When the Lights Go Out

Part 3: Don Don was so sad he said, “boo hoo hoo loo doo yoo roo woo poo joo soo.” But Bob heard him. Now he is mad! He was so mad he said, “MAAAAAWWWYYYOO!” That made Don confused, so he left to do his slave work.

Part 4: The Rescue

One day a caveman named Hogy came and put Bob in jail so then everyone was happy! But, he got out. And now everyone is sad. BWAAAA is what he said after he escaped. He decided to eat all the cavemen!!!! But then he went away. “HOORAY!” said all the other cavemen!

THE END

Alex Pototschnik, Age 10

Alex, age 10, lives in Canton. He has a pet gerbil named Chewy and he likes to write. In addition to writing, he enjoys playing video games and drawing horrifying nightmare monsters/disturbing creatures. He also enjoys reading scary stories (except for scary stories to tell in the dark). The previously mentioned disturbing nightmare monsters inspire Alex’s writing. He likes writing because he is able to write disturbing stories for his disturbing creatures. He would like to live in a world where bigfoot was proven to exist.

When the Lights Go Out

The lights started to flicker. How many have they gotten so far? Nine? Maybe Ten? The room goes dark and I start to run. I hear the sound of crawling behind me. It's getting faster and faster. It's right behind me now. I start to run, the sound of my feet hitting the damp carpet echoing through the halls. I run into a room and slam the door behind me, hoping to throw one of the creatures off my trail. It works. I hear the sound of one of them running down the opposite hallway. The lights turn on again and I turn around to see where I am. Behind me is a room that I have never seen before and two dead bodies that I do not recognize. I start to walk down the hall, ignoring the centipedes crawling up my leg. I’ll need to find more survivors. More people that didn’t end up like the last two bodies I passed. I need to keep an eye open for anyone that looks like either of those two people. As I continue to walk, I hear a loud crunching sound beneath my feet. It's a flashlight. That means other people are nearby. Written on every wall and every surface are messages left by the insects. They're mocking me. I turn a corner and hear voices. I was right. It was other people. At least that's what it sounded like. You can never really be sure because after every meal they eat they become more human. More convincing. More real. I step into the room. It’s dark except for a faint light in the corner. This must be someone’s hideout. I shine my flashlight towards the back of the room. What I saw was piles of bones. With hundreds of centipedes crawling over them. Inside some of the skulls were thousands of eggs. This was one of the hatcheries. I turn to leave the room when I hear a raspy, almost human voice. “Want to play tag?” it says. I turn around to see one of the giant centipedes. It lunges at me, but I dodge it. The beast is fazed, but not for long. Soon it will get up and hunt me down. And now that it knows my scent, there's no hiding from it. I start to run and as I do, I hear a deafening crash followed by a loud roar. It’s back and this is the biggest one I’ve seen yet. The sirens sound and the lights go out. The sound seems to scare off the centipedes, even the big ones. But for how long? I didn’t want to know. I’m going to die in this place. I know it. But then I hear something that gives me hope.

On the loudspeaker it says this: “The doors have been opened. Please exit within the next twenty-four hours. If you fail to do so the doors will close forever. I repeat if you do not exit the building in the next twenty four hours the doors will close forever. Thank you.” Ok, those sentences didn’t give me a lot of hope, but it was better than nothing. The lights flicker again and I turn to run. I’ve got to find that exit. The sound of crawling echoes behind me, as well as a sound I haven’t heard before. It sounds like heavy metallic footsteps. I run faster. The smell of burning carpet fills my nose. I’m going to die here. The metallic sound gets closer and closer. I hear the sound of doors opening. I must be getting close. The metallic sound is right behind me now. I turn around to see an eight foot tall humanoid robot. Its left arm was replaced with some kind of flame thrower, and its right arm has a tube connecting to a chainsaw. This must be guard. “Going so soon?” it says as it lifts its arm. Flames come out of it as it turns to me, its one eye staring into my soul. “Foolish human, there is no escape from us. We are the building. We are the machines that run this place. We are those insects. There was no test. There never was. It was all to make you come here. All to make you one of us.” A hole in its chest opens up revealing a saw. “Become one of us,” it said. “Never,” I said. “Then die.” As it says that, the creature breaks up into tiny metal centipedes which form a huge, gigantic centipede. Metal breaks apart and is put back together to form the centipede’s exoskeleton. Its arms become metal claws. Its head grows two extra eyes and a mouth full of jagged metal teeth in the middle of it’s forehead. Antenna sprout from its metal skull. Its chest opens up, revealing the creature's sharp rib cage. It lunges for me, but I quickly dodge it. The floor breaks into thousands of tiny pieces, sending the centipede falling. I use this time to run towards the door. “The doors will close in ten, nine, eight, seven . . .” says the voice on the loudspeaker “six, five, four . . . ” The voice continues “three, two, one” it finishes. At the last second, I slide through the door. I did it. I escaped. Thousands of tiny centipedes crawl silently through the bottom of the cold metal door. The power goes out. This can’t be good. “Forgetting someone?” says a raspy voice coming from behind me. I freeze and turn around as the centipede lunges at me again. I dodge the centipede again. I knew it wouldn’t stay stuck for long. I run as fast as I can, and before I know it, I am outside. Right at that moment I hear a deafening crash. The building collapses. Tiny centipedes crawl over the wreckage. I stop to take a breath and start to run before those insects realize what happened. When I get back to my house, I notice a strange blue glow coming from my basement, as well as a glitchy voice repeating, “The insects escaped. Lock your doors and windows.” I go check it out and find security cameras monitoring the various rooms in my house. I see a scientist sitting in a chair. In the security cameras, I can see my face opening, revealing rows of sharp jagged teeth. The scientist turns around. “Want to play hide and seek?” I say. “We love to play hide and seek.” At that moment, the lights go out.

Picture of guard robot Picture of giant centipede