Kyle

The sun didn't set that day. It fell. The usual orange and yellow hues did not show. Only gray. As if the whole world was smoking. Which, in turn, means it was on fire. And it was. But it was not a fire I could control. It wouldn't have mattered how hard I tried, the weight of it all would have crushed me. The weight too much for a small twelve-year old. The enemy too strong.
   
Little did my dad know, that same enemy was too strong for him too. Little did he know it would be his end and I would be forced to watch him crumble.
   
It wasn't two hours after dad said goodbye that mom got a phone call. She packed a few food items and a couple photo albums. Stuffing the supplies into two backpacks, she gave one to myself and one to Tori. She told all of us to load up in the car. With one last look at our house, she shut the front door and took her spot in the drivers seat.
   
In the passengers seat I watched out the window. "Why does it look like that, mom?" I asked referring to the sky. At that time I couldn't explain, but I just knew it looked wrong. Something was wrong.
   
"I don't know, Kyle." She glanced out the window too. "I don't know, baby." She repeated. "But hey, look. It's gonna be ok. We're gonna be ok. Alright?"
   
I nod. "Ok." She manages a small smile that I do my best to return.
   
Her phone rings. "Ellen." She answers. "I know, Ben called. I was just about to call you." She lowers her voice a bit. "Ellen is this really happening? I never thought we'd use it. Ever." She glances out the window again. "I'm fully intending to help get as many people out, but my kids are my priority right now. I need to get them somewhere safe first." She pauses, listening. "Alright. We'll head there. See you soon." She hangs up the phone.
   
"What'd she say?" I ask eagerly.
   
"We're going go meet them at city hall. They have a basement that will be safe. And that's where everyone is told to go in the event the plan is a go."
   
"The plan? As in--" We're told about that thing in school. Never why it was made, but just that it was and what to do. We're supposed to check in at the nearest city hall. There they are suppose to begin teleporting people off the planet.
   
She looks at me and back at the road. "The Syndicate Plan."

   
I let out a sigh of relief as we pull into the lot. End of shift. Time to restock the truck and then clock out. Friday has finally arrived. Jordan and Arik's big day.

I check my watch once again. 5:26pm. The event's at 7pm. Yeah, I got time to shower before I meet up with Sky. Her shift should be ending here soon. We're planning to ride to the graduation together from the hospital.

"Nice to have a quiet day around this town." Mike, my partner for today, says as we bring out a box of supplies to the truck.

"Yeah, seems those are few and far between." Some days being an EMT feels like you're always hurrying from one place to another. Most calls aren't extreme cases, but we're still trying to beat the clock.

A call comes over the radio. Mike and I freeze and listen. The ever muffled dispatch lady blurts out info at us. A "bus" requested at 322 Lenox. Officers on scene.

That address isn't far from here. "You had to say it Mike." I say shaking my head. He smirks and grabs his radio and confirms that we're en route. We close up the truck and take to our seats, Mike driving and me riding shotgun. I glance at my watch 5:32. I run a hand through my hair. Yeah, I got time.

Not five minutes later we pull up to the scene. I grab the duffel and head over while Mike gets the stretcher. I analyze the scene before me. One male. Two cops on the scene. One is pressing his hand to the guys chest. The other has his weapon drawn scanning his surroundings. Nope, this doesn't look good.

Reaching them I am met with two surprises, for lack of a better word. One is that the cop holding his weapon is none other than Justin, this must have caught him at the end of shift too. The second is much more puzzling. I drop to my knees next to the victim and immediately notice that his wound is smoking. What, did this guy get burned? He's not totally unconscious, but he hasn't really acknowledged my presence.

"One vic." Justin's partner Officer Collins, Aaron, tells me. "One stab wound to the chest."

"Wait, this man was stabbed?" I ask still more puzzled. I reach into the duffel and grab the sterile cloths. I motion for Arron to let me take over. He does and I resume the pressure to the wound. I've got to get the bleeding to stop, or at least slow.

"Yeah, I'm as confused as you are."

"Perp took off." Justin says. When a call involves cops they usually don't tell me all that much about the situation if it doesn't concern the health of the wounded. "I chased him into the woods over there. I swear I was right on him, and all of a sudden I lost sight and then he was just gone." He puts his weapon away and wipes some sweat off his face. Mike has arrived with the stretcher. On the count of three we lift the man onto the stretcher. Securing him, we wheel him over to the truck.

After loading the man in, I climb into the back. "Let's both pray we make it to that graduation on time." Justin says.

I look at my watch 5:44. "Yeah, we got time."

"You always say that."

"And I'm usually right. I'll see you later." He nods and closes the two doors for me.

We roll in by the emergency entrance. He's hanging on, but barely. He stirs. "Hey, stay with me. We're at the hospital. You're gonna get help." He tries to speak, but is unintelligible with the oxygen mask on. "You're gonna be fine." I add trying to calm him. Mikes opening the doors. The man grabs at the mask, mumbling. I lean in closer. He's staring at the name tag clipped on my shirt.

"He said it'd be you." The man manages. We're lowering the stretcher out of the truck. "He said it'd be you." I keep wheeling him towards the entrance. "He said waiting times over."

My heart misses a beat. "What?" We're getting close to the entrance.

"Waiting time is over." He struggles to get out.

My heart starts raising. "Who's 'he'?" The guy is losing consciousness. "Hey, stay with me. What does that mean?"

We've reached the entrance and the trauma team meets us. "What does that mean?" I repeat again. Someone grabs my arm. I turn. Sky.

"Kyle, we've got to take him."

I nod and let go. I stand there completely dumfounded, heart still racing. Mike's next to me. "Hey, Kyle, you good?"

I swallow and turn to him. "Yeah." I pause. "I'm good." We walk back to the truck with my brain running a thousand miles a minute.

Skylar   

I don't know how long we've been hiding in this basement, but it feels like a long time. I don't like it, it's crammed with all these people and it's cold down here. We're suppose to be safe here, but I don't feel safe. I want to go home. I want daddy to go home too.
   
Mom is next to me though, which makes me feel better. She's holding Lorelai, who has finally stopped crying. I think she can sense something is wrong too.
   
"When are we leaving, mom?" Kyle asks. He sits across from me. Tori is next to him with Jordan in her lap.
   
"When your dad and Henri get here." She answers. The Westons are here too, sitting in a circle a few feet away from us. The people said to do our best to keep our families together.
   
Mom should be helping upstairs since she can teleport. The man tried to get her to stay, but she ended up punching him and telling him that we need her more. I've never seen her that angry before, but I'm glad she's here with us.
   
Someone screams somewhere in the basement. I can feel mom tense up. "Hold your sister." She says, handing Lorelai to me. She crouches and moves toward the center aisle of the room. Everyone around us stirs a bit too, trying to see where the scream came from.
   
A man joins mom. "I think it came from the bathrooms."
   
"I think so too."
   
"What do you think it is?"
   
"God only knows." Another scream fills the basement. "Definitely from the bathrooms." She pulls the gun out that's been tucked in the waistband of her jeans. "Get upstairs and stay together." She tells us, but it's mostly directed to Kyle.
   
"I'll make sure everyone gets our quietly." Ellen assures her. It's too late though. Chaos erupts. People start screaming and rushing for the stairs. "Go now. Kyle, keep together. I'll be right up."
   
Teague grabs my hand and Daniel's. Lorelai starts to cry from all the commotion. We rise and start moving toward the stairs. "Don't look, Sky." Teague instructs me, but I look anyways. A tall, broad figure is standing at the end of the hall. I can't see his face but the blade he holds gives off an orange hue. Fear grips me. For a minute I feel like I can't stand, but I remember that I have to get Lorelai to safety.
   
The hoards of people rushing to the stairs makes it slow going. We're towards the back of the group. I look back again. Mom and the man are fighting the dark figure, who towers over both of them. Mom fires at him whilst dodging his blows by teleporting a few feet this way and that. The other man evidently has a fire ability, which he's using.
   
I look in front of me. We're almost to the stairs. I hold Lorelai tighter as she cries. I can't help but look behind me again. The man is now using a thick metal rod as weapon. The tall figure dodges and hits the man so hard he flies into the wall. He slumps to the ground and doesn't move. Mom teleports over and grabs the rod. She fires one more bullet and then drops the gun.
   
We're to the steps now. Teague is pulling me along, but I have to look back once more. The figure slashes his blade at mom. He hits her arm and mom yells in pain. Tears well up in my eyes, but I can't tear myself away from the scene.
   
Mom teleports behind him and drives the metal rod through the back of his skull.

   
My hair is still damp as I walk the halls of the hospital towards the extra waiting room on this level. I don't have time to blow dry my hair. I'm just glad I remembered to bring my dress clothes and heels with me to work today.

Reaching the waiting room, I see Kyle is there like he said he'd be. He rises out of the chair, straightening his dress coat. He walks toward me glancing at the watch on his wrist. "I think we're gonna make it."

"Great. Do I look ok?" I'm dressed in a dark purple pencil skirt with a cream colored blouse on top that I payed way too much for.

"You look stunning, Sky. Justin's gonna be drooling."

"Oh please." I blush slightly. "He texted me that he's on his way too."

He nods. "Let's get going. I moved to the parking garage so we wouldn't have to walk so far."

We exit the building together. The garage is just around the corner and his car is relatively close the elevator. I'm thankful. I don't want to walk in these heels anymore than I have to.

His black Dodge Challenger comes into view, the pride and joy of his life. He unlocks it and we climb in. It's a few minutes before we say anything to each other. I think we both know what the other is thinking about, though. I decide it's going to have to be me that brings it up.

"He's dead." I know that's blunt, but we're both used to blunt in this line of work.

He clenches his jaw a bit, but his eyes stay focussed on the road. It's another minute before he says anything. "I was afraid of that. He bled too much. I couldn't get it to stop."

"We couldn't either." And again, silence. "Did you know him?"

"No." He says, eyes still on the road.

I nod. What I really want to ask is an explanation for why he froze earlier. It was slight, but I could tell. Kyle doesn't miss beats. I decide I'm probably not going to get an explanation for awhile, so we remain silent for the rest of the ride.     

Justin waits for us outside of the school's auditorium. When we approach I give him a hug. It's been a rough day. "Mom says they have seats saved, towards the middle." He says. Great everyone's gonna stare at us.

I link arms with Justin and we enter into the dimmed auditorium. I hear the speaker has already started calling names. They're still on "A's" so we haven't missed Jordan. Almost exactly halfway down the aisle we come to our group and we take the three vacant seats on the end of the row. I go in first and sit down next to Tori.

"Everything ok?" She leans in and whispers.

"Yeah, it's fine." Now is not the time to talk about our brother's lack of communication. Besides, I'm still wondering if I should tell or not, but if I had to pick a sibling to tell, it'd be her.

There are couple more kids before they call Jordan's name. When his name is called he stands and walks across the stage toward the principal. He looks so grown up and confidant. What happened to my baby brother? I promised myself I wouldn't cry, so I hold it in. He receives his diploma and shakes hands with the man. Everyone claps and Teague gives a little cheer like the dork he is. But hey, your little brother only graduates once.

It's not too long before they get the to "W's". I'm thankful they don't go to a big school or else this would take days. Arik's name is called. He too rises and accepts his diploma. Although not as tall as Jordan, he still look so confident. Arik's like another little brother to me, so I once again fight back tears.

Once the ceremony ends, we celebrate with cake and punch and take a million pictures. I'm glad Hayden's got his camera, because I totally forgot mine. I do snap a few on my phone though.

Arms reach around me in a hug. "You feel old yet?" Justin says to me.

"You could say that." I smile. "You?"

"Oh, I've felt old since the day Hayden graduated." He laughs.

We watch as the main photography get's one more picture of all the graduates. Jordan and Arik's faces are lit with smiles and I couldn't be more proud of them.
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A/N: I think this chapter has been my favorite to write so far. I also think it's the longest so far. Hope I corrected all the typos. My apologies if you spot some. Thank you for taking time to read my little story here. It means the world to me. Hope you enjoyed Five!
-Emerald_Parrish🎓