It is sudden,
“This is a lockdown.”
Abrupt.

Yet many of us remain leisured
Somehow assured
That this was just a drill

Not I,
For my heart raced
With every bang and clang

Because what if,
This wasn’t just a drill?

It takes some time,
But eventually everyone sat
Against the hard wooden shelves
In silence.

Some sat curled up,
With arms and heads leaning against knees
As we all waited
In what seemed like suspended time

I wonder what others were thinking,
“When will this be over?”
“I need to go to the washroom.”
“Boo, I’m going to miss my favourite class.”

Not all were thinking about these trivial things
For me,
I was thinking about news stories
Of violent school shootings,
And how often we think
That news is news

We’ve become desensitized
After hearing each day about crime,
Shootings,
Death.

But it doesn’t feel real,
Until you wait on those cold floors,
While silence and darkness weighs down
And with each ticking second
Worry intensifying

Thankfully, today was not an emergency
Not a headline of

“Students slaughtered in school”

But I imagine the many others
Who did not get off this easily.