Horrible Children

My footsteps echoed as I strolled through the almost silent halls. It was quarter to ten and I was late! Teachers yelled at students in classrooms. Dodge balls were being thrown viciously in the gymnasium. The smell of fresh food from the school's tuckshop filled the walkways. I paused for a moment and shut my eyes, taking in deep breaths, isolating and cataloguing every smell possible.

Then I felt everything around me stop. A sudden cool breeze wrapped around my body. My heart skipped a beat. My eyes snapped open and my senses locked out all that had tantalised before, homing in on just one sound, one feeling, one certainty. I was being followed! I could feel the emotionless, dead eyes staring at the back of my head. I started at the sound of distinct footsteps on the pavement behind me and I quickened my pace. I tried to remain calm but then couldn't help but launch into a sprint. My heart beat frantically as a caged bird. I turned corner after corner, but the presence remained hot on my trail. As I came to a dead end I heard a gun cock, about to fire. I stood still knowing there was no escape. The barrel pressed up against the back of my head and an icy grip, a claw-like hand on my shoulder, made me freeze in place. The gun fired. A surprisingly small, painful sensation engulfed my body before everything went black...

My eyes fluttered open. I felt like a cloud floating in the sky. It was peaceful for a second, before the awful reality crashed through my consciousness, unavoidable as the sticky drops of blood that trickled down my neck from my head wound. Yet, there was no pain, no sensation. I arose from my spot on the cold, hard floor. Another cool breeze sent a shiver down my spine. Following the breeze I closed my eyes and turned my head behind me. I opened my eyes, quickly becoming shocked to see a dead body lying on the pavement. However it wasn't just anyone's body, it was mine.

My eyes met my killers' backpack. The broad shoulders and shaved head, that looked vaguely familiar, implied it was a man. I followed him as he left my body on the school pavement. Alarmed students began to pour out of each classroom only to begin running from my killer.

Ignoring the petrified students, the unidentified man walked into an empty classroom. He took off his backpack carefully and placed it on the ground. He unzipped the black bag pulling out an AR-15 rifle. Slowly he placed it on the desk beside him. The bag was zipped back up and he swung it over his shoulder. He stood up straight. Before exiting, he walked quietly to the back of the room towards a storage cupboard. He paused in front of the door, gradually extending his hand towards the cupboard. Grabbing the handle, the doors were forcefully swung open revealing a teacher huddled in the corner on the ground. Trembling overcame their body. The teacher went to speak, to beg but nothing came out. Without hesitation the man raised the rifle and shot the teacher directly in the shoulder. Adjusting the rifle he exited the classroom leaving the individual to bleed out on the classroom floor.

He started shooting, wounding innocent students however not killing them. He aimed for the legs or arms instead of head or chest. With each wounding he would tell the bewildered and bleeding victim, "Don't be horrible." He walked at a normal pace, strolling past the crowds as if it were a daily chore. After what seemed to be an eternal five minutes of walking around, the school was a blood bath. The paths and walls were stained a crimson red. Students were sprawled across the concrete, not dead but in pain, in distress.

I paused behind my mysterious murderer. I closed my eyes. The walkways were not silent anymore. Alarm bells rung from each block of the school. Begging could be heard from the teachers, screaming from the injured students on the concrete, a litany of pain and confusion from the gymnasium. Shots could be heard echoing from the hall in front of me. The food from the tuckshop now smelt burnt instead of fresh. Faint ambulance sirens could be heard from a distance. For a moment, I felt nothing but the pain of fellow classmates around me. Then, everything around me faded out.

I opened my eyes. A wall stood in front of me. I was at the same dead end as I was only ten minutes ago. I heard a chuckle come from behind me. I turned around to see him; the guy that shot me. My eyes widened. Everything around me faded to black. We were the only two people in the vicinity. He was standing in a large pool of blood, my blood. He held the weapon in his left hand. In his right was a blue cloth. He cleaned the barrel of the gun, wiping off the blood splatters. His eyes were fixed on the ground, on my cold, lifeless body. He looked proud of what he had done. A smirk clearly printed on his face. He kneeled down in my gore and leaned over my body. His lips almost pressed against my ear. I could feel his icy breath against my neck. His hoarse voice whispered in my ear, "You truly were a horrible daughter."