"Charlotte! Charlotte, can you hear me?" My mum yelled repeatedly.

I could hear her, but I couldn't find my voice to reply nor the strength to open my eyes. My left hand felt numb with pressure but I couldn't understand why. After finding the strength within me to peel my eyes open, I realised I was in my mum's car and for the window screen was smashed...

My heart began to race as I stared blankly at the three faces which were gazing back at me. I looked at my hand and saw Poppy was gripping it so hard her knuckles had turned bright white.

"We're going to have to get moving!" I heard Joanne shout in a rushed voice.

"What's happening?" The words escaped from my mouth before I even considered the thought.

"We've been in a car crash Charlotte, but it's okay nobody's hurt. We need to get out of the car and go inside. Do you think you can do that?" My mum tried to reassure me, speaking slowly as if she were talking to a child.

I wiggled my toes and stamped both of my feet slowly. I didn't feel any pain anywhere, except from the throbbing ache in my head but I put that down to the confusion I was currently facing. I slowly looked at everyone's facial expressions. Poppy's forehead was filled with waved creases, her eyebrows were closely knitted together, drawing attention to her eyes overflowing with fear. I watched her chin quiver as I tried to piece together why everyone was acting so peculiar. We've been in a car crash, but no one is hurt - what is the big concern? Why do we have to get out of the car so quickly? Can't we just ring dad to come and pick us up and go home?

My mum breathed out a shaky breath, blinking significantly quicker than normal. Joanne grew impatient as she yelled for us to get out of the car once again. "Come on Charlotte, we have to go!"

Everyone climbed out of the car in an orderly fashion, I moved slowly in case I had sustained any injuries that I hadn't yet picked up. "Are we going to call dad to pick us up?" I asked mum whilst staring at the smashed window screen.

She stared at me with a concerned expression, I looked at her closely noticing she had a cut on her face just below her eye. She didn't answer my question as Joanne rushed us all towards the very busy building just a few meters ahead of us. Poppy looked at me sympathetically as if there was something I didn't know or couldn't remember.

The building we were heading to was an arcade. There were a few other buildings nearby, every one of them looked to be crammed with people but not like they would be on a busy day. Instead people stood squashed up against each other watching from the window with feared expressions. Joanne tried to push the door open but someone was obstructing it.

"We need to come in! Open the door!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

Once the man standing in front of the door noticed us, he tried to move out of the way. He began shuffling back but there were too many people. The crowd began shouting and screaming and some even pushed and told him not to let us in. He wasn't having any of it, though. He continued to move further back, arguing against every single person until eventually he managed to slide the door open enough for us to squeeze through.

Once inside we thanked the man and others around us, all of which were a little close for comfort. I was left dumbfound by the whole situation, why were we squashed inside of a busy arcade instead of going home? I simply couldn't understand it.

I watched Poppy closely. Her eyes filled with panic as she began to breathe faster and faster, she panted as tears threatened to spill from her big hazel eyes. My heart ached for her as I knew how much she hated being in tight spaces with lots of people. She had been by my side when I had to face my fears, when we boarded the aeroplane for a school trip, and I wasn't going to let her down now, despite my state of confusion. I grabbed her hand, "It's going to be over soon Pops, deep breaths, it's going to be alright." I whispered in her ear.

"What's going on?" I heard someone cry. I blinked a few times, trying to wake myself up from a bad dream, but unfortunately this was our reality.

I looked around for Joanne, but she was no where to be seen. I stood tall digging my heels further and further into the ground, pushing my broad shoulders outwards and holding onto Poppy for extra support. I could see over the top of a few people's heads but I couldn't spot Joanne, there were too many people with brown curly hair just like hers.

"Look!" A man shouted, pointing to the window and accidentally hitting an old woman in the face. This immediately caused the old lady to shout angrily back at the man, however she quickly got distracted by what he was pointing at.

Luminous bright flashing lights filled the dark sky. Streaks of straight lines, vertically and horizontally, flashed boldly. The brightness of them made the faint moon look dull. Staring for just a few seconds made me shriek in pain at the piercing feeling in my eyes. I turned away shielding my eyes with my hands. Murmurs of sound filled the air as people wondered impatiently what was going on. The flashing lit up the arcade, reflecting off the silver machines.

Within less than a minute all went dark once again. "Everyone stay calm. Radio satellites and phone signals are back up and running. It is thought the flashing sparks were somehow interfering. But it seems safe again." A security guard shouted standing at the top of the flight of stairs.

"It looks safe? Did he just see what was going on!" Someone snared sarcastically.

"I've had enough of this, I'm going home!" A man growled looking highly unamused. He pushed his way through the crowd as everyone stood limply watching him. "Excuse me please! Move out of the way!" He yelled, not having any consideration for the people he was shoving out of his way.

He dragged the door open with one hand and ploughed on outside. He took less than five strides and he was on the ground. His body shook furiously, his limbs moving uncontrollably. His eyes remained wide open, I couldn't tell whether he was still alive or not...

But what I did know was that was it wasn't safe outside...

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Authors Note: Sorry for taking so long to update, and this is just a very short chapter! But I hope to start updating weekly at least, since I have nearly finished college for summer I am going to have a lot more spare time.

Questions of the chapter: What do you think the flashing lights are? What do you think happened to the man who dared to go outside... Is he still alive?

Don't forget to show your support through leaving feedback, so I know whether or not you're enjoying it. Thanks for reading! Don't forget to add 30 Days To Say Goodbye to your library to receive update notifications! :)

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