A Little Insight

If you are reading this, you are probably human. All humans are programmed to have certain qualities, other living organisms do not have. Fear is one. What is your worst fear? Losing your loved ones, your wealth, job... perhaps death? What is your worst fear? Ha. A few days ago, I never thought about this question; I was wrong to do so. 

In today's world, there are many phobias. Domatophobia is the fear of houses; Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter. It is quite stupid, but it is real. I did not know about my worst fear until two days ago. If you follow me, I shall tell of a tale of one of humanity's worst fears in today's world. A small request before you continue... if you start, please finish, because I have written this story as I sit waiting for death.

The Beginning

2 Days Before

Two days ago, I was an extremely ignorant person. I did not care about anything. How pathetic and narcissistic I was. And then came the sudden change. Life will never be the same for me, my friends, or any survivors. It is truly amazing how several lives can be changed in just 48 hours! Two days!

Anyways, It was only 6:30 when I woke up. I got dressed and had my breakfast and continued my daily routine, then I got out of my home and walked to school. It was freezing outside; a small cloud appeared every time I exhaled. I had gotten used to my routine. It was January, I walked to school everyday. Why? Well, some may walk as exercise to keep themselves healthy. Me... I walk to make sure the number of steps on my Fitbit is above 15,000. 

When I reached the door of my school, I was greeted by my friends in the lobby. We walked to our lockers, then headed off to our first classes of the day. The minute we entered the school, though, a countdown began. It was a countdown for lunch. See how pathetic I was. I did not care about anything, but sleeping, food, and doing stupid things with my friends. When I look back and reflect on my life before the event, I feel depressed.

I reached my first class of the day. Algebra 1. I sat in my seat and prepared for a long lecture on why a quadratic equation created a parabola. I sat down, and the teacher started. As he spoke, I wondered, "How will this ever help me in my life?" After thinking about it for about five minutes, I started daydreaming. Unfortunately, the teacher realized I was not paying attention.

"Hey, daydreamer! Why are you not paying attention to me?"

"Sir, I was paying attention. I do not know what you are talking about," I replied.

"Is that true," he said, "then please come up to the front of the class and state the quadratic formula." I stood up and walked to the board. I was wondering what I was going to say.

"Sir, the quadratic formula is... um... it is... wait... oh, I know, it is...um." He interrupted me in between.

"You have detention!" He yelled.

"Ok, sir. Sorry to disappoint you."

My day continued. I went to all my classes, and at the end of the day, I showed up for detention.

"Ugghhhhh," Mr. Frederick grunted. Did I mention it is not my first time having detention? I do not think so. I remember the last time I came in here...about two days ago. I spray painted all over the teacher's whiteboard. It was hilarious. In fact, I have been in this room so many times, I practically become Mr. Frederick's best friend; I do not think he realizes it. All I ever hear from him now is a series of grunts. In a little while, his life will change forever. He will no longer grunt, and I will realize he is not bad at all. That story is for later.

To my right, sat the school's worst student. Rocky. He is always in trouble. In fact, I think he has detention almost every day. Why does he not get expelled, you might be asking? Because his father is the head of the board of education. 

To my left, sat Rocky's partner in crime, Hector. Hector is one of Rocky's most loyal goons. Let us just say, if Rocky ever needs to stuff someone in a locker, Michael is the guy who will do it.

So I stayed there until 4:30 pm and then left for home. I am an only child, so I have to stay home alone until my parents arrive. I walked to the kitchen and got myself a small snack. I got a few brownies and some Jell-O. I comfortably placed myself on the sofa and turned on the TV. I had watched almost every good show on Netflix. I decided to watch something soothing... The Walking Dead.

When I finished my Jell-O and brownies, I went to my room and sat down at my work table and did my homework. I finally finished at around 6:30 pm. Man, high school is hard. My parents arrived 10 minutes after I finished my homework.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I got a call from school... Detention again?" my mother stated. 

"Yeah."

"Make sure it does not happen again."

"Yeah."

"Go to your room."

I replied, "Yeah," and started walking towards my room. Great. I stayed there until the morning. Oh well, maybe tomorrow will be a better day.

The Middle

1 Day before

Beep-Beep-Beep. The alarm rang. It was time to get up and go to school. I got up. 7:00. I grabbed my clothes and put them on. I rushed to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I went downstairs and met my parents. Then, I went to the kitchen and ate some cereal, packed my bag, and left the house. I walked to school in a haste; it was colder than usual. Then, I realized I had forgotten to put on my jacket. Crap, I thought. There was no time to go back and get it. So I continued. 

When I reached school, I went straight to my locker and opened it up. I took out all my binders and books and stuffed them into my bag and ran to class. Current Affairs was my first class. I entered the room. Right on time. We have a TV in that room. We watched ten minutes of news every time we had class. I actually liked it, maybe because it was the closest thing to entertainment we had at school. I feel bad saying that it was the closest thing to fun at school, because today, it was horrific.

Right when I saw the headlines written in bold, I wondered how a person could ever do such a thing:

Man walked into a school with a semi-automatic rifle and started shooting. 30 dead. 27 critically injured. 

As I sat down, in shock, I thought about what I had just read. Thirty people left the world. Then I thought about the twenty-seven that were injured. Then I realized, some of them may die as well. I was shocked at how 57 lives have been changed in what, maybe 10 minutes. The room was solemn. You could hear a pin drop. Nobody could talk. We were all shocked. And then we prayed. That day brought some change in me. 

Our school day continued. I was outraged how everyone was quiet for a few moments and then acted as if nothing had happened. When I left school that day, I was a changed person. It was a slight change, but a change, nevertheless. I did not realize what would happen tomorrow, would change my world completely. Everyone would be affected.

That night, I could not sleep. The dead did not let me sleep. I do not know why. I didn't even know anybody at the school, so why was I so affected. I tossed my thoughts around. From one side of my head to the other. I wondered how it must have felt to live in the moment when you knew you might not live to see the next day. I gave up.

The End

The Day it Happened

I woke to the sound of my parents crying. Actually, it was not crying. Crying is a few tears coming out of your eyes. They were sobbing. Frightened something had happened, I went downstairs and saw them staring at the TV. Every news outlet in the country saw it. Massive protests in the capital. Names of the dead from the day before had been written on boards. People held them. They were angry. Then I realized why they were crying. Two of the protestors were my aunt and uncle. They were holding the image of my cousin. On some poster board. With his name on it. My cousin was dead. I was frozen. Why didn't they call and tell us? For this reason, I was mad at my uncle and aunt. Deep inside me, a flame sparked. Not a flame, a wildfire. A hatred of firearms. Not just a hatred, a fear as well. That's what I am afraid of. Even though my life changed in less than 20 seconds of waking up, I was forced to go to school. I was outraged.

I class, I was not in a good mood. It was not because of the usual reasons. I did not have a fight. I had not gotten in big trouble. I had lost someone. Unfortunately, my Algebra teacher did not know of this. If he did, I am sure, he would not have acted the way he did when he realized I was not paying attention.

"You daydreamer! Come here! Right now!"

"What happened? I did not do anything wrong."

"You were not paying attention again!" he spat in my face. 

"I have a good reason!" I yelled at him. I felt like crap. Outraged. 

"Well... maybe you'd like to share with the class."

"Yesterday, there was a shooting at a school..." I said, "My cousin was shot and killed." Immediately, the room was solemn. Even my teacher did not do anything. He said one thing.

"I'm sorry. You may go back to your seat." Just as he said that, BANG. 

"What was that?" One of the students said.

Then the principal announced on the loudspeaker, "All students, please go into a room. We are on lockdown. This is not a drill. I repeat - BANG." We all yelled. Then two voices came onto the loudspeaker. They belonged to Rocky and Hector.

"Attention all students. You will all die! Haha haha," Hector said. Then I felt it. I realized how those kids felt when they knew that some of their friends will not live to see the next day. 

"Everyone stay here. I will go check everything out," my teacher whispered. When he left, we heard a loud BANG and the 15 kids in my class knew he was gone. In the next 3 minutes, we heard hundreds of rounds from their automatic rifles. I realized we had to do something. 

"We have to get out of school," I said. "Someone should call the police." The kid next to me took out his phone and dialed 9-1-1.

The operator said, "9-1-1, what is your emergency?"

The kid said, "I would like to report shots fired in the high school, Please hurry, they have already shot the principal and our teacher. Who knows how many will come?"

The operator said, "We will send officers to the school in a few minutes. If you can exit the building, please do so or hide. Do you know who the shooters are?"

He said, "Yes, they made an announcement on the loudspeaker. They are students in the school. Their names are Hector and Rocky." He hung up. 

I said, "Ok. We should barricade the door." Just then someone knocked hard on the door. Whoever it was, was eager to get in.

"Please let me in!" I recognized the voice. 

"Mr. Frederick!" I said. I opened the door and he ran inside. Then I closed it and locked it. 

"Oh my god! There is blood everywhere!" He said. 

"How'd you get out?" I asked him. 

"I was in the bathroom. I ran out and saw a bunch of kids get shot, then I ran for the nearest door, which was this room."

"We need to barricade ourselves in here." Then I grabbed chairs and desks and put them in front of the door. Everyone in the room helped. We grabbed the bookcase and the little closet and put it in front of the door hoping it will stop them from coming in. We were wrong.

THUD-THUD-THUD. “Open up right now or we’ll blast the door open!”

“They’ve found us,” a kid said. “What should we do now?” I could feel the fear inside of him. A loud BOOM interrupted my answer. The world went black. All I could hear was a loud ringing in my ear. The kind you would hear in video games when there is a loud explosion. When my hearing and sight were restored, I could see both of them. Laughing like demons. Shooting their weapons. And then the gun. Pointed at me.

“Goodbye!” Hector said. He pulled the trigger. I braced for impact. And then, Mr. Frederick jumped in front of me and took the bullet. Hector pulled the trigger again, but the magazine was empty. I took the gun from him and hit his partner in the head with it before he could shoot. Then, I ran out. I ran as hard as I could. Before, they could reach me. And as I previously stated, I realized Mr. Frederick was not a bad person at all. He had taken the bullet that had my name on it.

I ran out of the school. The police officers had surrounded the building. “Put your hands up!” I wondered why. Then I realized they thought I was a shooter, because I still had the rifle in hand.

I put my hands up and shouted, “I’m not a shooter. I just stole the gun from one! Please do not shoot me! The gun is empty.”

One of the officers said, “Put the rifle down and kick it here.” I took the rifle and did as he said. He picked it up and checked the magazine. It was empty. “Lower the weapons. He’s telling the truth.” They put the weapons down. “Kid, come here and explain the situation.”

“Ok. There are two shooters inside. Only one has a gun. I don’t know if they have backups. They have grenades. They shot my teachers and friends. Please don’t let them escape.”

“Of course. I will work to the best of my ability,” he replied.

The officer started walking into the school. BOOM.

5 Minutes before Explosion

“Ahh. The bastard took my gun!” Hector told Rocky.

“Don’t worry. I saw him running out the main door. I’m sure the police will enter from there. Let’s go rig it with an IED,” Rocky replied, “In the meantime, you’re going to need a gun.” He took out his secondary weapon. It was for an emergency, if he ran out of ammunition or if he was cornered by the police. 

They ran to the main door. Rocky took out an IED from his bag. He placed it on the side of the door. Then, he placed a tripwire. “If the police walk in, they will not see the wire and the IED will explode.” Hector and Rocky ran away from the door…

Resume

The force of the explosion threw me back. I was horrified. I had spoken to someone just a few minutes ago and now his insides remain scattered… everywhere. I checked myself for any damage. I had scraped my arms and my legs and some blood was coming out. Minor damage compared to what was about to come…

Back to Rocky and Hector

“Did you hear that!” Hector exclaimed. “The IED exploded. Now the police officers will think twice before entering the building.”

“Yes. Yes. You know where we haven’t looked yet?” Rocky said.

“Where? Where have we not wreaked havoc yet?” Hector asked.

“The library!” Rocky exclaimed. 

“Ugh. I hate that place. All the books,” Hector said, “Let’s go!”

The two shooters ran to the library… “Why is it empty?” Rocky asked. 

“They must be hiding,” Hector replied. 

“Hide and Seek!” Rocky exclaimed. It was horrific how excited he was to hurt people he knew. Who he saw everyday. It is this, that is truly horrifying. Truly disgusting. Truly gruesome. Truly appalling. I don't even want to go on. The next 5 minutes scary. Walls were painted with blood and bullets. The floor was littered with shells.

Resume Again

An officer picked me up and dragged me behind one of the cars, he was just trying to keep me safe in case they came out and started shooting. That was what happened a little while later. There was another explosion. I ran. I did not care if the officers made me stay back. Then they came out. With smiles on their faces. With guns in their hands. With hatred in their eyes. 

Then the bullets came. They rained upon us. The officers with their small pistols. Against the kids with guns and bombs. 

“Run!” One of the officers screamed at me. I got my @$$ up and started running. Then, the pain came. It was the pain of getting shots from a doctor. Those stupid tiny needles piercing through you, but this pain was that times ten million. I fell. Then I saw the blood. By the way, if you did not know, blood does not come out through the entry point. It comes out through the exit point. The films people watch show cowboys shooting each other in the chests and blood showing up where they got shot. That is not true. If you get shot in the chest, blood will come out through the back. I got shot in the back, therefore, blood was slowly coming out of the front of my body. Actually, it was not coming out slowly, it was gushing. Like a geyser. I lost a lot of blood. I fell unconscious. From that point on, I do not remember a thing.

Aftermath

I woke up in the hospital. I saw the TV on and my parents next to me. The headline was:

Two students at local High School slaughtered students with automatic rifle and IED. 42 Dead. 1 critically Injured. 3 dead were teachers. 38 dead were students. 1 of the dead was a Police Officer.

I realized one thing. I was critically injured, which led to me writing this story. I do not know if I’ll live. I asked a nurse for some paper and a pen after I met my parents who were sobbing. After they calmed down a little bit, I began to write this story. So maybe someone out there will be inspired to take action against automatic rifles or high capacity magazines, because 100 bullets are not required to kill a deer. It’s not just that, I hope people will turn against guns in general. In the beginning of this short story, I stated that everyone has a fear. My fear is not death. My fear is called hoplophobia or the fear of guns. I’ll leave you with one last thought in your mind. 

I am nobody and I am everybody.

T H E     E N D