GIRL, UNPLUGGED

YA Novel Chapter 23 | 16 Minute Read

This is Chapter 23 of a YA novel. To see where the story began, check out the GIRL, UNPLUGGED table of contents post, or head to the GIRL, UNPLUGGED section of the Story Hoarder Substack page to see all the chapters.

This chapter is an 16 minute read.

CHAPTER 23: Go Time

While everyone ate Murph gave us the rundown of what he knew about getting around the city. "Everything is still on foot, or bike, obviously," he said. "I walked here, but I had to wait until sun up, which is why I wasn't here sooner. I couldn't find any bike anywhere -- not a Citibike, manual or electric -- but, honestly, I don't know how we'd get any to activate now anyway. Never mind getting enough for everyone."

"I'd be happy to ride on the handlebars, if anyone's offering," Colin said. Rainbow smiled softly, but everyone else seemed unable to tear their attention from Murph.

"The police are everywhere, but their communication is craptastic. So, if you only see one officer, it is likely they’re on their own. They’re at almost the same disadvantage as the rest of us. As far as I saw this morning, though, it looks like most of them are in pairs."

"And with megaphones?" Russ asked.

"Yeah," Murph said. "How'd you know?"

"I thought I heard them when we woke up this morning," Russ said, turning his eyes my way. 

Pang.

He was right. I remembered hearing the same thing. I smiled at him, to let him know he wasn’t the only one who remembered that morning. 

"It's seems to be the only way word is getting around the city," Murph said. "Which is actually how I heard that there is no ferry service --"

Our entire group moaned. 

"Yeah. I know. That's what got me here. I figured you guys should know, You know?"

"Thanks," Brenda said, rolling her eyes. "You're like our god-damned knight in shining armor now with all your doom and gloom news." 

"Relax, Bren, the Brooklyn Bridge is open." Murph looked unfazed by her disgust. I hated that he was so untouchable, or clueless, or insensitive, or whatever the hell it was that made him the absolute worst right now. Why couldn't Murph understand his multiple offenses? Where was the Murph I thought I knew? The guy who really could have been a knight in shining armor? I followed this guy's every move, how did I miss this side of him? I wondered how much of the Murph I crushed on was actually a figment of my own imagination.

"That's a lot of walking," Rose said quietly. Daria put a hand over hers. I felt as though I could see the weight upon her shoulders. We knew that it would take us about two to three hours to walk down to the ferry and then, if we were lucky, the ferry would have taken us home in a half hour. Our school is a ten minute walk from the Staten Island side of the ferry, so we would have been back in about the same time it took one more school day to pass, but that was with the ferry. Without it, what would we do? Walk through New York City's largest borough?

Murph looked annoyed that he wasn't getting a hero's response to his news.

"Whatever it is, you can't stay here. Your families don't know where you are. At the hospitals they are building lists of people they've seen, just so people might have a shot at finding each other. And the schools are turning into shelters just like they did with Imelda for people stranded on Manhattan. And the ferry also has a check-in."

"So we check-in there. At the ferry," Stella said. "Anyone else have family that works here in the city? I'm thinking I can find my dad there."

A couple of people raised their hands, including Russ.

"So that's it," Stella said. "Check in at the ferry and see where we can go from there."

"Stuyvesant is down there," I said quietly, but everyone turned to look at me. The quick attention scared me into a stutter. "I-I mean, it's not on top of the ferry, but, you know, it's close. It’s a high school. And it's big. If we need a shelter, is what I am saying." Except I was saying it backwards, like I no longer knew how to speak.

It was a scary plan. I went to sleep the night before thinking I would be getting home somehow potentially before sunset. I didn't know how. I didn't worry about it, things usually work out for me. Why should this be any different? I began to think of my mom and dad and how worried they had to be. I wondered how Rog got home from school the day before. How dad got home from work. I even laughed when I thought about how freaked out Mom must have been without her blow dryer.

My mind wandered even further. Thinking of Mom's blow dryer made me think of  one of her other morning routines, religiously watching The Today Show . It got me thinking, there was no way to share the news. There was no way to receive it, except by megaphones. As I sat there, the reality of the shift in our life became clear. 

"Matthew," I asked, "did you hear anyone talking about how long it will take to get the power grid back?"

He crinkled his eyebrows at my mention of his full first name and it gave me the slightest satisfaction. "Well, Natalie--"

I smirked at his attempt to slay me with his pathetic rebuttal. Touché, Matthew, touché. 

"That museum guy was with me, so he had a lot to say to anyone that would listen. In fact, he wouldn't shut up about it. 'If this storm was the magnitude that Dr. Smithe and I measured, then it could take months to restore our nation's power grid.'" Murph had put on a nasal voice to imitate Dr. Davies that was completely inaccurate. I think he was going for a laugh, but none of us were in a laughing mood. He looked around at everyone as that news settled in, and I guess he thought he had nothing to lose, so he continued, "'But it’s actually worse than that. He said that just before the CME hit, they saw another solar storm beginning. It looked even larger. He had a name for it. He kept trying to tell anyone who would listen, as if any of us knew what it meant. He said we’re in a solar maximum.” Murph shrugged and looked down at his feet as if he didn’t want to look any of in the eyes as he continued.  “I remember him telling one nurse that if these storms keep happening, the clock will keep resetting over and over again until it stops."

Quiet. 

Hopelessness.

We were powerless. In so many senses of the word.

After we finished eating, we set out through the park and went along unbothered until we hit Broadway. Our plan was to take the direct, midtown route, all the way downtown until we reached the ferry. Murph hated the plan. He wanted to treat this trip like some sort of top secret super heist where we used stealth to avoid any law enforcement until we absolutely needed them. I was so happy he was overruled. But the direct route did end up being a little more difficult than we originally expected.

The police were out in force and Murph was right -- they were armed with those damn megaphones they all seemed to love them. Broadway was barricaded off with two mounted police guarding the helm. As we approached, one of the officers on horseback called out to an officer on foot, "McRooney! Deal with this group, please."

McRooney was on us in a moment. He couldn't have been much older than us, maybe early twenties. He had his book of tickets ready as if he were about to give a summons to each and every one of us. "What's your plan here, guys?" he asked no one in particular. Then his eyes landed on me. I cursed myself for not looking off into the distance, or staring at my feet like I normally did.

"Uh -- We're trying to get to the ferry?" I said, though it sounded more like a question.
He shook his head, clipped his book of tickets back onto his belt. "Miss, we are requesting that all residents stay in their homes at this time," he said in his automaton voice. I got the impression he must've said these exact words at least a hundred times in the last 24 hours. "There are no stores, no theaters, no subways. You got no phones or cameras, so there’s nothing for you to TikTok or stream -- basically, there's no reason to walk the streets at this time. Curfew is at 7pm. Without your tech or a watch, how will you know when to return?"

He had a point about the watch. I gave him that, but the rest of his statement was ridiculous. I felt a shuffle in the group, like someone else was about to try to save me from this gross misunderstanding. I was about to step back and let whoever it was handle it from there when I heard Murph mutter, "Told you they wouldn't help." He was right next to me and his need to come tell me this personally infuriated me. 

"No," I said, more forcefully than I intended to speak to the police officer. I took a quick breath and continued more calmly, “I'm sorry, Officer, I don't think you understand. We are trying to get home. We were on a class trip from Staten Island Prep yesterday when all this happened." I emphasized the "Staten Island” part of the name and raised my eyebrows so he would really pay attention. "Our teacher got hurt yesterday. She got taken away. We slept in the New School Museum last night waiting to see if she might come back or something -- and to obey that curfew!" I was getting louder as I went on, and more animated. The police officer was hanging on my every word and, unlike the people in the street the day before, I didn't feel like he was misunderstanding me. It was so freeing. "If you think we should now claim that as 'our home' then someone's going to need to tell our parents where we are, 'cause we've been missing for nearly 24 hours now."

With each word the officer's jaw sank lower and lower. "Um... hold on second." 

When I turned to give Murph the smug look that he deserved, he had moved away from me again. That was just as satisfying. I can't believe I thought I knew that guy. I mean, I surveyed his every move and all that, but I never knew him. I never connected with him in a real way, not even as a friend. 

The officer walked over to the mounted officer and relayed our tale. Instead of getting off of the horse, the officer spoke through the megaphone to us, "What's your plan here, class?"

We all looked back and forth to see who would speak up. I turned to Stella, who turned to me, and then I turned to Rainbow who turned toward me, and I locked eyes with Russ, and, Oh, I thought, We aren't all turning to look at each other, everyone is looking at me! I cleared my throat and a small, nervous laugh escaped before I began trying to speak loud enough to engage in a conversation with someone on a megaphone, as if the officer's use of the tool was a sign that he must be hard of hearing. "It's funny you should ask that, Officer--" I cleared my throat again-- "because we actually do have a plan. It's pretty simple: get to the ferry terminal, check-in to see if any of our family's there, and then, head to Stuyvesant for the night before we figure out what to do tomorrow!" My heart was beating fast. I didn't know if it was out of excitement, or fear. I smiled, looked around at our group and gasped. "And we need a doctor!"

The officer cantered the horse closer to our group. He didn't use the megaphone when he said, "And why is that, young lady?"

"That'll be my fault, Officer," Rose said. As she was sitting in the wheelchair for the beginning of our trip, she was hidden behind our small group until she raised her hand. We all stepped aside so the officer could see Rose as Daria pushed her through. "I've had a bit of a malfunction in some medical equipment inside me, so anyone who can help would be great, but a neurologist, or -- even better, a neuropthalmologist would be a real win. It's rare disease stuff -- the more specialized the doc, the better the chance they'll know what's going on with me."

The officer nodded toward officer McRooney, who pulled back the barricade for us to get through. "For your doctor, head straight to Times Square. There's a medical checkpoint there -- they should be able to guide you in the right direction." As we walked through the barricade, he asked each of our names and where we were from. He wrote it down on the summons paper. When he had all of our names he separated the top sheet from the carbon copy and handed it to me, "You must all stay together. Show this paper at each checkpoint so we know that you passed. If any of you come up as a missing person, we will have documentation. Good luck."

"Yeah, thanks," I said. There were two things on my mind there. One was: those horses were big, at least four of us could fit on each. If they really cared, they could give us a ride back to Staten Island in no time. The second thing was that piece of paper in my hand. Why did he give it to me? Was I in charge all of a sudden?

About a block after passing the officers everything became quiet. I figured everyone was as confused as I was about the officer electing me the person in charge of our paper. That was a Stella job, for sure. I thought about handing it to her, but she was just holding Dustin's hand, with her head down, so I shared the group silence and walked on.

The shadows grew long and the wind picked up a chill as we walked down the abandoned street. I pulled my hoodie out of my backpack, and I was grateful I dragged it along. Broadway was eerie. It was as if someone pressed "pause" on life. The street was filled with cars exactly as they must have been the day before, the only thing missing were the people who must have been inside them. My mom used to say she thought there was a ghost-hour in some neighborhoods of New York City: around 7pm, after the workforce left, but before the nightlife began. She said it felt like the city was out of tune at that hour, off-beat, almost creepy in its lack of purpose. I was betting that this walk took that creepy feeling and amped it up by about a thousand. 

We walked in silence as if in respect to the slumber our city found itself in. Personally, I didn't know what to talk about. I wanted to take everyone's mind off of what we were going through. Almost every topic I thought of became instantly tainted by our present. I thought about talking about Barista Boys with the girls, but before I could begin I was struck with the question of whether or not I would ever see it again. I thought about talking to Daria, but the only two topics of conversation I could think of with her were Rose and her vlogging. I knew she was stressed about Rose, but I wondered how she was coping with the sudden loss of Daria's Days. What would she do now?  Rainbow looked like she was trying to capture a music memory while she walked, so I didn't want to disturb her. 

And then I was saved from my frantic search for sanity. 

Russ. 

He grabbed my hand and I was calm. I worried no more about what to say. I worried no more that he was mad at me for how I acted that morning. I worried no more about who would see me holding his hand. I simply walked, knowing that no one knew what to say, but we were together.

We didn't see another person for something like ten blocks. I found that particularly strange because every other time I had ever experienced a blackout, one of the first things everyone did was go outside and hang out together. There really wasn't anything to do in our houses except for read by candlelight, anyway. So here we were on Broadway, in one of the busiest parts of the busiest city in our country and there was no one to be found? I couldn't believe it.

And I wasn't alone.

"Where is everyone?" Rose finally broke the silence.

"Home?" Colin said. "If they don't have a ticket from Officer--"

"Really, Colin?" Rose cut him off, "You really think that barricade was enough for everybody to stay inside?"

"She's right, Col," Dustin said, "where are the curious people? Where are the people who don't care about what the cops say?"

"What would they do?" Daria said sullenly. "I mean, normally, I'm all over stuff like this, but I'm with my camera, you know? What's the point of seeing this if you can't share it? Most people are taking pics and videos and sharing them with everyone, or at least saving them until they can; there's no way to do that right now. It's all lost."

I felt so bad for Daria. She defined herself with her online presence. I did, too, in a way. But without power, Russ reminded me, I could still write. Without power, Rainbow could still sing. Murph could still draw. Daria was left without any means of expression in the way she was used to. However, as my pity grew for her, I heard a groan from behind me. Just when I was about to turn to see who it came from, Murph burst, "Bull shit, Daria. This is what gets me crazy with all of you guys. No offense," he turned to me, "but it is like none of you know any other way to express yourselves beyond the screen." 

He could say "no offense" all he wanted, but I knew this little outburst was meant to send daggers in my heart. I wasn't about to let him hurt me. Again. "Not all of us. I've got a notebook now. And Rainbow, well," I turned to Rainbow. "Rainbow, what you did last night was other-worldly."

"It's true, Rain," Brenda said, "You were amazing last night." Others agreed.
Rainbow blushed and said, "It just felt like it was amazing because of the whole moment, ya know? I mean the auroras, the water, everyone together, and then the acoustics were perfect."

Colin, who had leaned over to Terrell for clarification said, "Rain, that was you?"

She laughed and nodded.

"Wow, that was beautiful. You sounded like an angel."

"Uh-huh," Russ gave Colin a suspicious glance, "I bet she did," he said.

Daria turned to Murph, "Singing and drawing are different than what I do, though. I'm sort of out of luck without power."

"You can't vlog for a while, sure, but that doesn't mean you're done." Murph rolled his eyes. "Find another outlet." 

Stella piped up, "I know you guys are about to enter into some sort of existential conversation about creativity and the meaning of your lives without the almighty Internet, but Rose has a point, we should have seen someone by now."

And as if he heard us, a man came running out from 54th Street toward us. He was yelling, "The End is here. The food is gone. The darkness is here!" Since I was now at the end of the group, I guess I was his first target (lucky me). He grabbed my arm and screamed in my face, "Do you have food? Is there enough? You are running out of time!" then he let go as he seemed to confuse himself, "Time? What time?” He swung his arm out cartoonishly waving his bare wrist pointing to where a watch would normally sit, “There is no time!"

We kept walking, like all well trained New Yorkers do. There was nothing we could do to help the man, and he was in his own mind space. However, without the typical crowds to distract him, he was back upon us in a moment. He grabbed my backpack and spun me around. He was sweaty and his breath stank. All I could think was that he didn't have a tiny travel size toothpaste this morning like I had found in the supply closet for everyone. In my face he spat, "Do you have the time?" His eyes were desperate, he was pleading with me to give him the time, but before I could respond, Murph had turned on him, followed by Dustin, Colin and Brenda.

Brenda pried his hand off of mine and pulled me into the safety of our crowd as

Terrell circled around us to get to the confrontation, "Buddy, we have nothing for you. I think you should get home before any police officers see you out on the street. Let's go guys," he said as he placed an arm between the stranger and everyone else that came to my defense. "Keep walking. Let's get home, too."

Dustin and Colin lingered for a breath before listening to Terrell. Stella scooped them in with the rest of us and said, "Let's go," looking over her shoulder at the stranger we left Terrell with. We walked at least three blocks without Terrell. I don't know what he said to the man, or how he calmed him down, but it looked like he was pointing him in the way we came. Maybe he was sending him to the police, maybe he was telling him what we learned at the museum about what was really going on. I don't know. All I know is that the man walked away from Terrell of his own volition, in the opposite direction than we were going. Terrell watched him go before running back toward us and up to the anxious Princess. "So... that was pretty brave," she said grasping his hand as she walked. "If you don't mind, I'm going to keep you by my side for the rest of this. Call me greedy."

He smiled, and said with a playful bow, "It's my honor to walk with royalty, Princess."

I should've known that the real action would come in Times Square. There were more and more people as we approached 49th Street. There was a barricade there. The people didn't bother with us since we were such a large group. They were too busy shouting at the police officers who paced their horses back and forth behind the barricade reciting the same announcement over and over again, "By order of the Mayor of New York City, the Governor of New York State and the President of the United States, the City of New York is on lockdown. We do not know when power will be restored. Return to your homes and hotels. Ration your food and stay safe. There is no reason to be here."  I felt bad for the officer who kept repeating himself. We heard him before we even saw the crowd. 

We stopped ten feet behind the crowd.  I couldn't see beyond the crowd at all, so I didn't know what people wanted to get to so badly. Whatever it was, we didn't want it. We just wanted to get past it.  Daria, growing more impatient by the moment, clicked her tongue and said, "Just show the cop the ticket, already! We don't have to stand here like this! Rose needs to get in!"

A couple at the back of the crowd heard her and turned toward her. The woman, disheveled, in her forties wearing an oversized wrinkled t-shirt, closed the space between herself and Brenda in seconds, "What ticket you got to get through?"

"Wo-man," Brenda said waving her arm, "you had bet-ter give me some space with that stank breath!"

Murph's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. He lunged on Brenda and pushed her back away from the woman before anyone else could speak. Then in an even tone he said to the woman, "I'm sorry. She's tired. We couldn't sleep last night with those lights. We got tickets for Penn Station. Our tour group heads home today." He pointed to the group of us who were silently dumbfounded.

The woman looked at the group, then at Rose, Murph and finally back at Brenda, "Little girl, I'm sorry to be the one to tell ya this, but there ain't no buses workin."

The man stepped forward, "Your hotel shoulda told ya that. That's where these guy's'll send you anyways." He thumbed up to the police.

"Really?" Murph said feigning disappointment, "Wow. We had no idea. Thanks so much." He turned to Brenda giving her a knowing look, and a light punch in the arm.

Brenda perked up and said, "Sorry. I'm tired from so much walking, you know?"

The woman smiled and nodded, "Well, good luck," and the couple turned back to the crowd.

Murph grabbed Brenda and huddled us all together, whispering, "That was just a tiny taste of what can happen here. This is part of why I didn't want to come at this direct route thing. I saw a bit of this yesterday, but I'm pretty sure getting through here is going to be rough. But I might have an idea, just bear with me."

Murph had everyone line up in a single-file, still maintaining a distance behind the crowd. He asked me to come to the front. "I need to borrow her for a second," he said to Russ, holding my wrist above the hand Russ held. 

Russ looked through him and didn't let go right away. 

"Borrow me for what?" I asked, shaking my hand free of both of them in the weird millisecond tug of war. 

He whispered, "You need to stand in front and hold that ticket up. All the way back here." He looked back at the crowd. "Say nothing, Nat, not until one of the officers notices you. We do not want to draw any attention from anyone in that mob. I think they are so focused on getting in that they won't bother to turn around to see what we're up to until after the officers see us."

At the front of the line I stood up tall and held our ticket high above my head and suddenly thought one of the taller boys should have that job. I stared down the mounted officer. It took two full paces before he acknowledged me, but it was clear when he did. He nodded to me, so I pulled my hand down and shoved the ticket into my hoodie pocket almost immediately. After about thirty seconds two officers, on foot, dressed in SWAT gear broke through the crowd and came up to me. It was so intense. I fumbled through my pocket to pull the ticket out. I whispered, "They gave us this uptown. We were on a class trip from Staten Island. We need to check-in at the ferry, but we also need to get a doctor for my friend Rose." We were the center of everyone's focus, particularly the t-shirt clad woman. I was doing my best to try to stick to the facts -- no emotions, no panic, no noticing the brimming chaos right ahead of me. The officer who was not talking to me had to hold that lady back from lunging on me.

After a quick rearrangement Rose and Daria were brought to the front of the line and Russ and I found our way to the back. Then the crowd opened up again, lined by more officers on foot, creating a path for us to walk through. It was terrifying. If the crowd was discontent when we arrived, now they turned down right vicious. I tried not to look at the faces of anyone as we passed, but I did look up once seeing the t-shirt woman's face red, contorted and furious. "You're a bunch a liars!" she screamed, "Liars!" I flinched as I saw her arm flail over one of the officer's shoulders. Russ put his hand on my shoulder. "Just look down, Natalie. Just look down."

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