Not a Drill

“LUKE! Call John and tell him to hurry up and get here! You guys are supposed to be at school already,” Luke’s mom screamed. John was Luke’s boyfriend. They’d been in a relationship for 4 years, since sixth grade. They were also the only gay couple in their high school. But they were okay with that.

“He’s coming, mom! He lives on the other side of town, he said he’ll be here in five minutes,” Luke replied. At this point, even Luke was scared that John wouldn’t make it. They had the same classes all day, so if John was late, so was Luke.

Five minutes later, as promised, John arrived in his truck. Luke met him in the driveway with a hug and a “Where were you?” John said he was caught in traffic along the way, but it would be a short drive to school anyways.

They arrived at the school after a 10-minute drive. They weren’t late, luckily. First period just seemed different. There was a group of kids in the corner hogging all of the computers and seemed to be watching something. Those kids were usually quiet kids. Luke noticed that three of them had guitar cases, yet none were in band.

He went over to them and asked, “Hey, did you guys join band?” The three with guitar cases each replied with a yes. Luke walked away suspecting nothing.

He went back over to John. “Are you excited for the dance tomorrow night?” John replied with, “Of course I am, everybody is. It’s our first high school dance for God’s sake!”

“I’m excited too. The teacher isn’t here yet, I wonder where she is”, Luke said. “She must be running late, but even when that happens, she’s never THIS late.”

“It happens to every teacher. I’m sure she’ll show up soon. It’s only ten minutes past the start of class. Every teacher has been later than this,” John replied.

“You’re right, I’m sorry for overreacting. I never even should have said anything, I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for. You didn’t do any wrong, you don’t have to apologize.”

Five more minutes went by. All of the other students were starting to wonder where the teacher, Mrs. Read, was. Usually, they’d either have the teacher by now or have a substitute. Still, nobody panicked or called the office.

Ten minutes after that, people got concerned and called the office. The secretary said that she saw Mrs. Read enter the school that morning and that she never left. At least the students knew that the teacher wasn’t sick.

Five minutes later, when the teacher still didn’t arrive, the secretary, Mrs. Dean, started walking around the campus. She checked bathrooms, lunchrooms, and was going to check the teacher’s lounge next. Mrs. Read had to be in there, right? There was nowhere else in the school that the teacher could be. When Mrs. Dean opened the door, what she saw was so terrifying that she closed the door instantly and yelled for all the students to get into any classroom before quickly walking back down the hallway towards the office.

Mrs. Dean pulled out her radio and radioed the office. “Mrs. Read is dead to a gunshot wound! This is not a drill; THIS IS NOT A DRILL!”

When the students in Mrs. Read’s classroom heard the principal making an announcement, they were shocked. The principal never did these things. The announcement was; “All students, teachers, and faculty, we are now on a full lockdown. This is not a drill.”

Instantly, the students sprang into action. Luke and John were given the assignment of barricading the door with chairs and tables. All of the other students worked together to make the room look unoccupied. They turned off the lights, put all backpacks on the ground, and got out of sightline of the door.

John and Luke sat together in the back corner, under a table with a chair in front of them. “What’s happening?”, Luke asked.

“I know,” said one of the new band kids. “School shooting.” With that, he walked over to the guitar cases and handed them to the other kids who owned them.

“What are you doing?” Asked someone from across the room. “We’re supposed to make it look unoccupied.”

“We’re part of the shooters,” said one of the other band kids. “Goodnight.” With that, he pulled out a gun from his guitar case and shot one of the kids. Everyone started screaming.

“We know you’re not like this.” Said John.

“Since when do I listen to a fag?” said one of the shooters and shot three more kids. “Five more to go.”

“I’ll take these two,” Said the last shooter and pointed to Luke and John.

“Please don’t,” said Luke. “We never did anything to hurt you.”

“You’re gay.” said the last shooter, and then he shot Luke and John.