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Something Just Like This: The Chainsmokers
"Hey, guys." I enter the choir room with dad.
"Hey!" Everyone gets up and hugs me.
"I love you guys too." I hug them back and then lean down to hug Artie. "Before you all prepare for Regionals, I'll this short. So, sit down." I pull a chair over and the others sit back down. I hold my stomach and sit with my dad. "I know that most us know that Mack didn't have malice in his heart, and that he was hurting. That doesn't excuse him of his actions, but-"
"We know, Violet." Artie nods. "Mack didn't even take out the gun until you came in with Coach Sue and SWAT. I saw it in him, he didn't wanna hurt anyone."
Blaine nods. "We all saw it."
"But what you guys saw, and heard, not just with Mack, but with me. You guys, uh, you all watched me almost die. That doesn't just go away. So, if you wanna talk about it, about anything, we can. If you anything you wanna ask me, you can. You know me, I won't hold back. I'll give it to you straight. Because I can't just keep going to school and work without making sure you guys are okay."
"Where you were shot, it was in a major organ, but how did you manage to...to walk through the whole school and save those kids in the library? And Brittany and Marley's mom?" Jake asks.
"When I entered the school, I was gonna meet my mom and my dad because they wanted to tell me something. Which was her being pregnant. I saw my mom from down the hall and I heard a noise. I stopped and I saw Mack and Scott fighting. Mack was on the floor and he pulled out the gun. I grabbed Scott and the gun went off. We hit the floor and I didn't even feel it until a kid dragged Scott away. And then I looked down and I...I realized I was hit. It was the adrenaline for the most part. I didn't care that I was hit, I...all I cared about you guys. Everyone in this school. And when I saw that I was hit, I took off my jacket and tied it around me to stop the bleeding."
Ryder swallows. "What did it feel like? When you realized?"
"It felt like...like I was being stabbed over and over again. And when you endure so much of that pain, or any type of pain like that, your body stops reacting to it after while, and you just become numb to it. Or in my case, you black out. And it was after you guys were all safe, so, I had perfect timing on that." I smile and everyone chuckles.
"When you took down Rocco, did you see any change in him? Like...Like with Mack?" Blaine questions.
I glance down. "No." I shake my head. "Rocco was a very disturbed individual who had probably had problems all of his life. And because he lacked getting the help he needed, he chose a different path. A path he knew that would cut his life short in the end. And he wasn't sorry about it. No remorse, no guilt, no shame. Nothing. Rocco was not sorry for what he did. Mack was. There's a difference between wanting to hurt, and wanting to show that you're hurt."
