Holding On Your Own

“Hope.  Would you please come up the board and work problem fifteen for us?”1

I looked up from my desk in disbelief. Why had Ms. Patterson called on me to work anything from this demonic Algebra 2 book? I groaned as I looked at number fifteen in horror. Apparently, we were using the Pythagorean Theorem. I hurriedly rushed to the board; book in hand, as I first copied the problem, hoping with that few added seconds, I’d figure out exactly what it was I was supposed to be doing. I could hear my friend Bernadette snickering from her chair. I turned and gave her a hard scowl, the marker still poised on the board.2

“Hope, is there any reason why you aren’t writing?”3

I rapidly shook my head, hearing my friend give out another short laugh. Just looking at Bernadette you could tell she wasn’t made for math. Her long tan legs ended in a pair of three-inch heels and came out of a short denim mini skirt. She had an ample chest and head full of curly blonde hair. I could picture her squinting up at the board, snickering at the fact it was me up there instead of her.4

The class began to whisper and talk amongst themselves. I could feel my cheeks getting hot. I had no clue what I was doing and everyone could tell.5

“Class! Please don’t-“But that were the only words that escaped Ms. Patterson’s lips before a bloodcurdling scream tore through the warm and pleasant air of the classroom. Our teacher’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion. The dull roar of chatter that had formed throughout my classmates came to an immediate halt.6

“What was that?” A short red-haired boy, a freshman by the look of him, asked aloud. He was one of those kids who was smart enough to be in advanced courses, but not smart enough to keep his mouth shut at the right times. 7

“I don’t know. Students, I’m going to make sure things are okay down the hall. Lock the door and don’t open it for anyone but another teacher. Hope you may be seated.”8

The sweet breath of relief washed through me. I quickly capped the marker, closed my book, and rushed back to my seat. Bernadette tittered quietly as the door shut behind our teacher.9

“Lucky break McAllister.” She scratched her cheek with one of her acrylic nails. I rolled my eyes at my friend, who insisted on calling me by my last name ninety percent of the time. The class erupted into nervous chatter, as Loren, a short tubby girl who sat closest to the door, clicked the lock into place.10

“I wonder what’s going on out there.” I absent mindedly asked no one in particular. Drew, a cute boy with a classic grin, who sat directly in front of me turned around. It seemed as if he was going to answer my question, when several loud bangs and another horrific scream tore through the air. All the chitchat ceased and Drew’s smile faded. He flicked his slightly long bleach blonde fringe out of his eyes and gave me a nervous look.11

“Hope. I’m gonna get everyone to go to the front of the room. Away from the door. You and Bernie’ll listen right?” He looked from me to Bernadette in question and we both nodded immediately. He gently stood, his jaunty frame looking even skinnier in skintight blue jeans and an obviously girls lavender and grey hooded jacket. He flicked his long bangs out of his green eyes again and cleared his throat. The rest of the class, which consisted of about six other kids, turned their attention to him at once. “Alright guys. I don’t know what’s going on out there, but I think it’d be safer if we came up here by the chalk board and sat on the floor. That way we’re not so close to the door in case-” Before he could even finish forming his sentence, a loud explosion like sound came from directly outside our door. I screamed in terror, along with several others of my classmates and we all scurried to the front of the room.12

My heart was pounding as we all sat huddled together, nine of us in total. We all looked at one another in question, as if the answer to this scenario lay with someone in front of the chalkboard in Ms. Patterson’s Algebra 2 room. I felt Bernadette’s hand wander to my shoulder and she squeezed it carefully. 13

“I’m going to go look out the door and see if I can see what’s happening.”14

Drew immediately shook his head and several of our other classmates spoke out in disbelief. 15

“Bernie, you can’t do that.” Laylynn, the co-captain of the dance squad squealed in terror. She was shaking, her blonde pigtails shivering along with the rest of her. I could practically hear her braces clicking together.16

“Yeah, don’t do something stupid like that.” I immediately agreed with other girl, as my friend stood shakily on her 3 inch high heels and smoothed her short skirt down. As she did this, the doorknob began to wiggle incessantly. 17

“All the more reason for me to do it. Someone wants in.” She gave me an annoying grin and began to walk toward the door slowly. If she was trying to be quiet, she wasn’t succeeding, because with every step an small “click” resounded around the room. She reached the door and instead of trying to be careful and coy about the whole matter, stood whole heartedly in front of the small piece of glass that separated us from the outside hall. “See guys there’s no one out there even.” She rolled her eyes in disgust. She turned back to the door to take one final look and suddenly a loud roar burst forth. The glass partition shattered and Bernadette flew backwards onto the floor, motionless. A bloody arm flew forth from the hole in the door and made quick work of the lock.18

“BERNIE!” I cried out as my friend did not get up and come back to us. She lay there, back facing me, not moving at all. Drew wrapped an arm securely around my shoulder, not letting me move. 19

“Hope, be quiet. Someone’s out there. Didn’t you see them unlock the door?” He was whispering gently into my ear, but all I could think of was my friend. My heart was practically breaking every second I had to stay here, not making sure she was okay. Drew wrapped his other arm around me protectively, embracing me. The doorknob again began to move, but this time with success. The door swung open, stopped by Bernadette’s unmoving frame. Even so, Tyler VanHause came into the room, a gun in his hand and his pockets clinking with bullets. His eyes looked dead, so dead. I remembered Tyler from my Chemistry class; we had actually been close friends with him. Why was he doing this?20

“Ty? What’s going on out there?” The red haired loud mouth freshman kid piped up from the back of our huddled group. Tyler turned his lifeless eyes toward the boy and his lip curled in disgust. He cocked his gun quickly and before any of us had any idea what was going on, we were covered in blood. Tyler had just blown that boys head off. I gagged senselessly as I looked down at the bits of bone and blood that covered my forearms. Drew instinctively hit the floor, dragging me down with him. 21

“Why are you doing this?” My voice sounded hoarse as I cried out at the boy we all knew since grade school. Drew’s body lay over me and he clamped his hand down over my mouth. The rest of our classmates had stood and were trampling over the red haired boys body to try to get to the door. Tyler made quick work of three of them, including Laylynn. Suddenly Loran and two boys from the back of the room broke through and began to run down the hallway. Tyler’s bloodshot gaze followed them and he began to march after them slowly, knowing it was only a matter of time before he caught up to them.22

It was then Drew picked himself up off me. He grabbed my forearm gently and jerked me up as well. I yanked my arm from his grip and immediately rushed to Bernie. She still wasn’t moving. As I knelt beside her, I gently grasped her shoulder and rolled her over onto her back. I wasn’t expecting what I saw. Blood had pooled around her on the floor and her blonde curls were matted against her head on one side. I silently thanked God you couldn’t see much of her wound and it didn’t look like she’d died in much pain. Her eyes were shut and her lips were slightly parted. My Bernie…23

“Hope…we can’t stay here. Laylynn and T.J over here are still alive. We need to get them somewhere safe.” Drew’s voice permeated my thoughts and I gently opened my eyes. I placed a chaste kiss on my best friend’s cheek and gently grasped her hand one last time.24

“I love you, kay? We’re gonna come back for you Bernadette, I swear it. I just have to help Laylynn right now.” I squeezed her still warm hand one last time and then hurried over to Laylynn’s side. Her shoulder was pretty badly torn up, considering he’d been close to her when he fired. You could see bits of bone shining through her bloody torn up flesh. She winced in pain as Drew wrapped his sweater around her wound. T.J stood on his own; the bullet meant for him had only grazed the side of his arm. He’d been lucky.25

‘But not as lucky as me.’ I silently thought in my head. ‘But so much luckier than Bernie…’ The thought of her laying here…it just killed me. Tears burst forth without restraint and Drew quickly finished tending to Laylynn and gathered me in his arms.26

“It’s not your fault Hope. We have to go, or we’re all going to end up like Bernie.” He squeezed me hard for good measure and then let go. He helped Laylynn to her feet and we quickly left the classroom. Gunshots were echoing from what seemed like the gym. Drew knew that and led us away from it, towards the outside double doors.27

“Someone has to have called the cops by now.” T.J’s gruff voice mumbled. As we turned the corner, knowing our destination was at the end of this hallway, we were met by Tyler’s butchery. Two teachers lay directly in front of us, blood pooled all around them. You could see the male teacher’s leg bone sticking out of his calf, as he was face down. The woman’s eyes were wide with fear and her hand still clutched at her chest as if to say ‘Oh the horror!’ 28

“That’s Ms. Thompson. She’s our dance director.” Laylynn began to sob onto Drew’s shoulder as she took in the young blonde woman lying next to the man. We quickly sidestepped the two bodies and continued. Laylynn’s sobs soon faded to hiccups as we hurried down the hall. Drew stopped to peer into every room, to make sure no one was alive that needed help. It seemed most of everyone had gotten out. We figured Loren and the two boys as well, until we heard a mournful howl echo down the hall behind us.29

“Oh god! Someone is close! That means he’s following them. We’ve got to go Drew; we need to get out of here!” Laylynn’s voice was edged with fear as she jerked at Drew with her good arm. She winced in pain as his sweater slid down her injured shoulder and a fresh flow of blood coated her lower arm. It began to drip on the floor and Drew slipped his arms around her, carrying her bridal style.30

“Let’s go guys.” We were mere feet from the double doors; we could even see the mobs of police officers and ambulances outside when another terrified shriek met my ears. All of us turned and there was Loren. She was limping and covered with blood. The two boys weren’t with her.31

“Help me! Please don’t let him get me! Please!” She was moving too slow. We all knew that. Nevertheless, Drew thrust Laylynn into my arms and told us to go. I grunted under the excess weight and T.J hurriedly opened the door for me.32

“Can you take her?” I asked quickly. As soon as he nodded, I in turn gave Laylynn to him. I hurried after Drew, knowing he wouldn’t make it back with Loren unless he had me to help. We each hooked an arm around her and were moving as quick as we could back to the double doors. A gunshot rang out close behind us and I looked at Drew with fear stricken eyes.33

“What if we don’t make it.”34

“We’ll be fine.” He didn’t even glance at me, he had seen the officers enter the building. Laylynn and T.J had made it outside. Two more gunshots rang out and Drew’s breathe quickened.35

“DROP YOUR WEAPON OR WE WILL SHOOT! GET DOWN ON THE GROUND YOU THREE!” Drew immediately dropped to his knees, careful not to hurt Loren in the process. She’d been shot in the knee, he’d probably shattered her knee cap. I helped to lay her down and looked back hurriedly. There was Tyler, gun in hand, grinning wildly at the cops.36

“I have to finish her. No one’s getting out of here unless I say so.”37

Oh my God. What was going through his mind?38

I heard his footsteps coming purposely closer to Loren. That’s when it happened. The cops shot a warning fire into the air. Again, more footsteps, drawing ever closer. Loren began to sob uncontrollably. “Make them stop him Hope. Make them stop him.”39

“Shhh Loren…they will…they will.” I found her hand and gingerly squeezed it within mine. Tears were seeping out of my eyes as well. Here we were. What was going to happen?40

“SON WE’RE GIVING YOU ONE LAST CHANCE TO DROP YOUR WEAPON AND GET ON YOUR KNEES. WE WILL NOT HESITATE TO SHOOT YOU!”41

“Shoot him…Please shoot him.” Loren was silently praying, her teeth rattling together as she shook with fear. She knew if they didn’t, she’d be the first one he came after. Then Drew. Then me.42

“Sergeant, we’re opening fire, ten four. We’ve fired warning shots, and given several warnings, he’s still advancing on students, over.”43

“Copy that. You have permission. Just get those kids out of there.”44

It’s was all a rain of blood and bullets after that. Each officer fired twice by the sound of it and we heard the dull thud of Tyler’s body as it hit the ground. It was over. 45

It was all over.