ONE TIME THING ✸ Scott Reed

18

a gunshot sound echoed through the town, Rae looked down to see blood rushing out of her stomach, her eyes widened at the sight and she gasped, Clay immediately looked back and saw the puddle of blood growing larger by the second, tears filled his vision at the image. he froze there for a minute before snapping back into reality, he turned back to Tyler who held a shocked face, Tyler didnt mean to, he got startled.

just then, Justin and Jessica ran out, "Clay!" Justin shouted, "hey! g - go back inside!" Clay gulped and looked out for his friends while Rae laid on the cold concrete ground, while blood rushed out of her, "jesus clay!" Justin exclaimed, "go inside!" Clay shouted as Tyler raised his gun at the two, they obeyed him and went back inside, meanwhile, Scott was freaking out, wondering where Rae was, he looked everywhere for Rae.. he then found Zach, he ran up to him and explained the situation, Zach became tense and worried, the two searched everywhere around the school even though they knew the werent supposed to. a siren came closer to the school causing a rush of relief to go through everyone's body, whilst Rae was just trying to stay alive, she was freaking out, she knew that she wasnt supposed to and she was supposed to hold on and sit tight but how could she? she had just gotten shot and soon enough all of her friends would too. "well, everybody knows already." Tyler huffs, pulling his gun back over his shoulder, "no. the only people that know are the people that know you," Clay tried to assure him, "a - and they wanna help you." Clay continued, "bullshit." Tyler scolded him, "no, look. T - Tyler, they know you're hurting, we all are." Clay explains as Tyler held the gun to his chest, pushing him back up, "a - and i - i dont know what to do about it either." Clay stammered, Tyler loaded his gun, "okay? b - but i tried hurting other people. right? i tried hurting you! but it didnt fucking help, man." Clay exclaimed as tears spilled out of his eyes, "it doesnt do any good. listen to me. it doesnt!" Clay tried and tried to talk him out of it but it didnt seem to be working, he didnt give up, though, anything to keep him and his friends alive. finally, sirens approached the school, Tyler looked back, scared as they got closer, "Tyler! listen. you dont get out of this alive. and i dont want you to die!" Clay's voice raised as the gun was brought back to his chest, Tyler held an angered face, "i - i dont want you to die." Clay stuttered as he still feared for his life, as Rae did. "i - if you think this is the way, if you really think this'll change a goddamn thing, and not just be another fucking tragedy that adults cry about for a week and then forget about, if you really think that this is gonna be different.. then do what you gotta do." Clay huffs, "come on, Tyler." Clay sighs, "please." he continues, "there's nothing else i can do." Tyler says, causing Clay to shake his head, "there is." Clay slowly puts his hand on the gun, "we'll figure it out. okay?" Clay continued to bring the gun down slowly, "i swear." no matter how bad Clay wanted to run over and help Rae, he knew he couldnt, he knew that if he did, Tyler was gonna shoot him and the rest of the people in the school, Clay knew Rae wouldnt have wanted that either, he knew that if he wanted everyone else to survive, he had to let Rae be, just for as long as he needed to, he hated that he had to, though. tires screeched and the duo looked back and saw a vehicle approaching them, "what the fuck?" Tyler questioned, "thats Tony. its okay." Clay assured him, "it's Tony, you gotta go." Clay pushed Tyler closer to the car while Tony opened the door, "get in the car!" Tony shouted, "let me help you." Clay took the gun off of Tyler, "come on, its okay." he assured him as they walked closer to the car, Tyler looked back at the school and at Rae's slowly dying body, Clay put Tyler in the car and Tony immediately drove away, Clay ran back to Rae's frail body as Justin and Jessica ran out to check on Clay but then noticed Rae, their hearts dropped and the trio immediately dropped down to her side, their vision immediately filled with tears as they sobbed over her body, "please, Rae, it'll be okay, they'll be here soon. i promise, just hold on." Clay tried to calm her, Rae looked at them with her mascara falling down her face, "i love you guys." Rae sobbed, "p - please, t - tell Z - Zach i love h - him. S - S - Scott too." Rae cried, they nodded. thankfully, Scott and Zach ran out of the building and saw Rae at the bottom of the stairs, her frail body with hair tangled throughout her face, as she laid in a puddle of her own blood.

Zach pushed Justin, Jessica and Clay out of the way and hovered over her frail body, Rae smiled lightly at her brother as tears flooded her vision again and out of her eyes, she couldnt bare the pain in her brother's eyes and Zach couldnt bare seeing his sister -- his best friend, dying. he wanted to stay strong for her, but he just couldnt. he tried so hard to fight the tears and push them away because he was known as Zach Dempsey.

he felt terrible, Rae gave him a sad sympathetic look, just then, Scott became unfrozen and slowly approached Rae. Rae let out a sob at the sight of him, she couldnt imagine not being able to have the future that deep down she wanted to have so badly with him but would never admit to anyone. cause that was the plan for Rae, she was gonna graduate, go to a good college, hopefully, Brown, and then maybe one day she would get married to Scott and have one or two mini Scott's or even mini her's, but she couldnt have any of that, because she was there, dying.

everyone felt terrible, seeing their best friend dying. Justin was calling the paramedics while Scott and her were talking, though for Rae, the sound was slowly cutting out and she started growing tired, thankfully, the paramedics arrived on time and they rushed out, pulling a gurney on the ground and putting Rae on it, they put her back in the ambulance and Rae was struggling to stay awake, they kept pleading that she did, though.

the ambulance kept moving, they kept ordering other things and moving and touching Rae.

Rae was in an insane amount of pain but it was as if she couldnt feel it almost, Rae tried to stay awake as everyone ordered but just couldnt, they lost her pulse and/or heartbeat multiple times.

And they finally made it to the hospital after what seemed like forever and they rushed her into an operation room, they gave her anesthesia to make her numb and they removed the bullet and performed surgery, but, failed. they lost her pulse and heartbeat, they tried and tried to wake her up in multiple ways, nothing worked. "time of death, 11:51 pm."

the doctors went out of the operation room in defeat and out to the waiting room of the hospital where Clay, Scott, Zach, Jessica, Sheri, Alex, and their families were, the surgeon huffed and went into the room, meeting the hopeful and anxious people, he walked up to Zach and Mrs. Dempsey, he sat in the chair across from them, "Mrs Demspey and Mr Dempsey...we tried everything we could, but she wasn't saveable, we tried everything we could, i am so, so sorry for your loss." he apologized and Mrs Dempsey immediately sobbed into Zach's shoulder, Zach shed more tears and everyone knew what had happen since her mom was hysterical and Zach was crying, the entire room filled with sobs.

a lot of people cared about her. Scott didnt know how to feel...he was just breaking, slowly.

he remembered all of their amazing and not so amazing memories, many people apologized to the Dempsey's and Scott. Scott and Rae loved each other, so much.

they knew they were perfect for each other, and everyone else knew too.

and it was all cause of that one time thing.

THE END!