“Revenge” Dear Family, I suppose I should not do this. It is wrong. It is shameful. But it is something I have to do. All my life I have been quiet, letting people step all over me. They used to call me names, shoved me in the snow, spit on me. Would you be able to maintain sanity? I have been weak for so long, just taking the pain and now they’re going to pay. You will never see me again so I want to tell you that I’m sorry I was never good enough for you guys. I’m sorry for what I’m about to do. You guys were always good to me, so this has nothing to do with you. Again, I have to get revenge on these people and I know you can’t possible understand why I am doing this. It is just what I have to do. I love you guys, Dan Rebecca was a brilliant girl, though she did not think so. She was a beautiful girl, with great teeth and a great smile, though again, she did not think so, until she was 18. Rebecca had a tough past, full of depression and anxiety. As she got older her depression and anxiety got worse. At the age of 14 she started popping pills like Advil and Tylenol in the bathroom. She would wait until the house is deserted so no one could hear her. One day her mom found her 16 year old daughter passed out on the bathroom tub, having taken a whole bottle of extra strength Tylenol. Rebecca laid there motionless, but still breathing. She looked so helpless lying in the tub full of water with her Hollister sweater and her ripped denim jeans on. She still had a smudge of her favorite lip gloss on her cheek. Her mom rushed to her side and pulled her body out of the tub and called the ambulance. She was terrified and she had no idea her daughter had severe depression and was suicidal. She resolved right then and there that she had to get her daughter help. She got her daughter anti- depressant medication and therapy three times a week, which in a matter of three months did wonders for Rebecca. When she turned 18 she was a lot better, full of light and realized how brilliant and good she really was. She was about to finish her senior year and things were going great in school. She even had a boyfriend, this nice guy she met in AP physics. His name was Robert and he was so handsome, with his beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes. Best of all he had a great personality. He was so outgoing, which was the opposite of how Rebecca was. She needed a nice companion besides her family and her friends, whom she adored very much. Her relationships grew strong since she was happier and healthier and her grades improved so much. She was soon on the fast track and aspired to get into New York University to become a Theater major. She found a passion for it, and when she was mentally stable she auditioned for her first play her junior year and miraculously got the female lead, Lady Macbeth in the play “Macbeth”. She had her whole life ahead of her now that she was happy and enjoying life, unfortunately that was not true. Rebecca and her best friend, Naomi were getting ready for school together. It was the last day until there high school graduation ceremony in which they would be set free from high school and go off into the real world and be independent. This was a day to celebrate. The morning started with getting ready for school and having a gourmet breakfast courtesy of Rebecca’s dad. He was a great cook and worked at a restaurant near their house. Rebecca and Naomi feasted over a stack of 10 inch round pancakes with strawberries, whipped cream and delicious Vermont Maple Syrup. Fried eggs, home fries, bacon, and sausage also accompanied the pancakes. “Dad, this breakfast is so good. It’s a great start to this great day, the last day of high school.” Rebecca said, while stuffing the pancakes down her mouth. “I’m glad you like it. And speaking of the last day of high school, we are going to have to schedule a day where me, you and your mother go shopping for college stuff. You know that right?” “Yes of course. But I just want to think about this last day of high school!” Rebecca declared. She was so excited to get out of her high school and go off into the real world and start a new chapter in her life “I’m just so glad I’m going to Skidmore College, right near NYU so we can see each other a lot.”Naomi chimed in. Naomi was Rebecca’s best friend who loved her to death, even though they have only known each other for two years. They had so much in common: both loved theater, reading, writing and having fun at the roller rink every Friday night. Naomi was a completely happy girl and unlike Rebecca, was never depressed and never had problems. She was always care free and just wanted to have fun and be with the people she loved and who loved her back. “Well it’s time to go to school. I actually want to be early so we can walk around and reminisce on good times before the first bell.” Rebecca said, getting up, washing her hands and getting her backpack ready. “Okay, let’s hit the road” Naomi said, thanking Rebecca’s dad for the scrumptious breakfast. “Will we take my car?” “Yeah, I really don’t feel like driving anyway!” Rebecca said. So Rebecca and Naomi gathered up their books and headed in the car. East High school is about five minutes away from Rebecca’s house and every time they drove to school together it seemed as though it took literally a second to get there. Today, however, it seemed as though it took much longer. Maybe it was because through the ride Rebecca and Naomi were thinking about all of the memories they had in this neighborhood and high school. All the times when they never had a date on Saturday nights, they always would go to the local fair and go on the carnival rides together and have a great time. They would always do their science projects together with their other mutual friends and always get an “A” on them. They would always dance in the pouring rain. Now these were just memories. “So, we’re here Becky,” Naomi would sometimes call her Becky, just because Rebecca hated it ever since she was six and saw Santa Clause at the local Mall. He was so scary looking and Rebecca still has the image of his scary face to this day. “Please don’t call me Becky, and yes we’re here. This is the last time we will be sitting here in the car in front of the school. This is just crazy. But at least we don’t have to be apart since we will both be in New York.” They got out of the car and walked into the school. For some reason the school seemed a lot brighter to them. Going to school used to be just an “okay” experience but today it was great to be in school. “Let’s walk around. We have a good twenty minutes before first bell,” Rebecca said. “Okay. How about we walk around and we stop at random places and say something cool that happened to us there,” Naomi suggested. “Sounds good,” Rebecca said, smiling. So the girls walked around the school. They stopped in the cafeteria, reminiscing about the infamous food fight that took place, and that time when Joey Lawrence dumped a bowl of pasta down in his girlfriend’s shirt for supposedly sleeping with Patrick Daily after a night of partying together at the Westwood’s block party. They walked in the auditorium next, then stepping into the huge theatre room, with all of the costumes and props that had been used in previous plays. Rebecca was thinking about the “Macbeth” play and how it was so much fun and tiring rehearsing from 2:00pm after school to 6:00pm in the evening. They then walked to the science and English classrooms, talking about their hardest and easiest assignments and those times where the notorious student would mouth off to the teacher. They went to their Calculus class and immediately got out of the room because they did not want to remember the hard tests that were given that made going to the class a complete nightmare. Mr. Steinberg was the teacher and he was so mean and grouchy every single day. Suddenly the first bell rang. It would be the last time they would ever hear that bell. “Well gotta go, see you in 6th period AP Physics. I can’t wait to see Rob and talk to him a little bit.” Rebecca said. “Oh, by the way, are you going to stay with Rob when you go off to college?” “Well I don’t think so. There are plenty of fish in the sea and he’s going to be going to the University of Miami, so I won’t be seeing him a lot. Who knows, I’ll talk to him tonight and give you an update.” Rebecca had been thinking about this too. She did not know what she was going to do. She did not want a guy tying her down. She wanted to live the college life and not have a guy on her shoulders. She really liked Rob though, maybe even loved. She would have to talk to him about it and do some independent thinking as well. But she did not want to think about that now. She wanted to just live moment by moment, something she never quite mastered but she knew she had to. That was a major thing that she was told to try to do in therapy. “Okay, well, see you soon,” Naomi walked off to her English class “Bye,” Rebecca walked off to her Art class. Rebecca loved art class, all of the drawings she produced in that class were amazing. Everyone was jealous of her great hand and technique for shading objects and 3D drawings. Astonishingly, art went by so fast. 2nd period then came and went. It was AP English. The third period came and went and before they knew it, it was lunchtime, a time where people could leave the school and go to Subway or get take out Chinese or a hotdog. Rebecca and Naomi ate lunch and went outside for a little bit. The bell rang and they had to go inside for the last period, AP Physics. It was great now because Rebecca was so excited to see Rob, who was not available during lunch so they could not hang out. She wanted to tell him to come over her house later so they can talk about the future and if they wanted to continue their relationship. AP Physics started and the class was chaotic, full of excited seniors who wanted to get the hell out of the school. Rebecca and Naomi did not, however, because they knew when they left the classroom, they will never be coming back, that is, if they go to high school reunions, which is unlikely of them. Suddenly Rebecca realized that she had forgotten something in the theater room when she and Naomi had gone in there earlier. She asked the teacher, since they were not really doing anything in class anyway, she said yes and said that Naomi can go with her, since the teacher was hip and knew that they were best friends. “So what did you leave in the theatre room?” Naomi asked while they were walking down the hallway leading to their destination. “I think I left my cell phone there. I remember putting it down when emptying out my purse and I guess I forgot to put it back in my bag. I’m an idiot I guess” “Yup, you are” Naomi said, jokingly They arrived into the theater room where all of the costumes and hats were. It was like a dream entering it. It was theatre staring you in the face. The room had so many memories. The happiness ended right then and there. “What the f**k was that?” Naomi yelled. “It sounds like gunshots,” Rebecca said “Oh my god.” Naomi was crying hysterically. “Pull it together, maybe is a practice drill or something.” Rebecca knew that was not the case. Naomi always got so scared so she needed to be the strong one. Suddenly the gunshots came closer and closer and their ears started to really hurt from the horrid sound. Suddenly Rebecca decided to open the entrance to the theater room, the sight shocked her, she saw wounded people lying around, so helpless and she knew the gunman was near. “Who the f**k would do this!” Rebecca cried out. “Rebecca, get the f**k back in here!” Naomi said softly but shaking. Rebecca followed her orders. They both went to the corner of the room, finding a place to hind until the chaos was over and the police took the gunman down. They heard more gunshots. Suddenly there lives were in immediate danger. He was there. “I know someone is in here so stop f*ing hiding. I’m just going to start shooting then.” “No please don’t!” Naomi jumped out of her hiding spot and surrendered. “Dan? Why are you doing this? “Shut the f**k up b***h. And come out Becky.” Dan went to where Rebecca was hiding and yanked her out from under the chair. “Please don’t do this! We’ll do anything you want. Please don’t kill us!” Naomi cried out, pleading. “Well actually I’m going to give you beautiful girls a little choice. See, I won’t kill both of you, I’ll just kill one of you. So you guys have to decide who I am going to kill.” Dan said, sweat dripping down his face. He was just as scared as Naomi and Rebecca. “Please don’t kill either of us! We will give you money, whatever you want! Please Dan! I have never done anything bad to you. We were always friends.” Rebecca said, her voice faint and shivering. “We were never friends. You guys are just sucking up to me so I don’t kill one of you. That’s what you all do! This whole school is fake and nothing but s**t. You guys stab each other in the back and laugh. You guys bully and oppress people like me until we can’t f*ing handle it anymore and snap! It’s all your fault that this happened and people have to die. So I’ll give you two minutes to choose who lives and who dies. Then I’ll blow my brains out too.” Rebecca did not know what to think. This was supposed to be a great day and now either her or her friend had to die. She loved herself and her friend. She was just trying to get her life back together. She was going to have a great future. She realized that whether her or her best friend died, her life would still end and nothing would ever be the same. Why does this have to happen? I always treated everyone else well and I was getting my life together. Why did I have to go to school today? “Maybe I should die. I love you and I want you to have a good life.” Naomi said sobbing. “You haven’t finished all of the things you wanted to do in your life. I already lived a great life, with no regrets. You’re my best friend Rebecca” “No. You can’t do that! You can’t give up your life just because I didn’t make the right decisions. You can’t and you won’t! I love you too much Naomi. You’re my sister,” Rebecca said sobbing more so than Naomi. Rebecca had the most painful look in her eyes. She knew what she had to do and it was going to hurt. She would never have the life she dreamed. She would never graduate college, get married and have kids. She would never see her family again. She would never pet her dog again or go to the rink or kiss her family. It was all over. The two minutes were almost up. The two girls were shaking. Suddenly there was no more time to think. “Whose it gonna be ladies? Whose gonna die?” Dan said, he was so weak and was shaking as he put his finger on the trigger. This wasn’t him and the three of them in that theatre room knew it. “ I want to die. Can I say something first Dan?” “Yeah but make it quick.” “I feel so bad for you, you f*ing loser. You’re weak, spineless and I hope you rot in hell for what you’ve done to everyone within these last five minutes. You’ve managed to ruin many people’s lives. You should kill yourself because you’re a loser and you don’t deserve to live. That’s all I have to say. Now f*king kill me. ” Dan shot her, using one bullet so he could save the other one for himself. Rebecca lay on the floor, with a pool of blood under her. She was crying and Naomi burst into a hysterical screech and lied down next to Rebecca to comfort her during her last seconds of life. The last shot was then fired by Dan. He shot himself in the head. “I love you Becky.” Naomi whispered in Rebecca’s ear as she was slowly fading away. Miraculously she managed to get two short sentences in before she died. “I love you too Naomi. Make me proud.” Rebecca whispered and closed her eyes. She was dead, along with six others. The SWAT team entered the school, taking out the wounded students, staff, and teachers. Six bodies were taken out, and Naomi later found out it was her ex boyfriend, Lewis, her friend Katy, her favorite teacher, Mr. Shepherd, the lunch lady, and her good acquaintance Jessica. She stalked to these people every day, shared stories with them. She never though they would be gone. The most painful thing of all was the loss of her best friend and just thinking about the fact that this kid felt as though he had to get revenge like this, even on people who were nice to him, like Rebecca. Naomi took Rebecca in her arms and carried her out of the school and laid her on the soft grass. Cops then surrounded her and the ambulance took away the body. Rebecca’s parents were hysterical and Naomi’s parents were screaming. Naomi rushed to her parents and together they all went to Rebecca’s parents. “Rebecca saved my life,” Naomi fell to the ground crying. They all fell to the ground as well. They all sat there in the front of the school in the soft green grass, crying for a long time.