Vince tried to slow his breathing. He couldn't believe what he had just watched unfold in front of his eyes. He'd heard about this happening. Heck, last year in Psychology he had watched an entire documentary on the minds of killers, but seeing such a massacre at his own school was something he had never even thought could happen. He was standing by the flagpole waiting from his friends to come back from looking at the list of the injured and dead. He refused to go with them. He didn't want to chance seeing someone he recognized, even if they only bumped shoulders once back in freshman year, on it.
His parents had seen the shooting on the news. They both worked out of the city and had left their jobs as soon as they heard word. They had called Vince and told him to get himself right home, but he wanted to wait for the rest of his friends. His parents were going to be at least an hour anyway.
Vince spotted his friends walking back over, their usual cocky grins replaced with grim expressions.
"Chris Phillips," his friend Jack said softly as they reached him. "He's dead."
Vince blinked. Chris Phillips was the captain of the football team, and while the two boys weren't close friends, Vince had talked to him a few times.
"Are-Are you sure?" Vince stuttered. "I thought they grouped the names of the dead and injured together with no distinction."
"Ms. Mullen was crying about him," Vince's other friend, Gabriel, said. "We overheard it."
Vince sighed. Then he noticed his girlfriend, Amanda, was missing.
"Where's Amanda?" Vince frowned. "She went over with you guys."
Jack took a deep breath. "Her sister's name was on the list. She ran off to try to find her before we could stop her."
"Shit, man," Vince moaned. Amanda's sister, Colleen, was only a freshman, who like her sister, was on the cheerleading team. "Come on, we've got to try to find her."
The boys set off for the front of the school. Vince tried to spot Amanda, but in all the chaos, it looked like it would be impossible.
Vince moaned in frustration as he leaned against a pole. Two policemen suddenly walked past, one of them talking into his walkie-talkie. Vince could only make out a few words of the conversation.
"Second shooter apprehended, weapon confiscated."
"On our way in. Do you have an ID on him?"
"Student badge in his pocket says Gustav Griswald."
Vince's head jerked up. He couldn't have heard that right…He looked over at Jack and Gabriel's faces, and saw the same shock that he was displaying.
"Griswald? That runty little guy that hung around with Francis?" Jack whispered. "You've got to be bulshitting me."
"He was a second shooter? Why didn't we see him?" Gabriel frowned.
Vince couldn't even respond. Gus, his old friend? Tiny Gus Griswald who used to try so hard just to get people to remember his name shooting up a school? That couldn't be right.
"Dude," Jack said, snapping Vince out of his daze. "I don't think Amanda's here anymore. If she saw her sister getting on one of the ambulances, she would've gone on with her."
Vince nodded. "You're right." Then he took a deep breath, and asked the question he didn't want to ask, but knew he had to. "Who else was on the list?"
"Greg Myers from the lacrosse team," Jack replied. "That Lawson kid, the snitch, Randall, Blumburg, but I saw him getting onto an ambulance; he's alive, just shot in the arm."
"Guess he couldn't run fast enough," Gabriel said weakly.
Vince felt anger boiling inside him. How could anyone make jokes like that at a time like this? It disgusted him.
"Felicity Sage from the swim team," Jack continued. "A few freshman who we didn't know, Ms. Jonas, the geometry teacher, let's see, who else…oh yeah, that brainy girl, what's her name…?"
"Gretchen?" Vince asked, his heart thumping against his ribcage now. "Gretchen Grundler?"
"Yeah, that's her."
Vince looked away. He hadn't talked to Gretchen in years, but still, hearing her name in such a context…
"I'm gonna get home," Vince said heavily.
Jack and Gabriel nodded.
Vince stepped away from the maddening scene; it was too much to comprehend. Gus taking part in this horrific event? Mikey shot? Gretchen possibly worse off? How had things gotten this complicated?
…
Gus looked around at all the blood, and puked. This couldn't be real; it had to just be a bad dream.
He heard heavy footsteps coming down the hall, and for a second he was scared, but when he saw that it was five policemen, he calmed, though he didn't know why they had their guns out.
"Put your weapon down," said one of the policemen.
Gus looked at the gun in his hand, nodded, and placed it on the floor. He started to walk towards the cops, grateful to be rescued, but when he took his first step, another officer yelled, "Freeze!"
Gus was confused. What was going on?
Suddenly two cops approached him while the other three kept their guns pointed at him.
"What are you-" he started, but before he could finish, one cop began placing his wrists in handcuffs and the other began searching the pockets of his baggy jeans. He pulled out his wallet and took out his student ID.
"Gustav Griswald," he began. "You are under arrest."
Gus did a double take. Under arrest? He hadn't done anything.
"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights?"
"I-I-didn't do anything!" he stammered.
"I'll take that as a yes," the cop said sharply, grabbing his by his collar. "Let's go."
Gus looked around at the bodies and then at the gun he had just placed down.
No…they didn't think…they wouldn't…
"I didn't do anything!" he yelled again, tears forming in his eyes. "Please, I didn't do anything!"
