Snowflakes In Autumn (A Novella)

Prologue

It was 'bring your child to work' day, and Faith sat happily in her father's classroom, sandwiched right between Noah and her sister, dangling her legs from the big chair and making them dance about. 

Not everyone seemed excited to learn. Her sister, Hope, chewed at her hair and doodled in her notebook, not seeming to listen to their father as he stood at the front of the classroom speaking.  Noah listened carefully though. Even though he wasn't in this class and was already working on his Master's degree, he still came to visit her father; his mentor. 

The two had been thick as thieves forever. Noah started college when he was only sixteen. Her dad called him the smartest person he knew, but he was also the nicest. They were more like father and son than anything else.

Noah caught her looking up at him and gave her a wink only moments before a pop in the distance caused Faith to jump. She looked at Noah again and saw him staring at the door, a pen dangling between his fingertips. When she heard the pop again, the pen dropped. 

Her father ran to the door and turned the lock. "Noah, help me move this desk!"

Noah jumped from the chair beside her and ran down to her dad, along with a few other boys, and together they picked up her dad's desk and rushed it to the door. 

Another pop.

Faith looked all around her at the chaos. The girl two rows behind her was bawling her eyes out as the person who was sitting next to her was pulling at her arm, trying to get her to move. There were a few people still staring at the door as Noah had done before her dad asked for his help. 

Her dad shut off all the lights in the room and yelled at everyone to turn their cell phones on silent and get to the ground. Faith didn't have to turn off her phone. She wasn't old enough to have one. The fire alarm went off in their room. They'd just had a fire drill at her school a couple of weeks before, so Faith remembered that sound and wondered if it was a fire drill, why weren't they leaving the room in 'an orderly fashion' as her teacher called it.

He waved his hands toward himself, his eyes locked on her. Hope grabbed her hand so tight it hurt and together they ran to the front of the room. Noah grabbed Faith's hand and her sister let go, then wrapped his arms around her in a big hug. Hope went over to their dad and he draped his body over her too. 

A louder pop. So loud that Faith covered her ears. 

"Keep her safe, Noah."

She looked up at Noah and saw him nod, but there were tears in his eyes. Then she looked at her dad and saw the same. She'd never seen a guy cry before. 

Noah put his hands on her face and forced her to look up. "Do you trust me, little snowflake?"

He'd asked her that before, but never looked so serious or scared. Faith nodded. She trusted him more than anyone else in the world.

Another pop.

Noah looked around for a moment, then pulled her with him on the ground toward her daddy's big book shelf. He stood up enough to push it forward just a little, then picked Faith up and put her behind it. 

Someone on the other side of the door kicked it, then kicked it again, then another pop. Noah covered her body. She couldn't see anything, but she could hear muffled cries from everywhere in the room when that sound filled the air one after another. 

Suddenly Noah let a loud wail, then his body became heavy and limp on top of her own. The last thing she heard was Hope's scream.