What She Left

chapter four

dedicated to berthoe cause shes the loml obviously

eight forty three a.m., march fifteenth, two thousand and seventeen

Mei is tapping her feet in even three's, her head tilted up, her finger supporting her chin. She no longer cares if Mr. Garner can tell she's not paying attention. One, two, three. One, two, three.

Only seven more minutes until first period is over. Mei's foot taps incessantly. She shifts her gaze to the clock.

Her foots freezes abruptly as the door is flung open, the handle slamming back against the wall. Mei's fingers curl around the edge of the desk, turning white as she sees the panicked look in the teacher's eyes.

"Um-" says the teacher, heaving in big breaths. "Um, there's a- there's a shooter. Active. In the building." She doesn't have to say another word.

The class panics. Mei is forced back down in her seat as they rush past her, following the already fleeing teacher. She grabs the strap of her bag and slings it over her shoulder, grateful to find Brigid, white-faced and terrified, waiting for her at the door. Mr. Garner is already gone.

The school seems eerily silent, but the students take no chances. Some head the way the teacher came from, stupidly, towards the big glass front doors, and others head towards on of the only other exits in the building, the back door.

Mei and Brigid are part of the latter group, and one of Mei's hands finds her best friend's. She feels almost nothing, the mind numbing fear taking over her brain.

It takes a minute for Mei to process the bang of the gun, and then the sound of the bullet ricocheting of the walls and floors. She ducks her head instinctively, shiny dark hair flying in her face. A bullet shatters glass not far behind them.

And then suddenly Brigid is dragging her sideways, towards the wall, and bursting through a door into a small supply closet. Mei doesn't have time to question it and ducks behind the door, squealing as she steps on another human hand. It's her teacher, Mr. Garner, looking shaky and terrified and shoving Mei out of his hiding place.

With no time to think about how the teachers are supposed to help the students, she takes advantage of her small frame and squeezes herself in between two shelves, a place undetectable from the doorframe. The screams outside have faded as the students have gotten farther away, but the bullet sounds are gone completely. The only sound, amplified in the tiny closet, is the sound of the three humans breathing.

The screams are gone. It's dead silence.

When the closet door slams open, Mei barely manages to cover her mouth with her hand as her head slams back against the wall. She can't see who it is, if it's another person looking to hide or if it's the shooter. Brigid is barely visible to her, mostly hidden from whoever's there.

Mei's fingernails dig crescents into her thighs as a bullet exits the gun in the hand of the shooter. She squeezes her eyes shut, forcing back desperate tears, but it doesn't help with the gurgling, choking noise that's distinctly Mr. Garner.

She can hear his hands, his fingernails, clawing at the floor, the sound of blood slowly seeping onto the tile. Then it all stops, and Mei stops breathing.

She can hear the killer's breathing, faster than normal. A shuffling noise. She squeezes her eyes shut and all she can think of is how hot it is in this closet and how much she wants to itch the bottom of her foot. Then there's a very distinct noise of the shooter turning and running the opposite way. Shouts resume in the halls, but Mei can breathe again.

She's afraid to move. All she can think of is the blood covering the body, the floor, and then she blinks fast and stands.

Turning around again, Mei retches, bracing herself against the shelf full of cleaning supplies. She can hear Brigid's ragged sobs. Shoving things aside, Mei lets her hair fall in front of her face, blocking the body and its river of blood from her view.

Her foots slips as she reaches for Brigid, and she stumbles, bracing her hand against the floor for balance. It lands in a pool of dark red blood, and she sucks in a breath through her teeth, holding back a sob. With her clean hand, she takes Brigid's outstretched one and feels thin fingers curl around her own.

"Maybe we should stay," whispers Brigid. "Because they won't come back, they've already-" she breaks off and looks away with her face in one hand.

Mei swallows hard. "We need to get out. Of the school." And out of this damn closet with a body and a pool of blood. "We can't stay." As she says the words, a chill runs through her veins at the thought of going out in the open once again.

"Right," says Brigid in a strained voice that's trying to be strong. "Okay."

"We'll go the opposite way," says Mei, well aware of the fact that she's stalling walking out of that door. "Um, towards the front entrance. I think the glass is smashed, so it'll be easy to get out."

"We should call the police," her friend suggests in a trembling voice. Mei looks towards the corner where she left her backpack and shakes her head at the pool of blood in between.

"Someone's already," she says. "They'll be here soon, and they'll arrest the shooter, and no one else will die. Okay?"

Nodding with a bravery she doesn't feel, Mei grasps Brigid's hand tighter and they walk out the door. Mei breaks in to a run in the empty hallway, hearing the terrifying noises of bullets and screaming behind her.

The only thing she can think of at the moment is how grateful she is to have Brigid by her side. My life is just better when you're around, Brigid had said once, so I would like you to stay in it. Brigid understood the part of Mei that she herself didn't.

Mei's blood covered hand drips as she runs, and she rubs it on her dark jeans to stop the trail. She's calmer than she ever would have expected, numb almost. The school hallway has never seemed longer or emptier, even with the shouts echoing off the white walls.

They round the last corner to the entrance and Mei's stomach rolls again. There's blood everywhere, splattered up the remaining glass and mixed with the shattered shards on the floor. And then there was the body.

But what made her swallow hard and force her stomach down was the car that rolled up, smoothly, the car looking sinister itself. Her breath caught at the sight of another figure stepping out, and the a gun being cocked and held so casually it was almost like it was an extension of the arm.

They turned and ran.

(a/n) this chapter is super short and hastily written so please ignore the errors if you find any. i'm sorry for the wait, hopefully updates will be more frequent now.