Flashlights
Disclaimer: I dont own glee just like to write about it
Life was full of shitty things. It was just a basic truth of the world that no one was able to escape, you held on tight and you prayed that when the dust settled you were one of the ones left standing.
Santana Lopez had been witness to alot of these shitty things in her seventeen years of life and hell, if she were being honest with herself she had been the cause of some of those shitty things herself on her rise up the social ladder of William Mckinley Highschool.
She had thrown slushy facials just as fast as insults into the faces of too many nameless losers to count, back stabbed friends and strangers alike, slept with any popular guy who tried to get into her pants even after she had admitted to herself she was a lesbian and had done it all in the name of popularity and a smirk on her face. Her knickname wasn't satan for nothing.
She had always justified the means by thinking it wasnt her who made the rules of the game; She was just damn good at playing it. Because at William Mckinley Highschool you were either the predator or you became the prey. If you were popular the little quirks and differences you had coukd be accepted, even deemed cool by the student body but if you were unpopular those little quirks and differences became red glaring targets for ridicule and torture. She promised herself along time ago that no matter what it took she would be on top. It was survival of the fittest at its finest.
On the morning of April 18th, with the promise of rain on each passing breeze that motto took on a whole new meaning as she stood at the end of the activities hall with Noah puckerman on her right holding a worn baseball bat in his hands and Quinn Fabray on her left holding a golf club they had found in principal figgins office above her head. For a moment time and the world seemed to freeze.
At the other end of the hallway she watched in horror as Artie abrams was pulled from his wheelchair. It clattered over on to its side, its one wheel spinning uselessy as the boy who until she had joined glee club had just been one of those nameless losers she had thrown slushies at. He screamed and it was a sound she had never heard before helplessness and terror combined and all she wanted to do was cover her ears like she used to do when she was little and her older brother Rico would let her watch horror movies with him while their parents were out.
But this was no movie, her parents wouldnt be home any minute to tuck her in and tell her that monsters werent real and she would always be safe. This was one of those shitty things that you had to come to terms with because life and most certainly not death were ever fair and before she could even move they watched as what used to be coach Beiste bit into Artie as if he was nothing more then one of her turduckens and mercifully the boy went silent as the life left his body.
The shaky gasp that escaped from Quinns lips seemed to get time to start moving again and Santana snapped back into focus,
" come on" she told them" we have to go back before she's ready for dessert"
Quinn gave her a disgusted look but said nothing as they turned back towards the choir room careful as to not draw attention to themselves.
" that wasn't coach anymore" Puck said, his voice holding some hint of emotion she couldnt name.
" I know" Santana told him without looking at didnt have to see the tears to know He was crying.
Only when they were safely back in the choir room and the doors secured with the chain and padlock they had found in the janitors closet did Santana fully allow herself to process what had just happened.
Tears threatend to spill and she wanted to lash out. To punch the door until her knuckles split and the physicsl pain took over the emotional one.
She couldnt breakdown though, it wasnt in her nature and she had a feeling if she did lose it Quinn and Puck would soon follow. She watched with wary eyes as Puck crossed the room to the piano and opened the burlap sack they had scavenged pulling out two flashlights.
She fought another wave of tears as the mohawked boy turned them on and placed them next to the five other flashlights that sat on top of the piano.
Seven flashlights for seven people whose own lights no longer shined.
Santana tilted her head back, closing her eyes against the barage of memories that flooded over her. Memories of a time when the choir room had been like a home and not the fortress of survival it had become.
Pushing the memories away she walked to the white board adding Artie and Coach Beiste to the list of the dead along with Tina, Mr. schue, Sam, Mercedes and Miss Pilsbury. Her eyes moved to the unknowns. There had been too many to write down so they had only written down the lost glee members. Six names glared back at her and she sent up a silent prayer that they were alright.
Quinn began to cry.
Much later when Puck had moved to the top of the rizers and Quinns cries had tappered off as sleep finally claimed her, Santana was left with the ghosts of the choir room.
She could almost hear them. Mercedes and Tina laughing over some new gossip while Sam and Artie worked out a new guitar riff.
It was with these lullaby memories that Santana finally drifted off to sleep.
Outside a cool breeze rippled through the empty streets. From somewhere a dog barked and the sound of a trash can falling over echoed into the night.