I slowly crept downstairs, listening out for any loud noises, but it was silent. I made it to the final step and paused, the brains of the boy were still splattered on the floor. I had my eyes closed when I came back up, but this time they were wide open.
Chunks of pink lay still, trapped within a puddle of crimson blood. Bits of a tan yellow, coated with a darker, dried blood were on the stairs and hallway, causing me to gag. The heavy scent of gunpowder hung still in the air, blending with the strong stench of iron, I almost threw up as it attacked my nose, but managed to hold it down.
White teeth were sent into the wall, his tongue scattered around the floor, and finally, a heart was drawn with the murky liquid. "Sayers was right, with all of this here, maybe there isn't a God," I thought, squeezing my nose shut with my hand. The smell was getting to me, making me dizzy.
I pushed through the feeling and walked forward, tears streaked my eyes, but I kept moving. My only goal was to get the door open, grab William, and get out. A heavy footstep came from behind me, making me sprint forward and dive behind a corner, the same one I first saw Claudia at.
"Oliver, get a grip. You don't have to be a hero or end this, just make it out alive!" I reminded myself, trying to sound like Sayers, but it was hard. Heavy footsteps thudded down the hallway, a click following them as they ran in the opposite direction of me.
"If he has a bomb vest, my best bet is blowing up the door, right? But what if I get caught in the explosion?" I wondered aloud, my heart thumping, but I didn't slow down. I stood back up, searching for something I could use to break down the chains, to no avail.
I ran down the hallway, my eyes scanning the classroom doors, before finally finding one that didn't have bloodstains on it. I tried to twist the knob, and my heart lurched as it opened instantly, making me face-to-face with a mangled corpse.
The teacher was brutally ripped apart, while the students only had a single shot to their skull. There was an arm on top of the desk, leaking blood as it dripped down the side, a leg nailed to the wall, and his head left facing the door.
An eyeball was gouged out, his tongue, cut into bits and left atop the bald spot on his head. A bone settled through the side of his head, coated in pink and red, blood dripped slowly from it, as if it was being siphoned.
I gagged on my saliva, the smell slamming into my body and causing me to throw up in an instant. Yellow chunks flew out of my mouth, projecting all over the floor, and mixing with the pool of blood under me.
"I-I-" I tried to get out, but I couldn't, my sentence cut off by my vomiting again. Without another word, I closed the door and tried my best to swallow the rest, finally making it settle down.
My heart thumped louder, beating rapidly while slamming itself into my skin. I gripped my stomach hard, feeling it churn as I fought back the urge to puke. "S-Sayers," I managed, falling onto the floor.
I tried to move my limbs, but they fought against me, choosing to stay still instead. A pit formed in my chest, causing my heart to beat faster, and making my breathing ragged. My arms shook, giving out as the scene flashed through my mind.
Inside his open mouth, where his tongue was originally, was his heart. "Dad, Sayers, where are you?" I asked myself, my mouth open, leaking drool over the floor as I fought back the urge to scream out and cry.
Heavy footsteps came from down the hall, stomping closer to me, each step shaking the floor and making my head bounce. I forced my limbs to move, getting myself barely off the ground, but I fell backward into the wall, staining my new shirt red.
I looked at my hand, my skin was pale and tight to my veins, and the once faint color was now a vibrant blue. Slowly, my legs went in front of me, one step after another. Breaking out into a run, I sprinted past the bloodied walls and approached the offices again.
My ankle cracked, just like before, except this time I flew forward in an uncontrolled tumble. I slammed into the floor once, twice, thrice, finally stopping as my back crashed against the wall.
This time, I couldn't hold it back, I let out a scream, the pain coursing through my bones and stinging deep inside me. With heavy legs, I lifted myself and walked back into the offices, crashing into the floor near the files from before.
"This can't be right," I mumbled, looking at one of the files, my face planted firmly on the carpet.
"Jess Virena, seventeen years of age. Cases, dismissed. Five accusations of sexual harassment, two accusations of sexual assault." The top of the file read out, snapping me back into what was going on around me.
I reread it, dozens of times. I combed through every file related to her, finally stopping on the final one. "Dean note: Threaten with expulsion if she brings up her accusations again, a threat to our rating."
A warmth filled my body, it felt almost as if my bones and flesh were on fire. I clenched my fist, my vision flashing orange, red, then back to orange. "All over a rating? SERIOUSLY?! A FUCKING RATING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN STUDENT SAFETY?!" I shouted, slamming my fist into the floor.
For a brief moment, I felt a pair of eyes on me, digging deep into my spine as a chill ran through my body. "That means it's Jess, she's the one who arranged all of this," I realized, my eyes wide. "Fuck, Sayers was right!"
My head whipped around me, finally taking notice of the eyes on me, but there was nothing. I didn't think about the feeling of being watched anymore, my vision was still orange, there was an unmistakable warmth running through my body, and my fist was bright red, still clenched tightly.
I gritted my teeth, looking back up toward the Dean's office. If all this was with the counselor, what about the Dean? With a single kick, the door to the Dean's office flew open, scattering papers all over the floor.
One of the first notes my eyes landed on had Ethan's name on it. Without caring about anything else in the room, I picked it up and read it. My heartbeat sped up, but for once, it wasn't in fear, I was genuinely pissed.
"Dear, Ms. Kendra, I'm Ethan. A student that was bullied here, and the bullying is continuing. I really wish you would believe me and step in, but I have a different purpose for sending this. At 7:35 EST, there will be a shooting. 10 students, including me with participate. Please, cancel school, I don't want to hurt anyone, but they want me there."
"You've gotta be joking, right? THEY FUCKING KNEW?!" I shouted, my vision pure red. Without uttering another word, I left the office. Grabbing a chair leg, I walked out of the door and back into the bloodstained hall.
I could feel footsteps shaking the ground, followed by panting, Craig was slowing down. "HEY! Come at me, piggy!" I called out, remembering Sayers's snide comment after seeing him.
Who cares if I'm mad? Who cares if this isn't the way Sayers would do things? I'm done playing a victim, I was leaving, regardless of anyone else in the building. Heavy thuds came charging at me, getting closer to the corner.
I saw his pot belly first, then his unshaven beard, and then a vein throbbing on his forehead. "Drop the gun, why don't you prove how fit you are?" I asked, partly an order. A fury grew in his eyes, barely visible behind his flabby cheeks.
His gun clattered to the floor, and he looked at me, his stubby legs carrying the massive weight above them, and finally, he charged directly at me. "You bastard, stop insulting me!" He yelled, a tear on his cheeks, but I ignored it.
The ground shook, almost throwing me off balance as he ran toward me. "I don't need you, Sayers. But, you were right about one thing, humans truly are scum!" I shouted, readying the chair leg as he got closer, his legs trembling.
"Was it fun killing people, you fat fuck?" I questioned, swinging the chair leg toward his knees. They buckled instantly, sending Craig rolling down the hall.
He got up and stared at me, his eyes wide with hatred. Tears poured down his face as he looked toward mine. "I didn't want to hurt nobody! I wanted it to stop, the bullying to stop! Not death!" He defended, running toward me again.
My vision turned orange, and the first question popped into my mind, what the hell was I doing? This wasn't like me, sure I'd been mad before, but he was just as much a victim as the others.
Quickly, the tint disappeared from my eyes, and he slammed into me, sending me tumbling back. I crashed into the wall, but stood back up, my side bleeding again as I limped toward him.
"That's a sorry excuse for killing these people!" I shouted back, not paying attention to what I said. He threw off his coat and faced me again, his legs bent back.
I could see it, red sticks with warning labels, "Do not apply force! Will explode upon contact!" At least twenty sticks were circled around his army green vest.
"I didn't want to hurt, only end pain! Why do you keep tormenting me?!" Craig retorted quickly, adding a sentence that made my spine chill. "They killed my dog and hung him in front of house! Drown me in toilets, and you question me on morality? I'll end it all, all pain!"
He ran at me, his hand hovering over a button where his sleeve once was. "Oh, shit!" I shouted, turning away from him and sprinting down the hall.
His heavy footsteps followed me, not relenting for a second as we ran past the bodies of students. One student stared at me, his mouth ripped in half, his jaw hanging loosely with tears staining his cheeks. One eyeball was missing, yet he had almost a dozen bullet holes in his stomach and chest.
"You tortured them! Does that really make you much better, Craig?!" I asked, my ankle starting to crack and tremble with each step, my breathing getting more ragged.
"I no harm others than the ones who hurt me! You hurt me!" He yelled back, his footsteps getting closer to me.
My heart beat hard in my chest, why did I even do this? I could feel my skin tighten, my breathing falter more, and my legs shook harder. I saw the chained-off door at the end of the hallway, causing an idea I scrapped to come back to me.
"If you didn't want to hurt people, then don't stop running Craig!" I ordered, increasing my pace even while my ankle was shaking under me, each step throwing me more off balance.
"I no hurt innocent people!" He shouted back, his pace increasing as he gained on me. Not noticing the puddle of blood in front of us, my old slid-mark still there.
"I'm sorry, Craig. May whatever God is out there have mercy on you, you didn't deserve the torment," I mumbled, just within earshot of him as I dived to the side, using the blood puddle to send me further away while he slipped on it and was sent spiraling toward the chained off door.
A large boom rang through the hallway, shaking the walls and causing dust and smoke to fall from the roof and fill the air. An explosion of red filled my vision, causing me to hide my eyes.
My eardrums shook violently, ringing loudly as I tried to get a grasp of what I just did. I wiped blood off my mouth and face, knocking aside some of the dust at the same time.
Chunks of red meat fell from the ceiling, one by one, and splattered against the tile floor. A sea of red splashed through the hall, soaking my pants and shirt. A mushy ball landed in my free hand, and I quickly threw the green object, realizing it was his eye.
Half a set of lungs landed across from me, stained a bright red, contrasting with the pink organ. I threw up, looking at the mess in front of me, the mess that was once Craig.
My vomit knocked aside the red on the floor near me, marking it a mix of green and a faint yellow. No chunks, just pure liquid, the smell was overpowering. There was blood in my nose, chunks of flesh on my lap, and a strong smell of gunpowder.
I couldn't breathe, my lungs filled with dust, yet I stood. My ankle collapsed under me the second I stood, causing me to fall to the floor. "I'm a fucking monster, oh my God, I- I killed him," I muttered, my face blank as I spoke, there was no emotion in my tone.
"Do I even deserve to survive?" I asked, staring at my hands in front of me. I saw the flashes of red, back to when Ms. Ezra was murdered, Ethan was executed, the boy's corpse, the teacher was raped, the shooter killed herself in front of me, the files, and the execution of my entire classroom.
Wherever I went, blood followed, there was no escape. I murdered Craig, pushed away the one person helping me, and even let other students die. I might not be a hero, but they didn't need to die, I could have done something, anything.
"I'm such a fucking monster! Why did they all die, yet I deserve to live? What right do I have to still be here?! Because I wanted to see my dad one more time? Does that excuse anything I've done, any of this!?" I shouted, clutching my chest.
Tears escaped my eyes, filling the floor under me, and turning the blood pink. I looked at the crimson liquid around me through blurry eyes, the warmth left my body, replaced by a bone-chilling cold.
"They're dead because of me! I could have distracted the shooters! What's one life compared to dozens of others!?" I screamed, crying as I hugged myself, curling into a ball. I could smell the disgusting scent of death, fresh on my lips and in my nose, cut through by the stench of gunpowder.
"I'm a monster, just a monster! Why couldn't I die instead!? What right do I have to live anymore?!" I cried, blood leaking out of my side. Even if Craig didn't stop, I still caused him to die, just like I caused the other students to die.
An ear-piercing scream rang out from above me, a familiar one, it was William. "No, Willaim! I can't let you die too!" I yelled, forcing myself to stand.
Pain jutted through my body, getting stronger as I limped forward, but I didn't stop. Tears streaked down my face, mixing with my blood-soaked shirt, it weighed down my body, making each step harder.
I fell, my knees slamming into the ground, and then stood back up. I couldn't breathe, there was still dust and smoke in my lungs, but I didn't stop. As Sayers had said before, I dragged myself up the stairs, forcing myself forward with only one leg and two arms.
I couldn't feel my right arm anymore, there was blood coming out of the stab wound, forcing me to switch to one arm. Finally, I made it to the top of the staircase, I took a deep breath but still didn't get much from it.
With a wild cough, I barely stood and took a step forward, then another, and another, finally, I made it to the classroom. The door was put back up and shut, with a bloody heart drawn on the window. "No, don't tell me!"
Hour 9- (To be continued)