The Michael Nichols story.

Chapter V: Shellshock

I was thrown over the shoulder of a fire fighter, and carried out into the front courtyard, with the sound of gunshots still ringing in my ears and the thought of seeing Sarah.... Seeing her lying there motionless, and not being able to help her. I was let down and put on a stretcher by two paramedics who immediately started asking me questions and dressing the hole in my shoulder. Throughout the commotion I had forgotten about that. As the ringing started to slow down, and I finally realized what was going on, the gravity of the situation was hitting me like a 10 ton weight.

The courtyard was filled with students panicking and paramedics running around, while officers were running into the building, right past other officers running out with students in tow. I looked up at the paramedic tending to me, and sat up.

"I need to get back in there, I need to save her!" Someone put a hand on my chest and pushed me back down into a lying position on the stretcher.

"You are not going anywhere with that hole in your shoulder, I'm sure your friend will be alright with the police officers." I realized it was the second paramedic, and he was treating another wound on my side. I hadn't realized I had been shot more than once, which explains why the firefighter picked me up. The two paramedics got on either side of me and ran me towards an adjacent ambulance. Before they closed the door, I saw a team of riot officers' storm into the building.

At the hospital, I was surprised to see multiple doctors running with the stretcher, and the doctor started asking me the stereotypical questions, who I was, what happened, and did I know where I was. The doctor grabbed something and put it over my face, as we stopped in a white room. I felt them lift me up, and the doctor said something to a nurse and I blacked out.

I woke up not feeling any pain, and I tried to get up. For the second time today, I was prevented from getting up by a burning pain in my side.

"What the hell?" I asked myself, and realized my parents were in the room. Upon them realizing I was awake, they rushed over to me and my mom hugged me tightly, while my dad walked in the hallway, and came back with a nurse. The nurse checked me over, and spoke up above my mom's tears of worry.

"It seems the surgery went extremely well, and you seem to be recovering nicely Michael. You are one lucky kid, the bullets didn't hit anything vital, and one passed right through you." I immediately went ghost white at those words. "Went right through you." The nurse looked puzzled.

"Something wrong Michael?" the nurse pondered.

"Sarah was behind me... and she- she...." My mom fainted, and my dad stood there in shock. The nurse quickly offered her apologies, and when started to stop me from getting up.

"No, I am not staying here. I need to go back to the school." I defiantly said, sitting up fully.

"Dad where the hell is my car?" I looked at him, and he was obviously confused as what to do.

"It's in the parking garage, I got it from the school while you were in surgery. You can't go back to the school yet Mike, the entire area is shut down." He stepped forward, and held out the keys to my car.

"However, I don't think there is any stopping you, there is a change of clothes in the restroom for you." I sat up, and looked at the nurse.

"I am leaving AMA, let me go." The nurse didn't look surprised.

"Sir, I am going to have to ask you to stay but it's clear you've made your decision. Your father has your prescription information, and the dosage table." She removed the IV line in my arm, and checked my bandages.

"I can get you a wheelchair to the front if you wish" I got to my feet, and declined politely. Then I went into the bathroom and changed. Without another word, I grabbed the parking slip from my father and went out into the parking garage.

Pulling up to the school, I was met by a police barricade and stopped. Seeing the officer did not deny my suspicions that this was worse than I thought. I leaned out the window as the officer walked to me.

"Can't let you through sir, it's a crime scene" Here comes my acting class.

"Officer, I just lost a lot of my friends in one class today. You have to let me through, my girlfriend was in that class" I did not sound as upset and shaken as I really was, I sounded more direct and angry.

"I'm sorry sir, but-". He was cut off by another officer.

"Back from the hospital? How did they let you leave so soon?" I recognized the voice as the deputy that met me in the classroom.

"I snuck out, and my dad helped me. I just need to see her, and I want to see the extent of things." The officer didn't look pleased, and sighed.

"You can't see her, she has been moved, presumably to the morgue. However I can let you in with a police escort." He moved the barricade, and told me where to park, when I parked I was met by him and he showed me where things started.

"This classroom was the first that the shooter came to, and he went down the line of the classrooms." He continued on, as we weaved past detectives and crime scene photographers.

"This was the classroom you were in, and down the hall is where the hostages were held." He pointed to the room at the end of the hall, near some overturned tables and bullet casings.

"Why is this room closed off?" I stared at the yellow crime scene tape covering the closed door.

"Because, this was the only room where someone lived, they are trying to figure out the path of the rounds and how exactly each person died. And they haven't moved some of the bodies yet, it's bad for press." He looked down at me, waiting on a response, and I stood there with my jaw open. Just then, a mortician came out of the room, with a body bag on a gurney. We continued walking, and saw what lied behind the tables, boxes and boxes of bullets, and there was holes everywhere.

"They held the hall for a while, but luckily we had the riot police show up." The police officer explained, and went to say more, but I stopped him.

"I've seen enough. I need to go home." After that, I left the school and went home. The school was closed for the remainder of the year, and the students were learning out of temporary buildings put up in the field behind the school while they remodeled the school. The standard rumors of who it was, and why went around; while the press and police were silent about it. The state was not releasing the names of the students who caused this, nor the names of anyone that died. After that, the next week was a big blur of emotion and I didn't go to school for that week; keeping my distance from my family is easy given I have my own apartment.