I hope you guys have enjoyed what you've read so far! Thanks for reading!
Jude
I stared at Vico, my stomach rolled, I looked around for someone to help but the halls were empty. I leaned close to Callie, a line of blood ran from the corner of her mouth in a terrifying way. I wanted my moms, any one would know what to do more than I did. I heard Callie breathing, it was a petrifying sound, almost as if she were breathing underwater. But that was better than not breathing. It had to be.
"I'll be right back. I'm going to go get Momma." I sobbed. I stood up and slipped in the gummy blood on the floor, Callie's blood. I was covered in it from lying on top of her so she wouldn't get trampled. I scurried to my feet and out the door, tripping on the sixth grader who moaned loudly. I looked down and saw that he was smaller than me, I picked him up and draped his arm around my shoulders. He had been shot in the leg, I dragged him outside with me and was greeted by ten rifles pointed in my direction.
"Hands up kid!" An officer shouted from behind a gun. I waved both my hands while trying to keep the sixth grader up. Two officers rushed forward, one picked up the sixth grader and carried him away and the other grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and dragged me away from the door.
"Are you okay?" I nodded and opened my mouth to say something.
"My sister"- I started to say, but he ignored me and returned to stare at the door into the school. They entered the building in a single file line and I looked around at the crowd of students, most of them were crying. Some of them were hurt. I ran.
I ran to the parking lot and stared at Lena's car, no one was there. I ran back towards the school, maybe Mamma was still in her office. "Stop kid you can't go in there." A police officer stood in front of the door with a stern look on his face.
"But my mom"-
"You can't go in, I'm sorry." I spun around on my heel and started running through the crowd.
"Jude!" Lena's voice cut through the crowd shrill and sharp. I twisted around and was pulled into a tight hug. "Oh, oh, are you okay? You're hurt." She said lifting up my shirt and spinning me around. "Who's blood is this? There's so much, where are you hurt?" She asked picking me up and running towards an ambulance parked in the bus lane.
"No Momma, Callie is inside. Callie's hurt, we have to go get her." I screamed writhing so she had to let me down. Lena stared at me for a second before understanding what I said.
"Go stand by my car and don't move. Do you understand?" I nodded and she sprinted off to the line of ambulances. I went and sat in front of her van with my knees pressed against my chest and waited.
"Jude, where's everyone else?" Brandon asked. He was holding Mariana's hand and she was sobbing hysterically. "Are you hurt?" He demanded seeing the blood on my shirt. I just shook my head. "Have you seen Jesus?" I shook my head. "Momma?"
"She went to go find Callie." I mumbled, I couldn't tell them that I knew where Callie was, that I had just left her there without helping. We waited for a few minutes, Momma told us to wait.
"Brandon." A voice screamed. Stef jumped out of a moving police cruiser, and hugged Brandon and Mariana, Mike kissed the tops of their heads and Stef picked me up off the ground. She ignored my insisting that I was okay and pulled off my shirt anyway, looking me over. "Where's Momma?" She asked me pulling one of Mike's clean shirts over my head. "And Jesus and Callie?" She asked looking around frantically.
"Callie's hurt, I couldn't get her out, I wasn't strong enough." I muttered succumbing to sobs that had been hiding in my chest. Stef's face paled and she held me tightly. "The police wouldn't let me back in. I wanted to go back in and show them where Callie was but they wouldn't let me."
"It's not safe bud, but I'm sure someone has helped Callie by now." Mike rushed squeezing Stef's shoulder. Mariana had thrown her arms around Brandon's waist and was crying again.
"I'm going to look for Lena." Stef said with determination. She left us there with Mike who held onto Brandon and Mariana tightly, I refused to join them, I stared at Callie's blood on my hands, I couldn't get Vico's blank eyes out of my head.
Stef and Lena came sprinting over to the car, Lena had tears running silently down her face but Stef had my bloody shirt grasped in her hand and a cold look on her face. "I-I have to stay here and evacuate all the kids to the elementary school." Lena said clearing her throat. "I'll look for Jesus and call you when we find him okay? I may not be home until late. Mike can you"-
"Of course." Mike took the keys from Lena and Mariana looked around frantically.
"We can't leave without Jesus and Callie." She screamed, I chewed on my nails nervously.
"I'm going to the hospital with Callie, I'll call you when I know anything. They haven't finished clearing classrooms yet, Jesus is probably just barricaded in a classroom okay?" Stef kissed each one of us on the head and Lena followed her example before giving Mike a hug.
"Take care of them." She demanded. Brandon helped Mariana get in the car and panic set into my chest. Lena left into the crowd of crying parents and students and started corralling them onto school busses.
"I'm staying with Mom. I have to see Callie." I demanded.
"No get in the car." Stef barked, it was a harshness that I wasn't accustomed to in the Adams-Foster home, but I stared down Stef. Tears brimmed her eyes and she squeezed my hands. "I'm sorry I shouted, but I need to know you're still safe while I check on your sister. I'll take good care of her, I promise." I pushed her hands away and got in the car slamming the door. "I love you all." She said wiping her eyes and stepping back onto the curb as Mike drove us away from the school. She turned and ran back to the entrance of the school.
We pulled into our driveway and I dashed inside the house, I jumped in the shower and scrubbed Callie's blood off my hands and out of my hair. I threw away all my clothes and even my sneakers, I threw Mike's shirt at him and climbed in Callie's bed. I laid there and stared at the wall, I didn't dare move, not even when the phone rang. Mariana came in and tried to talk to me a few times and Brandon brought me food, but I refused to move or eat, or cry. Not until I knew what had happened to Callie.
Callie
I woke up with blood in my mouth, the floor beneath me was cold and wet, I tried to look up but everything spun around me. I wasn't sure where I was, lockers were beside me and blood a lot of blood, I tried to drag myself forward, but I couldn't move my right arm. My body weighed a ton.
"Building is clear, let's get them out of here." A voice shouted and a stampede of heavy boots came my way. "He's dead." Someone said grimly. "Here, get paramedics in here now." Someone dropped to their knees beside me.
"Can you hear me?" They asked softly touching my shoulder. I nodded, and instantly regretted it. "Can you tell me your name?"
"Callie F-Fos" I heard myself mumble. My tongue felt huge in my mouth and my oxygen supply depleted faster than I could restore it.
"Foster?" I couldn't reply, I was overcome by a fit of coughs that spattered more blood on the ground. "Hurry with that stretcher, this is one of Foster's kids." They shouted. More feet, more hands, they laid me face down on a plastic board and my cries echoed throughout the hall as I moved. There were murmured apologies, but they cared more about speed and less about my comfort.
They carried me out the front door and right into the blinding light of outside. The world was swirls and blotches of disgustingly splashed together colors, I wanted to close my eyes but I was also terrified what would happen if I did. "Callie!" Someone shouted. The voice was lost in a sea of screams, sobs surrounded me and my name was cropping up all around me.
"Move, move, we need to get to the ambulance." Someone near me ordered, the people holding me began jogging and I gripped the edge of the stretcher tightly focusing on shallow breaths.
"Callie I'm here. I'm right here." Stef, that was Stef's voice. I wished I could say something in return but I was suddenly in a bright, cold van, the doors shut tight and a strap secured my body to the stretcher.
"Mom?" I whispered hoarsely.
"Yes Callie, I'm right here." Stef said quickly. I smiled, tears burnt my eyes, but I smiled. "Don't cry baby, don't cry." My shirt and bra were cut off without warning and the van began to move. I winced with every turn but tried not to cry.
"Here put pressure on the head wound." Someone behind me said. Gauze was wrapped tightly around my head and someone pressed on my side, hard. I screamed, my scream turned into a watery cough and Stef crouched in front of me.
"Squeeze my hand baby, it'll be okay." She said calmly. Squeeze her hand? I saw that my right hand was wrapped in both of hers. I tried to move my fingers, but they didn't move. I couldn't even feel her holding my hand.
"Can't." I huffed.
"It's okay." Stef replied quickly, but cast an anxious glance at whoever was behind me. My eyes fell closed, they weighed tons, there was nothing I could do about it. "Callie, stay with me baby, wake up." Stef rushed.
"Hurts." I heard myself say. That was the last thing I wanted to tell my mom, but I couldn't control what came out of my mouth. I forced my eyes open and they rolled around uncontrollably.
"I know. We're almost at the hospital and they're going to fix you up." My chest felt as though an elephant was standing just on my right side, my ribs had collapsed under the pressure, and it kept getting worse and worse. "Something's happened." Stef panicked. "It's okay Callie, relax." Stef trembled, her eyes watered, she was scared.
I struggled to take in air, I thought it had been hard before. It was if I was breathing through a wet blanket. "Her lung just collapsed, Callie this is going to hurt." The paramedic said quickly. A cold swab was wiped along my collar bone and a large needle flashed in front of my eyes. Stef stroked my cheek and forced a tight smile across her face.
"Look at me baby." I ground my teeth together as the paramedic probed my collar bone with his fingers, there was a sharp pain and there was a tube sticking out of my chest. I whimpered and laid as still as I could as an oxygen mask was placed over my face and an IV placed in my left arm. "You okay?" She asked softly continuing to hold on to my right hand even though I couldn't feel it.
"Didn't hurt- like- getting shot." I gasped smiling at the end.
"Not funny." Stef answered. "Don't talk." She kissed the top of my head.
"Jude?" I suddenly remembered, I don't know why but some part of me thought that I could sit up, I was strapped to the stretcher so I didn't get far, but it hurt all the same and gloved hands held me down.
"He's okay, he's fine, he's at home with your siblings. Don't talk anymore or you're grounded." Stef forced, she really wasn't in a joking mood, but at least she tried.
"Mrs. Foster we're at the emergency room, we need you to get out first and stand out of the way." Stef nodded, kissed me again, and jumped out of the van. I was pulled out and even more people were there waiting for me.
"Two entrance wounds, no exit wounds, a collapsed lung, traumatic brain injury, she's been conscious for most of the ride, lost a lot of blood." Someone listed off. I was wheeled into the hospital at an amazing rate that made my head spin, I closed my eyes so I wouldn't vomit.
"O.R. 3 is prepped and ready for her." I reached out with my left hand and grabbed the person closest to me.
"Callie I'm right here. I'll be here when you wake up, okay?" Stef called.
"Mom?" I huffed, it caused a searing pain across my right side. I opened my eyes for a brief moment and saw her jogging beside the crowd of nurses around me. We stopped in front of a door and Stef got closer.
"I can't go in there with you, but I'll wait right over there. I love you so much, Momma and I love you so much. I'll see you when you wake up Callie-Bear." Stef kissed my forehead and I was pushed into the cold operating room.
"One, two, three." I was lifted off the stretcher and placed on a cold table, I didn't have the energy to scream anymore, a tube was fed down my throat and a foggy darkness took over.
Jude
Callie had lunch at twelve thirty, she had been shot at around twelve thirty, I stared at her alarm clock and was amazed that it already said four o' clock. But then my heart sank, if it was already four o' clock what was happening back at the school that moms hadn't come home yet? I pulled myself out of Callie's bed and peeked into my room, Mariana was sound asleep in Jesus' bed and Brandon's bedroom door was closed, but you could hear the furious pounding of his keyboard.
I shuffled downstairs and found Mike asleep in front of the television, I turned to the screen and watched, for the first time, the chaos we had been in the middle of. Mike had the volume down so low I could hardly hear it, so I stepped closer.
"We have four confirmed deaths and six shooting related injuries so far, there have been no suspects named and none of the victim's names have been released either. I'm here at the gym of Carter Elementary where we are asking all students of Anchor Beach Charter to come check in so that we know you are okay, parents are still looking for some of the kids listed missing and we believe in the chaos a lot of students may have run and are now hiding, this is the last bus of evacuated students and we should have more information at the press conference at 5pm." I chewed on my lip and stared as pictures of running kids flashed on the screen, one kid was obviously hurt, others were just running.
"Jude?" Mike jumped up and turned off the television. "How're you feeling buddy?"
"I know who did it." I heard myself say.
"Okay, do you want to talk about it?"
"Vico shot Callie, Vico shot Callie, then he came back to kill me." I blurted. "Vico killed himself instead, I saw him." Mike gestured for me to come sit beside him and we sat there in silence.
"I know Stef and Lena are your moms, but if you ever need to talk about anything I'm here. What happened today was really scary, but you have a great family here and it's going to work out." Mike said slowly piecing everything together word by word.
"Can I call Stef?" I asked finally. Mike handed me the phone and I leaned into his shoulder as it rang over and over and over.
"Lena?" She asked desperately.
"No, Mommy, it's Jude." I said quickly, Mike wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
"Oh, hey baby how're you doing?" She responded automatically.
"Is Callie alright?" There was silence, then what I assume was a muffled sob.
"I don't know yet, she's still in surgery. But she asked about you in the ambulance, she was awake then and that's a good sign." Stef said brightly. "Have you heard from Momma yet?"
"No, not yet. Don't watch the news Mom, it'll only make you sad." Stef laughed a little.
"Okay. I'm going to hang up and wait for that call from Momma, I'll call you if they say anything about Callie. I love you Jude." I mumbled an 'I love you too' and put the phone down.
"Can I watch the TV?" Mike stared at the blank screen and seemed torn.
"Cartoons, no news." He said with finality, I nodded, he turned the TV back on and changed the channel as fast as he could before switching to cartoons. I watched the show for a few minutes and Mariana joined me wrapped in a blanket, her face red and blotchy. I didn't say anything to her, but a few minutes later Brandon came downstairs and sat between us pulling us both close. "I'm going to make dinner." Mike said to himself and walked into the kitchen. We watched cartoons for an hour before the phone rang, we all jumped, but Brandon scrambled to answer it.
"Hello?" His face brightened.
"When will you be home?" His knee began to bounce and he looked at his watch. "Any news on Callie?" I sat up straight, but Brandon didn't tell me anything. "We love you too, see you soon."
"What? Who was that?" Mariana asked.
"Momma, they found Jesus he's fine, they're wrapping up at the school and they'll be home in an hour." Mariana hugged Brandon and then tried to hug me.
"What about Callie?" I asked pushing her away.
"Momma's going to tell us everything when she gets home. Mariana's face paled, we sat silently on the couch once more waiting for Lena to come home. When the front door finally opened we sprinted to it, Mariana flung herself at Jesus and started crying all over again, and even though Jesus would never admit it he was crying too.
Lena hugged each one of us tightly and thanked Mike over and over before rushing upstairs to change and pack bags for Stef and herself for the hospital. "I'm coming too." I said quickly.
"No, Jude we need you to stay here. There are a lot of people in the hospital right now from the accident." I stomped back down stairs and watched as Jesus started to tell some heroic story about barricading twelve kids in the library, my stomach bubbled and my blood boiled. In two swift steps I shoved Jesus square in the chest as hard as I could, it knocked him off balance, but before I could swing or do anything else Mike grabbed me by the arms.
"Callie is going to die, all of you are happy and Callie is going to die." I screamed. I thrashed against Mike's tight hold and Lena charged down the stairs.
"What are you talking about?" Jesus asked.
"Everyone sit in the living-room, now." Lena demanded. Mike sat between me and everyone else as I wiped tears away from my face furiously, how could they all be so happy?
"You said Callie was with Mom." Jesus said slowly.
"Stef is in the hospital with Callie, she was shot." Lena explained carefully.
"Like when mom was shot though? Like she'll be okay? Nothing serious?" Mariana asked, Jesus and Brandon seemed to be thinking the same thing. They hadn't seen Callie the way I had seen her.
"No, Callie was hit twice. One hit her lung the other hit her head, Callie is in what they call 'critical condition' she's still in surgery and Stef and I need to be there for her, okay?"
"I need to go too." I said stomping my foot.
"Only parents in the hospital right now. I know you want Callie to be okay, but as soon as she can have visitors you guys can come to the hospital." Lena didn't understand, it was my fault, I needed to tell Callie I was sorry.
"Is she going to be okay?" Mariana asked again, more tears, how could she even have more tears?
"I don't know." Lena answered honestly. That shut everybody up, it suddenly seemed too real. Just this morning Callie and I received new names and now she was on the verge of leaving this family. "I have to go though. I love you all." She kissed each one of us and hurried out the door.
No one talked for the rest of the night and we pretended to eat dinner just to make Mike feel better, but after that we just went to our bedrooms and stared at each other. Mariana refused to step foot into her bedroom and stayed close to Jesus as if he were about to disappear.
Thank you guys so much for all of the awesome reviews! Tell me what you think about adding a Stef POV…..
Happy Holidays!
-Kodi