Time

Iris's p.o.v.

—————

  Exhausted? Yes, you got that right.

  It took a total of thirty minutes to get washed up and tucked into bed.

  Louie was already asleep by the time I got home, so that made the job of resting a whole lot easier.

  I had just turned out the lights in the room and tried to get comfortable when I had an itchy feeling in my throat and realized that I was thirsty.

Trust your body to bring up needs at the wrong moment.

I tried to ignore the feeling for a while, thinking I could sleep. But after a few minutes, the itching grew worse.

  With an annoyed groan, I switched on the lights and dragged myself off my bed before heading for the door.

   Making sure to turn around and check on Louisa once again, I opened the door a tad bit too slowly to avoid waking anyone who was already asleep or alerting someone who isn't.

  After the knob was turned and the door pulled inwards, I peered down the hallway to make sure the coast was clear and to my luck, it was.

  A silent sigh escaped me and with a careful mind, I found my way out of the room to the living area.

  As usual, the lights were all dimmed and the only sounds you could hear was the tick tocking of the clock.

  Well that was the only sound I was hearing but I'm pretty sure I could detect something else beneath it.

  I used my eyes to scan the place but nothing looked or seemed out of the ordinary, so I began thinking the foreign sounds was all in my head.

  Getting into the kitchen, I firstly found my way to the cabinet to get myself a glass before stepping to the refrigerator for some water.

  As I opened it, the cool breeze of the metallic cooler hit my face so hard that I felt the goosebumps growing on my forearms and my hairs stand erect.

   I swallowed a gulp of my own saliva in anticipation of the chill I'd face from drinking such a cold liquid afterwards.

  Then again, I was having an awkward feeling.

  The foreign sounds I had been hearing had gotten louder and this time all to real to be called imagination.

  Right now, it is a lot clearer and easier to hear.

  It was a beeping sound, carefully beeping to a steady rhythm.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

  And it was continuous. I stood still and waited for it to end, rather it didn't. If anything, I felt it was becoming faster.

  My blood pressure was slowly rising but I didn't want to give myself a panic attack by over reacting, so I decided to go put on the lights.

  And right there beneath the switch, I saw the source of the sound.

  In the prominent darkness, the figures were counting down in red.

3:55:08

  It was a timer. A beeping timer. And I bloody know beeping timers are always attached to one thing.

It was a bomb!!

" Jesus!! Everyone!! Wake up! It's a bomb!! There's a bomb! Everyone!!!!" I screamed at the top of my voice as I ran out of the kitchen.

  My heartbeat was faster than any normal rate as it was beating franctically.

" Wake up!! Wa-" I continued to yell when Mr McConnell and Hunter came running down the stairs.

" What's going on?" Mr McConnell asked when he got down with a fearsome look on his face.

" Bomb.. kitchen.. light switch.. oh my God Louisa!!" I tried forming a coherent sentence but Hunter had run into the kitchen before I was done as Mrs McConnell, Love, Edward and Cheryn appeared from various directions.

" Excuse me!! I need to grab Louie!!" I pushed past all of them and ran down the hallway but that didn't stop me from hearing Hunter shout behind me.

" Everyone out!! We've got less than two minutes!"

  My pace increased as I barged into Guillermo and Jenny.

" Less than two minutes!? What's happening!!?" Jenny asked as her face was sculpted with a mask and her cotton night dress definitely oversize.

" Bomb!! Leave!! Now!" That was the only explanation I could give before I left them to continue my race.

   I slammed my door open to find Louisa only to be met by an empty bed.

" Louie!? Louisa where are you!!? Louie!!?" I felt my heart drop and my eyes ran round the four corners of the room definitely over a million times.

" Louisa!!" I shouted once again as I ran to the bathroom and slammed the door open.

" Louisa!!!" I pulled the blankets off the bed in case she was underneath.

" Louisa!!" Behind the curtains.

Nothing!!

" Iris where the bloody hell are you!!?" Hunter's voice boomed from outside the room but I didn't care.

My eyes were pouring out a fountain of tears right now as I continued to search.

" Louisa!!" I checked the closet.

Still nothing.

" Louisa!!!!!!"

" Iris we need to l-" Hunter started as soon as he ran into the room.

" I can't find Louisa!!" I sobbed as I checked out the window just to make sure she hadn't fallen.

  I swear I left her here asleep.

" What!?" He asked and without looking at him, I could hear and feel his shock.

" I can't- I can't find her" my son's increasing as I went to check the bathroom once again.

" Are you sure she isn't with someone?" He asked as he assisted in the search by checking behind the curtains again.

" I've seen everyone, except Claudette. Have you seen her?" A tiny glint of hope growing in me as I turned to him.

Please tell me something.

" I have and I'm sorry but she was alone"

  That was it.

I dropped to the floor and began to panic as I ran my hands through my hair in a crouched position.

My breaths became incredibly short and my vision blurring too quickly.

" Iris look, we have to leave. We don't got much time" Hunter says as he also crouches and tries to lift me up by my arms.

" I'm not-" I began but he cut me off.

" Everyone else is gone"

" What about Louie? What if... What if she's still here?" I managed to sob out.

" I don't think she is"

" But what-"

" Iris please" he begged as he used his thumb to wipe away my tears and proceeded to lift my eyes to his.

" If we don't leave this building right now, we're gonna die" he continued as he looked into my eyes.

  I couldn't leave. Louisa could be anywhere here. I can't just leave.

" What makes you think she isn't here?" The question came as a result of his previous statement.

I don't think she is.

" I'd explain later, but for now let's leave" he said as he dragged me to my feet as I nodded and rose up.

  In a matter of seconds we were running out the building to his car that was parked right outside the door.

  Quickly, we jumped in and he started the engine. With a death threatening speed, we fled off.

  Just in time to hear the impact of an explosion.