"Man," Marlee groaned as she threw her bag on the soft plush couch and plopped down right beside it. She sighed in relief as the comfortable pillows sunk under her weight and she propped her feet on the table in front of her. "I thought that party would never end."
Marlee just spent a miserable four hours attending her little brother Luke's birthday party, and of course along with eight other little kids. Of course, their parents were not there to attend as they both worked in Horage, which was a good sixty miles from the small town they lived in that had a whopping population of two-hundred and twenty people. So, it was all up to her and the babysitter to make sure everything at the party went smoothly. For once she was glad for the babysitter. Could you imagine her having to take care of nine other kids by herself? She shuddered at just the thought. She loved her brother, and she knew that he loved her, but a lot of the time she wished her parents at least gave him a little bit more attention than they did.
Their dad was a great heart surgeon while their mom was an amazing lawyer, so they were able to afford the long drive there and back from the big city, them not wanting to enforce their kids to the bustling and hustling of the city and the problems that went with it. They were great parents; when they were home that is. Marlee did think it was sad they chose work over their kids, especially on a birthday. She swore to herself a long time ago that she would not be like that with her kids. If she were to ever have any. That sort of thing just was not on her mind now, but her heart did feel for her little brother who did not have the same knowledge as his older sister on the situation.
Ms. Greebe, an older woman in her early thirties walked in with a little boy around the age of four who was named Hunter on her hip and the screen door slammed behind her, making Marlee look up and notice her. "It wasn't all that bad, hun." The woman commented as she set the boy down and he scurried off giggling. She also had a couple of bags of food that were left over from the party that she sat down on the counter and began to go through and put away.
Since their parents were not home, it was up to Ms. Greebe to watch the kids till they got back from work. It was so much of an often occurrence that it did not bother Marlee anymore. She always felt that being at the age of sixteen, she should be able to look after herself and her brother, but it was a fight that she had with her parents more than enough times, and just learned to deal with it.
Marlee sighed and forced herself off the comfortable couch, instantly regretting it, longing to be able to sit back down on it. But she could not. She had a test she needed to study for and if she was ever going to get out of this boring town in Alaska then she needed to make sure she got accepted into the best college out of state. It's not like she didn't like the town she lived in. She got along fine with the kids at school, had a few boy crushes, and her brother did not bother her too bad since he had his friends around his age group. No, she was over the constant snow and felt like she belonged elsewhere. She did not know where exactly, just not there.
Heaving her book bag over her shoulder, she made her way up the stairs that led to her bedroom. "I'll call you down when your parents get home." Ms. Greebe called out after her as she shooed Luke away from the left-over cake from the party. Marlee shoulder her door open and threw her book bag onto her bed. She quickly changed into some shorts and a T-shirt and settled down with her textbook opened on her lap.
The hours slowly ticked by as Marlee tried hard to concentrate on her work. Just as she was about to toss the book to the side in frustration, Luke and his two older friends Sam and Ryan came barging into her room. "Get out of here you little brats!" Marlee hissed as she threw her pillow at them. "I'm trying to study, and I can't do that with you all coming in here."
Luke tackled her and hugged her, smiling as he watched his sister cringe. "Oh, come on Mar," he said teasingly. "Sometimes I just need to hug my sister, who is the best by the way."
She rolled her eyes and playfully pushed him away. "What do you want brat?"
He looked at her with a mocking shock. "Mar! I'm surprised you think I want something from you." Marlee watched as Sam and Ryan snickered behind their hands. After a few seconds of silence, Luke spoke again, "well you see it's still my birthday and I was just wondering if you could take me and my friends to DQ for Blizzards!"
She scoffed as she responded, "didn't you just have a truckload of ice cream at your party?"
"Oh, come on Mar!" Luke whined. "It's not every day you turn eight and turning eight is a huge deal, isn't it guys?" He turned and faced the other boys who quickly sat up straight and nodded vigorously. "Oh yeah without a doubt," Sam said quickly, hiding a laughing smile. "Turning eight is a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
She sighed. "But I'm sure mom and dad have something for you. I'm sure they're bound to be home soon." But she frowned as she happened to glance at the clock. It was already 6:30? Usually, they were home by six at the latest. Did they get home and her not realize it?
She walked out of her room and down the stairs as she noticed Ms. Greebe peering out the living room window curtains. She stood there for a second, puzzled. "Is my mom or dad home yet?" She broke the silence after a few minutes of not seeing them in the passing as she watched Ms. Greebe.
She watched as Ms. Greebe turned away from the window and shook her head as she looked back at Marlee. "No hun, that's why I was peering out the window to see if they were pulling in. I got to get Hunter home soon for his bath." Marlee glanced on the floor and noticed the four-year-old coloring in a Scooby-Doo coloring book. "I'm sure they're on their way," Ms. Greebe said with a reassuring smile. "They probably just got caught up with work like usual. I wouldn't worry too much about them."
But Marlee was not too convinced. They would have least called to let her know if they were going to be late. She went back to her room to check her phone and sure enough, zero missed calls and zero text messages from either of her parents. Frowning she was about text her mom when every single light on the house went out in a flash. The hell? She thought to herself as she turned on her phone flashlight and shined it around her room.
"Mar!" Her brother yelled and she rushed into his room to find him frozen on the bed. "What happened?" He asked as his voice trembled in a little bit of fear. "Why did the lights suddenly go out?"
"I don't know, but we'll figure it out as soon as mom and dad get home." She said soothingly to him as she guided him to the living room with Sam and Ryan, trying to ease his fears but she could not tell whether it had worked or not. As everyone huddled in the living room, she was not so sure herself.
"I'll go find some candles or flashlights so we can see," Sam said as he walked into the kitchen, looking through the drawers with only his phone light showing the way. Ryan went after to help him as Marlee gathered Luke and Hunter close to her as they waited for the boys to come back. She tried calling her mom, but it went straight to voicemail, as the same when she tried her dad.
She walked over to the window and peered out of the curtains, noticing that it was not just their house with the power out, it was the entire neighborhood that she could see. Why is the power out at every house? She thought to herself. It was not like there was a thunderstorm or even a snowstorm, even though the snow season was far off from now. Maybe a fuse had blown? Maybe someone crashed into a pole?
Sam and Ryan walked back into the living with a box full of candles, some flashlights, and an emergency radio. "We found this stuff in the basement. Figured we could use the radio to hear what happened since it's clear the entire neighborhood is down." Ryan said as he sat the radio down on the ground and began fiddling with it as Sam started lighting the candles and soon the living room was cast with a soft glow of the candlelight.
The younger boys entertained themselves by coloring and playing with some of Luke's toys as Ryan kept playing around with the emergency radio. Marlee grew increasingly anxious as the time on her phone got later and later and her parents still hadn't responded to any of her texts or calls. As she sat on the couch with her leg bouncing with worry, the sound of the emergency radio filled the room, and everyone instantly grew silent so everyone could hear what was being said.
"I repeat, everyone stays indoors. This is an emergency broadcast broadcasting across the entire State of Alaska. No information has been reported that could explain the blackout issues everyone is experiencing throughout the entire State of Alaska. Please stay indoors till we have more information. I repeat, everyone stays-"
The radio clicked off and the room fell into silence once more. Across the entire State of Alaska? Marlee just knew that somehow, someway, things were going to get worse. She did not know how or when, but she just knew.
