"You don't need no gun control. You know what you need? Bullet control. I think all bullets should cost $5000. You know why? If a bullet cost $5000 there'd be no more innocent bystanders." Bowling For Columbine

Frank

After Joe passed out, I started yelling --- screaming, really, for someone to help. Anyone.

But there were other people in front of the school. Hundreds of people. There was blood everywhere, and people were screaming and calling out to each other. In a strange moment, I wondered if Tony and John and Carrie had made it out alright. I hoped they did.

I had to concentrate on Joe. He was still breathing, and there was still a pulse. I suspected he had passed out from loss of blood. Just as I was about to really start freaking out --- cause I wasn't already. Really I wasn't. --- well, just as I was about to start freaking out, a paramedic ran past me, then skidded to a halt.

"Frank?"

I looked up, trying to focus on the boy in front of me. He was probably about four years older than I was…and I knew him. "Lloyd?"

We had met Lloyd two years ago, when Joe and I were in the hospital after a particularly bad case involving a maniac and revenge against my father. Anyway, we both were in terrible shape when the police and paramedics arrived and Lloyd was the one sent into the basement where we were, mostly because he was he only one tiny enough to fit through the cave-in. He had only been certified for a couple of weeks then, but he seemed really concerned. He visited us in the hospital and we got to know him. Since then, he has taken either me or Joe to the hospital four or five times. It's just our kind of luck.

Anyway, Lloyd was crouching next to Joe, and the next second he was calling out for more help. He looked at me, and I knew he must be taking in the blood on my shirt. I could only focus on Joe. Joe who was no longer awake…no longer moving.

"Frank!" I looked back at Lloyd, who still looked worried. "Frank, are you hurt?"

I shook my head, dropping next to Joe once again. Dimly, I was aware of other people around us, of screaming and blood. I saw a kid get taken away in a body bag.

I think that was when I started throwing up. And once I started, I couldn't stop.

Lloyd stayed with me, his mouth next to my ear, saying all the right thing… "it's going to be okay…" yeah, right. It would never be okay again.

When I had finally surrendered the entire contents of my stomach, Lloyd said, softly. "Listen, Joe is a priority case. He already left in an ambulance." I wanted to hit him. Why hadn't he told me? Did he not understand that there was nothing…nothing more important than Joe? "But you can go in the next ambulance. We have to wait a little bit, because there are so many people."

I looked around, suddenly fearful for my friends. Where were they? I stood up, brushing Lloyd off. I had to find them…make sure everyone was alright.

The first person I saw was Chet, who was sitting, shaking on a bench, his head held in his hands. Next to him was a girl being covered with a sheet. I recognized her as a Freshmen, though I didn't know her name. I touched Chet's shoulder and he looked at me. His eyes were red, and his shirt was dark with blood, though, like mine, it wasn't his own. "Hey." He said, softly, then, "You look like crap."

I would have laughed in any other situation. Chet almost never cursed. I shrugged, half-wanting to tell him about Joe, then deciding against it. If I said anything, I knew I'd start to cry.

Suddenly, he put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into a hug, blood, puke and all. "I heard about Joe." He said softly, and I did feel tears come to my eyes. God, Joe. I had no idea how he was. What if he was already dead? "I'll stay with you, man. I swear."

So I had another person with me on the twisted search for my friends. I refused to look at the school --- I refused to think past the task at hand. If I let my mind wander, I know I'd go crazy. There were police, there were firefighters and paramedics. There were frightened parents and police tape and above all, the high-pitched screams of the kids…the kids I'd known forever. The screams of the dying and friends of the dying.

We found Tony next. I was insanely relieved to see him. He was sitting next to John, who looked exactly how I felt. Next to him was a grass stained a dark red, but Carrie and his brother were nowhere to be seen. I looked to Tony for an explanation. "Dave and Carrie both went to the hospital, but there wasn't enough room in the ambulance for John. They…they didn't look good. Dave stopped breathing when we got out of the school."

That's where my short journey ended. I sat next to John and squeezed his hand. He looked at me, his eyes vacant, glazed over. I couldn't imagine loosing Joe and Callie…

Callie. I had forgotten about her. At once I was on my feet again, trying to run, the world spinning. "Frank! Frank, sit down!" Chet pushed me back next to John, who was staring at me blankly.

"Frank." Chet knelt down until he was my hight. "Frank, I swear everyone's okay. I saw Biff get out with that girl."

"Callie?" It was the only word I'd said since I'd talked to Lloyd. Tony answered me.

"She wasn't in school, Frank. I know, we have first period together. She never came to school today."

I laughed then. A deranged, strange laugh that I didn't recognize. I laughed for a full minute before I began to cry.

When I cried, the tears never stopped.

This is so sad. I am rolling out these chapters as fast as I can --- this story is no easy to write. It just flows. I really feel it. For those of you who haven't yet figured it out, this story is going to be long. Fifteen or twenty chapters long. I'm in it for all the kids who've actually been through this. I hope you're in it with me, because this is real. As real as you can get when you speak through fictional characters.