Becoming Layla Hale

Chapter 2

The whole room was starting to spin out.

All the desks and chairs and fluorescent light were swirling around and around in my mind like I was in some lucid dream. I staggered towards one of the lab tables to hold my weight, I didn’t trust my feet at this point to keep me upright. A man with a gun? Wrenville was a safe town, nothing of that sort had ever happened before. The closest thing to crime around here was a middle schooler pocketing candy from the center store.

But that’s what Perry had said. A man with a gun. And outside the very building I was in? I gripped the desk with enough force to make my knuckles white and knobby.

I was frozen in between panicking and acting. I couldn’t do anything.

“What?” Jackson barked, snapping out of the funk first.

Perry nodded up and down, still backed against the door and looking more frantic by the second, “It’s true- I saw him.”

The football captain looked at him in a warning, “Because if this is one of your tricks-“

“It isn’t, I swear.” the second boy stammered. Perry looked really shaken up.

Jackson muttered something under his breath and then looked directly at me, “Holly, call the police. Here,” he tossed up an object, his iPhone, to me. My sweaty palms grasped around the device. I was surprised I could catch a small iPhone in a time like this, but not a massive basketball in gym class.

“What exactly did it look like?” the football captain was hounding, face reddening more and more with each question asked, “Where? Do you think he’s going to come in here? What about Ms. Salwick? And why aren’t you calling 911?” he directed this last one to me, but was still facing Perry.

“Oh, right.” I mumbled, “Sorry.”

“He was tall.” the class clown relayed, “He was wearing all black, oh but there was a blue pin on his jacket. He was at the side door near the Dumpsters and I don’t know if he’s going to come in because… oh no.” Perry’s face paled.

“What- what is it?” Jackson was borderline exasperated now, “Hey, are you getting all of this?” He asked me. I had just pressed the Emergency Call button on his phone and was holding it to my ear. A cold surface on my overheating body. It almost felt nice.

“Ms. Salwick was like right next to him.” the class clown’s eyes were as wide as saucers, “Maybe he’s kidnapping her, well I mean adultnapping… is that a word?”

“Oh it doesn’t matter!” Jackson hissed.

“Shhh!” I held up my index finger to the boys as the call went through.

I quickly ran through in my head what I was going to say. I’m trapped in a school, there’s a scary man outside, he may have kidnapped our teacher…

“911, what is your emergency?” an overly clam lady spoke on the other end.

I opened my mouth to speak, but only a pathetic squeaking noise from inside my throat came out. Both the boys’ eyes were on me. They were expecting me to say the right thing. I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing my eyelids together and blocking out everything around me. “Umm…” I peeked open one eye a slit to ask them quietly. “What do I say?”

Jackson looked like he was going to throttle someone now, “Just give it to me!” he snapped, snatching the phone out of my hand. His rough fingers brushed mine for about a millisecond.

The jock took the phone and started talking, “Two other students and I are at Wrenville High School. There’s a man with a gun outside near the Dumpsters and our teacher is out there too.”