FLASHBACK

Alicia was in class, chatting with her friends and Matt as they finished their assignments already. Matt was holding her hand as he kissed her cheek softly. They had been together for a while now. He was sweet and caring, he was funny and always managed to make her laugh. She loved his creative side as well, he was a very sensitive guy.

She glanced at this guy in her class for a moment, his name was Finn, everyone treated him as the weird kid. She felt bad for him, even stood up for him a couple of times. She really was the only person in the entire school that treated him well, which saddened her.

She noticed he was acting weird today, he had a dark expression on his face. She figured he was probably feeling down, because of all the bullying, she decided to check in on him after class.

Finn got up from his seat and took something out of his bag, a semi-automatic rifle. He must've snuck inside the school through a window or something. Nobody noticed until the first shots were fired at Alicia's friends. Hitting them all, Alicia froze in shock and Matt pushed her to the ground as he was hit as well. He fell to the ground next to her, he grabbed her hand as tears went down Matt's face.

More people were getting shot, Alicia was the only one that wasn't hit. He was making sure everyone was dead, Matt the last one. Alicia's heart broke, watching Matt getting a bullet to the face, an image that she'd never forget.

She quickly propped herself up, moving away from Finn, he was by now pointing his gun at her. She knew she had to do something quick, she swiftly lunged towards him, managing to tackle him to the ground, grabbing his wrist and smashing his arm to the ground so that he'd let go of the gun.

She took the gun from him and jumped up, pointing it at him, keeping her distance as he got up.

"Give me the gun Alicia." He held out his hand, but she shook her head as tears were streaming down her face. "Come on, they were horrible, they deserved it."

"People treated you badly yes, but you didn't have the right to do this! You killed them! No matter how bad they treated you, they didn't deserve this!" She was sobbing, her finger on the trigger. She squeezed the trigger when he lunged at her, multiple bullets going through his body as he fell to the floor, losing conscience.

Sobbing, Alicia dropped the gun and fell to the floor, to Matt's side. Wrapping her arms around him and burying her face into his chest. Repeating the word no over and over.

Finally the security came, but it was too late, Madison following and rushing to her daughter's side, hugging her. The security knew it was Finn, due to camera footage, he died as soon as the ambulance had arrived. Alicia was the only survivor in that class, she lost her friends and the guy she had fallen in love with.

END OF FLASHBACK

It was the weekend before the start of the school year, she was going to meet up with Ofelia and Luciana, going to the mall, clothes shopping.

"So are the rumours true?" Luciana asked Alicia curiously, but carefully. "About your old school being haunted."

Alicia thought about it, strange things definitely started happening after the incident. She did see doors opening and closing by themselves. "I think so." She told them about the thing with the doors and how sometimes, mostly in that classroom, it started freezing, despite it being very hot outside.

Ofelia noticed how Alicia got upset, thinking about it and quickly changed the subject. "So you saw any cute guys on campus yet?" Ofelia figured Alicia would only be into guys, knowing she did have a boyfriend before it happened.

"Well not really." Alicia shook her head, chuckling slightly. "I mean Jake is kind off cute, but I don't know." In her mind Alicia added 'But so are you'. Alicia has always felt an attraction to girls, but would always push those thoughts away.

"I think Nick is cute." Luciana said, avoiding Alicia's gaze, blushing slightly.

"My brother?" Alicia looked at Luciana, clearly amused, Ofelia just laughed.

"Yes your brother." Luciana laughed and turned to Ofelia. "What about you Ofelia."

Ofelia's face flushed red. "I…. uhhhhh. No, I haven't."

Alicia started laughing. "Your reaction suggests otherwise." She smiled at the other girl. "It's okay. You can tell us some other time." She didn't want to pressure the other girl into anything.

AUTHORS NOTE

I sent my condolences out to anyone who lost someone in a school shooting, it's such a horrifying thing to happen. I was very sad to learn about the most recent one in Texas. Lets hope the government finally ban weapons all together, people don't need them, we are better off without those. Weapons are illegal here (Netherlands) and we manage fine without them. They just bring bad things, tragedy and death.