The Reclamation

1

It burns. It burns so bad. My chest is on fire and I can't put it out. My hand clutches the rock I was sitting on moments ago while hot tears stream down my face. I gasp for air, but it feels as though someone has stolen all the oxygen around me. I heave, but my chest continues to burn, and my muscles feel weak. My legs shake as I try to remain standing, and I keep myself upright by leaning all my weight on the rock. My phone drops from my hand to the concrete below. The burning in my chest moves to my stomach, and the urge to vomit overtakes me. My legs finally give out as I drop to my knees, and I feel my leg connect with the rock on the way down, then the sidewalk below. There was no pain.

I dry heave once.

Twice.

My eyes blur out from the ground in front of me and focus in on a memory. There is a loud bang that still rings in my ears. I force the thought out.

Three times.

I bring myself back to the present, and focus my eyes on the ground. A small patch of crimson flowers around my knee. Quinton. Quinton was covered in blood. It stained his shirt. His hands were covered in it. It streaked the floor as he crawled under the divider to our stall. It smudged into the wall where he leaned. So much blood.

Four times.

The puddle around my knee stares back at me. The more I stare at it the less I can breathe. 'My brother...' I hear Quin choke out. I have to leave. I let go of the rock and begin my crawl to the short brick wall dividing the street from the median a few feet away. The burning moves from my stomach to my muscles. I put my hand out. Then move my leg. Then the next hand. Is the wall getting farther? I throw myself at the wall in an attempt to catch it before it leaves, and I fall onto it. My hand catches the brick, and I use it to turn my body around and prop myself up against it.

The blood catches my eye again as my chest continues to heave. I force myself to look away.  The world feels like it's caving in on me. The ground is tilting. My back on the wall is the only thing keeping me from falling off the Earth. A quick glance down shows me the source of the crimson puddle. My knee was covered in blood that had soaked into my already-ripped jeans. There was a streak on the concrete where I had crawled away. 'My brother...' Quin's voice permeated the back of my mind.

I squeezed my eyes shut to force the thought away. The tears rolled faster. I was in the bathroom stall. I stood on the toilet, my knees woven in between Mia's. Quinton was covered in blood.

Make it stop.

Bang! Bang! I squeezed my arms. I stifled my breathing, as if he could hear me. Bang!

Then a voice.

"Vada!"

It was Mia. She was just as scared as me, her face was red, the makeup she had just applied was melting off.

"Vada! What's wrong?" she said. She looked into my eyes with a mixture of fear and concern. "Vada!"

"VADA!" I opened my eyes even though they felt as if they were glued shut. Mia was kneeling in front of me on the median. Her hand rested gently on my shoulder.

Her eyes bore into me. I take a deep breath, and for the first time I feel my lungs accept the air they take in. "What happened? What's wrong?" her eyebrows raise as she looks at the blood clotting on my leg. "What happened to your knee?" My throat makes a noise but I can't seem to get a word out. Even if I could, I'm not sure what I would say. What happened? The last thing that I remember before the burning in my chest was looking at my phone.

I raise a shaky hand to point at the phone that I had dropped. The notification that had sent me into a spiral flashes across my mind.

'Breaking News
Twelve students confirmed dead in Ohio high school shooting'