Preface

I almost fell off the edge.1

His midnight blue eyes had glazed over, like he was seeing something I couldn’t. I stared, horrified, as his irises move rapidly from side to side. He was perfectly and completely still; not one muscle in his body moved even slightly. I stuck my slender, pale hand out in front of his dazzling face and waved it up and down, frantically. Nothing. I started to panic. What if I had killed him with my story? No, that was silly. Impossible. I would’ve laughed at myself if the matter hadn’t been so dreadfully serious.2

But then I noticed the sound of the celebrators had died…completely. I slowly turned around, to stare blankly at a thousand motionless figures, all frozen by time itself.3

A vibration moved suddenly throughout my frightened body. I moved my eyes to look at the source: my hands. They shook harder than ever before. I was so scared, but even more afraid to show any emotion equal to it. There was no one around to see it, anyway. They were probably dead, for all I knew.4

I stared, once again out at the open sky. The night dripped with the booming silence that reverberated around the Academy. Or was this happening around the world, too? One could never be so sure. The world was so alone without sound. Even the tears that were strolling down my pallid cheeks had friends. Not me. Not the world.5

It was so quiet.6