Christine’s life was very different than it had been just a few years prior. Her good friend, Melanie, was no longer in school. Her parents took her out and left to visit family in Canada while the world fell into chaos. Other’s like Melanie’s family had found places they hoped her safer. Her class was suddenly noticeably smaller than it had been. But Christine was content enough with the situation, she was still in her classes and still had things to do, and Melanie was the only one out of her close friends who left.<br/><br/>All of the girls in the group had thing in their lives that changed. All of them had stories how the events in the world were slowly effecting their home lives as the battlefront came closer and closer. Christine herself experienced plenty of changes. School now had drills that were practice, both for the possibility of bombs dropping and for sudden evacuation. Uncle Anton had not been passed the house in a long time. Father had joined the army, saying that the show of patriotism would keep help keep their family from suspicious eyes. The home felt emptier now that it was her and Mother, with fewer visitors. Uncle Anton wasn’t the only common appearance who seemed to disappear. But the two of them were holding on. They kept each other close and canned food and tried to make the best of the situation. Now, though, Mother looked off into the distance a lot more. Sometimes she had a wishful expression on her face, as if hoping Father would walk up from the horizon, and sometimes she had a worried look, as if the enemy lines would come marching in any second.<br/><br/>Christine played with Argent a bit, trying to figure out what all Argent could do. She didn’t get far on that end. She kept her promise to her Uncle. It was a tightly kept secret. Originally she left Argent at home. With the loss of her father, and her mother acting strangely, she felt comforted by the container (a reminder of times when her Uncle was around some and her father still lived with them) and kept it carefully secured and wrapped in her bag.<br/><br/>It was the last day of school for the week, and the atmosphere in the building was particularly tense. One of the teachers had left to find a place they deemed safer, and the staff seemed to take it as a hit to their morale. The children, sensing this, found it difficult to focus and there was a buzz of nervous energy about the school. Christine found herself affected by it as well. She could not sit still, and fidgeted more than usually. She found herself constantly glancing at her bag, the clock, the door, out the window, anywhere but at the lecture or the work she was supposed to be doing. It had been a long, difficult week with all of the changes and this last day was proving to be longer.