Hyper

What doesn't kill you definitely doesn't make you stronger

James and I had no idea what was going on. At first we thought someone was messing with us. We stood in the middle of the hall, ears straining, waiting for someone to pop out and say, "Happy late April Fool's!". Honestly, I would've taken anything other than what happened.

We heard two other gunshots, coming from the MPR. I remembered seeing the map of the school vaguely, so I knew where the important rooms were, like the gym and the office. Unfortunately, I didn't know where any of the classrooms were. I should have looked at the map. If I had just memorized where the bathroom was...

We heard more screams and some random shouting. This wasn't a prank. Something was happening, and it was actually real. I didn't know what to do. I was shaking for some reason, but James had went to the floor, hiding behind some lockers. I assumed he was either calling Amanda or his dad. Calling. On a phone. That I didn't own. Adrenaline started pumping, and my brain went into overdrive. I was about to go and tell James to call the police whenI realized someone was talking to me.

The secretary was saying something about hearing loud, unnerving noises, but I cut her off.

"Miss, I need you to call 911," I said, furiously grabbing her and James. "If this is just some prank some idiots thought would be funny, then there's no thing we need to worry about. Honest mistakes happen all the time. If this is actually what I think it is, then we'll be damn glad we did."

"Oh, God, this is real," she said, trembling slightly. "I never thought this would ever happen here."

She started crying, and despite everything that was going on, I still felt guilt that she was in this situation. I mean, it's not like I was in an any better one. She was only in her mid-twenties, looking like she was straight out of college. I didn't want to know why they hired such a young secretary, but she was so nice it didn't surprise me. I didn't realize it before, but she looked a lot like my mom. I guess that made me feel an obligation to comfort her.

"Hey, miss, it's going to be alright. We're going to walk out of this perfectly okay, and we're all going to go out for coffee later. Alright? It's on me." I said.

She sniffled and wiped her eyes. "I know about Columbine. I heard the story; about Rachel Scott. When I decided I wanted to be a school secretary, I watched all the documentaries and the videos on Columbine. I cried after I watched every single one. I don't want to end up dead. I don't want to."

I shushed her and gave her a hug. I knew we had to get out of the open. I knew the shooter are probably near. To this day I have no idea why, but I comforted her while she cried in my shoulder.

"It'll be okay, miss," I said.

"Emily," she said.

"What?"

"My name's Emily."

I smiled and patted her on the back.

Then we heard a huge bang, really, really near where we were. And multiple people crying out.

"Go," James whispered firmly to her, "And lock the doors behind you. Go out the window if need be."

Her eyes widened and she nodded, running back into the office. I started to bring James with me when he shrugged my hand off.

"No," he said. "We need someone to know what's going on. What's the point if we get the police? They can't do shit about the guys who have guns. Look, you can stay here. If worse comes to worse, and I get captured, my dad will be able to buy us all out of there."

"No," I said. "That's a terrible idea! You do realize you could get killed, right? This isn't some kind of game! Now, we need to go and hide and wait for the police!"