Hurt

A Story by Beth Kirkland

It is a story about a school shooting.

You sighed as you took your place on the stage waiting for the students to pour in for the first day of school. You never thought you would be here another twenty years later, another school shooting, telling your story, in front of the physically and emotionally scared students. When the students came in and the principal boomed over the speakers for them to listen to you, you sighed going back to years before, when it all started, telling them everything.

It was New Years, around a week before your birthday and you were with your boyfriend, Christopher, you decided to spend New Years with your friends this year and not with your family. A few of your friends had already arrived and there was one girl you had no clue how she got in, it was Violet, the girl that always bullied you. You decided to avoid her, since it wasn’t your party, so you shrunk back to go find your best friend, Taylor, and some other friends. After a few minutes of searching you found Taylor, Paige, Jordan, and Chole. You sat down and talked to them then Christopher came and found you, then took your arm and led you outside. He went to the friends you share together, Ashley, Michael, and Joshua. But there was someone you didn’t know, and he looked high. You looked at the guy with questionable look and Christopher followed your gaze, “That’s someone I recently met, he graduated a few years ago, I told him about how people always bully us and he is going to help me put a stop to it,” Christopher said smirking. The guy walked over, almost falls, and grabs on to Christopher. “I’m Josh,” He stutters.

It is a week later, your birthday, you haven’t even seen Christopher, and he is supposed to be with John. A few hours later Christopher comes up with John and they are both extremely drunk. Christopher takes your hand and leads you away from everyone. “So,” he said draping his arms around your waist, “would you like to go back to John’s with us? We can do anything,” he said smirking and pulling you closer. “W-What do you mean by ‘do anything’,” You stutter as he grabs your waistband and pulls you even closer and lets his hand slide down your pants. “You know what I mean,” He said, kissing your neck. In response you tilted your head back slightly, mumbling, “But we’ve never done anything, you said you wanted to wait..” “Well, John talked me into it.” He said looking at you. You looked at him shocked and pushed him back slightly. “How much time have you been spending with him anyway since New Years!? It’s like you have no time for me!” You yelled. Christopher looked down and a few minutes later left with John.

After that night you only see Christopher less and less. Each time you saw him he was different, worse than the last time. A few months later you were riding the bus to school when a girl that didn’t like you sat in front of you. She turned around and snatched your phone from you then taunted you with it while reading your messages. You snatched your phone back just as she was getting off the bus and you hurried to the place where you usually meet Christopher before school with his friends. He was nowhere in sight, but you went to them anyway. Just as you sat down you saw John pull up, Christopher step out, and then Josh sped away. Christopher was high, as usual. He walked up to you, hugged you, then you told him about the encounter on the bus. He smirked and said that she was gonna get it, and everyone else that both of you didn’t like. You walked to class together, then it was lunch. You got your tray and you were walking outside where you usually eat when you heard a shot and everyone started running. Then three more and Violet fell down in front of you with blood around her chest, her friend, Sam, was trying to stop the blood and you hurried over. Four shots. You pressed something to her chest, and then one more and a horrible pain exploded in your stomach. You toppled over grabbing at your stomach then looked up, Christopher was standing over you with a gun. He looked down at you scared and backed away a few steps. You closed your eyes, heard a gunshot, and then you went unconscious.

You woke up in the hospital with your mother and someone you didn’t know. The man asked your mother to leave and he sat by your bed. “Did you have anything to do with this?” He asked you, keeping his facial expression neutral. “What are you talking about? It was all a scary story wasn’t it?” You said looking at him, scared. “No, it was not a dream. There was a school shooting and your boyfriend, Christopher, caused it. You’re at blame too. Witnesses say that you talked to him the morning of the shooting. The people that were shot were all people that made fun of both of you. That is not a coincidence. That was planned, probably for a long time… So, were you a part of it?!” He said, raising his voice slightly on the question. You winced and buried your face in the pillow ignoring what he said afterwards. So… It was all real.. None of it was a dream.. I got shot.. I saw Violet getting shot in front of me… Did she die? How many people died? How many innocent people died? How many people tried to stop him? How many of those people were killed? Why did he even do this to me? He left me.. You began to weep, realizing that you would never see Christopher again. “We will talk later,” He said, getting up. As soon as he left your mother rushed in.