The Day Before Pt 2

Families and groups of kids file into the Deloraine High School football stadium one by one, chatting excitedly with one another, everyone was looking forward to the scrimmage match, it was a yearly occurrence that everyone showed up for; parents would take off work early and most businesses would shut down, just to show support to their football team.

Not long after everyone gets settled the town's Mayor comes onto the field to give a brief speech before the quarterback comes on to introduce the team and hype up the crowd before the starting whistle. She's dressed in a dark purple tuxedo pantsuit that makes her look extra slim and beautiful, with her jet-black hair hanging down the sides of her face and resting just past her shoulders, it wasn't difficult to tell that she was a woman of status, the second she got to center field the entire stadium quiets down in anticipation for what she's about to say; when she starts her voice sounds like music, filled with power but femininity.

"Welcome, citizens and visitors of Deloraine, to our annual high school football game against our sister town of Winchester! As you all know, I'm Mayor Genevieve Harrison, and as always I'm honored to start tonight's festivities; this game marks the official start of our high school football season, since it seems like the championship always comes down to the two of our towns we decided to start the season off with a playful game between the two schools as a way of showing respect for one another and showcasing the talents of the season before the real match. Since then, it has become a highly anticipated event that both towns talk about and prepare for all year. So, without further ado, the moment you have all been waiting for, let's hear it for the 2023 Grizzly football team!"

The once-quiet stadium then erupts into a thunderous roar of clapping and screaming as everyone cheers for their favorite players. Before long the entire team is on the field and Josh Harrison, the quarterback of the team, gives his speech. He must wait for a little for the crowd to quiet down before he can start his speech.

"This is it, the moment all of us seniors have been waiting for since kindergarten since the day we were shown the reel of the first batch of Grizzly champions, every boy in the room knew that was something they were wanting to do. Nathan was there beside me, rocking with anticipation and excitement, we didn't know each other yet, but he turned to me with a huge grin on his face and told me that he was going to be the starting defenseman when he was a senior before we even knew each other name, there was this unspoken bond between us. I'm honored to announce that he has achieved his dream and is the starting defenseman tonight as well as my co-captain chose to assist with bringing home yet another championship this year!" he finishes with a triumphant yell while thrusting his fist into the sky.

The stadium once again erupts in screaming and cheers as both teams begin to take the field and start their friendly game of football, no scores are being tracked, just a bunch of teenagers having a good time while the sun sets around them. Around the second quarter of the game the warm summer air start to get heavy and humid, the wind starts to pick up blowing in dark rain clouds and it begins to drizzle; everyone is confused at the sudden change in weather but spirits are still high and it's not like Deloraine didn't have rapidly shifting weather, so the game continues in the dark drizzly stadium, the only source of light being the big stadium lights on the field and stands. As the game continues, the rain starts to get heavier, with a few flashes of lightning and some thunder, eventually, the rain becomes too heavy for the game to continue and both teams start to thank each other and move to their respective areas. People start to get up and move towards the areas that they live in, as the stadium becomes a chorus of excited chattering about different things a whiplike crack of thunder echoes throughout the stadium followed by a simultaneous flash of lightning that hits the stadiums transformer plunging the stadium into complete darkness. During this a tremor shakes throughout the entire stadium, causing panic among the people; for a few seconds, it is chaos with people screaming, young children crying, and parents trying to console and keep track of their children; then the backup generator kicks in, and the emergency lights start to power up. The stadium dies into an uneasy quiet chatter as the rain steadily falls, but no one moves, after a minute or two Mayor Genevieve grabs a megaphone to address the masses.

"Due to the unforeseen weather complication, we will be concluding this year's game, I hope everybody had a fun time and we look forward to seeing you next year! Please, let's leave the stadium in an orderly fashion, we don't want anyone getting hurt or a child getting lost in the crowd. Thank you all and have a great night." she finished and quickly ran off the field to her car.

Everyone starts filing out and moving towards their respective places of residence, some chatting among friends some walking silently in thought as the rain continued to steadily fall from the sky. Jocelyn and her friends start walking home, trying to protect Clara from the rain as much as possible, Chantel, as always, is the first to comment about the game. "Well, that was a shit show and a half."

Laughing to herself and shaking her head she then turns to Richard "Aye, Rich, could I crash at your place tonight? Not feeling like heading home tonight, thought maybe we can smoke a little and pass out watching Netty!"

Richard gives Chantel a side-eye through the rain before responding to her with a playful warning in his tone "Yea, of course, just, remember to bring your... uh, toiletries, this time. My mother wasn't too happy about you using her toothbrush, deodorant, and hairbrush. I mean I get the hairbrush but the other two! Come on Chantel, what were you thinking? That's utterly disgusting! My mom almost banned you from the house, that's how pissed she was!"

Chantel bursts out in a fit of hysterical laughter, and everyone else giggles silently, this was an ongoing argument between the two. "Oh. My. God. Rich. One time! That happened one fucking time, like two years ago, and every time I come over, it's the same thing!" Then she uses a mocking tone, that according to her, sounds like Richard. "'Don't use mom's deodorant, Chantel, don't use mom's toothbrush Chantel'" Then she continues in her regular voice laughing while finishing her sentence. "Like bitch, you know damn well that I brought my shit over after that, so fucking. drop. it!" and everybody bursts out laughing forgetting the weather and giving in to Chantel's antics.

Richard throws his hands in the air and laughs himself while shooting back at Chantel in a playful manner. "Yea, that'll never fucking happen until the day my mom stops nagging me about it."

Christopher, being Christopher, had enough of the language in front of his little sister and decides to end the conversation for both. "All right you two, knock it off. We get it, you're a married couple that does nothing but argues, and I'll admit, it is entertaining, but can you puhlease, for the love of all things Holy, watch your mouth in front of the child? And Clara darling, please do not run off from the group, with how dark and rainy it is, it's difficult to be able to see you."

He looks directly at Clara, and she giggles. "I'm sorry, Chris, I was just wanting to dance in the rain!" There was a flash of lightning, followed by a crack of thunder, making Clara scream with joy while throwing her head up to the sky, letting the rain steadily fall on her.

Chris smiles at his little sister with adoration and attempts to compromise with the tiny six-year-old. "Awe, that's okay munchkin, but how about we save that for when it's light outside okay? It's just a little dark and I don't want to lose you! How about this though, once we get back home, we can have a mini dance party in the yard, that way I can make sure you're safe."

Then just as quickly as Chris silenced her, Chantel started up again, this time she decides to try joking with Chris, the show found that he had been uncharacteristically quiet most of the night, and was wanting to check on him, even if her way was a little outta pocket "Well shit, slap my ass and call me daddy, the man finally speaks!"

This makes Chris snip back at Chantel with a hint of anger and annoyance in his voice. "Watch your tongue, when you're speaking around Clara!" He whispers screaming at her. "I deal with your bullshit regularly, and generally I'm fine with it, but I've been feeling sick lately and this damn rain is not helping. So back off and shut up!"

Chantel raises her hands in defense before trying to de-escalate the situation she had started. "Dude, chill, it was a joke, don't bite my head off. You should've said something earlier about not feeling well though, I would've brought you some Advil for the headache, I know you have one... I was sick last week, remember? Shit knocked me on my ass. Seems like most of the kids in town have caught it at one point over the past two months. Seems odd, doesn't it?"

She looks at Richard now, asking him the final question, he takes a moment to think before replying. "No, not really." he starts slowly. "See, a regular virus has an incubation period of around 12-48 hours, during this time frame, you don't know you are infected yet and the virus can technically be easily spread from one person to another. That's all before you show any symptoms, so, depending on how many people you encounter during the time you are contagious, it's not that weird. Sometimes it takes a while to reach everybody, what I do find strange, is that none of the adults seem to have gotten sick. It's only been children, high school, and university students so that part is a little peculiar." Richard finishes shrugging and wiping his rain-soaked face.

Just then Clara tugs on Chris' jacket sleeve "I'm going to walk with Jocelyn!" she then grabs Jocelyn's hand and walks beside her. Jocelyn smiles down at the girl with admiration and Chris nods his head in approval, the corners of his lips turning upwards. "Yea, that's fine squirt." Clara laughs and skips beside Jocelyn, hand in hers, then there's a bright flash of lightning that illuminates the entire night sky making it seem like daylight for a second, before fading and plunging the entire town into darkness. All the streetlamps, house lights, and traffic lights went out and a roaring rumble of thunder rings out just as a small tremor shakes the entire town causing everyone in the group to stumble off balance slightly; the light rain then turned into a steady stream, soaking them even more than they already were.

The teens stop unsure of their footing for a second before Chris speaks up. "Jocelyn, would you mind grabbing Clara and getting her home ASAP, I don't need her getting hurt or sick, you're the fastest, we'll be right behind you." Jocelyn nods in agreement and picks up Clara and makes a break for it, running as fast as she can while safely carrying the child.

It takes no more than five minutes to reach Chris' house, Jocelyn pulls the spare key out from under the fake rock in the flower bed and takes Clara in. She lights some candles, grabs a flashlight for Clara, and instructs her to go get dressed into her PJs, since she is soaking wet and Chris didn't want her to get sick, in the meantime, she makes herself comfortable and boils some water to make some hot cocoa for Clara and everyone else once they got there. She then turns on the gas stove, silently thanking Chris' mom for not renovating her house to an electric one and starts to boil the water while grabbing mugs from the cupboard. Finally, she grabs a book and curls up on the couch waiting for the rest of the gang to get there.

Chris, Chantel, Richard, and Bernard take a glance up at the sky before running after Jocelyn and Clara. They all kept a decent pace so no one person would fall behind in the now thick rain and pitch black of the town's streets. As they jog down the dark streets, the lightening and thunder continue, and just as Chris' house comes into view the rain becomes so heavy it's difficult for them to see what's in front of them, the wind starts howling and thrashing all around them and hail starts whipping down from the sky and pelting the kids' bodies. They cover their heads and make a run for the house, all of them falling into the doorway of Christophers' house soaking wet and winded from running.

Jocelyn comes out from Chris' kitchen with a mug in one hand and Clara holding her other, when Clara sees Chris, she runs towards him, jumping into his arms and bursting into tears. "I was so scared that you got hurt out there Chris! Please don't ever do that again, the loud noises were scaring me!" Chris picks her up, comforting her in his arms. Jocelyn then goes to a linen closet and grabs a handful of towels, handing them out to her wet friends, they start to dry off and warm up while Jocelyn heads back into the kitchen. Chris then goes to his room, grabs a bunch of spare dry clothes for everyone after changing into dry warm clothes himself, and heads back out to distribute the clothes among his friends, who all take them graciously and take turns changing in the bathroom. As they all come out one by one Jocelyn hands them a mug of cocoa she had prepared, and they all sit in the dark living room chatting.

Chris puts Clara to bed and then goes into the living room where everyone is chatting quietly and warming up. Chris hovers in the doorframe for a bit watching his friends before grabbing the mug of cocoa Jocelyn made for him and sitting down beside her, he cools it off with his breath before sipping it carefully and addressing his friends "Well, considering how bad it is out there, I think you guys should all stay here tonight, don't want to risk anyone getting hurt trying to find their way home in this mess, I have a bunch of blankets and shit, so you can all crash here in the living room"

Everybody agrees to stay at Christopher's, then they start talking about the events of the day. "So, that was something else, I don't think I've ever experienced such unpredictable weather before," Richard says, staring out the picture window across from him, Chantel, and Bernard, who were sitting on the living room couch.

Jocelyn nods her head in agreement while putting her mug down on the coffee table "Yea, it wasn't nearly as bad when I was out with Clara, seemed like as soon we got in the rain and wind picked up, followed by the hail. It was bizarre and kind of frightening watching it from inside, I can only imagine what it was like being out in it."

Chantel also puts her mug down, so she can use her hands to exaggerate her response to Jocelyn "Girl, you have no idea, when the rain started pouring I couldn't see anything in front of me, I assume it was the same for the others, then the wind... dude, it felt like it was gonna blow me away... God, and then the hail, that shit came outta nowhere, from what seemed like everywhere, blinding you even more all the while pelting your body, it felt like being hit by hundreds of little paintballs from point blank range with no damn gear on. Shit hurt like a motherfucker. I'm sure I'll have bruises by the morning."

Chris gets up and grabs both girls' mugs to bring them to the kitchen sink since they were empty, while doing so, he also adds his input "Yea, I gotta admit, not only was it frightening but the sudden change was definitely weird, and what was up with the ground shaking? If I knew any better, I'd say that was an earthquake, but like, that's impossible considering we're right in the middle of the prairies and there has never been a recorded earthquake ever happening here or anywhere in the vicinity. Anyone hungry?" He asks from the kitchen, pulling out some peanut butter, jelly, and bread from the cupboard. "I know it's late, but I can make us all some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before we head to bed since none of us have eaten since before the game."

Everyone agrees and he starts making the sandwiches for his friends. As Chris comes back in with the sandwiches, Jocelyn had already started setting the living room up with a Christmas bed big enough to fit everyone, making it stretch throughout the entire living room, everyone was finding their places and getting comfortable. Chris passes out the sandwiches and everyone sits and eats in the dark, now silent room, with brief cracks of thunder filling the silence and flashes of lightning brightening up the room before fading back into the candle-lit darkness. Once finished everyone gets ready to settle for the night, Chris heads to Clara's room to check on her before heading to bed himself.