Untitled chapter
The Bullet
I walk down the empty hallway as I feel my feet clack against the white, cracked, tiled floor. I pop in my headphones to drown out the weird silence as I walk back to my classroom. I put my hand on the silver knob and try to open it, but it was locked. I knock on the glass as I peek into the classroom. No answer. I walk to the classroom adjacent to mine and try to open their door as well. No answer yet again. I jog to the last classroom in that hallway and knock once more. Silence.
I slowly walk down the hallway to try and find somebody wandering around aimlessly like I am. As I am walking down the hallway, I hear a loud bang and whip my head towards the sound. I yelp quietly as I realize it’s a gunshot. I sprint to the side of the wall and peek down the hall to find a shadowy figure standing there. I tiptoe into the bathroom and quietly climb into the dark blue, old stalls. I climb onto the toilet and keep my feet from being seen on the ground.
As I squat on the toilet, I hear the figure getting closer and closer. They have boots. Big, heavy, loud combat boots. They seem to make the ground tremble and thunder the hallways. I overhear sprays of gunshots, screams, pleads, and silence. Slow, sad, killing silence. I notice the figure entering the girls bathroom. I see a snippet of their head as they bend over to look for stray feet. I peek through the crack of the door and see a sudden movement of the combat boot come into contact with the stall door. It seemed to be out of anger as they stomped out of the bathroom.
I keep my hand covered over my mouth just in case the figure was still there outside of the bathroom. As I hear the combat boots fade away, I slowly dial 911 and say there’s a school shooter here. After I hang up, I quietly creep off of the toilet and walk down the hall towards the figure. They turn around. With their gun cocked and pointed at my heart.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask with a shaky voice.
“Why do you think? They bully me and pick on me. They should feel the pain I feel.” They finally spoke up. I don’t recognize the voice.
“Why?”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s over now. I didn’t hurt anybody. I just shot to make them fear me. Nobody got hurt. They’re safe.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because I know what it feels like to hurt. Nobody should have to deal with that I realized.” They let the gun move towards their head instead of my chest. “I never planned on hurting anybody. But myself.” They smiled and pulled the trigger. Gunshots sprayed and their body fell to the white, cracked, tiled floor. I gasp.
I sprint to the office to get on the intercom as I hear the police sirens. “They’re gone. We’re safe.” The school remained silent.
I hid under the desk as the police ran in while fingering the little detonator deep inside of my pocket.
