inspired by the scariest fucking school day of my life, damnit

it was a normal algebra class. people were complaining, from both the heat and the work. the windows were open, sunlight streaming through into the full classroom.

it was three weeks until school let out. everyone there was impatient, waiting for it to end, waiting for the day to finish, so they could sit around on their asses the entire summer.

the intercom started. you could hear the chatter of voices in the background, students that some people knew. you could hear the disappointed adults.

it ended on a sincere note: "what are you doing?"

the words of a teacher, sounding both angry and terrified, then radio silence. relief flushed through the classroom, as well as confusion and fear. laughter erupted from a couple people, as a joke was passed between them.

i sat there, my hands shaking, his throat closing up. my friend next to me seemed clammy and a bit scared, her fingers tapping on the desk.

she quietly began to explain to me a video she had seen yesterday, about the parkland shooter and his path. it had been brought up earlier, and neither of us was worried.

"this...is a...lockdown..." we heard come from the speakers, as the entire class burst into laughter. we figured it was a drill, and our teacher calmly locked the door, closing the blinds and windows, leaving nothing but the stuffy laughter and the smell of body odor.

then we heard it.

a shot rang down the hallway. then silence. none of us spoke a word, and you could feel the tension as students began to become anxious, the sweat starting to grow on our palms and foreheads.

two more. loud, echoing through the school. the shrieks of our peers, and the silent prayers of those around us.

we had heard of the shootings. everyone had. we knew that they were happening, but we never figured they'd happen here. we thought we were safe. apparently not.

i could hear the elapsed breathing of my friend, and could see the tear slide down her face.

more shots rang out. they were getting louder, closer down the hallway.

my mouth grew dry, dear coursing through me as i struggled to breathe. i could feel the clammy sweat beaded on my forehead, my chest tightening in fear. the ringing in my ears as we all quietly shuffled to the side of the room, our teacher near the front door, a baseball bat in his hands. his only line of defense against a gun. our only line of defense against someone who wouldn't hesitate to kill us all, leaving our bodies bleeding on the ground.

i silently prayed to whatever gods existed, biting the inside of my cheek as more shots rang, screaming following it. then, silence as the gun shot, finishing after four or five shots had been fired.

we could hear the sirens in the distance, the desperate police trying to save our lives. i prayed and hoped that it wouldn't be me they found bleeding. i prayed and hoped it wouldn't be anyone they found dead on the ground.

only whoever dared to try and take the lives of teenagers, innocent ones at that.

i could hear the shots and the screams now, coming from the algebra ii class across the hall, and feel my chest tighten as they silenced, seeing the silhouettes of my peers as they desperately tried to escape. i could hear their footsteps as we sat silently in the classroom.

fuck, was i scared. i could feel the breaths of the living students around me, ruffling the surrounding air.

then, the glass on the door broke, shattered by gunshots. a scream rang through the classroom. it might've been me, i don't know.

"get down!" i heard the muffled male voice of our shooter, holding some kind of assault rifle, aiming at all of us. "get down or you'll die!"

we all complied, muffled sobs coming from a few of us. i watched as my friend shook, and i took her hand, shaking as well.

we all lay on the ground, even my teacher, who had dropped his wooden bat.

"you're the teacher?" i heard him say, nudging our math teacher in the side.

"y-yes," followed his quiet voice. "that's me."

"stand up."

i could hear his feet on the floor as he stood up, and i glanced up, seeing the tears on his face, practically hear his silent prayers for his family and friends.

a gunshot went through the classroom. we screamed. the thunk of a body hit the floor, and i struggled to breathe.

"you guys don't fucking know anything! you might as well all die! you all treated everyone who didn't belong in this goddamn school like shit. fuck you!" he shouted, and i could hear the sirens louder now, just outside the school. he heard them too. "stand up! all of you. i said to stand up!"

we all stood, our limbs shaking with fear. what no one saw was one of my classmates pick up the bat, and smack it over the head of our shooter.

he crumpled to the floor, his eyes rolling back in his head.

at that moment, we ran. the thought to take his gun never occurred to us. we were terrified, and as one heroic student held the door, we sprinted. we were terrified. petrified, practically.

i had heard a man fall to the floor in front of us, dead. i didn't know how to take the news, and blocked the thought from my mind as i sprinted away.

we were outside, where many other students stood, looking at us with fear. i could feel my teacher's blood on my arms, drying in the sunlight. i could see the crazed fear in my classmate's eyes, as all of us escaped.

the police ran past us, into the school, where they would hopefully find him, with his gun, crumpled onto the floor.

i stood there, hugging my friend, not caring about the heat, or her tears falling onto my shirt. k didn't care about her sweat. i only cared that we were there together, alive. we were alive. that's what mattered.

silently, i wondered how many weren't alive any longer. how many parents would grieve for their dead child, yet still move on to do nothing? how many friends would cry, alone without their friends? how many sisters and brothers would grieve silently, or scream, and tell the world to kill itself?

why was the world such a cruel place?