"Hey, are you going to theater club after school today?"
Natalie shut her locker door and turned to face her lifelong best friend, Mei. As a junior in high school, Natalie had fared better than her mother; her skin was clear, she left braces behind in middle school, and though she wasn't at the top rung of popularity, she was quite pretty with plenty of friends.
"Yeah, I'm planning on it." Natalie said, hugging her books to her chest. "You?"
"Yeah."
Mei's response was almost drowned out by screaming in the hallway. The hallways were always loud at class change, but the type of noise ringing out down the hallways sounded different; it was unsettling to Natalie. Rather than whoops of joy and yelling for friends like usual, it sounded more like terrified screaming.
"What the…" Natalie stopped in the middle of her sentence when she saw a herd of students running toward them and heard loud bangs ricocheting down the hallway.
Gunshots.
"Oh my God. Nat? What's happening?!" Mei was frozen in place.
"Run!" Natalie shouted, trying to be heard above all of the noise.
The words were barely out of her mouth before a bullet whizzed by, striking Mei in the arm. Gasping and crumpling over in shock and pain, Mei still didn't move.
"Code A. Code A." The school secretary's voice was shaky over the PA system. "This is not a drill."
Grabbing Mei by her good arm, Natalie pulled her into the nearest classroom. Once they were in the room and shut the door closed behind them, they saw that there was already a boy in there, cowered in the corner. Natalie looked uncertainly at the door.
"I'm not sure if the door locks itself or not. Help me build a barricade. She's hit."
The boy scrambled to his feet and helped Natalie build a wall of desks in front of the door, stacking them as high as they could while Mei sobbed in the corner. Once Natalie was satisfied that their barricade would hold, she sat down by Mei and examined the gunshot wound, still speaking to the boy.
"Find something we can throw at the shooter if he gets in here."
The boy ran over to the teacher's desk, grabbing a paperweight, a few pairs of scissors, and her metal name plaque while Natalie racked her brain desperately for the first aid instructions her parents had given her over the years.
Never attempt to remove a bullet or a pole or anything lodged inside someone yourself. Natalie remembered Addison telling her. Whatever it is could be stopping the person from bleeding out. You need to apply as much direct pressure to the wound as you can with anything you can find.
"I don't see an exit wound. The bullet is lodged in your arm." Natalie looked over to the boy, who had returned to a fetal position in the corner. "I need you to stuff this in the wound and apply pressure for me."
The boy's eyes went wide as Natalie ripped a strip from the bottom of her shirt off, turning it into a crop top. She thrust the pink cloth into his hands. He hesitated, staring at it, then at Mei writhing in pain on the floor.
"What's your name?" Natalie asked, frustration filling her voice.
"A-Adam."
"Adam, if you don't get this into the wound and let me tie a tourniquet, she is going to bleed out right here. Do you understand?" She delivered instructions with the calm that either of her parents would have, though her heart was thundering in her chest, and she knew she possibly was her best friend's only chance for survival.
"Yes. Okay. All right." Adam stammered.
"Stuff that in the wound and hold it as tight as you can." Natalie unbuckled her belt and pulled it off in one quick motion while Adam followed her instructions. "Hold it tighter than that."
Tie the tourniquet above the bleed and do it as tightly as you can. Derek had said. It's going to hurt the person even worse. That's okay. That means you did it right. It's better that than being dead.
"Good. I'm going to tie this above the bleed." Wincing, Natalie put the belt around Mei's upper arm and pulled it through the buckle as tightly as she could.
"Oh my God." Mei moaned. "It hurts even more now."
"I know. I'm sorry. It's working, though."
"I think I'm going to pass out." Mei said. "Nat, I'm really scared."
"Shhh." Natalie helped Mei lie down on the floor and pulled Mei's head into her lap. She thought it might be better for all of them if Mei did pass out so that her sobs of pain wouldn't give their location away. "Just rest here."
"How do you know how to do all of this?" Adam asked in awe.
"My parents taught me." Natalie replied simply.
Her parents. With tears finally stinging at her eyes at the realization of what had happened in only the past few minutes, she picked up her phone and opened the group message that she was in with her parents. The last text that had been sent, from her mother's phone, was talking about having Chinese food for dinner. It had only been sent an hour before, but it was so innocent compared to the situation Natalie was in that it felt like it came from another time.
Taking a deep breath, Natalie contemplated what to say. What should she say to her parents when it could be the last thing she said to them, ever? It would have to be a text. Calling and talking to them was too risky. How could she thank them for the wonderful life they had given her once they had reunited in just a lousy text message?
"I love you." Natalie finally typed with shaking hands. "There's a shooter at school. I'm hiding. I want you to know I love you, whatever happens."
Natalie brushed a tear away from her cheek as she hit send. She heard Adam inhale sharply next to her, and she looked over at him. He was silently gesturing towards the door, his eyes filled with fear.
Then, she heard it, too.
Footsteps.