"Crap, my pencil broke." Tiny sighed. "I'll be right back."
The Rubber Room didn't have a pencil sharpener, which got annoying almost all the time. Tiny got out of his seat, and proceeded to go out in the hall, closing the door behind him.
"I don't think Tiny knows anything about math." Grace rolled her eyes, and I giggled. Zig remained silent, though.
There was then a loud noise, shocking everyone.
It was the loudest noise ever.
It was a gunshot.
"Lockdown!" a voice over the loud speaker yelled.
"Oh my god," I heard someone yell from outside the hall. Everyone was screaming from out in the halls, slamming of doors and stomping of shoes. I think everyone in the Rubber Room was in shock, since none of us moved from our seats. We all just looked at each other.
That changed when another gun shot rang in our ears.
"Everyone get down!" A tall girl ran into the classroom, crying, closing the door and hiding under a desk.
"Holy shit," Grace whispered, joining me as I hid under the desk. My heart was beating hard, as fear took over my entire body. I had no idea what I was even doing, or thinking. So much was going on. I realized Zig was right next to me, under the desk also, hugging his legs. Everything was happening to fast - it all happened in a matter of five seconds.
Then everything went silent.
The entire room was dead silent, the only sound coming from the hall ways of doors slamming. After the sounds of the doors, everything was completely and utterly silent. It was so silent, I could hear the silent cries coming from across the room. As far as I remembered, there were only nine of us in the room, including the girl who came running in.
I hugged my knees, breathing hard. Grace had her head bowed in her legs, as did Zig. I wasn't crying, not yet. My entire body was shaking too hard.
Gunshot.
Everyone in the room gasped, as I began crying silently. As silently as I could be. I could feel Grace's shoulders shaking, since Zig, Grace and I were all crammed under our little table. Zig noticed my crying, and put his hand on my knee. I looked up at his face with my wet eyes. He looked so brave, but so scared.
Everything going on between us - I didn't remember. Not now. We were just Zig and Maya.
I hugged my knees tighter to my chest, crying into them.
It then came to me that Tiny wasn't in the room with us. For all I know, for all we know, the gunshot could've came from right outside our hall way. Tiny could be dead.
Everyone remained silent, listening to each other's silent cries. Grace looked up at me, and she looked just as horrified as I did. It was shocking to see Grace scared. She always seemed like she was tough, brave. But how can anyone be brave when all of our lives are in danger? I reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it. Her hand was shaky and sweaty, but she then squeezed mine back.
Footsteps were heard outside. That's when everyone's cries in the room got just a little louder.
"The door isn't locked," the tall girl who ran into the room whispered, crying.
Grace closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head. The door wasn't locked. Anyone could come in, at any time.
Maybe I thought too soon.
That's when the Rubber Room door burst open. I gasped a little, but then I felt Zig's hand over my mouth. I looked at him and he put his pointer finger to his lips, motioning me to be quiet. The door closed. I could see his feet from under our desk, as he walked over to Mrs. Grell's desk, and I heard him lay his gun on the desk. He then began breathing hard, pacing back and forth.
"Okay, everyone get up!" The voiced yelled. It was a male voice. I looked at Zig, who removed his hand from my mouth. His eyes widenend, as I gulped.
"Everyone get up now! Before I shoot one of you!" The voice screamed. I heard chairs move, as the other's from the other tables got up. I grabbed Grace's arm as us three got up.
He looked tired, mad, but scared. He was a tall boy - he looked like he could be a junior. He was more on the bigger side, and he wore a blue zip up jacket. He had brown, short hair. He wore glasses. I saw sweat forming on his forehead, as he clenched his fists.
"Oh god," he grunted, whipping his face with his palms, looking at all of us. I was unsure if my shaky legs could support me any longer. My heart felt like it would explode from beating so hard. I think I gasped when I saw him grab his gun off of the desk.
"Okay," he began, aiming the gun towards the ground. "I want half of you on one side of the room, the others on the other side." he pointed to each side of the room with his gun. Everyone quickly moved. Zig, Grace, and I began moving to the left side, along with another guy. The five others went to the other side, so we were all now across from each other, the shooter in the middle.
"Man," a boy on the other side of the room began. He was a black, skinny boy. We all called him Dunker, since he always dunked his pizza in ranch dressing. "What are you doing?"
"Shut up!" the shooter said, aiming his gun at Dunker. Dunker quickly put his hands up for defense, his hands shaking like crazy.
I looked at Zig, who wasn't crying, but it was visible that he was scared. He was scared as hell. He looked back down at me with a worried expression, opening his mouth to speak.
"Your cell," he mouthed the words. I was shaking so hard I couldn't tell out what he was saying. I then felt his hand on my back pocket of my jeans, taking my phone from it.
"Zig," I whispered, looking at the shooter as I spoke. The shooter was looking at Dunker, and everyone else on his side. Zig grabbed my arm, bringing me closer to him as he began doing something on my phone, hiding it behind my back.
"Gah!" the shooter screamed, throwing his hands up in the air along with his gun still in hand. He was mad - really mad. It looked as if his glorious plan had been ruined.
The cries in the room got just a little louder, especially from the girl who had ran in the Rubber Room when the gunshots went off. I knew her, she was in my English class - and I believe her name was Cathy. She was a straight A student, from what I remembered. She stood next to Dunker, and I noticed how her arm linked onto his.
Everything was silent for a minute as the shooter paced back and forth, waving his gun in the air. He looked nervous. We all looked at each other, from across the room. Everyone looked devastated. All of the girls cried, except for Grace, who just looked lost. The boys tried to remain calm and strong, but I could tell some of them were cracking. The gunman could have, probably, killed someone already. He has the perfect opportunity to kill all of us if he wanted to.
Zig was still doing something with my back as his shield. He was on my phone, I didn't know what he was doing, but one hand still remained on my arm. I could feel him shaking.
"Hey!" the gunman said, aiming the gun my way. "What is he doing!?"
Zig jumped, quickly putting the phone on the table behind us.
"Nothing, man." Zig replied, putting his hands up.
"Shit," Grace whispered next to me.
"Were you just texting someone!?" He yelled again, walking closer to us and aiming a gun at Zig. I cried out, grabbing Zig's arm. Zig remained silent, unsure of what to say. The gunman stared at him, his hand holding the gun shaking.
"Alright, everyone throw their phones in the middle." He yelled, aiming the gun all around the room. Everyone across from us took their phones out of their pockets and gently tossed them in the middle. Then, he came over to Zig and I, aiming his gun at Zig as he reached for my phone that Zig lied on the desk.
"What's the fucking passcode?" He yelled, aiming the gun at me now.
"9...4..." I couldn't seem to get the words out of my mouth, I was crying and breathing too hard.
"9, 4, 1, 2." Zig finished for me. The gunman unlocked my phone, and he began to laugh.
"You couldn't even send the fucking message could you?" he laughed, looking down at my phone. "Shooter in Rubber Room," he read the message that Zig had typed out loud. "Send help." He laughed again. "Oh, well won't you look at that? A message to mom, I wonder how she would feel if she knew I was two inches away from you!" He screamed, throwing my phone against the black board. I heard the phone smash, the screen cracking. I cried more. Not because my phone was obviously broken, but because I was terrified. He was standing only two inches away from Zig and I, and he could kill us at any second.
"Don't cry, poor Matlin." He whispered, caressing my cheek with his hand that held the gun. I tightened my grip on Zig's arm.
"How do you know my name?" I cried. He laughed in response, beginning to walk away from us and towards the middle of the room.
"Do any of you even know my name?!" He screamed, aiming his gun everywhere again. Everyone remained silent. Everyone was crying too hard to speak. The sun was creeping through the blinds, and I could see Victoria Gash's face perfectly. She was a Rubber Room student as was I, and she looked like she was going to pass out. Everyone looked like that.
"Wow," he chuckled to himself, using the back of his hand to wipe the sweat off of his forehead. "Should've seen that one coming. I'm in this fucking class with you guys, how about that?"
Then it came to me. George Markus, was his name. He indeed was a Rubber Room student, but hardly made himself noticeable as he always sat in the back of the room, his nose in a book or his head bowed on the desk as if he was sleeping. I knew who he was now, and I noticed that everyone else did too.
"Do you know my fucking name!?" He screamed, walking over to a guy on the other side of the room from us. His name was Frank, he was put in the Rubber Room for missing so many classes. He was a good guy. He was probably the most well behaved in the class.
Frank gasped, staring at the gun in George's hand. Frank was sweating, all over his face. My god, he looked so terrified.
"Um," was all that came out of his mouth. He was panicking. Anyone with a gun aimed at them would panic.
"Yeah, uh huh, what is that?" The shooter laughed, waving his gun around Frank's face.
What I did next was what I didn't expect. I wasn't thinking, no I wasn't. Not at all. But at the time I knew I had to do something. I couldn't see someone die.
"George," my voice shook, as I took a step forward. I felt Zig and Grace grab each side of my arms, but I easily got out of their grasp. He slowly turned around, looking at me. "George Markus."
He stared at me. His glare almost killed me right then and there. My heart raced, my palms sweat, my legs shook.
"So shooter boy finally has a name." George laughed, walking towards the middle again. Frank looked relieved.
"Why are you doing this?" I heard Grace say behind me.
"Why do you think I'm doing this?" George cried, not moving from his place. "Do you think I woke up this morning, wanting to kill everyone in this entire school? Do you really think I want to be doing this right now?"
"So then why are you doing it?" I asked.
"To prove a point, Matlin. I'm a loser at this school, I get told it everyday by people I don't even know!" He cried. "That's the only time someone ever talks to me. This is the first time any of you bastards have talked to me."
His voice was cracking. He was cracking. I looked at Grace helplessly. She gave me a knowingly look. She didn't have to say anything to get her point across. We had to keep him talking, get deeper into him.
"Look," Zig began, putting his hands up for defense as he spoke. "I don't know you, but -"
"Exactly!" George aimed his gun at Zig, which caused me to gasp. "You never even took the time to know me. You've been in this room all this time, all sophomore year, and you never once spoke a word to me, or offered me to come into your group." George cried, his hand shaking as he aimed his gun at Zig. "All of you have never even looked at me for longer than a second!"
"But -" Zig started again, but George cut him off again.
"There are no but's. I know you, I know all of you, have seen what people do to me at this damn school. And not once, not once has any of you ever tried to defend me, tried to talk to me, tried to help me." His aim at Zig was now solid, scaring me more than ever. His finger was on the trigger, aimed at Zig's head.
"Okay," I began, walking closer to Zig. "Can you just put the gun do-"
I didn't even have time to react. His arm moved so fast - so fast, from straight at Zig to straight at my leg.
Last thing I knew, I was on the ground, screaming.
He had shot me in the thigh.
"Holy..." I yelped. I heard everyone scream, crying harder. George moved from in front of me, and I looked up and could manage to see through my tears that he was moving the desk to in front of the door.
"Maya," Zig cried. He was crying now, I could tell. I grasped onto my leg, crying. Grace was beside me too, grabbing onto my arm.
"Why the hell did you do that, man?" Zig yelled. His grasp was tight on my arm as he moved his hand to where my hand was on my leg. He had shot me right in the center of my left thigh. I don't think words could describe how much pain I was in. It felt as if my leg was being stabbed - over and over and over again. It felt as if my leg was on fire.
George remained silent, walking all around the room, putting desks and chairs in front of the door. Everyone was grabbing on to each other.
All I could think about was the pain in my leg.
But then out of no where, I thought of something else.
For a split second, I thought about Cam.
Ten minutes passed.
George was sitting at the teacher's desk, his face buried in his hands. The gun was still in his hand, and although he didn't look it, he was alert. Like at any moment he could just stand up and shoot.
From across the room, everyone was sitting against the wall now, some with their legs to their chests, some with their legs plastered in front of them. They were all huddled close, all crying.
I could hardly feel the pain anymore, that's how bad it hurt. I once heard that when you're in a lot of pain, over time you can hardly feel it after a while. All I knew, is that blood was everywhere.
By everywhere, I mean everywhere around me. On Grace's legs, as she sat next to me. Also on Zig.
During those ten minutes, everyone was silent.
Zig had his arm around me the entire time, trying to help me breathe. Every two seconds he asked if I was okay. After a while, I said I was fine, even though I wasn't. I was far from fine. I was just shot in the leg. I knew he could tell I wasn't, also.
"Here, hold on." He whispered, bringing his hand to where I had been shot. "This might hurt." He touched it, and I winced in pain, tears flowing out of my eyes. People from across the room noticed, covering their mouths. They all looked pale.
"You're loosing a lot of blood, Maya." He whispered, taking his jacket off. "We need pressure on it."
"No, Zig. Please no." I wined. I was surprised George didn't get out of his seat. I knew he could hear, the way he looked up when he saw us talking. He let Zig help me though, he didn't speak a word.
"This is going to hurt, but just hang in there okay?" He said, looking into my eyes. I looked back at him, and I was surprised when all I could think about was kissing him. We were in a room with a shooter, I just got shot, and I wanted to kiss him.
Grace grabbed my hand as I nodded, giving Zig the signal to do whatever he was going to do. He lifted my thigh, causing me to wince. He then wrapped his jacket around my thigh, where I had been shot, and gently tied it into a knot.
"Holy shit," I silently cried, squeezing Grace's hand.
"You're okay," Zig assured me, finishing what he was doing. "You're loosing a lot of blood right now."
He was right, I was loosing a lot of blood. And as you know, loosing a lot of blood is bad. Really bad. I could already feel my breathing beginning to slow. I felt dizzy and lightheaded.
I breath out hard, as Zig leaned his back against the wall, next to me.
"Not fun getting shot, is it?" George mumbled, slowly getting out of his seat.
"You know, it isn't funny George." Zig snapped back. I gently rested my hand on Zig's, motioning him to not fight. I didn't need someone else getting shot.
George walked over to where I sat, looking down at my wound. Zig's hoodie was wrapped around it, but it was still bleeding pretty badly.
"You know, if you don't get her help, she could die." Aaron, a boy next to Zig said. He was also a Rubber Room student, and he was one of Zig and Tiny's friends. I always wondered if he was in the gang with them.
Die. The word die scared me. I once saw on a TV show once that someone died from the loss of blood, and from the looks of it, we weren't getting out of here anytime soon. I figured panicking would make it worse, so I tried to remain calm, although my mind was everywhere. I felt random shocks of pain in my leg every couple seconds.
George looked at Aaron, before turning around and taking a seat at the desk again.
"Man, are we just going to sit here for the rest of the day?" Dunker began standing up.
"Sit back down!" George yelled, aiming his gun at Dunker. Dunker put his hands up. sitting back down.
"Maybe you should just turn yourself in, man. Maya could loose her life." Dunker said again.
George laughed, shaking his head.
"Turn myself in," George repeated, laughing.
"At least let Maya go. She's in a lotta pain over there." He pointed to me. I didn't even realize how terrible I looked. I was feeling weaker and weaker every minute that went by. It felt as if the room was spinning.
George remained silent, sitting at his desk. I managed to move my neck so I was looking at Zig, and he quickly became alert and looked back.
"Zig," I weakily said, taking a deep breath.
"Huh?"
"I wasn't lying," I began. "I wasn't lying when I said Zoe cheated on you. I would never lie to you like that." I took another breath, gulping. "She's cheating on you. I'm really sorry Zig."
His face turned soft, I could tell. He was listening. He was really listening.
"She was right about one thing though," I started. "I do..." It felt as if I couldn't breathe. "I do have fe- feelings for you. I always have...always will." Everything was spinning, everything was going blurry.
"Maya," Zig begun, smiling. But then he realized that I was about to pass out. "Maya! Maya breathe." He gasped, grabbing my hand. "Maya, stay awake, you're going to be okay."
I began breathing harder, but I was feeling so weak, so dead.
"Maya," I heard Grace say. Before I knew it, Dunker was right in front of me, and everyone was standing up, their hands covering their mouths.
"She needs a doctor, now." Dunker said, walking towards George. I could still see, but barely. I could hear a helicopter from outside, and thousands of sirens.
George began to panic, as he walked towards where I was sitting. He was sweating, but I could see he was crying also.
"Man, just let her go." Dunker cried, begging to George. "You can keep us all in here, but just let the poor girl go."
I was ready to jump - well not actually jump considering I was shot in the leg - to any opportunity to leave. I could hear George breathing heavily, as everyone cried, watching as I was ready to pass out.
Then, he walked towards the door, moving the desks he had piled up against it.
"Okay, everyone listen here." He screamed, aiming his gun once again. "Maya is the only one leaving here. The rest of you are staying!"
"Maya can't walk, man." Dunker said.
"I'll carry her." Zig quickly said. George sighed, whipping his forehead.
"Come on, this girl can loose her life." Dunker begged.
"Okay, Zig and Maya are going. The rest of you, up against that wall!" He pointed to the opposite wall. I felt Grace squeeze my hand gently.
"Everything will be okay, Maya." She said. I looked at her, my eyes feeling heavy, as if they would shut any minute.
Next thing I knew, I was in Zig's arms. He gently picked me up, trying to reduce any pain he would cause by picking me up. I winced of pain as he picked me up, but I could start to feel myself loose consciousness. George led Zig to the door, me in Zig's arms.
"Go," George huffed, opening the door. Zig stopped and looked at him, before walking out.
Zig began running down the hall, but he must have heard the small little whine that escaped my lips, and walked a little slower.
"Everything's going to be alright, Maya." He breathed, looking down at me. My eyes were half way closed, but I was still somewhat there.
"Zig," I whispered. My voice was so small. He looked down at me again.
"I love you."
Blackout.
WHAT WHAT WHAAAAAAAAAT.
Oh my goodness, this chapter was a tough one. Firstly, I have NO idea what it feels like to be shot in the leg, so my description might have been brief. Secondly, I have never experienced the feeling of a gun aimed at me, so I kind of had to use my mind and Google, haha! BUT I think I got the point across pretty good.
SOOOOOO, what will happen next?! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Want more? Let me know in the reviews!
Until next time...
xoxo
