Chat sprinkled the small room, the awkwardness gone with the silence. They became what they were: Grade 10 students from St Francis' Co-Educational School, bored in the absence of their teacher and amusing themselves in the easiest way they knew – talking.

The blind was closed to keep the awkwardness at bay, but the dark-haired girl had her head behind the blind, letting in just enough light to make it appear daytime inside the AV room.

"Sarah, you're going to kill your eyesight." One of her friends warned.

The dark-haired girl – or Sarah, as she was named – pulled her head out from behind the blind halving the light as it fell into place, sparking an onslaught of ignored complaints. "You're probably right, Charissa." She agreed, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room.

The too-comfortable atmosphere lulled gently over the students until a hiccup erupted again, rippling laughter through the room, and again as another hiccup sounded.

But the amusement of the hiccuping quickly wore off as it became apparent they weren't going away.

"Stop it Daphne!" someone snapped as tempers were rising.

Daphne hiccuped in reply and tried to hold her breath to get rid of them. When this failed, suggestions were called by many of the students.

The carefree atmosphere had given away to an annoyed hubbub. Anyone who wasn't shouting suggestions was sitting stiffly, peeved about the noise level.

"Oh, for Christ's sake!" Sarah snapped, launching to her feet and crossing to where Daphne was now hopping up and down on one foot in a circle while gargling water.

Sarah roughly turned Daphne to face her, throwing a fist at her face. Daphne nearly choked on her water in fear before the fist stopped an inch away from her nose.

There was an awkward silence for a long time until someone congratulated Sarah on getting rid of the hiccups. She waved everyone away and sat back down between Charissa and another one of her friends, Harriet.

The chatty atmosphere resumed.

&&&

But like all things, it couldn't last.

An argument had sparked up between two girls over a water bottle and the hostility levels rose in the room once more.

Playing mediator, Charissa asked, "So, whose water bottle was it?"

A blonde-haired girl named Brandi snapped, "It's my water bottle! Lauren drink all the water from it!"

As another argument threatened to break out, Charissa – with unusual ferocity for her – shouted "Be Quiet!"

Any conversation that was going cleaved to a stunned silence. Sarah stood up, annoyed, "Well, why don't you go fill it up?" she asked shortly.

Brandi and Lauren glanced at each other with a mixture of annoyance, challenge and…fear. Sarah eyed them down, waiting for an answer.

It was Lauren who answered first in a quiet frightened voice, "It's all white and glowy outside."

Brandi nodded in agreement, "Yeah. And didn't you say something about nuclear radio waves or something?"

Sarah raised an eyebrow, amused, "Nuclear radiation?" she asked with a hint of sarcasm.

Brandi nodded.

Sarah rolled her eyes, "There's a radius around the library that's not 'white and glowy'," she explained, a hint of mockery. "Give me your bottle and I'll fill it up." She instructed, holding out her hand.

Brandi cautiously held out the bottle and Sarah took it quickly, walking towards the door of the AV room.

Harriet caught up to her, "I'll come too." She volunteered. Sarah just nodded curtly and pulled the door open, letting in the Silence.

&&&

Outside, the silence lay over everything, like a cloud of mist. The sickly white light that they had attributed to the nuclear radiation filtered through the windows, dimmed by distance as it travelled through the radius.

Sarah and Harriet walked through the quiet, their footsteps disturbing the silence like clouds of dust erupting from a carpet left to collect dust for a hundred years. The eyes of their fellow students followed them, tainted with nervousness and fear.

Sarah pushed open the door and left the library out into the small alcove. Harriet followed her timidly, looking around as Sarah turned on the bubbler to fill up Brandi's water bottle.

Harriet screamed.

&&&

Sarah whipped her head up in reaction and turned to her friend. She hurried over and clamped a hand over her mouth, muffling the noise as it echoed off invisible boundaries.

She looked around to try and find the source of her friend's distress. When she saw it, a shudder ran through her body, and she vaguely wished she hadn't. Underneath her hands, Harriet's screams dimmed down and she closed her eyes and started sobbing.

"Sarah?" came Charissa's voice. It too had a faint echo.

Sarah just took her hands away from Harriet's mouth and said, "Take Harrie inside."

Charissa would've usually argued, but instead she took Harriet's tremoring arm and led her back inside, looking worriedly over her shoulder at Sarah, whose face was set in a grim expression.

Sarah clenched her teeth and crossed to the edge of the radius, uncomfortably aware of her breathing, footsteps and the sound of her clothing as it moved with her.

She stopped a few feet away from where the cement path abruptly became a charred ruin and the grass turned black and sunk to her knees.

A skeleton lay on the charred path, glowing the same sickly white as everything else. By now, Sarah had to squint because of the glare of the glow threatened to burn away her retinas.

But what unnerved her the most was the arm that was outstretched towards her. On the charred side, it was glowing white bone, but once it crossed over the invisible line between poisoned and safe, it was almost untouched. Even the material of the shirt was intact.

Sarah ignored her churning stomach and stood, going back to the alcove of the library and returning to the bubbler where she resumed filling up Brandi's water bottle.

&&&

Her eyes, blinded by the white glow, could only vaguely see the shapes of people as she re-entered the library. Someone took the water bottle from her hands and whispered thanks, while several other hands helped guide her back to the AV room.

She vaguely heard someone tell her to close her eyes so they could re-adjust. She followed their instruction and leant back until she could feel the carpet against her back. Someone lifted up her head and placed what felt like a rolled up jumper underneath it.

Her mind swirled with images and ideas on what was going on, and she let them flow, knowing full well that she wouldn't sleep well for a long time.

&&&

Harriet huddled into a corner, shaking slightly with tears running down her face.

Charissa sat down across from her, looking concerned, "Are you okay, Harrie?"

She didn't answer, but opened her eyes and stared at the carpet beside her foot. For a long time, neither of them said anything, until Harriet sighed and lifted her eyes to Charissa, whispering quietly, "I want to wake up now."

Charissa smiled ruefully. "I wish I could too…"

"I don't understand!" Harriet shouted abruptly, "I don't understand who could do this! Why would someone want to bomb our school? They wouldn't stop there, either. What if the whole world is destroyed? I saw what happened to whoever that skeleton was! And now all I can imagine is my mother's frightened face." She dissolved into tears.

Charissa swept tears away from beneath her eyes, "Harrie…I know what you mean. I can't stop thinking about my family and my dog…but we have to stay strong. We may well be the only survivors left."

"But why?" Harriet asked, "Why are we still here?"

"I don't know. I mean, who could we ask?" Charissa asked.

"I bet Will would have a theory or two." Harriet replied quietly, referring to William – their class super-genius.

Charissa frowned slightly, "We could ask…but, I haven't seen him in a while." She replied. She could definitely remember him being in the room before the Silence, but she couldn't remember seeing him after that. She made a final check that Harriet was okay, and then crossed the room to where Mark, Will's best friend, was sitting. "Hey, Mark, have you seen Will?" she asked.

Mark looked worried, "No, I haven't. I remember him saying he was going to get a book but…I haven't seen him."

Charissa frowned slightly, thanked him, and then turned back towards the rest of the room.

She noticed Sarah sitting up now, cradling her head in her hands with the jumper pressed against her eyes. She crossed over and placed a comforting arm on her shoulder, "It's Chris." She assured her.

Sarah muttered a hello and groaned slightly, massaging her temples forcefully.

"You okay?" Charissa asked gently.

"I have the biggest migraine of my life, and all I can see is the lights creeping through the holes in the jumper." She replied.

"It's really not that bright in here." Charissa mused, "You could go into one the study carrels – they never lock them."

Sarah nodded and shakily got to her feet. Charissa shot to her feet to help her, but Sarah waved her hand at the noise, "You stay. I know this library like the back of my hand."

She left the library's AV room and made her way through the shelves, heading in the direction of the carrels. After she was through half the library she tripped over something – or someone. She ended up sprawled on the floor, the jumper lying a few feet away.

Sarah sat up and groaned, then looked to see what she'd tripped over.

And there sat Will, impossibly still except for his chest rising and falling as he breathed. His eyes were open and unseeing, looking west unceasingly. Sarah gasped and shuffled closer, reaching out and touching his shoulder softly.

Greetings Sarah.