The second hand on the clock traveled deathly slow. Taking its
monotonous trip around the bottom of its path, the small red line finally
made it to the top yet again. 2:15. "Only fifteen more minutes of this
hell," thought Alex as he tried incredibly hard to concentrate on anything
except the droning of his English teacher. "I sure wish this dude could
make time speed up. Then I might actually care what he is mumbling about."
But he knew that this was better than what he would face later in the day.
In reality, Alex didn't want to leave the safe haven of his classroom for
a second. He knew that minutes after he walked through the double doors he
would be sweeping the floors of the bathrooms in the 7-eleven down the
street from his school. In his rage he nearly cursed the mini-market
aloud. But then he recalled why he needed the job. Although he wished he
could have the job just for the extra spending cash like a normal kid, Alex
was stuck with his janitorial job to support his mother and little brother
and sister.
His mind wandered yet again to his father. Suddenly, a sharp pain drove through his stomach and tears nearly came to his eyes. He suddenly had visions of the entire situation as clearly as that horrific day four months earlier. Alex's father, on his way to the bus stop from his office in New York City was hit with a stray bullet from the weapon of a malicious drug dealer in a back alley. He could still remember the calm look on his father's face as he breathed his last breaths. "No!! NOO!!!" he screamed as his father's eyes closed. Suddenly, Alex realized that he was actually screaming those words aloud in the middle of his English class. After a roar of laughter and few calming words from the teacher, order was restored to the room and the drone continued. Alex was left with new feelings of embarrassment to be added to his immense sorrow.
After these feelings had somewhat subsided, Alex turned his gaze to his fellow classmates, landing on a certain stunningly beautiful girl sitting several seats in front of him. Lisa had been his focus of attention for the past two years. He had never revealed his feelings to anyone at all, but rather loved her completely in secret. He knew nearly everything about her, even her phone number, but never had the courage to call her. Their only conversations were quite trivial, but Alex cherished every moment he spent with her. "Today," he thought, "I will finally call Lisa as soon as I get home from work." He then went into a several minute planning session of every word he would say in the entire conversation. This gave him a few minutes to get his mind off his recent trials and relax.
After another brief glance at the clock, Alex urging the second hand to travel faster. He rested his eyes back on the droning teacher. Then, without warning, a deafening BANG exploded from the courtyard. Then a second. And another. Soon a dozen shots had been fired, and screams echoed from the mouth of every student. Before the teachers could enact the infamous list of procedures that were to be taken in such a crisis, students burst through the doors and dashed away from the sound of the shots. Alex was no different from his cohorts, and he fled like a jackrabbit from a fox. Among the swarm of students, Alex was only an insignificant speck being tossed every which way. Shots continued to reverberate through the hallway. "He's inside now!!" someone shouted.
In the awful confusion, somehow Alex remembered another way to get outside, he quickly made a left turn down a deserted side hallway. He rested his hand on the steel push bar, but then froze and thought about Lisa. He again thought of his father's death at the hands of a man like the one threatening his school that very instant. He vowed to prevent any more deaths than had already happened. In a hasty blur, Alex sprinted back the empty corridor towards the scene of the incident. He soon realized that he was looking for one person.
He scanned the crowd for any sign of Lisa and, finding none, ran again in the other direction. After a few seconds which seemed to last for hours, Alex saw his love about a hundred feet ahead of him, standing petrified in the middle of the hall with the shadow of a man cast over the middle of the intersection. Using every ounce of strength he had, he dashed towards Lisa to save her from her peril. But as soon as he was close enough to grab her, a second boy from the other end of the hall pulled her out of sight of the gunman. Devastated and confused, Alex stood in the middle of the hallway staring at the love of his life. He hardly heard the final explosion exiting from the firearm or felt the bullet pierce through his neck. Rather he fell to to the cold tile floor of the hallway quietly and let his mind wander freely, flashing images of his mother and siblings. In his altered state, an angelic image of Lisa floated over his head. Alex could tell she was saying something, but had lost any ability to hear or understand it. He slowly realized that he was still alive and was talking to the most perfect person he knew. He tried indefinitely hard to profess his love for her, but his mouth could not form the words. And in his struggle, he breathed his last breaths.
His mind wandered yet again to his father. Suddenly, a sharp pain drove through his stomach and tears nearly came to his eyes. He suddenly had visions of the entire situation as clearly as that horrific day four months earlier. Alex's father, on his way to the bus stop from his office in New York City was hit with a stray bullet from the weapon of a malicious drug dealer in a back alley. He could still remember the calm look on his father's face as he breathed his last breaths. "No!! NOO!!!" he screamed as his father's eyes closed. Suddenly, Alex realized that he was actually screaming those words aloud in the middle of his English class. After a roar of laughter and few calming words from the teacher, order was restored to the room and the drone continued. Alex was left with new feelings of embarrassment to be added to his immense sorrow.
After these feelings had somewhat subsided, Alex turned his gaze to his fellow classmates, landing on a certain stunningly beautiful girl sitting several seats in front of him. Lisa had been his focus of attention for the past two years. He had never revealed his feelings to anyone at all, but rather loved her completely in secret. He knew nearly everything about her, even her phone number, but never had the courage to call her. Their only conversations were quite trivial, but Alex cherished every moment he spent with her. "Today," he thought, "I will finally call Lisa as soon as I get home from work." He then went into a several minute planning session of every word he would say in the entire conversation. This gave him a few minutes to get his mind off his recent trials and relax.
After another brief glance at the clock, Alex urging the second hand to travel faster. He rested his eyes back on the droning teacher. Then, without warning, a deafening BANG exploded from the courtyard. Then a second. And another. Soon a dozen shots had been fired, and screams echoed from the mouth of every student. Before the teachers could enact the infamous list of procedures that were to be taken in such a crisis, students burst through the doors and dashed away from the sound of the shots. Alex was no different from his cohorts, and he fled like a jackrabbit from a fox. Among the swarm of students, Alex was only an insignificant speck being tossed every which way. Shots continued to reverberate through the hallway. "He's inside now!!" someone shouted.
In the awful confusion, somehow Alex remembered another way to get outside, he quickly made a left turn down a deserted side hallway. He rested his hand on the steel push bar, but then froze and thought about Lisa. He again thought of his father's death at the hands of a man like the one threatening his school that very instant. He vowed to prevent any more deaths than had already happened. In a hasty blur, Alex sprinted back the empty corridor towards the scene of the incident. He soon realized that he was looking for one person.
He scanned the crowd for any sign of Lisa and, finding none, ran again in the other direction. After a few seconds which seemed to last for hours, Alex saw his love about a hundred feet ahead of him, standing petrified in the middle of the hall with the shadow of a man cast over the middle of the intersection. Using every ounce of strength he had, he dashed towards Lisa to save her from her peril. But as soon as he was close enough to grab her, a second boy from the other end of the hall pulled her out of sight of the gunman. Devastated and confused, Alex stood in the middle of the hallway staring at the love of his life. He hardly heard the final explosion exiting from the firearm or felt the bullet pierce through his neck. Rather he fell to to the cold tile floor of the hallway quietly and let his mind wander freely, flashing images of his mother and siblings. In his altered state, an angelic image of Lisa floated over his head. Alex could tell she was saying something, but had lost any ability to hear or understand it. He slowly realized that he was still alive and was talking to the most perfect person he knew. He tried indefinitely hard to profess his love for her, but his mouth could not form the words. And in his struggle, he breathed his last breaths.