The day it happened, I didn't know what to think.

IT: This "FAYZ." The random wall or dome or sphere that circles me right now; surrounds me, us, Perdido Beach; cutting us off from the rest of civilization.

I was in the car with my mom, on the way out of town, going to the dentist: I was so close.

Sitting in the passenger seat, trying to take a nap while listening to my iPod, I, Leslie Harrington, witnessed the beginning first hand.

It happened simultaneously; Mom disappeared and a wall cut through the engine of the car. I don't know what I expected. To keep going through the milky wall, run face first into it, I don't know. What I do know is that in that moment of time: everything changed.

The car didn't move. The radio stopped playing and there was static. I picked up my iPhone and tried to call Dad's cell. A message popped up on the screen, "Emergency Calls Only." I sighed, this was an emergency. I checked my signal: four blue bars. "Stupid phone," I thought while I hit it. I tried again; the same thing happened. I finally tried 911, and the phone dialed! But then there was nothing. No ring, nothing. The phone went back to the home menu.

I panicked.

I got out of the car and ran. I ran back down the highway at first, hoping to pass a car that could help me, but then I decided against that idea: it's not smart to run down a highway. So I started running back toward the car; pumped with adrenaline and anger I ran straight into the wall, I don't know why, I just did it, but a second later I was on the ground, convulsing like a person with turrets like I do when I'm in pain. The wall burned, and the impact hurt the right side of my body.

I stopped convulsing, and just laid there. I stared at the sky, just thinking.

My first thought was "What is this? Where did Mom go? How did this wall get here?" I let that circulate through my head, but I realized my attempts at solving those puzzles would be in vain, so I thought differently: "Is Astrid ok?"

It was a lame thought, and I knew that, but I had to wonder. Astrid and I used to be friends, but then her little brother was born with autism. We couldn't hang out as much after that, so we weren't really still friends, but you know, we talked sometimes, nodded to each other in the hallway; casual.

But something had been happening to me over the years. Before Astrid's brother, Little Pete, was born, I began to wonder about us, Astrid and me, if we had something going.

I know, I was only nine or ten, but I've always been mature for my age, which is why Astrid and I got along so well.

But before I could talk to Astrid about these thoughts, Little Pete was born and she started to slip away.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder." I don't know who said it but they sure knew their stuff. I watched Astrid from afar; I even began trying super hard in my classes so I could get into the advanced classes with her. I mean, I'm smart, I just don't try, or I used to not.

I decided I needed to find my way back to town, see what was going on: check on Astrid.

I walked for a long time, I saw random cars here and there, pulled off to the side of the highway, or crashed head on with other cars. It was scary: a sort of omen hung in the air like must in a locker room. I tried to shut off my mind to all of the confusing thoughts swirling in my head; I stuck to one thing instead: Astrid.

It began to get dark, so I hopped into one of the cars off the side of the highway, turned off its engine as I had been doing for about the last two miles, and fell asleep.

I awoke with a start. Someone was coming; or four some ones.

They came on bikes; BIKES! Down a HIGHWAY! I stared in disbelief from the car, and then, as they got closer, my jaw literally dropped.

It was ASTRID! Sense told me to call out to her, ask her what was going on, get some answers, but then I saw with whom she was riding with.

Sam Temple, "School Bus Sam," was behind Astrid on the bike, pedaling at a fast, yet leisurely speed. Just behind him was his best friend, Quinn Gaither, riding on a new kid's handlebars. I think his name was Ed-something. But that wasn't important. What WAS important is that Astrid, MY Astrid, was riding on the handle bars of some other guy's bike.

"Hold up there, Leslie," I told myself internally, "She's not yours; you know that; stop being so melodramatic." I sighed. As always, my sensible side was right, I was being a drama queen, a hopeless romantic, and it sickened my sense.

But still, I kept quite as they passed and my heart broke. I looked around the car once they had passed, and felt the loneliness swallow me again, like it had been lately. I cried. I cried like a baby, even though I knew I had to stop soon, before it got dark again.

I got out and started walking again, away from the direction my heart was pulling me; away from Astrid.

An hour or so later I arrived in my town, Perdido Beach, and was given the news: Everyone fifteen and older had disappeared.

I sat there for a second. I let the information play with my mind: everyone is gone, no adults, no bossy, arrogant teenagers, just young ones like me (like Astrid) and all those below. I stared at my hands as I thought. My fingers twitched this way and that, I clasped them and released. I must have looked special, but it was the only task my brain could accomplish at the moment, and my head swirled with ideas of what exactly has happened.