A R E A

Prologue

Mae sat on the carpet, the other kids in her pre-school was a swarming mass of chaos around her. The teacher was frantically trying to get the class together, and nothing she was doing seemed to be working. Evan was eating a large red wooden block, while Stella was snatching a babydoll from crying Eva's hands, and it seemed to Mae like her and Jacob were the only calm ones in the room, quietly sitting in the middle of it all.

After about five minutes more of calming everyone down, the teacher had managed to get mostly everyone sitting and quiet. She brought out the snacks and everything went back to chaos. The toddlers were climbing on top of each other to get to the snack (besides Mae and Jacob who quietly were sitting obediently on the carpet). Everything was really loud. Why was it so loud?

Tears started forming in the corner of her eyes, and she tried to push them down, but they slipped down her cheeks anyways.

And that's where Mae lost it. She squealed, covering her ears with her hands.

And everything stopped.

She slowly opened her eyes. Everyone was frozen in place, except her. She looked down at her fingers.

Moved one finger.

Then the others.

What?