The Sparticle Mystery
A/N This is my first Sparticle mystery fanfiction and I'm not sure how long it will be. So it might end up being a full length, or maybe not, I just haven't decided. It would be really nice if you could review this for me, I like to know what you think of my writing. So happy reading, enjoy!
Claire was watching television when it happened.
"Claire!" Her mother called. She had called several times before Claire actually went to find her, just to see what was going on.
Her mum wasn't in the kitchen. Claire checked the dining room – nothing. There was no reply from upstairs. All the rooms were empty. She wasn't in the bathroom, or anywhere else. Claire, her panic rising, went out to the garage. The door was locked, so she went through the back way. Her mum was probably just getting something from in there.
The door swung open. The garage was empty, save for the car and the tins of paint and screwdrivers.
"Mum? Quit hiding from me", Claire called out. "I'm fourteen, not four anymore. This isn't funny."
Never had silence been so deafening.
She ran out into the street, and a grim sight awaited her. The few cars were just abandoned, lying empty in the middle of the road. Where was everyone?
Claire rushed back into the house, terror building inside her. There was a sharp knot, wound tightly inside her stomach. She went up to her bedroom, and grabbed her mobile. No signal.
There was no dialling tone on the house phone. Her mum's mobile was dead. The knot inside her wound itself into a tight pain, as she found that there was no internet, radio, or television. Just static.
Claire slumped on the couch. She had no idea what to do, nowhere to go. She couldn't contact anyone, and to leave the house would be madness, if her mum suddenly came back. She just couldn't understand what had happened. Nothing made any sense: there was electricity, but nothing to run on it. It was as if the people had left, very suddenly, and there was nothing she could do about it. She had never felt so lonely in her life.
If only she could contact her dad, but he was at work, a twenty minute car journey away.
Two musical notes, were both the most frightening, and the most comforting thing she had heard that afternoon.
-Ding Dong-
She screamed, then changed her mind and grabbed her Swiss army knife (a mini version – her parents wouldn't trust her with an actual blade) in her left hand. She carefully opened the door a little, just wide enough so that she could peer through and see –
"George!"
"Claire! You're alright!"
"It's so good to see you! I thought I was-"
"On my own." Her friend finished the sentence for her. "I've been worried sick. My mum went out to get a pint of milk – twenty minutes ago. I went to find her, and all the streets are empty, and the shop was empty too. Where is everyone? I saw a group of kids running into people's unlocked houses, and just taking whatever they could find. Whatever's happened, it's not safe for you to be on your own."
"We have to find Christie and Mel. In fact, they'll be in Mel's house – they were having a sleepover. Bring them back here, my house is the biggest." When she said that, she wasn't boasting, she was just making a statement.
"Get a backpack with some essentials in it, just in case." George put a travelling bag down on the couch. "I'll wait here for you, and I'm going to try and get phone signal or something."