forum || When the World Slumbers | 4/4 | CLOSED ||

Started May 04, 2020 by @PrettyLittlePyro

tune

Luke yawned and opened his eyes, sitting up and running a hand through his hair. His hair, already messy enough from sleep, stuck up in all directions, as if he had put his fingers in a light socket. He threw the covers off his bed and stood, stretching slightly.

He scowled at the clock. It was late, on a Saturday morning, but there wasn't the usual sound of his mother preparing food, his father yelling something incomprehensible at his sister. It was strange. The house was still and silent as a tomb.

He walked down the stairs to the kitchen, but there was no one there. Nor in the living room. Trying to push back a sense of foreboding, Luke hurried back up to the bedrooms. They were probably still asleep. Sure enough, when he glanced in, they were. He frowned. There was something strange about the way they slept, though, something freaky.

The sunlight angling through the window woke Faith with a piece of her hair in her mouth. Spitting it out and wiping her face, she sat up from the nest of blankets and pillows on the floor and checked the time on her phone. It was around 9 in the morning. Her best friend Conner was beside her, still fast asleep, his hair pushed down into his face. She smiled, gazing at a fading temporary tattoo of a gold star under one of his eyes. Yawning, she stood up and nudged him with her foot. "Con," she murmured. "hey, wake up, dude."

He didn't move. Maybe he's just sleeping really deeply, Faith thought. She knelt down and gently shook him by the shoulder. "Con, I hate to wake you from what must be a great dream, but get up, I'm gonna make breakfast."

Still no response.

Her heart leapt into her throat and she picked up his limp wrist, fumbling for a pulse. Sure enough, he was still alive, his heart beating slowly but surely. Faith began to panic. She ran out of the room and stumbled into Conner's parents' bedroom, where she tried to shake them awake, only to get the same result. Frantically, she ran her fingers through her hair. "Don't panic, don't panic," she whispered to herself.

Lillian had relished in the quiet of the house in the morning. Her mother was probably still dead asleep with whatever man she had brought home the night before. Lilli had been in her room (basement) from the moment she had gotten home from school. What was strange was that none of her friends had texted her yet considering they were supposed to pick her up soon.

With much caution, she crept out of the basement and glanced around. No one was around, thank god for that much. She checked her phone again, nothing. Lillian bit her lip and decided to just leave the house already. Even if her friends were here yet, she could at least get out of the house and avoid her mother's morning wrath.

Outside was almost worse than inside. No one was out yet which was unusual. Normal there were at least a few kids playing or a couple of guys smoking on their porches. She began to get worried, but refused to go back inside and decided to start walking to Val's house since it was the closest to hers. Hopefully, Val would be there, or know what in the world was going on.

Angel was already awake. What time was it? Earlier than usual. She was just waiting for her parents to nag at her like always.
It's been an hour. "Am I really going to have to wake them up?"
That's a first. mewed the cat in her lap.
"Ha, yep. They sleep any longer and they're gonna end up deep rest!" The girl practically fell on the floor laughing.
Anna jumped onto the floor, pawing at Angel's foot. Alright, enough out of you. she purred playfully.
When she calmed down, Angel stood up and went downstairs.
Upon reaching her parents room, she heard nothing. Not even her fathers snoring.
"That's odd…"
She quietly opened the door, then ran as quick as she could and jumped onto her parents.
"WAKEY, WAKEY, EGGS AND BAKEY!!!" she screeched.
No response.
"Oh, c'mon. You do that to me all the time!"
Still nothing.
"Are you dead?" Angel said, imitating Gargamel. (From Smurfs)
After a few minutes of silence, she decided to try her brother.
Walking into his room, she flicked on the light.
"Wake up, asshat. It's unnatural for me to be the first one up."
Again, nothing but faint breathing.
"Don't make me have to kiss you."
Now usually he would say something like, 'do it then,' or, 'go back to sleep,' but there was nothing. He didn't even move an inch.
"…Ok then. If you insist." And with that, she walked over and planted a kiss right on his lips.
"Wow, nothing?" She said, pulling away.
He's not awake either? her feline friend asked as she walked in.
"Shit. This is not good." At this point she was panicking and tried to get her brother to wake up. Many tactics were used, but none prevailed.
Look, maybe we should take a breath.
"Yeah…" She kissed Corwyn on the forehead and turned to go back to her room when she saw his computer on the desk beside his bed.
She took a seat at the desk and logged in.
She really hoped this would work and someone, anyone, would respond.
She created a new thread and typed out,
Anyone else awake?

Faith had just turned on her phone to call her girlfriend after about twenty minutes of overthinking when she noticed a new notification from a forum site she'd stopped using a few years back. The preview read, A new thread has been created: Anyone else awake?

Her heart felt like it had stopped. This couldn't have been a coincidence. Hesitantly, she tapped the notification and unlocked her phone.

The site loaded quickly; it was like everyone had suddenly abandoned it. She opened the thread and, with shaking fingers, slowly typed:
yea , me
do u kno whats goin on?
cos i sure as hell dont
everyones asleep but like in a weird coma
im guessign ur in the same?
and pressed post.

It didn't take long for someone to answer.
Oh thank goodness! I thought I was the only one.
No, I don't know what's happening.
Angel posted her reply and waited to see if anyone else would show up.
Anna lept onto the bed and curled up on the pillow by Corwyn's head, grooming his hair.

Lillian had to use the spare key Val gave her ages ago to get into her friend's house. Normally one door would be open by this point. She had made her way to Val's bedroom only to find her friend did asleep and not able to wake up, no matter what Lillian tried. Now Lil was panicking just slightly, so she sat at Val's computer and began her search.

She found a thread on some website and clicked on it. It loaded quickly and Lillian ended up having to make an account to post. After some debating, she finally made one and made a post to the thread, Um so there's 3 of us awake? Does anyone know what's going on?

Nope not really. Angel typed.
She reached over and gently grabbed the hand of the sleeping boy beside her. Good thing she wasn't left handed, so she could still type.
And I'm guessing you don't either.
If no one else answers within an hour, I think it's safe to assume we're the only ones left.
(the hour won't have passed until after Pyro responds)

(Sorry, guys! I was busy!)

Luke logged onto the computer, after no one was waking up. He saw a new message that popped up. Anyone else awake? It seemed like there were three other people who had responded. After a moment, he responded. I am. I'm awake, too. Is it the same for you guys? No one is waking up, no matter how hard you try?

(It's fine! You do you!)
Yes.
Nothing's happening, and it's freaking me out.
Do you know what's going on?
Or are you just as clueless as us? Angel replied.

Lillian was biting her lip as she was typing up a response before backspacing it. She typed it up again before deleting it again. She took a deep breath before fully typing up a proper response:

I've only tried to wake up one person, but she isn't waking up. Everything's super quiet, it's eerie. Maybe we should meet up? Where do you all live?

569 Freedom Dr., Brightsone, Texas, USA.
Now, usually Angel wouldn't give her address to strangers, but this was a life or hopefully-not-death situation.

Faith read the last message and, pushing her hair out of her face, sat down at the kitchen table to reply.

8191 Blue Lake Drive, Folsom, California

Nothing's working, Luke wrote, biting his lip. He wasn't sure if he should tell him his own address. I'm trying everything I can think of, and they aren't waking up. He read the responses and pursed his lips. I live in Arizona. Maybe we could find somewhere in the middle to meet up?

Faith nibbled her lip, thinking. maybe nevada somewhere? or utah? depending on where…whoever asked us lives

Oh I'm in colorado, Lillian typed having blanked out for a moment. She was wary of those who had just given their addresses so freely but understood that this was a unique situation. Still, she wasn't going to do that.

Faith pulled up a map of the western US and studied a good meeting point. After doing a lot of zooming in and out, she went back to the chat.
i found this little town
its like in the centre of utah
its called salina
kinda in the middle of everywhere we r
but if ne1 has a better place to go
pls say so

She quickly sent a screenshot of the map after her post.

That could work, Luke responded, Although, can all of you guys get there? He wasn't sure how old the other people were, but he felt that he should ask.

im 16, Faith typed, i have a permit but not a real lisen- license? licence? idk.
my frend does thou, im at his house rn,
i can use his car
to get there
id just need to be careful
w/ police n stuff yanno