It's that TIME AGAIN!

CHALLENGE TIME

Who is ready for a new Challenge?  

This is for those who LOVE to write, 

so get your creative juices running and let's get to it!

Day 1

Our word of the day is: 

L O C K

It was happening so fast.  They knew. No one can say that they were not half prepared. But, could anyone be so prepared for something that they really did not know was going to happen, or how or when? 

The planning phase began two years ago. Kasey and Johnie knew this could happen, had been preparing for it to happen.  The thought that it could was real but when it did, it was so unreal that they both could not help but think that they were dreaming. 

****

It was a rainy Monday morning, the beginning of April.  Kasey and Johnie's oldest daughter, Kayla, was off of school for the week due to the Spring Break Holiday. Kasey was on vacation and kept Kara home as well. It was just another day.  The girls got up early, got ready and went downstairs to play.  Johnie worked seconds, so he was sleeping in the master bedroom. Everything was normal. 

Noon came and went. Lunch was served and cleaned up. The girls went back to playing on the first floor. It wasn't until half past one that Kayla came into the living room, adjacent to the play room, screaming. 

"Mom. Mom.  There are people. Mom, I'm scared." she said, while physically shaking. 

Kasey jumped up at the sound of her six year old daughters distress, looking outside the home with one too many windows. 

It was happening.

Kasey grabbed the girls, checked the doors and ran upstairs to wake Johnie.  He was standing at the window in the calming blue master bedroom, horror splashed a crossed his to pale face.  His blue eyes were affixed on the picture outside. 

"Get them downstairs.  To the basement Kas.  This is it." 

It was time.  They had prepared. They had prepared themselves for this, the girls were prepared for this, but in this moment, Kasey felt very unprepared. 

**********

-1-

I feel numb. I am moving my legs as fast as I can. I hear people, see them outside my brightly lite house, my home is being invaded by people, or those that once were.  I hug my children as we make our way to the basement. We had been prepared. We bought this old house, this old, well built, farm house, provided upgrades, thicker glass in the windows, a double locking entryway, a solid frame to keep them out.  We were going to stay safe. 

Johnie was coming behind me. He had an AR in his hand.  The dog was following, scared as the rest of us.  I opened the basement door, piled my girls in and had the dog pushing past us into a new part of the home that prior to this he wanted no part of.

We were going to stay above for as long as we could. As long as the old house would hold us.  I was scared. It was to my core, I felt it.  My phone rang loudly, startling me more than I already was. 

"Hello." 

It was my Mom. She was scared and outside. Their car was under the portico and the people were all around. I saw Johnie, told him they were outside and he was gone. 

We heard the shots ring out. We heard footsteps in the entryway above us. The girls were crying. I was crying. Before I had a chance to think, with my girls huddled safe in my lap, the dog a part of us I heard my Mom's voice. I saw my Dad's feet and felt my husbands presence.  They were safe. We were safe. 

"I have no words. I don't know what to say.  This is epic." was all Johnie would say. Disbelief spayed a crossed his face. The girls were now attached to him. Holding on to tight. 

"Do we go under?" he asked. 

"Let's stay above. Let's stay here but be ready to descend." my Dad offered. He was calm. All the years of him being a Firefighter had made him stone like. He could handle this, where most could not. We could not. We had to, but how was our question. 

What had gone wrong. I wrote as my first sentence in a notepad that I had kept in the bundle of above ground supplies. I had a few, now occupied by the innocent pictures drawn by my three and six year old babies. I could not stop there. I had to thank the heavens that my girls were with me. I had to thank the heavens that somehow my parents were on their way to our home. That was a miracle in its own, since they were not known to visit without a purpose.

"The doors are all locked. The windows are locked. The glass is thick. I think our house is secure." Johnie stated rather matter of factly. 

It was all we had.  A lock. A lock to keep us safe from whatever was happening in the world outside of our old walls. 

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Of course the world is ending. Everyone who knows my mind knows that I would go there. This is a story that I much admit, has played out in my head for quite some time. It feels great to put it down somewhere. 

Tune back in tomorrow for the next edition!

What will our next word be?

~KEL