My Best Friend's Brother

13

Moments after Carter fell to the ground I heard sputtering and coughing and a teacher ran over to him and kicked the gun away while another teacher guarded the gun to make sure no one else grabbed it. The cops came in also, they arrested the gang member and when they escorted him out and Carter was taken out on a stretcher more paramedics rushed in to help the wounded.

The students that were not physically harmed were escorted out by police officers. We were put in a 'safe place' on the soccer field with the rest of the students that fled when they had the chance. Chloe, Collins, and I haven't let go of each other still even though we were next to get checked out by paramedics.

I watched in horror as the wounded students were taken out in body bags and very few on stretchers. My blood froze as I saw parents pull up to the school screaming their children's names. I looked at the sea of worried parents and saw my own mom shoving through the crowd. I finally snapped out of it and started sobbing, I didn't let go of Collins or Chloe but I dragged them with my as I forced past police officers to get to my mother.

She hugged me tightly and cried into my shoulder and soon hugged the twins too. "Ma'am, please they need to be checked out before they can leave." I heard an officer say and my mom nodded and wiped away her tears. "Go. Your parents said they can't come home so you guys are welcome to stay with us if you don't want to stay home alone." My mom told the twins and they nodded and we walked back to the paramedics.

We all got checked out quickly and we were cleared, we were then escorted by police to go get our stuff from our lockers. I didn't even notice until they sat us down that Collins had blood sprayed across his arm and face from being beside someone that was shot but we were all unharmed.

We silently climbed into my moms car, all cramming ourselves into the backseat. I was in the middle, Collins had his arm around my shoulder as he held me tightly and Chloe had her head resting against his brother's hand that was on my shoulder.

"I love you all so much." My mom said shakily which broke the tense silence and as I heard the waver in her voice I broke down crying too and Chloe did also. Collins was able to hold it together but he just gently rubbed our backs to comfort us. "We love you too Ms. Sanchez." I heard Collins say and Chloe and I held each other as we road home.

When we finally got to the house Collins took a shower first in my moms bathroom while I took one in mine. I scrubbed every inch of myself until my skin was tender and red trying to get every cell off of myself that could've been contaminated when Carter stared at me as he walked down the aisle.

His face held no emotion, the only sign that he wasn't a robot was the way his finger tightened around the trigger as he walked. I got out and didn't even bother turning off the water because Chloe got in almost the second I got out. I wrapped a towel around myself and walked out to my bedroom. I sat down and just stared at the floor.

I sat there in silence for a few moments until a knock came from my door which made me jump, "I'm sorry hun," my mom said when she saw me jump, "I just wanted to let you know that Collins ran home to get some stuff for himself and Chloe. He borrowed my car and he thought that when he got back you all could go get your cars from the school if you guys were okay to drive by the time he got back?" She explained and I nodded and processed everything she said. "Okay." I said hoarsely and I finally looked her in the eyes. She still hasn't fixed her mascara and her eyes were still puffy. "Who's dead?" I asked and she sighed, "They don't know yet." She said and I nodded numbly.

"I love you mom." I said and she smiled, "I love you too baby." And with that she walked out and softly closed the door. I finally got up and put on baggy sweatpants and an oversized hoodie I stole from Collins. I slipped on socks and some uggs before laying out a similar outfit for Chloe and setting it in the bathroom for her.

"Hey Chloe, we're going to go get our cars from the school when your brother gets back." I said and she hummed in agreement but never actually answered.

I sat on my bed and wrapped myself in a warm blanket and just let scenarios run through my head of what could have happened if he pulled the trigger when he looked at me.

I was only ripped out of them when Chloe came out of the bathroom, I never even noticed when the water turned off. She came and sat down beside me and I shared the blanket with her.

We both jumped and grabbed each other when my phone started ringing, I picked it up once we recovered and realized what the noise was. It was just Collins saying he was waiting for us outside.

Chloe and I grabbed our keys from our book bags and went out to the driveway, my mom drove us to the school and dropped us off. Students were still getting checked on the field but all the excess cops and paramedics were gone. A clean up crew was heading inside and news crews were swarming the building.

As we walked to our cars that were near each other a cameraman and news anchor ran over to us. Collins protectively wrapped an arm around both of our shoulders as the woman came up to us, "How do you feel about surviving one of the worst single gunman  shooting in U.S. history?" The lady asked and my blood boiled, "Get the hell away from us before you're added to the body count." I spat and shoved past the woman towards my car. I heard Collins apologize to the lady and Chloe cuss her out. I waited in my car for the twins to get in their own cars before the three of us pulled out and headed towards my house.