The Beginning

The lights blew, everything became pitch black, only an ear piercing scream was able to be heard throughout the house.

Atlas sat in his chair, frozen. His connection to the others had cut off. Was this happening everywhere? Did someone break into their house? What's happening? All this was running through his head all at once. Atlas glanced around his pitch black room. He couldn't see a thing. All that was visible were dark outlines of a few clothes and his bed. That was it. The scream didn't last long. It sounded like an agonizing and painful scream. Atlas hesitantly got up pushing his chair away from him as he stood on the soft carpeted floor.

He looked around his room for anything he could use as self defense. Just in case someone had broken into the house. He saw a baseball bat placed in the corner of his room. He cautiously walked over to the bat, stepping over all the clothes and books on the floor. He reached the bat, picking it up as he walked over to his door. His breathing quickening his heart rate beating faster as he slowly reached out and opened the door. He peeked out through his door, glancing both ways to check if anyone was there. He saw no one as he left his room, gripping the bat tightly over by his shoulder ready to swing at anything that could possibly be a threat.

He walked down the pitch dark hallway, keeping as silent as he could to hear every little thing possible. It was eerily silent now, you couldn't hear a thing, only the air conditioning system making its usual broken croaking noise. Atlas reached the stairs, squinting as he tried to see if anything was down there. He wasn't able to see anything thanks to the power going out. He took a shaky breath as he stepped down, walking down the small flight of stairs still gripping the bat tightly. He reached the bottom of the stairs his feet touching the hard wooden floor.

Atlas walked around the house, seeing.....no one. Where was everyone? He didn't see his mother nor father. His sister wasn't down there either. Atlas started to panic. What if someone kidnapped them?! Where'd the scream come from? What was he going to do? This was his fault. Atlas didn't want to believe this. He frantically walked around trying to find any sign of his family.

Nothing.

He found nothing. They were gone. "Layla?! Mom?! Dad?!" He called out for them. No response. They weren't there. What was going on?! Atlas's breathing quickened his heart felt like it was going to just jump out of his chest. Which was weird. Atlas never really got so frightened or scared that he'd feel like his heart would just jump out of his chest.

A bright light. There was a sudden bright light in his face. He dropped the bat on the floor, bringing his arm up to cover his face. The light was coming from his window. He squinted trying to figure out what the source of the blinding light was. Slowly, he walked up to the window pulling the blinds open. He shaded his eyes as he looked out the window. His eyes widened as he stumbled back falling onto the floor. His breathing quickening his chest rising and falling dramatically. There was nothing. Nothing outside, it was just.....dark, nothing, no houses, no trees.....no people. So where did the light come from? What in the.....what was going on?!

The light disappeared. It was dark again, just like the power went out. The features of the houses interior were still slightly visible. Atlas picked the bat back up walking back up the stairs. He started to feel dizzy. He stumbled around a bit leaning against the hallway wall as he made his way back to his dark room. He stumbled through the door, falling onto the floor dropping the bat. He groaned holding his head in his hand. "God, what is going on?" He mumbled feeling a splitting headache come on. He still felt extremely dizzy.

His vision started to blur, his room started to spin, his headache worsened. He collapsed. Falling onto the floor, everything was dark now. His headache gone, the dizziness stopped, his vision just all black.

A bright light.

He saw the light again. But not as bright as before. He shot up in a cold sweat. He saw his family surrounding him. His dad holding a flashlight up over Atlas's face. His sister holding his shoulder and his mother kneeling down beside him. Clear worry plastered all over her face. "W-what happened?" He asked his family. He watched as they all made worried eye contact with each other. His father put the flashlight down and looked at Atlas. "Son, the whole world went dark for 3 minutes. But only a few people throughout the entire world actually blacked out. Like you." Atlas was confused, his dad gave him a worried expression.

"Atlas, the people that blacked out...went somewhere. Somewhere like here. In a dream. But different. The news said that the people that blacked out felt like they were still conscious, but they really weren't." His dad stood up as well did the rest of his family leaving him sitting on the ground looking up at him. His whole family had worried and frightened looks on their faces. What his dad said next would haunt him forever.

"Atlas, we were told, the people that blacked out, changed. And not for the better. They said they will be a threat to us...normal people." His dad sighed as he looked down at Atlas. The boy was confused and a bit frightened by what his dad would say next.

"Atlas, they said to take no precautions. They said do not hesitate-"

"-to kill the ones who blacked out."