This wasn't normal. I could tell by the way the Principal spoke over the speaker. It was with urgency and a certain amount of panic I'd never heard someone express before. He told us to lock all the classroom doors, turn off the lights, and remain silent. Then he kept repeating stay calm, stay calm, stay calm.

This wasn't a drill. This wasn't something that was going to vanish overnight. This wasn't just one of those stupid things that only happen in South Park. For the first time, I was scared. For the first time, I was afraid things wouldn't go back to normal.

It was the last block before the end of the day and I was spending it huddled in the corner next to Kenny. Both girls and boys were rambling frantically about what they thought was going on. Among those conversations, I heard murderer on the loose multiple times and one kid kept pushing it was aliens. I didn't really have much of an opinion.

My Chemistry teacher was sitting at his desk looking pale. He was obviously unnerved by the fact that he couldn't get the class to quiet down. I had no problem sitting there on the floor undisturbed until further instruction, but Kenny kept prodding my side asking me to google what was going on. Despite my annoyance with his persistency, I searched multiple things on my phone and came up with nothing. Whatever was going on was recent. I texted my parents and after ten slow minutes decided I wasn't going to get a response from that either.

After half an hour had passed I leaned my head back against the wall and sighed. Most of the room had quieted down to a whisper. Kenny had stopped asking me questions. I looked at the window above where I was seated. My teacher had insisted that we pull down the blinds and that no one was to go near them. I suddenly wondered if being on the second floor was a good or a bad thing.

"Wait, guys, listen to this," one of the girls in my class announced. She drew the attention of the room. "Annie, who's in art on the first floor, said they saw some crazy person walking outside. "

Immediately following her statement, the room exploded again with people's theories. Except now, a wave a fear flowed through the kids. The teacher started speaking again, telling them it was nonsense and they just need to be patient and quiet. I won't deny that my heart beat sped up some.

Kenny leaned over to whisper to me. "I think we need to leave."

Before I could even shoot him a look of doubt, a scream sounded from somewhere in the building. That scream was followed by more screams. Those screams were followed by looks of terror by everyone in my classroom, including me.

I stood up instinctively and Kenny followed, if not a little delayed. My chemistry class erupted in panic, one boy was already crying. What was originally some exciting, messed up debate switched to reality within a matter of seconds. Some kids charged the door, some others suggested we pile desks in front of it, and the others yelled at the teacher like he knew any more than the rest of us. It was amazing how we took fire drills and lockdown drills like such a joke. When it actually came down to it, none of us could remain calm. But to be fair, you can't really predict how an individual is going to act in a state of emergency.

I was frozen, but Kenny was all adrenalin. He grabbed me by the wrist and pulled us through the crowd that was currently my classroom. He shoved us through the door and didn't even allow me a second to protest. He quickly analyzed the relatively quiet hallway and released my arm, but he looked at me to make sure I was going to follow.

Nodding, I glanced to the closest staircase to the left. I was greeted by a pile of students pouring through the doors and flooding the second floor. The screaming that could still be heard from the first floor echoed throughout that staircase and made my stomach turn. What the hell is down there? Kenny tapped my shoulder and I tore my eyes away from the crowd. We took off to the right and presumably, were heading to the back staircase we could only use at the end of the day.

When we reached the landing of that back staircase, we realized that other kids and adults had the same idea. Some of them were running up the stairs, but the majority were running out of the doors. Kenny ran out the door and as I followed, I tried to look back into the first floor hallway, but could see nothing.

We didn't stop running until we reached the tree line; I think I forgot how to breathe. I placed my hand on a tree and bent over gasping for breath. The blare of sirens could be heard in the distance.

"I know a way to get to my house through here. Come on, let's go," Kenny said. Kenny started walking and I said "Wait." He stopped and looked at me. "What's going on, do you know what's going on?"

"No, but I have the common sense to know it's bad."

I couldn't come up with an argument against that, so I kept trailing him back to his house. Multiple times while in the woods, Kenny stopped to check his surroundings. He was rather poised considering how jumpy everyone at school was –with seemingly good reason- so I was happy he was with me. I was no picture of calm, that was for sure.

I thought I saw someone on the street walking oddly through the trees, but I might have just been imagining that. Fear can make you see things, so I tried to just focus on what Kenny was doing. That seemed to suffice until we made it to the train tracks next to his house.

"Alright, let's just grab what we need and get out of here," I said looking around from the tracks. I didn't know what I was looking for, but Kenny was right, it was bad.

"Get out of here?"

I thought that sounded like a stupid question. "Of course. Let's go somewhere safe, get out of the city till things calm down. Till we know what's going on or something." That's what any smart person would do right?

"I have to find Karen," he said it so simply, like it should have been obvious to me.

"What? We need to leave. I'm not going to be that stupid person that hangs around until they're killed because they blow off the danger. Didn't you hear those screams back at the high school?"

"Yeah, I did. But I'm not leaving the city without Karen. Until I know where she is and what has happened, I'm staying. She skipped school today because she had a doctor's appointment. If she isn't in my house, then I'll start at the school and look for her."

By the way Kenny said it, I knew it wasn't something I could question. When Kenny and I reached high school and became better friends, he told me about all the times he had to protect his little sister. When his parents were fighting, when other kids were picking on her, and that one time they had to go to an orphanage. She meant a lot to him. Nothing I could say was going to convince him to come with me.

"You're going to go back into the city?" Kenny and his friends were always like that. They know there is danger but they don't even give it a second thought before diving right into it.

"If I have to. Wouldn't you do the same for Ruby?"

That hit me in the gut. I cared for my family, of course I did. But if it came down to it, I don't think I could give up my life for anybody. I guess I'm just selfish that way.

I didn't answer. Kenny rested a hand on my shoulder and said "Good luck." Then, just like that, he walked to his house. One of my best friends of three years, gone with two words. Were goodbyes easier when they were short? He wasn't coming with me and I wasn't going to see him again. I stood there stunned as I watched him stand in front of his house. He took a deep breath and then pushed open his front door, the one with the broken lock. I had a feeling that Karen wasn't in there.

I tried to focus on my next move. I could follow these tracks out of the city. But then I realized with just the clothes on my back I wouldn't make it that far. I thought through a few other plans before it hit me overwhelmingly that I was alone. The fear surged through me all at once again: the screams at the school and the look on the faces of those kids who had come from the first floor.

What the hell am I going to do? I dropped to my knees on the tracks. It was the first time I had caught my breath since leaving the school and I was losing it again. Tears stung my eyes and panic rocked my chest. Going with Kenny was suicide. How many times has he gotten himself killed? Leaving the city with nothing was also suicide. I looked around again like something would aid my decision: nothing did.

With no other way I could think to go, I decided that going back to my house and assessing things further when there was my best idea. My parents would know what to do. How could I even think to leave without them? Was I really that careless? I wiped a few tears from my eyes and started heading west.