name close to hers.

My eyes darted towards Nolan, checking to make sure he hadn’t noticed my movement, before looking back at the head teacher. He was fumbling around in his pockets, pulling out countless handkerchiefs, pens, and what looked like receipts.

“I know I have it somewhere here,” he mumbled, his voice audible over the still silent room.

“What do you think he’s looking for?” Nolan breathed in my ear.

I shook my head, not wanting to look away from the man just in case. It could have been anything, really. His pockets seemed never-ending.

“Ah ha!” he crowed as he clutched a crumbled piece of paper in his fist. “Please can the following people stand up? Ellie Carter, Caleb… Avila, and Grace Baker.”

My breathing caught, and I jolted, not expecting to hear him say my name. Why had he read out my name? What did I do wrong? I didn’t have an answer to that question, and that made me even more nervous. Panic thrashed in my chest as I glanced at Nolan’s concerned face before slipping my phone into my pocket and standing carefully.

It felt like every eye in the room was focused on me, and I smoothed down my skirt, trying to make myself appear as presentable as possible and hide the fear that was making my knees feel weak. I needed to appear strong, not like the girl near the front of the room. She was clearly a year or two younger than me, judging by how short she was, and I could see her trembling from where I was standing.

There was no one else, though. Another person should have been standing, a boy, but I couldn’t see him. I didn’t recognise the name either. That wasn’t particularly surprising. It was a big school, and he could have been in another year or something, but he definitely hadn’t stood up like Mr Stout said.

Perhaps he wasn’t there. He might have had the good sense not to attend school, and maybe I should have done the same. Then, I’d miss out on whatever was about to happen to me. But it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Caleb?” Mr Stout repeated, looking around before peering at the paper in his hand again, his bushy eyebrows furrowing.

Movement on the far side of the room caught my attention as one of the teachers, pale-faced and wide-eyed, stepped forward.

“Um, that’s me,” he said, lifting a hand uncertainly.

Mr Stout stared blankly at the teacher, who couldn’t have been out of university for long. There was absolutely no recognition on his face, and I was pretty sure he’d never spoken to Mr Avila before in his life. That felt wrong, though. Shouldn’t he have interviewed him or something? Was that not part of the head teacher’s job? I assumed it was, but it could have fallen to the deputy head teacher.

It wouldn’t have surprised me to learn Mr Stout didn’t really do his job. I kind of assumed that already. He seemed to spend most of his time napping in his office with the door wide open or, in the summer, snoozing on the bench in the courtyard and pretending to have stopped for some fresh air whenever a student accidentally woke him. How he hadn’t been fired a decade before was a mystery to me.

“Ah, yes. There you are… Caleb,” Mr Stout said, having to double check his name on the paper in his hand again, despite having said it just moments before. “Well, would you three like to make your way outside, please?”

That wasn’t a question. He’d phrased it like one, but it was clearly an order. We had no choice whether we wanted to go or not, and I didn’t know what to do. Part of me wanted to just do as I was told and follow his instructions, but another part was reluctant and scared. That emotion was muted and detached, though. I could feel it, but it didn’t really bother me.

“Why?” Mr Avila asked.

I could hear the fear in his voice, and that concerned me. It just made it more evident that I should have been worried.

Mr Stout smiled serenely, though. He seemed entirely unbothered by Mr Avila’s fear or the terrifying news about the sun.

“I’m not too sure, I’m afraid,” he said with absolutely no worry or regret in his voice. “But I’ve been informed that you must go outside. Immediately, please.”

“But—” Mr Avila started, but he was cut off by the head teacher.

“Lewis, Andrew? Where are you both?” he asked, looking around the room for the other PE teachers. “Ah, there you are. Can you escort them to the bus bay?”

Surprise flitted across both teachers’ faces, but neither complained or asked any questions. They just nodded.

I looked back at Mr Avila, watching as he appeared to eye up the other teachers, who were watching him expectantly. They were both bigger and bulkier than him. He was thin and lanky, whereas they were much more muscular than him despite being at least ten or fifteen years older. There was no way Mr Avila could hold his own against them.

He seemed to come to the same conclusion that I did. His posture sagged slightly, and he shot Ellie a smile that was far too nervous to be reassuring before beginning to make his way towards the two PE teachers. Ellie was crying. I could see the tears shining on her face as she started to do the same, and I glanced down at Nolan worriedly.

His expression was concerned, but it cleared the moment he noticed my gaze.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” he muttered, just loud enough for me to hear. “Text me when you know what’s going on, and… I’ll come by after school, okay?”

There was a strangely desperate note to his voice that made my heart clench, but I returned his smile and nodded.

“Sure. I’ll see you then,” I lied.

It was difficult to walk away from him, but I had to do it. My body moved mechanically; my steps were automatic as I weaved through the crowd, stepping over people who just stared at me and barely made any effort to move out of the way. It seemed to take a lifetime to make the journey across the hall to where the others were waiting for me, and Mr Darrel and Mr Phillips both smiled at me before turning and leading us from the room.

We were taking the same path that Mrs Davidson took, I realised as we crossed the school foyer and continued towards the front door. She’d gone that way, but she’d turned towards the teachers’ car park rather than the bus bays.

“Where are they going?” I heard a familiar voice call from behind me as we exited the front doors.

The response was inaudible, though. I didn’t catch whatever Mr Stout said to Nolan, and I wished I had. I had no clue where we were going, and I turned the question over in my head as we walked along the path.

Was I in trouble? Had I done something wrong and was about to be arrested? That didn’t sound right. I hadn’t done anything in that world that would garner that kind of attention. I couldn’t access all of my memories yet, but I was certain of that. I’d had a fairly quiet and unremarkable life, both in reality and that world. I just kept my head down and got on with things. I didn’t cause trouble. I was good.

And maybe that was why I was being led towards the bus bays. Perhaps I wasn’t in trouble with the police. It could have been… something good. That didn’t feel right either, but a hint of hope warmed my stomach as my hands began to shake, and excitement threatened to grow within me.

Had it happened? Had someone actually… chosen me? I wasn’t sure if I wanted the answer to that question. Would it be better to die on the surface or be locked in a bunker underground for years and years? I’d never feel the sun on my face again, never savour the caress of the wind on my skin or hear the melodic symphony of birdsong.

But I’d survive. Someone would have chosen me to survive, and I would do it. That mattered more than anything else.

“Don’t worry,” Mr Avila muttered softly, slowing down to fall in step with Ellie and me. “Nothing bad will happen. I promise everything will be fine.”

His voice held absolutely no conviction, and I knew Ellie had noticed too. She let out a sob, pressing her hands to her mouth in a failed attempt to muffle the noise. Guilt crossed Mr Avila’s face as I watched him out of the corner of my eye. He did seem to be trying to make us feel better. It just wasn’t really helping at all, but I didn’t think anything would have helped the snivelling girl beside me.

I understood why she was upset. We’d just heard something shocking, and it did feel like a fairly normal reaction, but it was annoying me. I felt horrible to admit it, but everything about her was irritating. Couldn’t she just bottle it up and ignore her emotions? It wasn’t that difficult.

The two PE teachers came to a stop in the bus bay, and I looked around as we reached them, taking the chance to move slightly further away from Ellie. It was empty. There was no one else there and no buses. Was there meant to be? Or were we early? Or late? Had we missed our chance to be saved?

Panic and desperation flared within me, the strength of the emotions startling me. I chewed the inside of my lip as I looked around again, searching for any hint that someone had been there recently, any sign of a bus having pulled in and left because we weren’t waiting, but there was nothing.

My fingers picked compulsively at the skin around my thumbnail as my eyes flicked back and forth between the teachers. Had Mr Stout told them anything else? Or did they have no idea what was going on either? I wasn’t sure, but I had to ask. I needed to know. It was the only thing that would help with my anxiety.

“Now, what?” I blurted out.

The two PE teachers glanced at each other before looking at me.

“Now we wait,” Mr Phillips said, and I had to bite back the urge to ask him if he knew what we were waiting for.

Instead, I held my tongue and looked at Mr Darrel, hoping he’d say something more.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure Mr Stout had a good reason to send you down here,” he said with a smile. “He’ll probably be down with more information in just a moment.”

Ellie sniffed loudly.

“Is it to do with the world ending?” she asked.

“The world’s not ending,” Mr Phillips snapped, causing Ellie to shy away from him. “Did you not listen to what the Prime Minister was saying? They’re figuring out a way to fix things, and everything will be fine.”

I expected Ellie to stay silent or cry more, but to my surprise, she shook her head.

“No, I won’t,” she said in a wavering voice.”

“I’m sure it will,” Mr Avila said, trying to reassure her as more tears escaped her eyes, but she just shook her head again, the movement more insistent that time.

“It won’t! My dad works in the physics department at the university in town,” she explained. “He’s been working on a big project, and he said he couldn’t tell me what it was, but it was bad. Dangerous. It must have been this. He must have—”

A sob choked off the rest of whatever she was going to say, and she covered her mouth, too overcome by emotion to continue speaking. I couldn’t look away from her. If what she’d said was true, then…

I took a deep breath, trying not to stoke the optimism smouldering in my heart. I didn’t want to let myself feel it until I was certain, but if what she said was true and her dad really was a scientist, if he’d been working on the problem for a while, then surely they wouldn’t just leave him on the surface. They’d probably want him to go into one of the bunkers and continue working on it, wouldn’t they?

And if they did, then surely, they’d allow him to take his daughter with him. They wouldn’t just leave her on the surface to die and expect that he’d continue working and trying to fix things, unsure if she’s even alive. He probably wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything with the weight of that uncertainty dangling over him. And if that was the case, then…

My thoughts came to a sudden halt as a bus appeared in the distance, and my heart seemed to stop beating. I couldn’t do anything, not even breathe, for a few seconds as I waited to see if it would turn into the school. Was it coming towards us?

It was! The burst of excitement I felt at that realisation was tinged with disappointment. It was silly, but I couldn’t help compare the bus moving slowly towards us with the one I’d rode in to the Academy. That one had clearly been specially designed for the purpose, and it was perfect, but the one before me was…. Normal. It looked like they were just using a regular bus, like the one I caught to go into the city with Nolan sometimes.

The moment it stopped, two soldiers jumped out, their eyes fixed on us. The urge to hide behind the PE teacher, like Ellie was doing, rose within me, but I forced myself to stand tall as the soldiers examined us, their expressions unreadable.

“There are only three people on our list,” one of them said, looking down at the device in their hand.

It looked a bit like a barcode scanner, but it was larger, and I could see a screen on the back of it. I assumed it must have been displaying the list based on how the soldier was eyeing it, but I couldn’t see what it said.

“Identify yourselves,” the other soldier snapped.

“I’m Lewis Phillips,” Mr Phillips replied immediately, snapping into a sloppy attempt at a salute. “And this is Andrew Darrel. We were asked to escort these three down here.”

Both of the soldiers stared at him for a tense few seconds before one nodded.

“Very well. You’re dismissed.”

Mr Phillips saluted again before turning on his heel and marching away, but Mr Darrel hesitated.

“Where are you taking them?” he asked.

One of the soldier’s eyebrows rose slowly.

“That is none of your concern,” he said.

Indignation crossed Mr Darrel’s face.

“These two are my students, and it is my duty to ensure they’re safe,” he said.

The soldier holding the scanner didn’t even look at him. He simply glanced between Ellie and me before speaking again.

“Ellie Carter?”

The blood drained out of her face.

“Y-yes?” she whispered.

“Please step forward.”