My eyes darted back and forth, I couldn't see or feel anything, I couldn't even hear a footstep. "RUN!" Sayers screamed, his voice vibrating my eardrums and startling me.
Without giving it another thought, I dashed toward the classroom with the teacher's body. "I can't make it to the stairs if they're coming that way, I have to get there. Let me make it!" I begged internally, speeding up as I neared the bloodstained door. "YES!"
I slipped through the door and hid around the corner, my breathing heavy and rapid. Footsteps sounded down the hall, stopping in front of the door. I turned to look at the window, noticing the stop, and saw an eye looking at me.
The lava-like glow of his eyes was enough to make me jump, my heart racing faster, but I was also glad it was just Sayers. "Don't move. You left a footprint."
The moment his words were processed, my eyes shot open, and stared out the window. Their legs were still, the gun pointed at the floor, a single finger on the trigger. "This is all your fault," a voice spoke from the other side of the door, the shooter was speaking to me.
I didn't reply, my legs were shaking heavily, my breath hitched inside my chest, and it felt impossible to move or say anything, I was frozen. Sayers's eyes opened wide, the glow turning a ghastly mix of black and red, more like magma instead of lava.
His arm flashed into view, a clawed hand, each tip stained red. I could finally see Sayers's hands and arms, for the first time. The person outside the door stayed quiet, like they were waiting for me to answer, and finally spoke.
"You pushed me into this, the relentless torment, and bullying, and not a single person ever helped. If you had believed me, we wouldn't be here, Ms. Sasha," They finished, tossing a paper through the window, the name of the teacher, Ms. Sasha. He wasn't speaking to me but to her corpse.
I looked by the desk and saw her lifeless figure, blood slowly leaking from her chest, three bullet holes in her stomach, one hole where her heart was, and finally, the shocked expression on her face.
Her once blonde hair had turned a light shade of red, splattered with the blood of her students. Her jade green dress was now ruined with marks of horror. I could feel something coming up my throat, but I shoved it down.
Finally, the shooter walked away, their footsteps echoing down the hall. Without missing a beat, I vomited on the floor, turning the red floor into a mix of yellow.
Sayers looked at me silently, his eyes back to the usual lava color, and his arm gone once more. "Thanks for not puking on me," He said, turning his attention to the hallway. I looked at him in disbelief, my mouth wide open, before throwing up once more, all over the desk in front of me.
After a few minutes, I wiped my mouth and tried to forget about the bitter and stale taste in my throat. It danced around on my tongue, begging to escape again, but I swallowed it and tried to focus on the situation again.
"What should I do now?" I asked Sayers, looking out of the window with him and trying to ignore the blood. He glanced at me, glanced back out the window, and responded.
"I don't know. You might not be able to-" Before he could fully finish, gunshots rang out from down the hall, followed by screaming. "MOVE!"
Following his order, I sprinted as fast as I could, closing in rapidly on the stairs. "They're distracted, as fucked as it is, use this opportunity to get downstairs," He explained as I ran, his voice darker than before.
I was almost to the stairs, then my ankle twisted in on itself and threw me down the hallway, I tumbled and slammed hard into the tile, before finally stopping by the stairs. "Someone's still alive!" A man yelled from the direction the screams were just coming from, his footsteps heavy.
"Oliver..." Sayers started to say, but he didn't finish. Sirens rang loudly from outside, and out the window, I could see the SWAT team park and storm out of the truck.
Just when I thought I was safe, the school's speaker came online. "Attention officers! If any of you make one attempt at getting inside the school, I will set off the explosives we've hidden around campus. You don't get a happy ending! There is no happy ending, you fucking pigs!"
The footsteps got heavier, the SWAT team outside froze, and Sayers looked at me with wide eyes, his iris slowly spinning. "GET UP! DRAG YOURSELF OR SOMETHING!" He ordered, but my ankle wouldn't move at all, if I was going to crawl, I still wouldn't make it.
Suddenly, right before he turned the corner and spotted me on the floor, a voice cut through the air. "I won't let you kill me!" I recognized the voice, a soft and warm tone filled with enough seriousness to make any kid listen to them.
The dress she always wore every Tuesday came into view, leopard print. Her tied-back hair barely held together with a hair tie, the unruly strands that refused to be caught in it, and tired eyes that she always had.
In a split second, I saw the last detail I needed, her flabby cheeks paired with her chiseled jawline, it was Ms. Ezra. "Ethan, why did you do all this? You were such a good kid," She asked, her voice still soft and understanding.
"Shut up! You never helped me, you all ignored me when I told you about the bullying!" The man yelled back, still hidden behind the corner.
"I always gave you chocolate when you seemed down, remember? And went with you to convince the principal to look into your bullying cases," She retorted back, her eyebrows slightly bent inward and her voice filled with confusion and care.
"Please...Go, I don't want to hurt you, not the one person who treated me right..." He finally said after a minute of silence, the sound of metal hitting the floor following his words. The gun rattled on the floor, filling the hallway with a horrifying sound.
She took a step forward, but before she could get any closer, gunshots rang loudly, disrupting the moment of peace. Her chest exploded in a torrent of red, bullets piercing through her and going through the lockers behind.
"NO!" I shouted, tears welling in my eyes as her body hit the floor. I managed to stand and started to stumble toward her, but Sayers grabbed my shirt.
"GO DOWN THE STAIRS YOU FUCKING MORON!" He ordered, dragging me to the staircase as a puddle of her blood filled up. A second later, a single gunshot, followed by the man's body hitting the ground, his head missing. He was executed.
I jumped down the stairs, landing silently as I stumbled through. My vision was blurry, my heart hurt, my breath caught in my chest, and a numbness seeped through my bones. I fell onto the tile, heaving heavily as the scene replayed in my head.
"No, no, no! This can't be real, I have to be right! This is just a nightmare! Tell me! Tell me it's a nightmare, Sayers! Wake me up, please!" I begged, getting on my knees and pleading with him as his eyes stared deep into mine.
Tears flooded out of me, hitting the floor one after the other, I didn't care how much noise I was making. "SAYERS WAKE ME UP! PLEASE!" He didn't respond, he looked away, looking down the hall and toward the classrooms.
I cried, curling into a ball in front of the staircase, for just a moment, I needed to pretend this wasn't happening. "Holy father, please. I pray to you this day to beg you, save us. Please," I prayed silently, my tears leaking into my shirt and making the dried blood flow down onto the floor.
"Oliver! Get a fucking grip! You need to move!" He yelled loudly, turning me to face him, but I couldn't focus on him. My vision was fading in and out, my chest heaved loudly as I began to wheeze, it felt like a mountain of bricks was stacked on my chest.
Footsteps sounded from one of the classrooms, and a bloody handprint was on the inside of the room window. "Fuck, come on dammit!" I ignored his words, my eyes looking at the ceiling, I gripped my chest hard, squeezing my heart, but it didn't make a change.
I was shaking severely, not able to move anymore. It felt as if my skin was tightening itself around my body, squeezing my muscles with a ferocious intensity. The bell for class change rang loudly, disrupting my body.
"Please, please, someone save us. Oh, God, why have you forsaken us?" I asked out loud, causing Sayers to look at me, his eyes flooded with anger.
"THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A FUCKING GOD! IF YOU STAY HERE, YOU'LL DIE! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO LIVE, FINE! BUT, SHE GAVE HER LIFE FOR YOU, SO DON'T WASTE YOUR CHANCE!"
For a moment, my body froze, my skin stopped tightening, and I looked at Sayers. "What did you just say?" I asked, my choice heavy and shaky. I got back onto my knees, ignoring the pain in my legs, and stared at him, tears flowing from my eyes. The bell rang again, signaling the end of class change.
"Glad to have you back, you scared little bitch," Sayers said, I could tell he was grinning when he said it, not because I could see, but a feeling. "You have a chance because of her, are you going to waste it or survive this shitshow?"
Hour 3- To be continued