The ghost of him

Chapter 1

"We're all gonna die!" That's what Fred Wilson, the nerdy paranoid freak yells during a lockdown. The teacher orders him to be quiet and go sit back up against the counter like everybody else. He stubbornly makes his way back to his spot.

I stare at the Blue and white tiled floor in the science lab, where we're all currently on lockdown. I then turn my gaze to my converse. The white tip is all brown and dirty, and it's ripped on one side. The shoelaces are all undone and dirty as well.

"Please. Please pick up. Oh god." I look to the left of me and Trisha is balling her eyes out as she presses her phone to her ear. I hear it ringing. When I look around, everybody has their phones out either texting or calling someone. We're all shaking and whispering to ourselves. Erica has her hands folded and her head is down, whispering something over and over. Even Mrs. Ruth is crying and praying.

I should have listened to my friends. Should have taken them seriously. The principal and staff knew he was getting out today, and they didn't cancel school. How stupid. To be fair though, the cops did say they were going to keep an eye on him. They didn't do a well enough job.

I hear police sirens and ambulances in the far distance. I hear a cop barking orders at people. This calms most of us down, but we're still on edge. Especially me. I can see my hands shaking and my eyes are getting blurry and they even start to sting. I wipe them with the sleeve of my hoodie as I get my phone out and call Aaron. He's right down the hall.

"I hope you're doing OK," I say as I let out a sob. I feel my phone shaking in my hands shaking.

"I'm alright. But if one of us dies, I just want to say that I love you, and I'll miss you with all my heart." I love hearing his voice. It's perfect. Not too high, not too deep, and very therapeutic. Sometimes I would ask him to tell me a story just so I can hear it.

"I'll miss you too. And I'll never forget about you. Whether we live...Or die." I let out another sob and I can hear him crying from the other end.

"Stay on the line," I say. "I want your presence with me."

"Okay. I will. We should have taken our friends more seriously. Oh god. I wonder how they're doing?"

I think back to this morning. It was a regular school day, and we were sitting in our usual spot: The brick ledge near the parking lot. We were sitting at the corner, so we could all see and talk to each other, all 5 of us.

"So, you guys know what day it is today?" Abby says all suspenseful. She looks around at all of us, a mischievous look on her face. She leans in and rubs her hands together, her brown hair falling in her face.

I take a bite of my breakfast sandwich. "No, what is it?" I say with my mouth full.

"February 15th..." She says.

Aaron rubs his chin the way you do when you're thinking. He does that all I time and I don't know if he's being serious or if he's making fun of people who do that. "Isn't it like singles awareness day or something?" He says, actually being serious.

We all burst out laughing at the fact that he knows that, and he actually thought that was what she was talking about. "No..." Abby proceeds to tell us. "Zack is getting out of jail today." She looks at us intently, waiting for our reactions.

I look at her, scrunching my face and raising an eyebrow. "Who's Zack and why should I care?" It came out snarky but I didn't mean it to.

"Remember in middle school when these high schoolers came up to us and told us that this guy named Zack tried to shoot up the high school and he was going to shoot us next?"