Kyle Phillips was a loner, he spent alot of time by himself. He didn't hang out at the local mall very much either, but today was one of the few days he did.
And now he regrets it.
He was seventeen and turning eighteen in two months. Kyle was a tall, average built boy with dark brown hair that he wore short. Most of the time he was at home on the internet or outside skateboarding. But no matter wat it was Kyle was almost always alone.
Most other kids pretended that he didn't exist. That was fine with Kyle, he honestly didn't mind being left out. As long as everyone left him alone, he'd leave them alone.
The reason Kyle was at the mall on this afternoon is because he's meeting a couple of his friends, Travis and Alex. They're his only true friends and the three of them were going shopping for a new video camera. They enjoyed making short films.
Kyle walked into the crowded mall, it looked like any old Saturday afternoon. People were walking back and forth with bags. Some of them had friends and others were alone. He reconzied a few kids from his school.
Chelsea Davis, a sophmore at Kyle's school was walking towards the food court with a few of her girl friends. They were laughing about somthing. Kyle had a crush on her, he had one since the fifth grade. But Chelsea looked at Kyle like most kids would look at a piece of gum stuck on the bottom of their shoe.
But he didn't care, he never cared. Jamming his hands into his dark blue jeans pockets, Kyle slung his grey bookbag oer his shoulder and began walking though the mall, he was supposed to wait at the food court.
Once he got there, Kyle could smell a mixture of pizza, french fries, and grease. That's how the food curt always seemed to smell. He found a table where nobody was sitting and walked to it, pulling out one of the flimsy white chairs and taking a seat. He sat his bookbag next to his feet and checked his watch.
It was 2:29, Alex and Travis were to meet him here at 2:45. Kyle ran a hand through his short hair and pulled out his wallet. He bought a coke and sat back down at the same table, taking a drink and glancing back down at his watch. 2:36
A few minutes later, two guys who worked in the food court sometimes, Cameron and Neil, walked into the crowded area and looked around. Kyle paid little attention and stared into his coke. He glanced across the room at Chelsea and her friends, as always they were just talking.
Sighing, he looked away. Not many girls ever seemed to notice him. Kyle always wished things were different when it came to relationships. He just shook his head. What happened next was so unexpected.
There was a boy, a jock on the schools football team, sitting across the cafeteria talking. Kyle didn't really notice him as much as Cameron and Neil. Cameron had a black shotgun out. Kyles stomach knotted up. He thought it was all in his head until he heard the gun blast.
It sounded nothing like how they did in the movies. This sounded like a bomb going off. Neil, who was filmig when Kyle shoot the jock, handed the camera to a girl in a dark pink shirt and pulled out a black ooze.
Suddenly the room errupted with screams and gunfire. And laughter. The two boys were laughing as if it were some kind of game. They fired randomly at anybody moving. Kyle grabbed his bag and took off across the room, ducking behind a large booth on the far side of the room. he could still hear all sorts of sounds and looked around the corner.
His heart was racing. Cameron and Neil were shooting while the girl filmed, she looked afraid. She also looked familiar and Kyle was sure she went to his school. A guy who was running was shot in the back several times. Kyle jerked his head away, closing his eyes and trying not to vomit.
The sounds of people screaming were like what you would hear in a scary movie. The scteaming only made everything seem scarier, if that was even possible.
They were still laughing as if what they did was funny and he glanced back to see the girl who was filming running for cover. She must he horrified, he thought. But then again, she was filming just a second ago. Their laughter continued.
It's the one thing that still haunted Kyle every day since the massacre. People around them were dying and bleeding and they laughed. How? How could they do that? The noise died down and he listened. some people where crying out for help, other than that the room stayed pretty quiet. There's small kids in here, he thought, feeling sick all over again.
What had just happened? In a matter of seconds the whole mall became a danger zone. Kyle heard the two boys talking but tried to drown it out. He closed his eyes and pressed all the way back against the wall, hoping to not be seen, and started praying.
Not just for himself but for all the other victims, for everyone who was afraid. Never in his life had Kyle been so terrified. He waited for what seemed like an eternity. There were a few gunshots ever once and a while but other than that everything was quiet, except for muffled cries from other victims, and the girl across the room.
The sudden silence only intensified the situation. Then he heard their voices again.
Cameron: This is it bro!
Neil: Then the credits roll dawg...
Cameron: The end.
Silence. But Kyle already knew what was coming. He wanted to cover his ears but instead waited. Two gunshots rang out at almost the same exact time. Kyle jumped at the sound, though it hardly surprised him.
There was more silence and finally he gathered enough courage to stand up. his whole body was trembling and for a second Kyle expected to see them waiting to kill him. He was wrong.
There were people everywhere, some dead and some alive. Blood and food from where people had panicked and dropped it was splattered all across the floor and walls. There was so much blood that it made Kyle sick. He stopped himself from getting puking and looked across the room, expecting to see exactly what he saw.
Cameron and Neil were laying almost side by side, weapons still in their hands. Blood was seeping from their heads almost like water from a hose. They were certaintly dead. Blood soaked their clothes.
It was like a horror movie, only much worse. Their heads weren't even fully intact with their bodies anymore. That's when he lost it. Kyle turned around and vomitted. How could this ever happen here? This was a safe place. This whole town, well it was a safe place...at some point.
People spend their entire weekends hanging out here, that's how boring the town was. Outside Kyle could hear police sirens and ambulances, and voices. All these people...
Kyle: Oh shit...
Never, not even in the worst horror film had he seen so much blood in one place. It was like somebody took red paint and splattered it all over. He could even see a security guard dressed in a white long sleeved shirt and black jeans laying on the floor, across the room. A trail of blood behind him.
He was so caught up in hundreds of thoughts that the last thing Kyle expected was to feel a hand on his shoulder. So when he did feel one, it made him flinch. He turned around, afraid it may have been a third shooter, but it wasn't.
It was the girl who had filmed Cameron and Neil before. Her eyes were red from crying and she looked so pale it frightened him. There was sort of a huanted look in her eyes and she was no longer holding the video camera.
Tina: They're all dead..
Her voice was so low that Kyle had to strain just to hear it. He only nodded at what she said and looked around, wishing some officers would come in already. The scene was so horrifying
Kyle: What's your name?
Tina:..My...
Kyle: Your name?
He tried to speak as kindly as he could, but he was still in total shock. Speaking english was suddenly like trying to speak a foreign language.
Tina: I'm..i'm Tina and you're Kyle, right?
Kyle looked at her with amazment, despite the siuation.
Kyle: Yeah..how'd you...
Tina: I was in your math class last year.
That's where he had seen her. How could he have forgotten about sombody that he had been in a room with for fourty five minutes every day for a whole school year so easily?
Kyle: Hey Tina, we should hurry up and get the hell out of here-at least this area.
Tina agreed and the two of them left.
Finally, later in the evening, it was secure to leave the building. Kyle had no idea where Tina wondered off to and he really wanted to say goodbye, but had no idea where to look.
He just hoped she'd be fine, now that it was all over. Even though it was apparent that she played some role in the shooting, he decided against telling anyone. The moment Kyle stepped outside into the darkness that was broken by police and ambulance light, he heard his name being called.
Mrs Phillips: Kyle!
He turned around and ran across the lot to his parents, who were stading by their black chevy. he threw his arms around them both, almost to the point of tears.
That was weird, not since the sixth grade had Kyle cried. Not when he broke his arm skateboarding or even when his dog died. He just never cried anymore.
But now here he was, about to cry.
Other survivors, some so badly injured they needed assistance just to walk, were exiting the building. Some of them had blood on them while others were perfectly unharmed.
Kyle let go of his parents after a long time. He was so happy to see them, to see their faces. For a while he thought that he'd never get the chance to see them again. Kyle looked up at Cameran's parents with sudden pity and saddness.
He felt horrible because they still believed their son was going to come out just fine. But he knew better than to tell them the truth. He didn't even tell his own parents.
Kyle went home that night with his life. He hardly slept for maybe the next moth, maybe even two. Everytime Kyle would drift off his dreams would be haunted by bloody bodies and gunfire.
He sometimes still saw Tina around, though they never spoke.
The one thing he learned from that terrible experience was that he would never take his life for granted again. Ever.
A/N: So that is my first fan fic for Cold Case. I should have one more chapter up, i'm not sure when yet but I'll try and post it as soon as possible. Thanks to David for helping me write this.