The Whisper Seekers

Sophomore Mistakes

Ian and Elijah are dressed head to toe in black confidently holding guns in front of Mike, Aaron and Lily. Lily is sobbing and I see Aaron is holding her hand. When she sees me, she gasps and more tears fall from her face. No one says anything but I quickly take a seat next to Lily on the bench. I grab her other hand and look toward Ian. In my head, I yell for Liam but I don't get a response. A cold wave washes over me and even though I am sitting next to four others, I feel alone.

Marissa leaves after we sit and I hear her close and lock the locker room door from around the corner. I realize it's probably the only door in the school that locks from the inside so it makes sense as to why they brought us here. Marissa joins Ian and Elijah and the three of them point their weapons at us. Ian is the first to speak, "I knew all of you would be here today. I had to figure out a day where I knew all of you would be at school and I realized the day before homecoming is like a holiday to you people." We look to each other, wondering why he needed us to be here.

"I bet you're all wondering why I brought you here?"

We all do in fact wonder the same thing but our eyes now remain on Ian.

"Maybe this will answer that question for you," Ian says while Elijah pulls an iPad out from a backpack. He clicks a button on the screen and a video starts playing. It's Ian stark naked with one hand covering his crotch and another waving toward the camera. I immediately recognize the background. I know the large white French doors attached to beige-colored walls. I bought the Stanford pennant hanging on the wall above the black dresser and the bed is the same one where my clothes were ripped off a few weeks ago. It's Derek's room.

Ian looks different in the video with buzzed hair and no thick-rimmed glasses. He's yelling to turn the camera off but I can hear voices in the background laughing- one distinctly belonging to Mike. Ian pleads again and then Derek's voice is heard saying, "Come on Ian, I can't believe you took us seriously. Coach Brent is going to hear about this, you little queer. You filthy dirt!"

Ian waves toward the camera, tears now streaming down his face and I hear Lily's giggle in the video. I remember hearing about this from Harper, but I wasn't there that night.

Derek threw a football kick-off party sophomore year at his house and both the cheerleaders and football team went. My mom had a fundraiser that night that I was forced to go to so I had to miss the party. I remember hearing a rumor that one of the kids on the football team had a crush on Aaron. Aaron freaked out that a guy had a crush on him and once they figured out who it was, they immediately wanted him off the football team. They were going to pull a prank on him to expose him at Derek's house. I wasn't sure of the details but I knew right after the party, some kid got kicked off the football team and transferred schools. I hadn't realized until now that the kid came back this year to get revenge and that Derek and his gang recorded his humiliation.

Once the video is over, Elijah jams the iPad back into his backpack. We hear a noise at the door and all of our heads snap in that direction. Marissa holds her gun out and disappears around the corner. She comes back and shakes her head at Ian, "No one is there."

Ian looks back to us and continues, "Remember me, boys? Gary? The boy that you humiliated two years ago!" I can feel the hatred pouring off his tall lanky body as he looks at us. "My parents found out that I was gay through a video Mike here posted on social media. I wasn't ready to tell anyone and here you all thought it was funny to expose me for your own little fun and games. I not only had to deal with harassment at school but online too. I got death threats! My parents practically disowned me. It's hard enough to be gay, it's damn near impossible to be gay in Texas and on the football team."

He waves the gun around and no one says anything. I'm ashamed of all the people sitting next to me to say anything anyway.

Ian continues, "What's worse is only a couple people in this school realized it was me when I started again at Highland Park this year. I went by my middle name, grew out my hair, got glasses and no one even realized it was Gay Gary, but I was definitely still labeled a dirt."

I even have to admit I didn't realize it was him. I barely noticed him sophomore year let alone this year with everything else going on. But I know I wasn't at that party that night so I don't know why I am in this room now. Elijah suddenly moves his gun toward Derek and he grabs my hand.

"Do any of you know how exhausting it is to be called a dirt and slammed into lockers every day?" He snaps. "Aaron and Derek probably shoved me just this week! Telling me to move and slapping shit out of my hands. Do you know what it's like to roam the halls, afraid that someone is going to physically assault you as you go to class? Well, I'm done with your bullshit. It's all bullshit! You think you run this stupid fucking town but you don't. You have no idea how much I fucking hate you. "

Suddenly, I hear Liam and he startles me Ellie I'm here. Stay calm. Help is coming. I won't let anything happen to you. I feel his hand on my shoulder but he quickly lifts it knowing that if it lingers too long, my shoulder will disappear under his hand. Ian is now more confident in his stance and any fear or hesitations he had before have vanished. He now has a strong grip on the handle of his gun and his finger sits comfortably on the trigger.

"You all ruined my life for your own selfish reasons and didn't bat an eye. Your lives moved on while mine was destroyed. So now, I am going to end yours. The world will be a better place without bullies like you in it. No one will be scared to be themselves at this school any longer. I want people to be scared of being an asshole. I want people to now think twice before calling someone a name. I will never be called a dirt or Gay Gary ever again." Marissa, Ian, and Elijah raise their guns and aim them at us. Mike contemplates tackling Ian but he's worried Elijah or Marissa will target him. Lily's sobs fill the room and I yell for Liam inside my head. I close my eyes and then I hear a loud deafening shot fill the room.

A loud sob bursts through Lily's mouth and I now have tears sliding down my cheeks. My ears are ringing and I cover them with my hands. I open my eyes and see Marissa on the ground with her gun now lying on the floor across from her. Water is suddenly coming from the ceiling from a pipe Marissa shot when she fell. Ian and Elijah are distracted by the confusion and I take the split second of opportunity to jump on the floor and retrieve Marissa's gun. I already have the heavy metal in my hands before Ian even realizes what happened.

"What the hell Marissa?" Ian yells over the water and Marissa jumps to her feet. I aim the gun at Ian trying to contain my shakes. I've never held a gun before.

"I don't know what the hell just happened! I was knocked backward!" Marissa yells looking bewildered. She has no idea how she lost control or how she ended up on her back down on the ground.

"Drop the gun, Ian! Or Gary or whoever the hell you are!" I yell but he doesn't flinch. "You think shooting five people in a locker room won't ruin your life? What are you really gaining here?" Aaron now has his arm around Lily and Elijah still has his gun pointed at them. Water is flooding the floor and soaking us in the process.

"There is nothing I would love more than to see princess Ellie Adler laying here on the floor covered in more than just water," Ian threatens. Ellie be careful. I am right behind Ian.

"Why do you have a burning hatred towards me? I wasn't even there that night! I had no idea that this had even happened to you," I shout to him, trying to distract him as long as possible. "I'm truly sorry this happened. It's wrong and repulsive but this is not a solution! Hurting them is not a solution!" Where's the help, Liam?

"Don't lie!" Ian spits at me and he now has an even tighter grip around the gun, "You were there laughing at me! Encouraging your monster of a boyfriend! Egging on your shallow friends to mock me!"

I shake my head, knowing I wasn't there that night. I'm ashamed to even think what I would have even done if I were. I disgust myself when I know the answer is nothing.

"Ian it wasn't me! I wasn't there that night! That giggle you hear in the video isn't mine. It belongs to Harper Weston. Please don't hurt anyone. Please!" I watch a flicker of confusion cross his face. He doesn't believe he got it wrong and is pissed that he forgot about Harper in this master plan of his. I'm grateful she's not here as her sharp tongue may have made all this worse.

He still has a firm grip on the trigger and suddenly his aim is now on Lily, "You might not have been there, but I know this bitch was!"

It happens in slow motion. He puts his right arm down so his left hand is the only hand on the gun. He does this as he swings over to Lily and I watch his finger squeeze the trigger.