Chapter 22
April looked around and found herself back in her house in New Mexico. A buzzer was going off, making her think that the drier was done.
Then she realized it was going on too long for it to have been the drier.
April's mind slowly realized where she was and opened her eyes so she could see Odd laying in the bed with her.
"Odd, turn it off. Dad will hear you." April said, thinking Odd had something that made a loud buzzing sound. Then it hit her, he had nothing but his cloths and cell and she didn't think his cell could make that sound that loud and long.
A knock came from her door, getting her up. April rolled herself over Odd and she walked out of her room towards the door, still not sure why or even what the buzzing was.
"Come on!" Ulrich's voice said, hurried.
"Huh?" April asked, still out of it as she rubbed her eyes, trying to get the sleep out.
"It's a fire alarm. Get Yumi! I'll get Odd!" Ulrich ordered, rushing in.
"A fire alarm!" April asked, fully away now. She ran into Maggie's old room and opened the door, not bothering with knocking. "Get up! Fire alarm!" April ordered, adrenalin kicking in, waking her up.
"What?" Yumi asked, sitting up in her bed.
"Come on!" April said, grabbing the girl's wrist so that she could pull her out.
"I have to get my flip flops!" Yumi said, waking up.
"I am not even grabbing my glasses!" April said as she pulled on Yumi's arm. "Aller!"
Yumi ran next to April out of the room and almost ran into Ulrich and Odd, both still in their boxers.
The four ran out of the apartment, when Yumi remembered about Aélita and Jérémie. "Did you wake the Einsteins?" Yumi asked.
"No." Ulrich said, pushing open the door in front of himself. "The smoke was coming from up there. I couldn't do anything."
"What about Kiwi?" Odd asked, smelling the smoke in the stair well.
"He was what woke me up before the alarm." Ulrich said, pushing open the big doors to the outside, finding most of the school's students and teachers along with the fire department that was just arriving.
All were standing in their night cloths. Some were in pjs, others, like Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd, stood in their underwear.
"There they are!" April said, pointing off towards the park. Jérémie was sitting on the ground with Aélita sitting next to him. In her arms was a cream bundle of fur.
"Kiwi!" Odd cried, running towards the three faster than he had run out of the smoking dormitories.
The four made it over to Jérémie and Aélita, Odd getting his dog.
"You have any idea what happened?" Ulrich asked as Jérémie and Aélita stood up.
"No." Aélita said, shaking her head. "Sissi banged on our doors before the fire alarm started. That's all we really know."
"Maybe one of her electrics blew." Yumi said, hugging herself as a cold wind blew from the north.
"Uh, here Yumi." Jérémie said, unbuttoning his pajama shirt to give to her.
She took it from him and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Thanks Jérémie." she said, smiling at her friend.
"I wish I could see better." April said, squinting at something towards the dorms.
"What are you trying to read?" Odd asked, Kiwi tight in his arms.
"Oh, I was hoping to read the lips of the firemen to see what they were saying." April said, looking back at her friends. "My hearing is going out, so I thought it would be a good thing to learn."
"It also makes spying easier." Aélita said, smiling.
"Jérémie, did you actually go to sleep before the alarm?" Ulrich asked, realizing the boy actually had his glasses on, whereas most of the people he could see that normally wore glasses, weren't wearing them right then.
"I was typing when the alarm went off." Jérémie admitted.
"And I don't want to know what you two were doing before the alarm went off." Ulrich said, looking at April and Odd. "Cause when we left, Odd was on the sofa."
"When I went to bed, Odd was on the sofa." Yumi said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"We were asleep when the alarm went off." April said. "Actually, when it started I thought I was back home and the drier was going off."
"Nice." Ulrich said. "I was wondering why you looked like you were still asleep when you opened the door.
"That was nothing." Yumi said. "Right before April woke me up, my dream was a flash back to an earthquake in Japan. It flowed so smoothly, I didn't even think about the alarm going off in the real world."
"Alright everyone!" Jim's voice came loud. "Everything's clear! Go back to bed! Breakfast will be a half an hour later than normal!"
"Well, at least they're giving us an extra half an hour to sleep." Odd said, shoving his dog up his shirt as the group started to move back towards the dorm.
"Do you want me to take Kiwi?" Ulrich asked, knowing where Odd wanted to go.
"No, I've got him. I've got to get back up there anyway." Odd said. He turned to April and asked, "You mind, bringing my clothes back up to my room tomorrow?"
"Sure." April shrugged.
"Night." Aélita said as Yumi and April headed back to the apartment.
"Night." Yumi and April said, almost at the same time.
April opened the door for Yumi as Yumi asked, "What were you and Odd doing in your bed?"
"It is actually not what you think." April said, looking kind off embarrassed to say as she shut the door behind her.
"Well..." Yumi prompted.
"You know how some dreams seem to haunt you?" April asked.
Yumi nodded.
"Well, I keep having one of all of my friends dying, and earlier, it included all of you guys." April said, stopping at her doorway. She looked back at Yumi and continued. "I guess I made some sort of noise and Odd came in and woke me up. He was going to stay in there in till I fell asleep, but I guess he fell asleep before he realized what was happening."
"At least you two didn't do anything, did you?" Yumi asked, walking in the room.
"Of course not!" April exclaimed, following the girl, shutting the door behind her. "I have a boyfriend back home, thank you very much."
"Sorry." Yumi said, smiling.
"It is ok." April said, smiling back.