BANG

Chapter 1

I was scrubbing my hands with foamy pink soap when the alarm rang.

"We are now going into lock down, repeat we are now going into lock down," a voice said over the intercom. The school had been prepared for this to happen. We had had lock down drills every other week. We were told to be quiet. We were taught where to hide. But it still seemed surreal. I whipped around and ran into one of the bathroom stalls. So did the girl who was washing her hands next to me. "Be quiet," I whispered to her, "cry quiet". I tried to stand on one of the toilets, but I slipped off and hit my head on the toilet paper rack. It was bleeding. Cautiously, I stood on the toilet again, holding my hand over my gashed forehead.

The first gunshot rang out. I felt tears spring to my eyes. Then a second. I was starting to feel light headed. Blood was all over my clothes and starting to drip into the toilet water. But not on the floor, thank God. That would be a dead giveaway.

For a few minutes, everything was silent. Not just in the girls bathroom, but in the whole school. I couldn't hear them, but I could just feel it. It was the kind of silence that pressed hard on your chest, threatening to suffocate you. You felt that if you made even the smallest noise, the whole world would collapse. Heavy footsteps broke the silence. I could hear them. In the hallway right behind the door.

I hid in the bathroom stall, shaking with silent sobs. Another gun shot rang out and I felt like I was going to throw up. More blood. I was so lightheaded I could barely stay standing. Then someone screamed. The girl in the stall next to me started hysterically crying. "Shhh," I wanted to say. But I couldn't. They'd already heard. And they were coming.

The door creaked open. Thunk, thunk, thunk. Slow footsteps walked in. I could still hear her crying. My hands were covered in blood. My clothes were soaked. My hair was sticky. The stall door next to me opened.

"Please," she whispered. I slipped off the toilet. Then there was nothing.

~~~~~~~~~~~

 They must've thought I was already dead. At least I was still alive.

When I woke up, the police had arrived. I could hear the sirens. Shakily, I stood up. There was blood all over the floor. And it couldn't all be mine. I prepared for the worst as I pushed open the stall door. But preparing for the worst wasn't enough. Not even close to enough.

The girl who was in the stall next to me was on the floor. Her remaining eye looked at the celing. Where her other eye should have been was a bloody pit. Blood was splattered over the rest of her body. Next to her was a man. He had a gun in his hand. Slumped against the wall, blankly staring. One side of his head had a gory hole in it. The oppisite was undescribable. I vomited and then sunk to my knees.

Then I went unconscious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Stay with us, honey," A plump black nurse leaned over me, "Just stay with us." 

I wasn't in the bathroom anymore. I was on an ambulance. The bathroom. I started to sob.

"Calm down," the nurse said to me, "Calm down,".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I woke again, I was in a hospital room. My hand instictivley reached to my head. The gash was bandaged.

"Ezra?" my grandmother whispered.

"Hi, Nana Banana," my voice was scratchy and hurt when I spoke.

She broke into sobs. I could imagine my grandfather wrapping his arms around her. But he was dead, so that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. My father was dead, too. So was my mother. And her brother. 

"Where's Liam?" I croaked. 

Nana broke into another round of sobs. So bad that a nurse had to sit her down.

Oh God no. I started crying too. The heart monitor started beeping like crazy. The same nurse ran over to me and was whispering something in my ear. I pushed her off me and stumbled out the door. Then I ran down the hall as fast as I could. 

People must have thought I was mental. 

Before I could get very far, the plump black nurse from the ambulance stopped me. I collapsed to the floor. 

"He's dead. My brother's dead," I whispered.