The radio stations went dead that night and outside was dead silent. The eerie calm was nerve-rattling for the people hunched around the barrel on fire. The town was dead, everything was dead, but they listened to the static in hopes that something - anything would come along to give the good word. For weeks and weeks there was nothing but static accompanied by the snowfall and dark skies. It was as if there was nothing in the entire world but the eight people surrounding that barrel. Why they couldn't return to their homes was a mystery to them. All they knew was that everything was right until the scientist disappeared. Where did he go? What connection does he have to the things that have taken place? Since he was gone, the earth just stopped. It has been months since he was gone and months since the sun stopped coming up. The unseen was connected to him and the earth, but what was it? The crowed stared quietly into the flames, forgetting that anyone else was there. Not a word had been uttered for days. Not a sound was in the air but the air itself. Even if the world had stopped turning, it wouldn't make the wind stop. Oh, if only it did, and if only the sun could rise again. There would be life again. To feel the warmth on their faces was all they longed for. The child sat on an old crate with his face resting in the palms of his hands. The fire was warm, but soon the fire would be no more, like the sun, like the radio, like everything. He knew that everything came to an end, but he didn't know it would end like this. Such a bitter end it is! Were they destined to freeze in the snows? The dead trees were too wet to use for fuel, there was no more gasoline or kerosine, or lighter fluid, or coals, or anything that the people could use. All was gone. All was gone in the blink of an eye and it all disappeared when the scientist disappeared. What madness has caused this? The child shifted in his seat. He seemed the only one animated. The only one with blood pulsing through his veins. The only one left with a beating heart, and he became very sad. Who were these strangers all around him? Why hasn't he ever seen them before? Where was everyone else? He didn't know, and he didn't care to ask. Something inside of him was dying. Like a flame being blown out, only he hoped that the flame in the barrel would never go out. If it were to go out, the only light would come from the moon and he was scared. The dark was not where he wanted to be, so he shifted closer to the fire and closed his eyes. Where are you, mad scientist? What will become of us?

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