Unknown

“London, We interrupt your program for the following news broadcast.”
“But Ross said Rachel! ROSS SAID RACHEL!” My flatmate, Kiara, screamed at the TV.
“Kia, you've seen this episode at least twenty times!” I said from our tiny kitchen, where I was attempting to make chicken alfredo. It didn’t look half bad. It was even the right color, unlike the last batch I made.
“But the news interrupted Friends! No one does that!” She huffed and crossed her arms. I rolled my eyes at her immaturity, and continued to stir the chicken in with the pasta over the burner.
“Twenty million people have been pronounced dead after a nuclear bomb went off in Russia, killing one third of Europe’s population and almost half the Middle East’s. Parts of Asia have been devastated as well. The following images of the bomb’s aftermath may be inappropriate for young children. Viewer discretion is advised,” I heard the newsreader on the television say.
“Bloody Hell! Charity, come see this!” I stirred the pasta one last time before I walked over, wooden spoon still in hand, and stood behind Kia, who was on the sofa. Kia turned up the volume on the television and rested her elbows on her knees, mouth agape as horrifying images flashed onto the screen of whole cities wiped out, reduced to rubble. The newsreader continued to speak as images from the bombing were shown on the screen.
“It has been confirmed as an accidental detonation. Those who survived have been hospitalized and have been greatly affected by the bomb’s nuclear toxins.”
“‘Greatly affected’ seems like a bit of an understatement, don’t you think?” I asked as videos of hospitalized victims, some with missing limbs, popped up on screen. It was a gory sight. My chicken alfredo suddenly didn’t seem very appetizing.
“I have no idea, but those people in the hospital look awful.” Kia said as she stared, transfixed at the television. She shivered, causing her dark brown ponytail to sway slightly. “I cannot believe they would show this on a public station!” I personally agreed.
“More details to come. Now back to your scheduled programming,” the booming voice said. Then, Friends started to play again as if nothing happened. The next episode had just started. Kia and I just sat there in shock at the alarming news.
“Oh my God,” Kia said, stunned. We were both still staring at the screen, replaying the news broadcast in our minds. Suddenly, our smoke detector started going off, bursting our eardrums. “Oh my God!” Kia repeated. She turned to face me, wide eyed “Charity! The chicken!” she exclaimed.
“Oh no.” I said while I frantically bolted to the stove. “Oh no no no no no…” I started fanning the smoking pot with a towel as the alarm continued to blare.
“Is there a fire?” Kia yelled over the alarm while she ran over to help.
“No, but there almost was!” I said as the smoke started to settle. We both had a coughing fit. “Go turn that bloody thing off!” I shouted at Kia. She went and pulled a chair out from under our kitchen table and placed it under our smoke detector and climbed on top of it to shut the annoying alarm off. I ran to open our kitchen window. The summer nighttime breeze drifted in as the smoke cleared out. We just stood there panting, tense from the scare of almost burning the building down. I still had the spoon clutched in my fist.
“Well that was traumatic,” Kia said. She caught my eye and we both lost it and started laughing until we were crying. We paid no mind to the news broadcast after that.
We stared down at the now brown and black chicken alfredo. “Well I’m not eating that,” Kia said as she wrinkled her nose in disgust. I sighed. My lovely dish was ruined. Not even a pig would eat it.
“It was going so well, too,” I whined.
“Yeah, well... Into the bin it goes!” Kia grabbed the pot and dumped the contents into the trash next to the sink. I winced as it hit the bottom. “Oh, don’t act so gutted. You can always try again another day. In the meantime, I’m going to eat some Wheaties. That’s all we can seem to afford, anyway,” said Kia ruefully. So that was what we ate for dinner that night.

Notes

Brenna: Hi guys! Thank you so much for checking out my story! I will be very active on updating this story! My friend and I are working hard and hoping you will like it!

Celery: Hey! I'm @celery_supreme on Wattpad, so you should check me out haha ;) Brenna and I are writing this story do to inspiration we got from @sugarcube's story, Tattoos. We hope you like it!