The Secrets We Keep

Next May 1-drafts

Hailey POV*

I wake up to the sound of crying from the baby monitor, I check the clock and it's 6 am. I role over to Jay's side and wake him up. "Yeah" he says. "It's your turn" I say pushing him out the bed. "Ow" he says. "You okay" I mumble into the pillow. "yeah" he whispers. "good" I say falling back sleep.

I wake back up a 6:45 to get dressed and shower. After getting ready for work I wake up the boys and Amira. "Hey Jay, where's Amira?" I ask helping the boys get dressed. "She left for school already it's after seven you know" he says walking into Rowans room. "Why didn't you wake we up" I say. "You need some sleep, you always get everyone else up, so I did it today" he says. "Did you remember to sign her field trip forms for next month and Auggie he has a lose tooth, you didn't pack him apples for lunch, right. Ry it's show and tell at the preschool. He always brings that dinosaur" I says running a hand through my hair. "Calm down Hails, the boys are still eating here if you want to double check everything I did and yes I signed Amira's filed trip forms. I haven't packed their lunches yet" he says wrapping his arms around my waist. I lean back into him, moving one arm up to hug him. Staying in that moment as long as we could, before Rowan started crying. "She pooped, I got it" he says as he walks upstairs to change the crying baby.

When I walk into the kitchen the boys are putting their dishes in the sink. "After you brush your teeth come to my room so I can do your hair" I tell them as the race up the stairs. I sit down at the kitchen island and feed Ro. When everybody is dressed and ready for school, we leave.

We get to work just before 8am and get started on paperwork. Throughout the morning I'm struggling to keep my eyes open. "Hey you okay" Adam asks walking into the break room as I'm eating lunch. "Yeah just tired, was up late with Ro and Ryder had a bad dream." I say. "I'm sorry you didn't get much sleep" he say grabbing some coffee. "Its fine" I say throwing away my trash and walking out.

Amira POV*

I meet Ez at our regular lunch table. I get there and see him already eating lunch. "What took you so long" he says. "That math teacher is so annoying" I say sitting down with my lunch tray, setting my history book next to his. "At least we have the last two classes together" I say about to taking a bit of my food. "I wouldn't eat that if I were you, I saw a rat in the kitchen eating some of it" he say as I it it down. "Here" he says handing me part of his sandwich. "Cheers" I say holding up our sandwiches . We spend the rest of lunch talking about all the crazy stuff we saw in the kitchen this year. "That's the bell we should go" he says as we clean up our trash. When we get to our next class we sit in the back together and listen to the teacher. "Get out your text books and turn to page 127" he says I reach down but it's not there. I raise my hand to ask if I can go get it. "Yes Lucia" he says. "It's Amira and I left me book in the cafeteria Can I go get it?" I asks. "Me too, I left mine" Ezra joins in. "You two go and come right back" he say as we quickly walk to the door.

Once we get our books we take the long way back to class, passing by the main entrance as a guy walks in. "Hey isn't he the dad of that kid who died" Ezra whispers in my ear as I nod. We finally make it to the hallway when we hear a loud popping sound. "Is that-"Ezra starts. "Gunshots" I say dropping the book and running to the classroom. We get to the door and try to open it, but it's locked. "Now what do we do" he asks. "The bathroom" I say running across the hall to the girls bathroom. I lock the door behind us and we sit in the corner of the farthest stall from the door. "Do you have your phone" I asks taking out mine. "Yeah" he says taking his out his pocket. "Call 9-1-1" I says starting to dial the number.

"9-1-1 what's your emergency" the operator asks.

"Gunshots at our school, Emerson Middle" I says my hands shaking as I hold the phone. "Where are they? Are the shots coming from inside or-" the operator says.

"Inside, send help, please" Ezra says.

"Are you in a safe room with a lock" she says. "Yes the bathroom, we locked it" Ezra says. "I want you two to stay on the line for me okay. What's you names? I'm Phoenix" She asks. "Like Arizona, my grandma says it looks like Mars over there. I'm Ezra" Ez says. "I'm Amira" I says.

Hailey POV*

I'm out with Vanessa when I get a text from Jay. "V we gotta go" I says as she finishes up her sandwich. "All hands on deck, shooting at a middle school" I says getting in the car. I drive as fast as I can meeting the team when we get there. "Oh my god" I say pulling into the school lot. "What?" Vanessa asks. "It's Amira's school" I say as we get out the car. I try call but it goes straight to voicemail. "Jay have you tried calling her" I whisper trying not to distract the other cops listening. "No it goes to voicemail every time" he says. "Detectives do you have something to say" the Superintendent says as all eyes are on us. "My daughter, it's her school" Jay says. "The shooters name is Anderson Burns, his son Anthony Burns used to go here Anthony killed himself four months ago. Burns files a civil suit against the district and it got denied yesterday. He's here on a revenge kill..." Superintendent continues. After the briefing everyone is assigned a position. "Come on Sarge he can't bench us" Jay says unhappy with our position. "He thinks we can't do our jobs because we have kids" he adds. "Go!" Voight says as have us us walk over to all the parents of the kids inside.

"Alright one at a time I need you all to line up and tell me your name and your kids names, and what grade their in!" Kim yells. Everyone rushes over to Kim almost knocking her over. "Hey! We get it but you need to calm down so everyone can find their kid!" I yell. "Please just see if my son Billy Nelson he's in 6th grade. I think he had on gray shorts and a read sweatshirt on" I anxious mom asks. "Ma'am leave you name and your kids name with Officer Burgess and she'll help you" I says. "You don't understand he's my only son four girls and Billy, I need to know if he's okay" she says I see the pleading look in her eyes. "I get it, really my daughters in there right now and it's taking everything inside me not to go in there and get her myself but I can't because I have to be here helping other parents, so please Ma'am just wait in the line" I say.

"Upton!" I hear as I jog over to Voight. "What's up?" I ask. "They got one of the students on the line" He says as we walk over to command. "Alright patch us through" the commander says. "Hello" I hear the voice sounding familiar. "Hello Ezra this is command Banks from Swat are you hurt" he says. "Ezra, it's me Amira's mom. Is she there?" I say but there's no sound. "What's she doing?" I hear the commander speaking to Voight. "Mama" I hear her cry. "Yeah it's me. Are you okay" I ask. "We're okay. Mama Ezra's scared" she says. "I'm to scared, your the one who's crying" I hear. "Shut up. Your crying too" Amira says. "Enough, you're both scared, but I need your help. Can you tell me where you are?" I say. "The girls bathroom in the C hall" she say. "Ok have you seen the shooter" I ask. "When we were getting our books from the cafeteria we saw Anthony's dad walk down the A hall" Ezra says.