When Daria's skin went as pale as her eyes we knew she was clocking out. Any blood sugar dip and this happened, face of a china doll and a body of rags.
Hayla suddenly took on a pale look, as if she'd been painted with white-wash - even her lips were barely there. Then with one step backwards she crumpled like a puppet suddenly released of their strings.
Peter knew he would faint when his stomach gave out. It felt like his innards were being replaced by some kind of black hole. Then nausea crept from his abdomen to his head and the world went black.
When Polly had imagined fainting it was with delicate femininity, reality was different. She felt sick and then went down like a sack of onions in front of the entire school, hitting her face on the gym floor.
Beneath her feet the wooden floor felt soft, not as much as even a firm carpet, but not right for oak planks. Saskia moved to the edge of the room, her jeans brushing against the mildewed wall. It was hard to make out the details of the room after the summer light outside, but after a while she could make out the features of the room. It was the same as it ever was, just abandoned, old, dusty. On the wall was her school photograph taken just a few weeks ago. On the table were Papa's reading glasses and her mother's knitting was greyed with layers of dust, not even a glimmer of red wool fighting through. Forgetting the floor she rushed forward, "Papa! Mama! Papa come out! Mama where are you? Mama!" Her only answer was the creaking of the door moving lazily in the breeze. She went to run up the stairs and her foot went right through the first one. She staggered backward, her mind swirling, her breaths shallow until she fell in a heap to the floor.
Tyler's skin went ashen and he stumbled forward before he fell, Lucy and Ian grabbing for his arms as he tumbled. Then he lay there in the dirt as still as a corpse, barely breathing at all.
Henry lost the colour from his face. It was as if his heart had suddenly stopped beating and all the blood had run down into his boots. He swayed for just a moment before Max caught him and lowered him to the ground.
Jen lay on the damp ground. Keesha picked up her hand and dropped it over her face, leaving the rest of the gathered crowd to wince at the resounding slapping sound. Jen was out cold; that was the proof.