Aram's Bataillon

Everything was fine

I've only read this book once and its still killing me that I have to keep rereading it for an assignment coming up, my best friend who I've known since prep was sitting beside me and I could've sworn she was reading the book for her twentieth time.

How did she even like it?

Markus Zusaks' The Messenger was hard enough to follow with its overlapping chapters- could they really be called chapters- and unotherdox way, let alome thr author cementig himself in the book at the end. He badisicslly brook the rules of book-kind.

Felicity glanced at me through her glasses as I turned a page and eyed her book to see where she was at. She was halfway threw the book again, like last time we'd been in our English classroom before the holidays.

She looked up through her glasses and whispered, "What?".

"How the the fuck are you so far ahead? You were like a quarter of a way threw the book when you came in and you didn't do any reading over the weekend!" I hissed back as she grinned at me, normally I was the fast reader.

She was younger than me by a year yet she and I used to changed heights from time to time, now she was taller than me by a bit. And I was starting to dread that it might be forever this way.

We shared blue eyes, hers vibrant like me but shrouded by glasses. Dark-lightish brown hair rested in straightish strands down her head before curlling upjust below where her head met her neck; that she'd had it cut like a boy.

We were anoingly wearing the same school uniform- Public or Private, uniforms were allround- though you could yell us apart always.

I'd known her since we'd started school back in Prep- eventhough we got separated for a couple years- we reunited in grade four. I think? Just been too long to remember that far back.

Or my memoires worse then I thought.

It's a miracle really, that we found eachother agian. And it's only fuled our friendship even more.

I closed my book with a bit of a thud, lightly chucking the rest of the sticky notes ontop so I could have more room on my desk to type. Felicity eyed me skecptically, asking why I shut my book a bit too loud. With the audible noise a few students raised their heads in my direction. Sheepishly, I smilled quickly before letting it drop- a silent appology- to one of the kids who I had made eye contact with who had raised there head to my scilence breaking act.

"You idiot!" Felicity mumbled beside me still eyeing me.

I rolled my eyes and swatted her arm playfully. To wich she grabbed and mouthed 'Ow!'.

The small school classroom laptop took up most of the room on my fading plastic sky-blue desk.

Honestly, you'd think their made for Primary school kids. Because of how far down they where situated- I had to be careful of banging my elbows and knees against it. I could barely fut a hand between my thighs and the underneath of the desk. When you stood up, it felt like you were a giant.

Speaking of giant, the Laptops on everyone's desks that belonged to a classroom specificated laptop trolly- which usually stayed in our room- looked giant when compared to size of our desks.

Last week, Felicity had just had her birthday. It was a fun sleepover weekend for her 16th; when our strict arse parents didn't really let us have anyone around. Let alone leave the house without them.

A not so faint boom had me jump a little and raise my eyes to our teacher. He looked up for a moment at us and then motioned us back to our work. Not even bothered in the slightest.

Our school was positioned near the airport so we always heard planes roaring overhead. Sometimes even military ones or jets that had come out of their nearby base to practice.

A even louder boom, unmistakable this time, had me stand up and a few others did as well, plastic chairs made horrible screeching noise as they scooted acroos the lino floor, other started to whisper- causing it to sound like hundreds of voices where in the room.

An uneasiness spread all around the room.

The atmosphere dropped. Tension, thick within the air; fear, rising tenfold with every progresive boom.

Our teacher had almost jumped out of his chair at the second loudest boom, startling almost everyone. Its precursors loudened with each blast.

He got up quickly and quietly opened our door only to say quietly, "Everyone save your work, put the laptops away and get ready for a lockdown!" With another boom sounding way louder this time, he shut the door and disappeared.

An angered shout rang out, "He left us!"

All around, a clamour started.

Everyone was standing now. No one spoke, for the blasts continued to become louder. Eventually the slightest of whispered converstations could be heard.

We all saved our work and put the laptops back in their numbered spot in the trolley- then we hid underneath our desks. It was the proctical procedure for a lockdoen drill but I was sure some hid further under, feeling protection from the now deafing blasts.

The light from the windows casted and interesting haze to the floor. We would've brought the blinds down if we could but they were stuck and being on the second level of a two story classroom building called F-wing, we didn't see the need to yank them shut. And well, some of them were missing.

Kids who were in the light had moved and huddled underneath the desk at the back of the room that stretched all the way across the back wall, normally there would be computers along there but it was just other classes stuff. Some had even taken chairs and mandovered them into makeshift cover in front of the desk.

Now, the whispers began.