ABOVE THE INFLUENCE
10:50 A.M.
"Oh my gosh!" I fling my hand over my mouth, as Jackson sinks to the floor grasping his right leg.
"You shot me." Jackson looks up at Ziggy, who stares at us in horror. His eyes wide.
"Stephanie? Gwen?" He drops the gun with a clatter. "Ya both saw what happened. It was an accident. Right?" I glance down at Jackson. Blood seeping through his greenish pants.
"What the hell is happening? We heard a gun shot?" Armstrong comes sprinting down the hall with another patrol officer. His eyes wander from Stephanie and I huddled together, to Lester, who is shaking, then to Ziggy with the gun lying at his feet. "What…?"
"It was an accident." Armstrong glances down at Jackson.
"Zechariah. You now know we have to take you back home."
"I can't go home." He gaps at him. "I can't." Armstrong lunges toward him, and grasps him by the elbow. Ziggy only thrashes out. "I can't go home." The other patrol officer moves in.
Pinning Ziggy's hands behind his back, they force him down the hall.
"LESTER! LESTER!" Ziggy shrieks as Armstrong and the patrol officer haul him down the hall.
"LET HIM GO!" Lester snatches the gun up from the floor, and aims it at them. "LET HIM GO!" Armstrong, and the patrol officer lighten their grip. "Over here Zig." Ziggy squirms free from their grasp, and rushes toward Lester's side.
"It's all right. Put that gone down son. Think what your doing." Little by little, Armstrong walks toward him. "Just give me the gun." He holds out a shaking hand.
"No! I know what I'm doing. An I ain't gonna listen t' ya." Lester steps forward with the gun.
"What is it that you want?" Backing away, Armstrong begins to tremble all over. Lester takes a fleeting look at all of us, then at the small crowd gathering in the back of the hall.
"I want everyone out of the school. And I mean everyone. Including you, and the patrol officer your with."
"Ok." Armstrong closes the doors to block the hall we are in, then pulls the fire alarm nearest to him. Outside the door, we can hear people fleeing from their classrooms to the nearest exit. "Done. Anything else?"
"Yeah. You can leave."
"Done." He and the patrol officer walk toward Jackson, and start to pull him up.
"He stays." Lester moves even closer to them with the gun.
"Are you insane? This man needs a doctor."
"He stays." Lester commands. Armstrong lets go of Jackson, a sorry on his face. He and the patrol officer hastily walked toward the door. "You girls coming?"
"They stay too!" Lester points the gun at us.
"What?" I let go of Stephanie's hand. My heart skipping beats.
"Your witnesses. We need you both."
"Lester." Ziggy places a hand over Lester's grip on the gun.
"They stay." Armstrong turns to us, gawking. He holds up a hand, then thrusts it back to his side. The patrol officer and him slides past us out the door, whispering a quick apology. Stephanie wraps her tan coat around her.
"What now?"
Lester placeds the gun inside his coat. "Second floor Library."