Catastrophic Accident Indeed, Max Green

Chapter 5

Amy felt her heart drop considerably fast as she took in her surroundings. Blackness. It seemed the once dimmed living room was now coated with an opaque dark sheet of paint. She quickly pulled herself off of Max, who breathed out in relief, and stood up.

"What the hell just happened?" Amy asked, as if her company would magically know the answer for the sudden darkness.

She heard Max get off the floor with a pronounced grunting noise. "It's a blackout smart one."

Amy glared at him, though she knew through the darkness he wouldn't be able to see. "I know that. It just doesn't make any valid sense. There's no storm taking place outside!"

As the words flew out of her mouth, she heard a pair of scuffling footsteps going towards the large window in her kitchen. After a few seconds, she heard the scraping sound of her curtains being pulled apart.

"Shit," she heard Sara mumble. "It's too dark outside to tell."

"Perfect," spat a voice so rough it could only be Ronnie. "Just when the game was about to start."

Amy controlled the urge to send an unneeded retort. "We'll figure out a way to get the lights working again, Ronnie."

Amy heard Bryan's optimistic voice chirp. "Can't we call an electrician or something?"

Amy nodded, and then forgot he wouldn't be able to see. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea."

She then heard somebody picking up her living room phone off of its receiver.

"Um, you are aware that if the lights are out, my house phone won't work," Amy stated in an obvious tone.

She heard Sara chuckle with embarrassment. "I forgot."

Amy smiled slightly at her friend's innocent mistake. She then lifted her hands in front of her for guidance as she slowly and cautiously made her way around the living room. It didn't take long for her to accidently bump into someone's stone-built chest.

"Ah sorry!" she gasped in surprise, feeling her pulse speed up.

A low chuckle grumbled from the person she bumped into. "Not a problem."

Amy could tell from the deepness and almost aging sound of the voice, that it was indeed Robert. "I'm trying to find my cell phone."

She heard a scatter of movement coming from Robert's direction in front of her. He then spoke. "Put your hand out."

Hesitantly she moved her arm forward, palm facing upwards. In an instant, she felt cold metal touch the inside of her clammy hand. She quickly clasped her fingers around it, relieved.

"You can use my cell for a second," Robert said charitably. "Hurry though; I don't think I have many bars left."

"Thank you," Amy said in an appreciative manner. "It shouldn't take too long."

She quickly flipped open the phone, almost crying out with relief when its main screen shone a bright luminescent light. She could see only objects near to her, but she was grateful that she was able to see them at all. Then, remembering about the phone call, she hurriedly dialed the electrician's easily memorized number. She tapped her bare foot patiently on the hardwood floor as the dial rung several times.

"Hydro Company of Chicago, how may we be of assistance?" the female receptionist said in a professional tone.

"Hi, I'm calling regarding a blackout that just occurred in my house," she spoke, not entirely sure of what she should first say.

"Where do you live, ma-am?" the woman spoke, no urgency hidden in her voice.

Amy detested people who called young adolescents "ma-am." It made her feel incredibly old. "I live on 1216 Sherbourne Avenue, Suite 416."

As Amy held the phone to her ear, she could heart the receptionist on the other end, typing rapidly on her computer keys. She heard a scuffling of papers and file cabinet drawers for the next few minutes. Just before Amy's impatient meter was going to start boiling, the woman on the other line spoke.

"Ah, I see," the receptionist said, exhaling with what sounded like, exhaustion. Or perhaps it was boredom. "There seems to be a black out in your area, ma-am.

Again with the ma-am. "But, there weren't any weather disturbances today," Amy protested.

She heard the receptionist sigh again. "A wire might've been pulled or broken. The pigeons this time of the year are quite feisty."

Amy blew the carbon dioxide out of her mouth. "Do you know how long it'll take before the power returns?"

Once again, Amy heard the shuffling of items on the other end. "Probably about an hour or two. At the most."

"Wonderful," Amy said with detest, squinting her eyes shut.

"I advise you to grab as many flash lights as possible, and to test the light switches now and then."

"Thank you," Amy droned, not liking the idea of staying in complete darkness for two hours.

After Amy snapped Robert's phone shut, she sighed loudly. Everybody's whispers around her ceased. She put a hand to the side of her temple, pressing down in circular motions. Amy, a female who hated the sight and sound of the musicians, was now forced to spend hours with them…in total darkness. God knew what they could do to her apartment…or her. She mentally shook her head. Now she was getting unnecessarily paranoid.

"Robert, thanks for letting me use your phone," Amy said, trying to feel around the dark room to find Robert. Unfortunately, like the previous time, she found herself bumping into him inelegantly.

"I should really stop doing that," Robert said with a short chuckle at the end. Amy knew if she were able to see him, a tight smile would be shown on his toned face.

Amy found herself lightly laugh in response. Was she actually having a decent conversation with one of the Escape the Fate men? She found it hard to believe at first, her mind was always one of complete stubbornness. Slowly, she reached to find Robert's large and slightly rough hand, and when she did, she lightly placed the cell phone into his palm.

Without saying another word she turned in the direction in which she hoped was where the others were situated.

"Where are you guys?" she asked, feeling suddenly idiotic.

"Couch," a chorus of grunts replied. Amy smiled, relieved to know that they were sitting down, instead of walking around blindly, possibly bumping into her delicate furniture.

Slowly and cautiously, Amy staggered helplessly to find where the couch was located. She could hear Robert following closely behind her. In a few moments, her leg collided with what she thought was the arm rest of the sofa, and she found herself falling over it, and onto a seat- erhm- someone.

A high-pitched shriek escaped her mouth as she felt herself collide with a pair of denim-legs. The unfortunate victim made a loud uncomfortable grunt sound as her weight smashed with theirs.

"Fuck Amy," the victim said with a voice that sounded too high pitched to be normal. "I think you disoriented my spleen."

In an instance, Amy rebounded off of them. "Shit, I'm sorry Bryan!" Amy felt around in front of her for his shoulder, which she comfortingly grasped. "If you may not have noticed, it is a bit of a nuisance to see right now."

She heard Bryan chuckle with lightness. "Yeah, I noticed alright. But…my spleen still hurts a bit."

Amy raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what do you suppose I do?"

"I'm sure a simple kiss could make the pain disappear," Bryan spoke, his voice slightly rising with his excitement. Amy knew Bryan was grinning proudly at this moment.

"I'm sure it would," Amy replied in a low voice, attempting with all her might to sound the least bit seductive.

She slowly leaned forward, trying to find Bryan's face. She cursed the blackout, for this would be much easier without it. As she tilted frontward, shortening the distance between her and Bryan's figure, she could feel his warm and staggering breath on her face. He was getting aroused. She placed her other hand on the round of his thigh, and bent forward towards his face. Slowly, ever so slowly, she placed her mouth directly beside his ear, leaving trail marks of her breath against his cartilage.

"Your spleen is under your ribcage," she whispered hoarsely. Immediately she felt his body stiffen under hers. "No where near where I fell on you."

She laughed suddenly, and got off of him, proudly smiling now herself. "You men are too easily captivated."

She then felt around the couch more cautiously this time, attempting to find an empty seat. When she found one successfully, she plopped down.

"I could say the same for you women," Max said with a certain fierceness. Amy could distinguish his voice anywhere; even in complete obscurity.

"At least," Amy began, playing with her fingernails. "We can control our hormones when we wish."

She heard Max scoff in disagreement beside her. She felt the couch shift momentarily as she felt his body turn towards her. "You're telling me, that you women can just make your horny-ness disappear whenever you want? Like an on and off switch?"

Amy found herself smiling. "Exactly."

Another scoff was heard from Max's direction. "Yeah, and dolphins can do algebra."

"That's a new one to me. Usually, people prefer to say 'and pigs can fly.'"

"I stopped using that expression a while ago. People have been saying it for ages now; I'm sure it's been proven somewhere in the world."

Amy let out a shout of laughter in spite of herself. Quickly, she slapped her hands to her mouth in surprise.

"You think I'm bull-shitting," Max said, as if it were a true fact.

"You're definitely a special case, Green," Amy said with an unnoticed smirk.

A moment of tense silence passed through the room after her and Max's conversation. This was the only moment of the day in which Amy was thankful that there was a blackout; she couldn't imagine being able to see the expressions of the others right now.

"Guys," Bryan exclaimed randomly. "I'm fucking hungry!"

"Who's a fat lard now?" Ronnie said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

Amy heard a light object being flung across the room. Then an "Ow!" was heard from Ronnie's direction on the couch.

"Shut it Radke, I haven't had dinner yet," Bryan replied with a whine.

"Yeah, neither have I," Sara exclaimed from somewhere in front of Amy. Amy's body twitched in shock and surprise; she didn't realize Sara had been standing so close. "Amy can you be a darling and cook us something?"

Amy heaved a great deal of air out of her mouth. Sometimes she wondered if her best friend had any brain tissue whatsoever.

"Sar, you know perfectly well I can't cook anything with the power not working," said Amy, sighing.

"Oh," Sara said, giggling with embarrassment. "Right."

Amy heard Bryan sigh a bit too dramatically beside her. The other males in the room seemed to have followed suit. Even in the lightless room, Amy did not hesitate to roll her eyes.

"What happened to the chips I gave you guys before?" Amy said, nervous of the answer.

"Don't know," they all said in unison.

"Come [i]on![/i]," Amy exclaimed in frustration, throwing her hands up in the air. "I just cleaned this damned living room three days ago and—"

"OW!" a shrilling voice echoed from the kitchen area. "Oh fuck, ouch. [i]Shit[/i]."

Instinctively, Amy rebounded off of the couch. "Sara? Sara where the hell are you?"

A few clattered noises were heard from the kitchen, followed by a deafening bang. "OUCH!"

Immediately, Amy put her hands in front of her, to guide herself as quickly as possible to the kitchen area. Her bare feet were slowly sliding across the smooth hardwood floor of her living room, and she prayed mentally they would soon touch the coldness of the kitchen tiles.

Amy heard a few grunting noises which were mixed with cries of sudden pain.

"H-Hurry Amy. Please," Sara winced loudly.

Amy was relieved to hear that she wasn't too far from her. Amy picked up her pace, and her warm feet soon kissed the top of the cold kitchen floor. However, as Amy was striding towards the sound of Sara's heavy and uneven breathing, a pointed object struck the bottom of her heel.

Amy swore loudly and gripped the bottom of her foot. As her hand trailed along its surface, she felt a hard piece of material; glass. Thankfully, no blood was shown evident on her foot.

"Sara, what the hell happened?" Amy said as she finally reached her friend.

She grabbed onto Sara and wrapped her shaking arms securely around her. "Sar, are you alright?"

She felt Sara's trembling head nod against her shoulders. "I was t-trying to get to the fridge, and I stepped on something that was glass. A-Almost like a vase."

Suddenly, Amy tried pondering all the possible glass objects she held around her kitchen. She had a vase yes, which was always filled with purple orchids. However, she always had it placed in the centre of her kitchen table. What was it doing on the floor?

Amy heard loud steps creeping closer and closer to where her and Sara lay on the kitchen floor.

"You guys okay?" a coarse voice asked from out of the dark room. "Sara, love, are you alright?"

All of a sudden, Amy felt a pair of rough hands touch either side of her cheeks, his thumbs doing circular motions around their smooth surface. Amy gasped in complete shock and let go of Sara. She put her delicate hands on the male's arms and slowly detached his hands from her face.

"Ronnie, you idiot. This is Amy, not Sara," Amy breathed with irritancy. Though, she could hardly blame him; the room showed no evidence of any objects. Even with her night vision adjusting, Amy could hardly make out any figures in the room.

Ronnie coughed animatedly. Amy sighed and grabbed one of his arms, placing it on Sara's tear-streaked face. "[i]That[/i], is Sara."

Amy got up off of the floor, leaving Ronnie to comfort Sara. "Sar, where exactly are you hurt?"

She heard Sara's trembling voice reply. "W-When I stepped on the vase, the glass pierced my foot and the bottom of my leg. I think I pulled a m-muscle when I slipped on it."

Amy cursed under her breath. "You need to go to a hospital. And now."

Suddenly, she heard Bryan's voice from the living room. "We can't take her out of here. And they sure as hell can't come up here."

Amy stormed into the living room and stood in front of a silhouette sitting on the couch. "What the hell are you talking about?" She's [i]hurt[/i]!"

She heard him sigh in front of her. "Listen, it's pitch black in this apartment building. It'd be too dangerous to carry her down the stairs."

Amy's heart seemed to fall a good three feet inside her. Bryan was absolutely right, but how was she going to find help for Sara?

"Okay, listen," Amy announced to the rest of them. "Ronnie, lay her down on the sofa. Yes, that means Bryan, Max, Omar and Robert need to get off the couch. Bryan and Max, go together into my bathroom and try to find the gauze, it should be in the medicine cabinet."

"Why do I have to go with him?" Bryan asked in a childish whine. "He'll probably murder me in this darkness."

Before Max could harshly respond to Bryan's words, Amy spoke. "It's too risky if you guys are separated. We don't want another sudden accident."

With a sigh, the guys started walking towards the bathroom. Amy could hear their footsteps slowly residing with distance.

"Alright, Omar I need you to [i]carefully[/i] go into the kitchen," Amy said warningly. "Do you have shoes or socks on?"

"Yeah," he responded immediately.

Amy nodded with satisfaction. "Good. When you get there, find the fridge and grab an ice pack. Then, stay with Ronnie and place it over Sara's ankle. That should tame the swelling for now."

Straight away, she heard Omar make his way to the kitchen. Finally, she turned and found Robert's lofty silhouette. "Robert, you and I are going to go down the hall and try and tinker with the light generator. Hopefully, we can get it to work."

"Sounds good," she heard Robert reply.

"Alright, let's go," Amy said, suddenly feeling as if she were on a dramatic mission. Almost similar to those in the Indiana Jones novels. In a way, she was on one.

Putting her hands in front of her once more, she made her way slowly to the front door. When her palms met with the jagged wood, she trailed them slowly down to grasp the cold metal of the doorknob. She flicked the lock, and turned the knob.

As she stepped out of her cozy apartment, her eyes were engulfed in a sea of more black.

"Crap, it's creepier out here," she heard Robert state from behind her.

She swallowed in agreement to his comment. "Scared, Ortiz?"

"Never," he whispered, leaving trails of breath at the cape of her neck.

Amy jumped, startled. She hadn't realized he was so close. "L-Let's go. We need to find the generator."

She heard Robert grunt in what sounded like "okay."

With her hands placed on the rough hallway walls, she glided through the hall. Her feet moved slowly, one after the other. The hallway never seemed so long to her, until this night. All of a sudden, her hands ran over a square of metal; the generator.

"I found it!" Amy whispered to Robert.

As soon as she spoke those words, she felt Robert stand beside her. "How do we get it to work now?"

Amy sighed. "My dad showed me once. Incase I was ever to be in a situation much like this one."

"Smart man," Robert said.

Amy felt herself nod. She let her fingers trail along the metal until she felt the generator's handle. Immediately, she pulled it. The generator door swung open, and she placed her fingers on all its numerous switches.

"Alright, we need to try and find the switch for this hallway."

"How are we going to manage that?" Robert said with despair.

Without answering his lingering question, she had an idea. "There are ten rows of switches going vertical and horizontal. Each row must represent a floor in this building. So, all I have to do is find the fourth row of switches, and test them out."

She heard Robert let out a gush of breath. "You [i]are[/i] too smart for your own good. Max was right."

In an instant, she snapped her head to what she hoped was Robert's direction. "He told you that?"

"Yeah," Robert said, almost in a bored manner. "Then again, he always has to comment on everything."

"Got that right," Amy said with malice. "He's such a little pri---"

As the words were about to fly out of her mouth, Amy felt a pair of dry lips collide with hers. She gasped against Robert's lips as he gently placed his large hands on either side of her waist. At the moment Amy, couldn't find herself protesting nor responding. Her mind was on freeze mode.

She soon felt Robert back her against the generator switches, which dug uncomfortably into her back. She made muffled sounds, but all it did was make her lips make motion with his, making Robert think she was responding willingly. At this, Robert snaked his arms around to her back, and smoothly pulled her body against his.

The warm air coming from his nose met her face. This swift feeling consoled her without reason. Without thinking, she raised one arm and slowly made it travel up to his shoulders. Her other arm she propped up beside her, making it collide with a few switches.

In a moment, the lights sprang back to life.