A brief summary of the original story so far:
Brendan Lawlor and Gary Searle have been friends for several years. Both of them are close and watch each other's backs from those who bully them. Their main predators are the football players of Middletown High School. As years pass by, Brendan and Gary's bitter and angry feelings grow stronger; Gary and Brendan talk about the things they would want do to Sam Flach, an aggressive football player, and eventually make a plan: using guns from a neighbor of Brendan's and homemade bombs that Gary had created, they go to one of their school's dances, invade and rig the doors with the bombs, shoot out the lights, tie everyone up and take them hostage. Sam Flach becomes their target, who is shot in both knees.
Characters:
Allison Findley- Gary's on-and-off girlfriend
Dustin Williams- a football player at Middletown High School
Beth Bender- high school counselor
Dick Flanagan- Brendan's ninth grade English teacher
Paul Burns- a football player at Middletown High School
Chelsea Baker- new student in Middletown High School
Give a Boy a Gun
Starting from "The end"
We heard Brendan muttering something. I couldn't hear a lot of it, but his voice went up after a bit and I could make out what he was saying. "…what happens when you…does it feel good? Huh? Bet it feels real nice. Finally getting some of your own damn medicine." Although it was dark, I knew that the only person he could have been talking to was Sam. A groan resonated from said person; I was surprised he was still alive.
-Dustin Williams
Brendan was the only one taking the initiative. If you hadn't seen Gary when all of that had started, you wouldn't have known he was there. You could have just as easily assumed that Brendan was using two guns and had been firing them simultaneously, instead of having one gun for each of them.
-Beth Bender
Brendan kept saying stuff to Sam; about how Sam deserved every second of what was happening to him and what he should do next. "I could send a bullet right through here," he said. "It's super easy, you know." Suddenly, the lights started to flicker and turn on. You couldn't see a lot at the beginning, but after more lights stayed on we could make out our surroundings. The forms of Brendan and Sam were in the middle of the gym, with Gary off to the side. I'm almost certain that my heart stopped when I saw the gun that Brendan was holding on Sam's left shoulder, making its way to his neck, chest, and finally his head.
-Allison Findley
Sam had a pained expression on his face, but you could see rage burning in his eyes. Even now, I can't decide whether he was hungry for revenge or just regretful for what he'd done. I'm sorry that I couldn't have seen why those boys were targeting him in the first place.
-Dick Flanagan
I saw Paul. He was trying to get something from Dustin. Of course, Brendan was too into what he was doing to Sam to notice—I say 'Of course' because I knew how much he'd been wanting to do these kinds of things to Sam. I just didn't see why he went so far with it, and why he had to do it in the first place. Gary glanced at Dustin and Paul and I thought, it's over. He's going to tell Brendan. But then he glanced at me and I saw the conflict in his eyes. Eventually, though, he looked away.
-Allison Findley
Time was running out. Sam was letting out horrible groans of pain; I fumbled for the nail clipper in Dustin's front pocket. He could've told me to hurry up or something, since that was the kind of person he was, but when I took a good look at his face I realized that he might've been even more scared than I was.
-Paul Burns
Only a few words were heard before a single shot resonated through the gym, making people panic again. Several people screamed, thinking that they would be shot. Once everyone calmed down, and once we saw who was shot, we realized that Sam's blood wasn't only coming from his legs. Brendan's words repeated in my head. "This ain't fun anymore."
-Beth Bender
Sam's body was jerking around, as if he was being electrocuted. All the crimson on the floor surrounding Sam increased at an alarming pace and my vision became blurry. When Brendan walked around Sam's lifeless body, I saw the hole in Sam's head and my vision became blurry. No way. He didn't. No freakin' way.
-Dustin Williams
I'm not sure what I was thinking. Maybe I really didn't care anymore, or so I thought as I ran up to Sam, as if I could actually save him when he was already dead. I could never gave the thought that Brendan would turn on me and fire.
-Allison Findley
The next shot narrowly missed me. I couldn't help letting out a small yelp. Allison was frozen in her tracks when I craned my head around to look at her. Realizing that Brendan had tried to shoot at Allison, one of his friends, the atmosphere grew even more panicked.
-Chelsea Baker
When I heard some more shots I thought it would be like the previous ones—undirected shots just to scare us. I wasn't expecting one to hit me.
-Paul Burns
I saw the blood seeping onto my shirt. It freaked the hell outta me, and I thought I'd been hit. Somehow—although I wouldn't call it luck—the bullet hit Paul's hand instead, the one that had been trying to reach the nail clipper. I'd been expecting him to yell out or something, but all he did was tense up, then use his other hand. Since I couldn't see his face, I didn't really know if he realized that his hands were shaky, not just the one that had been shot.
-Dustin Williams
From where I was standing, everything was visible. I saw Paul's hand had become bloody, yet he still worked furiously to get something from Dustin Williams. You could call it courage, but it was only an instinct of survival, if you ask me.
-Dick Flanagan
All off sudden, some kind of drilling sound was heard from the ceiling. Then two small things were lowered from a small hole someone had made from the drilling. Suddenly, a voice started coming from one of the small items. A microphone. The other component was swiveling around and it shone when it focused on me, and I realized it was a camera. You could almost feel the spark of hope that courses through the room as others realized it, too.
-Allison Findley
A man's voice was heard on the speakers, like a professional who could talk a person into anything if they listened to them. He started speaking to Brendan and Gary, telling them what would happen if they didn't stop what they were doing. The problem with that, though, was that we (all the people who were tied up) already knew it wouldn't work. The look in those boys' eyes told us that they were committed to what they were about to do.
-Beth Bender
Brendan exchanged a glance with Gary, who looked uncertain. He quickly made his facial expression more stern when Brendan narrowed his eyes at him, as if Gary was scared. Honestly, it wasn't hard to believe if he was.
-Dick Flanagan
Brendan gave Gary one last look and then went over to the camera and microphone. Apparently they were lowered just enough for him to reach up and grab the camera. It was about the size of his hand. Out of nowhere, he pointed the gun to the camera's lens. "If you kill Sam you could serve life, Brendan. You have your whole life ahead of you. Now, if you'd put the gun down, disable the bombs and let everyone out we'll take it from there." The guy's voice tried to convince Brendan and Gary, but it seemed like they were deaf or something. They were both emotionless, other than the hate in Brendan's eyes.
-Chelsea Baker
When Brendan told Gary to get the microphone for him and hold it up to Brendan's mouth, none of us were prepared for what he'd said. "You think I don't know all this stuff? You think we friggin' care? These people deserve this, 'cause they never tried to stop people like Sam-effin'-Flach from messing around with us. I've got news for you, man. It's too late. Sam's dead. And they're next." With that, he shot the camera and yanked the microphone off of its cord, crushing it under his feet.
-Dick Flanagan
He must've known that those two devices were the last of our hope. Otherwise, I don't think he would've destroyed them just like that.
-Paul Burns
Gary suddenly broke down. He turned away from Brendan and I saw a tear flowing down his face, followed by another, and soon a river of them. I wondered how he could be so willing to do this at first and then have his resolved crushed so easily, by a stranger laying out the consequences and alternatives of the situation.
-Allison Findley
We were all shocked when we heard Gary speak. "Brendan, let's stop." Even Brendan was surprised. "T-this's enough, isn't it? We got what we wanted." If people thought that we had no chance of getting out alive, they were now clinging onto the desperate chance that they wouldn't.
-Beth Bender
I couldn't believe Brendan. He immediately turned on Gary. "What the hell are you talking about!? So you're suddenly going to pussy out 'cause of that guy who told us we were gonna get sentenced for life! Don't you remember?! They think we're going to try to get out of here, after we kill these guys, huh? They don't know bull about our plans, so shut up." At that point, Gary was hyperventilating and crying silently.
-Allison Findley
I'm not sure what got into Brendan. It's like he was possessed or something; he starting shooting in sync with his talking. "Don't effin'—"bam! "—back the—" bam! "—fuck out!" BAM! That one was closer than the rest. Even though Gary was with Brendan, my heart stopped for a second when I saw Brendan point his gun at Gary.
-Paul Burns
Gary lost it at that point. He dropped to his knees and let out loud sobs. Then he grasped at his head, as if he had a headache. I completely forgot about the gun in his other hands, which he pointed in the center of his forehead. Before any of us could object, he pulled the trigger and blood exploded from the back of his head.
-Chelsea Baker
The sight was enough to make me sick. I could swear that small traces of blood splotched onto the floor inches away from me. Then again, maybe I was being paranoid. Whatever the case, I couldn't bear it much longer.
-Dustin Williams
An epiphany struck Brendan so suddenly that everyone didn't know what to do anymore. His eyes were wide as he watched Gary die before his eyes. If anything, I think he might've realized that he was controlling Gary to the point where he couldn't take it anymore.
-Beth Bender
Brendan's grip on his gun was tighter than ever; I couldn't tell what was going through his head.
-Allison Findley
Finally, Paul undid the binds on me with the nail clipper, but I couldn't feel anything. It was as if all my senses were directed on Brendan's actions. Everything was so messed up; when I looked around, I saw some of the football players. None of them looked scared. They only gritted their teeth and stared venomously at Brendan, and Gary's now lifeless body. I had a hard time believing Paul was on the same team with them.
-Dustin Williams
If I hadn't been so shocked, I would've tried to stop Dustin. I saw everything as if I was on the sidelines—Dustin getting up, running over to Brendan. Brendan turning on him and shooting, a look of complete insanity on his face as he shot Dustin's arm. Dustin fell to his knees and I thought it would be over for him, too.
-Paul Burns
The look on Brendan's face. It was so…I don't know. It's impossible to explain it briefly. There were so many feelings and thoughts swimming through his eyes, his teeth gritted and tears streaming down his face. None of us could believe it, I think.
-Dick Flanagan
I thought it was the end. For the first time, I felt never-ending despair from Brendan and thought, well, he's going to go ahead and kill us now. At this point, I don't think I felt anything in particular about that. It was just…like, okay, so I'm going to die. There's no use in trying to deny it.
-Allison Findley
Even though Brendan and Gary did all of that, even though someone probably thought that evil got the best of them…if it was possible, I think I felt sympathy for evil—because at the end, they knew that they'd gone too far, but they couldn't do anything about it. When Brendan scoped the room with those tear-strained eyes that held so many mixed emotions, something arose in me and I couldn't stop myself from letting out a few sobs of my own. He then heard me and faced in my direction. Some pleaded for him to stop, thinking that he was going to shoot at me or maybe one of them. Taking painfully slow steps, he stopped a few feet away from me and lowered his head, shielding his face from view. Everything was deathly silent. Then he finally looked up and smiled a little. It was unbelievable.
-Beth Bender
I could swear that I saw him smile.
-Dick Flanagan
He smiled, and I almost forgot everything that he'd just done.
-Chelsea Baker
He smiled a smile that made him seem just like any other kid.
-Paul Burns
When he smiled, I could believe that he might just give it up.
-Dustin Williams
The smile he gave Ms. Bender was one that asked for forgiveness—and at the same time, gave thanks.
-Allison Findley
I almost wanted to comfort him, if I could. But I never got that chance. He sent a bullet through his head before anyone could change his mind.
-Beth Bender