Light snowflakes swirled around through the air, masking the fogged window panes of the girls school. Inside, all warm and cozy by the heat of the fire, the young children quietly buzzed away at their work. The teacher was silent, making notes at her desk, keeping an eye on the girls and flinching whenever a slate pencil squeaked.
Ali, a young ten year old at the back of the room, sat tapping her pencil impatiently as she watched the eery clock ticking by every moment with a silent 'Tick Tock'. She sighed loud enough for the other girls to hear, making them giggle and some of them sigh mockingly, extremely overdramatic.
At last the clock struck twelve, and the girls were released for lunch. The teacher left he room and the girls took their clanging tin pails or paper bags and rushed to their seats once more, tearing paper and dropping buckets greedily. Ali's seat-mate, Jessie, arose from her seat, standing staring out the foggy window.
"There is something in the harbour. It looks like.... fire." She announced, somewhat confused. Several girls, including Ali, walked steadily over to the window, trying to make out what it was.
"You silly little geese, unfog the window so you might see." A tall 13-year-old girl, Sadie, took her beautifully laced handkerchief and lightly brushed the window pane, making a clear view for all to see.
"Fire! There is definitely fire in the harbour." A high-pitched voice exclaimed, alarmed. Shocked and anxious murmurs arose through the small crowed of people. The girls shouldered each other, shuffling through and around everybody to get a closer look, getting tangled in one another's dresses.
Two ships in the harbour had collided carelessly, and one, carrying high power explosives, rocked roughly against the waves to shore, it's deck on fire and and an abandoning crew leaping overboard into rubber and wood safety boats, trying desperately to escape the near-exploding Mont Blanc.
The crowd on shore and on the docks watched in amazement, oohing and awing as several barrels flew into the air and exploding into millions of pieces; little burning balls of crackling flames. More and more people barged through the chaos to see the 'fireworks'.
"Girls, stop this racket. Sit in your seats and behave. Children should be seen and not heard." The teacher stormed in to the room with a stern look on her face, her trembling finger pointed towards the desks.
"Be good, I shouldn't have to come back until after lunch." With that, she turned and disappeared through the cracked doorframe and murmured under her breath,
"Good riddance." The girls let go of their breath, giggling with their heads collapsed on the dark wooden desks, making faces.
"One finger pointed to us, three back at her." Ali whispered to Jessie, imitating the teachers shaking hand. The girls had completely forgotten about the collided ships when it exploded.
Shattered glass, collapsed buildings, bodies stained with blood, missing limbs. It all happened so fast, in a shield of blinding light, with a brilliant force, casting you hard against the walls and floors, trapping you, boards capturing and keeping you prisoner.
Ali gasped for air, something to hold on to. She didn't know where she was anymore. The room was completely destroyed. The teachers desk was in flames, a tipped candle dripped wax on her nose from the shelf above her.
"Jessie!" She screeched in a hoarse tone. her throat screamed as she coughed up ash and dust. Then her mind went back. The fogged window. The fire. The explosion. Suddenly her eyelids flickered open with realization. Her home, her city, was destroyed.
Struggling to get a grasp on her desk, she lifted her self up with the shelf, unsure that it would hold her weight, and uprighted the sticky candle. Gazing around, she felt sick to her stomach. Jessie was trapped under a desk, bleeding through her forehead and cheek. Limping over, Ali gently dabbed her somewhat clean handkerchief over Jessie's forehead. Startled, Jessie jumped, slamming her hand against a pointy nail, creating a deep puncture.
"Here, I'll wrap it up." Ali mumbled as her friend grumbled in pain. Taking Jessie's hand away from the board, Ali wrapped Jessie's handkerchief around her hand. Lifting the splintered desk away, Ali freed her friend and they both stood up.
"We need to get out of here and find our families, but send help back to them." Jessie motioned to the collapsed children around the destroyed room, and the two girls stepped out onto the dusty tracks outside, using the window as an escape route.
Wagons were already being loaded with dead and crushed bodies, searchers lifting broken window panes and breaking through front doors to help what lay beyond them.
"Hey! They need help in there!" Ali called to one man looking unoccupied, and pointed back to the school. He gathered his crew and they climbed back through the window the girls had just descended from.
Grasping each other tightly, the friends walked bravely, yet emotionally past people mourning and weeping. The snow fell coldly, melting on warm cheeks yet freezing their noses.
" Ali, I don't think we should go that way." Ali looked up and followed Jessie's gaze to the narrow road ahead. Torn apart houses and bodies buried under gates, wood, everything. And the tall, once beautiful house was burning to ashes, rescuers unable to get inside to help the trapped people inside.
Turning automatically, Ali led them down a wide, uneven trail that curved up a slope, overlooking the 'beautiful' harbour, and to the huge Dwelling home of Jessie and her grandfather.
Rushing to her crashed and broken front porch, Jessie pushed aside all the rubble and flung open the front door, which snapped off its hinges seemingly on command.
"Grandpa!!" Jessie screeched at the top of her lungs, hearing no sound of anything living from inside the dark ghostly room. A figure appeared from the hallway, and Jessie rushed to embrace her well guardian. Suddenly feeling a rush of anxiety to get home and hear her father and mothers gentle laugh and embrace their warm bodies, Ali rushed out the door, lifting her battered skirts from trailing behind her.
Stopping to catch her breath halfway up the steep knoll, Ali met a man. She strained her ears against the sound of the swirling snow. She could barely make out his words; he said something about the fire station. Then realization hit her. Food, water, warmth. They were gathering everyone to the station!!
Ali had searched for her family through and through the cluttered, dry aired building. No trace, no sign. She would hold her breath every time a shape appeared through the gloomy shadows outside, and turn her head away as a tear trickled down her cheek sadly. Finally, she decided she must search for them, knowing that practically every living citizen of halifax was in this very building, on one of the six floors. Ali skittered to the door, and holding her fathers jacket tight, she slowly skated out onto the driveway. She heard screams behind her, shaking off the hands on her shoulders. Not turning to see the helpless faces behind her, Ali disappeared into the swirling snow, the dark shadows enfolding her and swallowing up her tiny figure, leaving no footprints.
