The Black Out

By NocturneD

Note: random story.

"Today is the day Arthur." The young aardvark around the age of eight years finished primping himself in front of the bathroom mirror. "Today is picture day." Arthur laid out his best clothes the previous night to prevent wrinkles. Though he could have hung it with a coat hanger which also would have worked. The young aardvark combed his hair to the right angle he wanted it. He threw on a dress shirt and slid on his clip-on tie

Only one thing is missing as Arthur viewed himself in the mirror one more time. "Hey mom?" He called.

"Yes honey?" Jane Read answered from down the staircase.

"Where are my dress pants?" Arthur asked.

"Are they not in your room?" Jane asked.

"No. I was hoping you would bring me up a pair!" Arthur answered as he stuck his head out of the bathroom doorway.

"Wait. They could be down in the cellar still with the other laundry." Jane went down the cellar and approached the washing machine and dryer. She checked the dryer first to find it completely empty. With a bit of dread she checked the washing machine next, flipping open the top to find that yesterdays laundry was still there.

"Crap." Jane grunted. "We forgot to do the laundry the other day." She reached into the washing machine to pull out what would look like Arthur's dress pants. Still soaked and damp. She looked further into the machine to pull out more smaller pairs of jeans. "Oh no."

Four hours later...

"And that is the reason I am wearing a bathing suit for pants." Arthur finished his story to his friends at the lunch table.

Francine could not help but laugh despite Arthur's protest. "I am sorry Arthur. Sorry."

"Yeah. On picture day they mostly focus above the waist anyway." Buster then took a bite out of the macaroni and cheese served for lunch.

"So Francine?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah?" Francine answered.

"I heard you converted to a new religion." Arthur gripped his peanut butter and jelly sandwich in between his fingers. "What made you change?"

"Is it Christianity?" Brain asked while picking away at his pasta salad he brought from home.

"Nope. We converted to Cthulhuism." Francine smirked.

"Katua-what?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"Cthulhuism." Brain corrected his friend. "A religion that worships strange deities but one most important, Cthulhu. A giant octopus god created by H.P. Lovecraft who also wrote other stories, but mostly the Call of Cthulhu gets the most attention."

"A giant what?" Arthur dropped his sandwich.

"Sound cool." Buster was intrigued.

"Pfft." Francine cackled. "Guys it is a cover up story to make people leave me and my family alone. I am still Jewish and proud, we just say Cthulhuism to make them go away. Just keep it a secret okay?"

"Sounds pretty cool to me." Buster smiled.

Suddenly a loud thunderous roar echoed from outside the school. The friends turned to the window to see the weather took a nasty turn from being sunny to cloudy. Rain drops started to pour from the sky and splat against the windows.

"Well it was scheduled to rain today." Brain brought up.

Another loud roar pierced the skies as flashes danced around the murky clouds. Again and again until a lightning bolt struck the transformer outside of the school. Sparks flew from the metal box as the lights inside the school were flickering on and off. Some of the children were bewildered, scared or found it interesting. The sound of power waned until... the lights finally went out.

"OH NO!" One child shouted.

"Cool!" Another one hollered.

"Maybe they will let us go home!" Another random child screamed.

"The back up power should come on." Brain turned to his friends or so he thought. "Any... second..." The lights did not come back on. "Give it another minute."

"WE'RE DOOMED!" Another student shouted.

"I JUST PISSED MYSELF!" One student screamed.

"Oh good now no one will see my bathing suit." Arthur smiled.

Buster turned his head to see with just enough light from the window of his fellow classmate Binky. "Hey Binky? Why is there a ruler sticking out of the back of your underwear?"

Just then the sound of the lunchroom doors opened. With very little light the children could not see who it was because the window's light could not reach the other side of the room.

"Children! We have a power outage! Please remain calm as we are going to try to get the back up power on. As of still, picture day will remain on schedule." Mr. Haney announced.

"How are we supposed to get our pictures taken in the dark?" Francine asked.

"They seem confident. They'll get the back up power on." Brain answered.

"Man that would be so cool if the power stayed off for the rest of the day." Buster smiled.

"Who keeps touching me with a ruler?" Arthur asked.

to be continued...