Strong hands and arms pulled him up. Wide, stern mouths asked his name, age and other such things that Ryan thought were stupid when his student identification was still in his pocket. They applied pressure where he could no longer, they began to pull him back from his precarious perch about death. The strong hands lifted him, the wide mouths spoke comforting words but this was not what he wanted.
The hands were not the thin, delicate fingers that he longed for. The mouths were not so small and just beginning to smile. The comforting words were not spoken softly, with a gentle stutter that he'd come to adore.
Where was Kelsi?

Annie and Caleb were found side-by-side. Her hand rested, gently, in his open palm. Her lips were pursed and still held color despite her pale face. His head was turned, ever so slightly, towards her, his eyes closed, a delicate smile playing on his lips. Both looked to be at utter peace.

This was what was found by officers and paramedics. It was heartbreaking.

The clasping of hands. So tight, so strong even in death. Both pairs of eyes open, staring at each other. Two finding solidarity in their deaths. Two in a sea of dead.

Troy and the girls were found with a group of students who had taken refuge in the library. They were given blankets and led down the halls, where they sobbed at the sight of the little piano player, lying outside the doors, and the other students, lying in the halls. They were taken to their families and friends who embraced them and kissed them and cried into each other's sweaters.

Anguish and releif fell, enough to drown in.

Kelsi's body was brought out with the others. Her parents and sisters had come and kissed her fingers, her lips and cried in anguish. Ryan did not see her body, only heard her name cried over and over and knew she was dead.

The uniformed, gun-clad officer found the blonde girl in the hall, soaked in blood. At second glance, he knew it was not her own that was clothing her. The girl held a dark-skinned and lifeless boy, the shell of Chad Danforth.
"Miss..." Sharpay did not respond. "Miss," he tried again, "you need to let him go. There's nothing more you can do." The man gently took her by her arm and led her away from the dead boy.
Sharpay's heart beat rapidly. "No! I have to stay with him! He needs me," she cried as she struggled to rush towards her fallen comrade.

"Miss..." he leaned down to her level, gently taking her shoulders in his strong grip, "I'm sorry, but we need to go. I'm sure you were a great comfort to him in his last hour." The policeman once again led the girl through the halls of the bloodied school. It was not until they were outside that Sharpay stopped struggling to get back to Chad.
She had found her brother.

"Ryan!" Before the officer knew what happened, she had broken from his grasp and had raced to her brother's side. Brother and sister met. 'I love you, Ry-Ry," she spoke. Hand held hand as they were whisked to awaiting ambulances.

The computer buzzed, waiting for a command from its user. No one heeded its call as the door slowly opened and a weary policewoman stepped into the lab. She noticed the body right away. Her worst nightmare had just grown larger as she stared at Autumn Rhys Holliday.
Her daughter.
Dead.

Gabriella no longer heard the enemy storming in the form of the wiry boy. In its place rose the cries of the prisoner's of their own war. Sad and deep, the voices of students and staff alike pierced the brief silence.
They waited, listening.
She turned to Zeke.

"I think it's over." Her voice sounded foreign even to her.

"Yeah." Zeke's voice too was strained.

"How...bad...do you think it was?" Gabriella bit her lip as she considered, not for the first time, all the lives.

"Bad," Zeke could only mutter that one word.

The door banged with a rude rhythm. Gasping, Gabriella dove behind the counter that had been the pair's foxhole. "Kids?" it was a man's voice, calm but anxious at the same time. "Anyone in there?"

"Yes...sir?" Zeke motioned to the frightened girl to venture from her refuge as he opened the door slowly.

"It's okay...let's get you kids out of here." The officer turned towards Zeke, then, eyeing his dishcloth-wrapped hand. "Son, that hand needs to be checked into."

"I'm fine," Zeke argued but he was ignored.

When he spotted her outside the school he had run to her, kissed her far more passionately than he had ever before. Her came, sweeping her up in her arms and he stepped away, allowing them their reunion.
Behind him, he saw Zeke's family wrap their arms around him. Watched him struggle to pick up his little brother with just one arm, before his father stopped him and led him over to the paramedics.

Jason came up beside him. "Geez, man, what a day, huh?"

Troy looked up at him, tiredly, "Understatment of the year, man."

Troy would never tell anyone, but he had nightmares for weeks. His every fear and heartbreak worked its way out in his dreams. He attended both Chad and Kelsi's funerals. In the next week, he helped Gabriella and Taylor plan the vigil.

A week. A week spent in the hospital, with his sister bent over him, constantly talking at him. He stayed silent. He was released in time for the memorial, and at such wept until he fainted onto the ground and was driven home by Troy and Coach Bolton.
He tried and failed three times in the next year to kill himself, each time ending up in the hospital. It wasn't until Taylor visited him that time and screamed at him that he finally stopped, allowing himself to make the effort to move on.

It was Martha who sat in front of the piano and played "I Can Only Imagine" for her. It felt so wrong to sit behind a piano, here of all places, at her funeral.
From her vantage point, Martha could see her coffin, see her face. She looked like she was sleeping. Ryan couldn't make it, but she made sure to kiss her once for his sake, because she had promised. Her lips were cold.
Martha went home after the funeral and lay down to sleep. In her mind, she saw Kelsi fall over and over. She saw Chad's dead body. She saw Ryan carried out, bathed in his own blood. She saw Chuckie and that boy who played the cello and Micah from Book Club. She saw all of these and she couldn't stop seeing them.

An entire congregation dressed in white for him. A celebration of his life, not a mourning of his death. While they still cried, they remembered to dance, to sing. Strains of "I'll Fly Away" caught the wind and sailed to heaven where they knew he'd be.
Taylor thought she'd die without him, but she found herself getting better as the months went on. She didn't wake from dreams with his lips lingering on hers, his curls brushing her cheek. She didn't turn and look at every boy that resembled him. She didn't cry so much at random moments, and not everything reminded her of him anymore.
She became closer with Sharpay, the girl who Chad had spent his last hours with. She had come with her the last night that Ryan tried to kill himself. When he had confessed to her that he didn't want to live without Kelsi, that there was no point, she had stood then and in a rush of frustration and anger she had struck him. He had looked stunned.

"You think you're the only one?" she had screamed, wrapping her hands tightly around his bandaged wrists, "You think that there aren't days where I don't want to die? You're so selfish! Kelsi died for you and what do you do? Try and off yourself! Do you have any idea how dishonoring that is to her memory?"

He had stared at her for a few seconds before he put his head in his hands and began to sob.

Cody Jones body was brought out, covered in a sheet. No one saw his face, no got one their one last look. The photographers, the camera men all bustled for their money shot. All the students turned away.


I'll Fly Away was written by Albert E. Brumley whilst "I can Only Imagine was written by "MercyMe." These are songs that are dear to us I (Autumn) wish to have "I Can Only Imagine" played at my funeral, hopefully in the far future.