The Gunman

Chapter Forty-Two: Mary

My parents found me through the crowd and hugged me so tightly, I couldn't move in their grip. Their hug felt safe though, and I cried into my mom's shoulder. It felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. We were about to leave when a girl, I thought her name was Ellie, gave a speech about the people in the building.

Everything in the speech was true, every last word. However, I didn't know about the girl trying to kill the shooter. My parents tried to pull me along to the car when Ellie had finished speaking, but I would no longer budge. I refused to leave. If there was a girl in the building, brave enough to go after the shooter, then the least I could have done was stand in the crowd and root for her. It just didn't seem right leaving.

So I stayed, and my parents stayed with me. But I wanted some time alone, I hadn't told them about Max and I didn't really want to right then. So I made them stay there, and I walked off towards the baseball field where I had first met Max:

I was in ninth grade, and it was a beautiful day out. So my gym class went out to play baseball. I was in a co-ed gym class, so we had to find a way to split it up so the same amount of boys and girls were on each team. It was impossible though because we had more girls than guys.

No guys wanted to join the team with more girls, which was the team I was on. Then, a young boy stepped up and said he'd be on the team. He smiled as he walked over, and stood right next to me. I had looked at him for many long seconds, and I didn't know that he noticed until he said, "Do I have something on my face?" He rubbed his hands against his face and winked.

"No." I said quietly, not knowing what else to say. I was quiet for a little bit, then I said, "Hi, I'm Mary." It was said so quietly I didn't know if he had heard me, but he did.

"I'm Max," He gave me a sideways glance, "You don't need to be shy, I won't judge. Promise." He began to walk away when the teacher called the start of the game. We were outfield, I hated outfield. The ball would always fly at me and I thought it was going to hit me in the face every time.

So I would get the farthest I could get out in the outfield and just hope nobody knew how to actually hit the ball. Then a boy was up to bat. He was a chunkier boy, and he looked as if he could wail the ball really far out. He could.

The second he hit the ball, it soared right at me and I didn't know what to do. I squirmed around, and thought about running off in the other direction. But it was too late to do that, it was about to hit me and my glove wasn't even raised. I squeaked, accepting the fact that I was going to get hit.

Then, a glove flew in front of my face, catching the ball right before it collided with me. A sigh of relief came out of my mouth and I turned to thank whoever the gloved hand belonged to. It was Max.

"Next time," He smiled, "Raise the glove. It makes it a lot easier to catch the ball. Trust me." He threw the ball to the pitcher and walked away. That was the first time I had ever met my boyfriend. Two years ago in the baseball field I stood in.

But I wasn't alone in the field, someone sat on the home base. It was Ellie; her blonde hair sparkled in the sun, and showed off red splotches which could only be blood. I walked over to her, silently. She knew I was there, and she didn't care. She smiled at me, and I smile back. I sat down next to her and looked at the grassy field. We had a silent understanding, and we just sat there silently.