A Bit of Short Stories

A couple of people hearing the commotion ran in. They yanked him away.

One person pushed Valens away further. "Go home. There is nothing you can do. The wave editor malfunctioned. The monitor destabilized."

"How," Valens yelled. He hissed holding his hand.

"We do not know! Everything was fine, and then the next minute everything went wrong. Please go home. Give Augusta and Cecilia my love." The man patted Valens on his shoulder.

Valens gritted his teeth. He ran out the door, and up the steps until he reached the bottom of the third set of steps, he activated his wristband choosing agility. He raced through the building turning everything into a blur. He made it outside. His eyes darted around. Valens saw slow blurs picking up smaller slow blurs. Blurs representing people pushed other blurs down. A sudden splash hit his face. He looked down, and water covered his knees. Valens frowned pushing forward. He felt resistance. The waves were trying to force him back.

Valens heart rate was dangerously elevated. His breathing felt shallow. He could not get enough air. The water splashed up again this time washing some blurs away. He grabbed on to a pole as another wave surrounded Atlantis. It was higher than any building on Atlantis. The tide came crashing down with enough force to break the metal plates holding Atlantis together. Valens gritted his teeth forcing himself forward.

Someone grabbed on to Valens screaming in his face. "Save me, save me, please! " The fear evident in their tone. Valens shook his head. "I am sorry. I have to get home." He pushed the person off. The person reached out to him screaming.

Barbaros had made it to the upper aqueduct. "Program ending." His wristband warned him. The upper aqueduct creaked and groaned. It spilt apart. People and things were being rushed out to sea. Barbaros pushed himself until he made it to the sixty-seventh house. As he stood in front of the door, a giant wave loomed over him. He looked up. Barbaros's jaw dropped. He whimpered dropping his arms down. He hung his head as the wave crashed down taking the upper aqueduct.

Valens raced through breaking metal and crashing waves. He clung to whatever he could reach. The platform suddenly titled bucking up. The platform of metal then split in half. The platform he stood on started sinking. He ran up the tilted piece and jumped nearing missing the still stable part of Atlantis. One of his hands caught the edge. His eyes squinted shut as he tried to pull himself up. The wristband warned him." Program ending."

Valens pushed himself up managing to get his other arm to grasp the platform. He grunted trying to pull himself up. As the needle retracted, he felt the strength he had, leave his body. Valens body jerked down toward the dangerous waters.

P

He cried gritting his teeth. Valens shouted out, "give me Strength!" He pulled himself up, and his knees touched the platform. A small wave reached up and drenched him. The remaining part of Atlantis quivered starting to buckle. Valens tapped his wristband seeking out the agility boost.

The wristband flashed a red. "Access denied. Your condition will destabilize. Monitoring shows your heart may give out."

"I do not care," he shouted at his wristband. "I will make it home! I will hold my wife and daughter! Activate emergency protocol."

The wristband flashed red speaking, "Denied."

Valens stood up as the metal creaked. He shouted at the wristband. "Atlantis is falling!"

The watch screen turned green. "Checking other wristbands." The wristband beeped and then spoke. "You are correct. I detect less than half of the populace. I have determined the best type of action."

The wristband injected him with the needle. A series of violent shocks traveled through him. He was stunned Valens could not move. Then all of a sudden his body jetted forward. No matter how he felt, he could not stop. The program rushed him through the wet metal streets to a reasonably decent metal house that for now remained untouched.

"Program ending," his wristband spoke as he opened the bronze door to the house.

A woman with red hair immediately ran up to him. She was trembling. " What is going on!? I heard all this racket. I was too afraid to look out. You were gone."

Valens hugged her pulling her tightly to him. He sighed in relief. He pulled her closer." Augusta I love you. " He closed his taking her scent in. His hands reached up, and he held the back of her head. Valens pulled away gazing into her eyes. He looked lost. He removed one of his hands tracing her facial features.

Augusta trembled,"What is wrong?" Her eyebrows went up and the center of her forehead wrinkled.

" Where is Cecilia?" Valens asked tearing away from his wife.

"In her room. She threw a fit I would not leave her out to play." Valens placed one last chaste kiss on Augusta's forehead. He gripped her hand.

Augusta tried to resist Valens grip feeling an unfamiliar roughness. "What is going on? What happened to your hand!? Why are you wet!? Valens Talk to me!"

Valens turned around speaking, "Atlantis is falling."

Augusta let go of his hand. "Nooo," she screamed.

Cecilia came running down a flight of steps holding a stuffed animal and pouting. She noticed her father. Cecilia brightly smiled and then looked over to her mother who began tearing.

Cecilia ran over to Valens leaning on him. "Papa, what's wrong with Momma?" She frowned as her little eyes started to water. "Is it because I was a bad girl?"

Valens reached down picking Cecilia up.

Once he had a firm hold on her Valens kissed her cheek. Cecilia giggled pressing her stuffed animal to Valens's lips. He kissed that as well. He turned around to his wife sweeping her up into his remaining arm. The three of them were pressed together.

Cecilia trembled biting her lip. She tensed picking up on the tension in the room.

Augusta sobbed into the back of Cecilia's dress.

"I am scared," Cecilia admitted softly.

Augusta reached her hand up and ran it through Cecilia's red hair. "Atlantis is sleeping. Dry your tears. Cry no more. The workers who toil are sleeping. Atlantis is sleeping." Augusta's voice cracked as she sung.

Valens closed his eyes rocking Cecilia.

The end

Words

Garther: A curse word

Jonther: Someone who abandons their friends because of religious, or political reasonings.

Prim Kings: A term for someone or someones who are too upright even when the situation does not call for it. It means you are doing it to get looks.