"And that's when communism stepped in, beginning the Cold War." Recited Lilly Ann's History professor, looking off the projector and looking to the class. Lilly began to zone out, already knowing all of this from reading ahead in her textbook. She began to doodle a little forest on the top right part of her assignment booklet. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night and was sincerely regretting it. "Leaders began to use McCarthyism, which..."
The professor droned on and on while Lilly began to doze off. Lilly's long black hair created a curtain to block her slender face from the view of the professor. Her small frame sat comfortably in her seat with a leg pulled up to her chest.
Her friend Mark began to nudge her awake and gestured to the board where 'Atomic Bombs' were written on the top. This was her favourite topic: learning about the destruction that Atom bombs caused and the radiation that could soak the grounds it landed upon. Lilly spent hours studying radiation and wondering if there was a way around it. This was because of the prominent threat of nuclear destruction on the horizon. They were already on the brink.
There's been constant tension for the past ten years between North Korea, Canada, and the United States. The government spent a couple years trying to hide it and cover it up from the US citizens, like Lilly and Mark and their peers. The government gave up when a small missile was sent straight into the eye of Nashville, Tennessee and released a statement, "There is an immanent threat to the US and neighbouring countries. Bunkers are being re-opened, as well as being built. Tickets are being sold as fast as possible in case of emergency."
Lilly didn't like it though. How dare the government, who was supposed to protect its people, keep a secret this large? She didn't trust them, especially with the president they had in power, but that was her opinion. The tickets were a money grab, only for the rich. The poor are the last on their minds and always have been. If a bomb were to be dropped on the US, thought Lilly, it would be for good reason. Lilly sometimes got in trouble for her fatalistic views.
Lilly was born and raised in Ottawa, Canada and moved over to the United States when she got offered a scholarship to any University in Massachusetts. She chose Salem, mostly because of the history.
"The only countries in the world that possess weapons of mass destruction now are Russia, the U.K., North Korea, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, France, and us. The United States of America." The professor continued. Lilly began rubbing her eyes with tiredness and willed a yawn to pass her lips. Mark scoffed at her, stretching his arms. "Most of the weapons--"
The school suddenly shook at the same time a loud noise was heard. Gasps coming from every one of the students in the room, and a couple screams coming from the hallway. Lilly felt her heart pound. The sound that shook the school was unlike anyone had ever heard.
The professor was frozen for a good second. He finally walked to the window slowly with a shake in his step. He yanked the blinds opened and revealed a huge mushroom cloud that was quite far from the school. Lilly's instincts took over as she watched the trees begin to flatten and she hollered at the top of her lungs,
"Get down!" Most of her classmates listened to her, but the other half were in shock. Lilly yanked Mark down and the two of them got under a cupboard below the window where they would be safe from the glass. Lilly peaked out to see if she could yell at her teacher to get down. Right as she began to scream, the windows broke.
Her professor was too late. The glass shot into his windpipe, some in the right side of his temple, and the rest left his face cut up and bleeding. He fell from the blast and laid on his side, coughing up blood a couple times before going motionless. Screams were coming from everywhere and their peers were all covering their heads.
A scream erupted from Lilly. She couldn't hear anything, and her ears were ringing. She slowly peeked up from the cupboards with her eyes squinted with fear evident in her face. Suddenly, she watched another speck drop in the distance, a flash coming soon after. Lilly was too late, and she watched the flash. Pain shot through her nerves in her eyes, causing her to scream as she lost her vision.
Flash blindness, thought Lily through a split second.
"Mark, I can't see!" She cried out, reaching for her friend. He was shaking and sobbing as they hung onto each other, both of them in a world of darkness. Everything was so surreal and loud, like a constant ringing in their ears. Only half the class had survived, the only half severely burned or cut up with glass lodged in their bodies.
Lilly blinked harshly many times, tears dripping down her cheeks but no matter how many tears she cried, nothing cleared her vision. She began to feel faint from the screaming and heavy sobbing she had done. She suddenly left consciousness with the ringing still loud in her ears.