Best Friend

I cried a little the first time I wrote this.

Best Friends

"Okay, Children, line up."

Door with green, red, and yellow paper apples.

First in line. Twist the knob. Peer outside.

Walk down the hal-

I shriek, my friends and class mimics, everyone panics.

Eyes flung wide open,

A man with a rabid fury inside his gun stands beside

A sticky red smeared across the bulletin board

Dripping down like raindrops on glass

To a sunken form haphazardly lying in a dark puddle.

The horrific stench of death.

Dashing, yelling, running, madhouse chaos.

Me. Frozen to this spot. Man. Gun. No.

Pointed at her head.

The one with the other half to my necklace.

No hesitation daunts his face.

Finger movements over a trigger "click"

Mid step, she bounds , running towards me

When a sudden jolting cuts through the atmosphere.

Buried in her head...

It stops. For a second. For me. It stops.

The slumber party, we were in trouble for watching a PG-13 movie

gone.

Field day, when we won the two-legged race

Gone.

I was too scared to ride the big roller coaster by myself, but we went together, and

GOne.

Playground tag everyday at recess that never ended, though you were always faster...

GONe.

Two pieces to this heart, and the other half is

GONE.

She drops.

I clap a hand over my mouth, others rush past.

I can't scream, I can't run, I sink to the ground. I crawl.

Almost trampled by a live or die stampede

This... table... might... work...

Numb, vision blinking in and out of focus, Nightmare, please no.

Can't happen, can't take it.

Eyelids glued open, saltwater makes oceans to pour down my cheeks.

Huddled in a sniffling ball.

The man. My teacher. My class. Her. Gone.

Her head hit the ground awkwardly and is turned to stare at me with a blank expression,

I see her face from my place under the table.

How could she have been the one that-

My throat constricts, my stomach churns molten acid, my eyes feel like hot coals,

I choke on a sob.

Only one thought can make it to me through the haze.

The room is silent, I reach my shaking hands up to my neck and I unhook my half of the heart from my neck.

Silver. Hanging on a simple chain with the word "best" in pink letters.

It's dangerous, too dangerous, I shouldn't do it,

But I have to. For her.

No one is around.

I mange to slowly, slowly drag myself to her.

To the shell that used to be her.

My hands stick in the pool of...

A sharp intake of my breath, covering my eyes with my arm.

I can't, I just can't think.

With hands trembling, I almost drop it,

I lay my half of the heart on her stomach.

My piece of the necklace clasps into place

Along the jagged line of her half of the heart. Magnetic.

I take a deep breath and have to use all of my strength to cautiously look.

When I do look at the two halves together,

A solemn, emptied out feeling of loss seeps through my veins like poison when I see the

Two words. One eight year old girl like me.

"Best Friend"

 

 

Author's Note

If you guys didn't know, today was the day that there was shooting at an elementary school... I just... I felt like I needed to do something. To do something to recognize those kids and staff that died, and to show that it will forever effect those kids who saw... No child should ever have to see someone die, it leaves a lasting effect on them and an awful scar on there soul. This is what happens, because those kids who died have friends and families and also to put it into perspective of a kid's point of view. They didn't deserve that, no one does.

Reviews

[CarolinaRose]

As soon as I started reading this I knew instantly what it was about. It is a terrible and senseless tragedy and this piece captured the horror of what those poor children must have felt. My heart breaks for them and their families. You wrote this respectfully and from the heart. Thank you for sharing this with us.

[FallenRain]

great write, wish these type of things would never happen especially at a young age

[RachelReaper]

i wish they never has to happen as well

[MissJenaBlair]

Very beautifully written. I wish I could be this good. Bravo

[RachelReaper]

thank you for taking the time to read and review

[Van]

This... all of this... made me cry. :(

[RachelReaper]

me too

[gombeggar]

i think u captured the thoughts of a young child in that bizarre sitation as well as the situation itself...though neither of us were really there...very well...striking and terrible

[oxo]

shivers...
this is so moving. i can almost feel the terror of those little angels. sad. very sad.

[RachelReaper]

yes, may they all rest in peace

[TurtleClark]

i wanna cry

[RachelReaper]

i still do

[K-mo]

This gave me shivers, it depicts the scene quite well from what we all could imagine happened.

[RachelReaper]

thank you for your review

[K-mo]

your welcome

[beautiful dreamer]

wow... this made me bawl

[RachelReaper]

me too

[Lino Rie]

Beautiful. Sad but Beautiful. I wish no person would have to experience that at their age.

[RachelReaper]

no person should have had to experience that at their age. its just not right

[Emily]

This is beautiful. There are no words. The emotions run too deep, and you have somehow plugged into their depths.
The broken, halting feel of the piece fit perfectly with my own emotions- shock and lack of comprehension. Shell-shocked and stunned, I believe that this is exactly how my brain would have acted- like a skipping CD.
I teared up in the end. I can only imagine that you cried, too.
Thank you for crafting such a beautiful memorial for these children. They will never be forgotten.

[RachelReaper]

i thank you for your comment, and your right, I would have been shocked, too.