Bradley sat in his squeaky chair. The time was 4:10. His teacher was babbling away about some review packets for exams, none of which really concerned him. Tick… tick… BEEP! The ceiling suddenly emitted a tone to indicate that someone was coming on the loud speaker. Good afternoon students! A quick few blahs for the afterblah! Blah bluh blah soccer teams blab blah bluh happy Friday!
The bell then chimed and the students rushed out of the classroom and into the hallways. Bradley's best friend Nate waited for him outside. He watched Bradley trudge down the steps leading out of the school. He walked past Nate, as if he had someone else to walk with. Nate ran up to him.
"Dude, what the heck!" he said. "You walked right past me!"
Bradley looked up to look at him, his curly, wavy hair flipping in different directions as the wind came and went. He continued to look at the ground like usual.
"I don't know, I just don't want exams to come and I wish summer break were already here," he softly rasped. Nate nodded in agreement, as he knew what type of studying his friend has been going through to make sure he got his A on the exams. He needed it to get his academic scholarship, which helped him for college. Nate on the other hand was not so concerned about what he would receive on the exams, as if it were just a waste of time.
Nate snapped back to reality to notice they had been walking for quite some time in silence, the school no longer visible in their view.
"My dad is really busy with work," Bradley suddenly said, not looking up. "He won't tell me what, but something bad is going on in the lab, something new they found. It's been really hard on him."
Bradley's dad was a recognized scientist, who hadn't really been able to get much sleep after countless hours of work. They were never told what was holding him up at work; he would just say, "It was a long day." This, along with exams, had Bradley wrapped in emotion, wanting to see his dad for the very little time he could while also knowing exams are coming and he needed to study.
The two boys arrived at Bradley's house, a fairly nice one compared to the other houses like Nate's.
"Well," said Bradley, "here's my stop. See you online?" The two of them always got together online to play games like Call of Duty or Counter Strike: Global Offensive over the weekend.
Nate nodded and said, "Like always."
Bradley nonchalantly strolled into the house. He didn't need to call out to say he was home, since on Fridays his mom is out shopping and his dad was… working. Suddenly a noise erupted from Bradley's lower half. He realized how hungry he was. He threw open the cabinets and selected a package of crackers and sat on the couch to watch TV. He groped for the remote and flicked on the TV.
Bradley was only a few minutes into a new episode of Stranger Things when the screen went black, however the power indicator on the bottom of the TV was on. Curious, Bradley got up from the couch and crept closer. And that's when it started. Not only the noise, but the future of humanity itself.