6:02pm

"It's been half an hour, Andy where are they!?" I asked in a loud whisper. Both of us had been sitting in the change rooms in the gym, waiting on Shaun and Jade. But neither of them had come back yet and we hadn't heard any noise coming from in the halls, it was just us. I was worried. About them, Bailey and Alex. Especially Bailey and Alex. I haven't seen Bailey since the morning I left the outside world and came to school. I'd seen Alex, of course, but I knew he wasn't well. With the way they were shaking him around and all.

"Look maybe we should just leave. Maybe they found a way to get out and are out there waiting for us!" Andy said quietly. I thought about that for a moment and sighed. I guess that was the only option we had left. Beside staying here. And I wanted nothing more than to leave.

"You think so?" I asked. Andy nodded furiously, his face serious and scared at the same time.

"Why else wouldn't they have come back?" he asked me. I knew the answer but didn't say it out loud. Instead I shrugged and bit my lip, staring at the floor. I didn't want to think about it but if they are gone then we have to get out alive.

I jumped up onto the bench we were sitting on.

"Okay, let's go! I don't want to leave them or Bradie or anyone waiting any longer," I said suddenly feeling brave and headed for the door. I heard Andy slowly get up and follow me quietly to the door. We silently and quickly ran from the change rooms to the gym doors that lead out to the hallway. I was about to open the door to see if anyone was out there when Andy pulled my back by my top. I looked at him confused, didn't he want to leave?

"Don't!" he whispered. I just nodded to say I understood and shrugged but moved aside to let him look out into the hallway. I watched as he looked up and down the hallway for just a second before stepping back and shutting the door again.

"There's no one out there. But I think we should go to the front office. There we can just quickly sneak out through the front doors," he told me. I stared at him. I felt like I was going to cry, yet again. I was just so confused about this all. When I came to school all I had wanted to do was sit in class for the day, pretend to learn and go home. But now I was sneaking my way out of the school.

"Okay. We'll quickly go to the front office," I agreed, and I heard my voice crack. Andy smiled at me before opening the door, taking another look to make sure no one was coming and ran the few metres down the hall to the office. As soon as he had run silently out of the gym I ran after him, clenching my fists in worry that the gym doors would slam shut and we'd be caught. But the doors didn't make a sound, or I didn't hear it over my pounding heart beat.

"How will we get out?" I asked. Now that we were in the front office of the school the only way out was through the glass doors that lead to the front gates of the school. The doors were covered in black paper like all the windows in the school.

Andy didn't answer me. I watched him as he walked up to the doors and tried to open them. Locked. The doors were locked and I suddenly thought there was no way out of this place.

"What will we do?" I asked, "Maybe we should take the paper off and someone will see us and come save us," I told him and walked over to the doors. I didn't think the idea would work that much. It wasn't even planned, I just came up with it as I talked. I picked at a piece of tape holding up the black pieces of paper. Andy hit my hand away from the tape and I looked at him. Oh he was scared alright.

"Too dangerous. Max or Harry or anyone could see the light come in and come kill us before anyone saves us," he said. My breath caught in my throat when he openly said what we'd all been thinking. It hurt even more to say it out loud, "I'm sorry but-"

"No, it's okay. It's the truth," I smiled at him, trying to put on a brave face, "Now how will we get out, quickly?" He looked around the room. I followed his gaze everywhere. Until his eyes settled on the tiny coffee table standing between the two small benches against the wall. I raised my eyebrows as he went to pick it up, wondering how in the world he was going to unlock the doors with a table. But as he picked it up and went to stand in front of the glass doors I realized what he was doing. Stupid, I told myself.

"Stand back. As soon as I break the door run," Andy turned to look at me. I nodded to tell him I heard and he looked back at the doors. I took a step or two back and held my breath as I watched him. I had all these sudden visions of the glass crashing everywhere, piercing our skins. Or Max and Harry would hear us and come shoot us.

Those thoughts were cleared from my head as Andy forced the legs of the table into the glass doors. The only thing to happen was the glass cracking. Oh gosh, we're not gonna make it, I told myself. We're not gonna make it! I started panicking and silently begged him to hurry and save us!

He tried again and this time something happened.

"Hurry! We're not gonna make it. They're coming," Laura said, trying to be quiet but wanting to yell at the same time. Andy heard me and kept hitting the table into the door.

There was a piercing shatter as the glass doors broke and fell to the floor in front of him. The sun blinded me and the sound of breaking glass rattled in my ears. But for some reasons I didn't worry about it. I watched as Andy turned around and dropped the table. I half expected him to be covered in glass and blood but he seemed fine. I was stunned and crying at the same time. I didn't know what to feel. Excited that we were leaving, or horrified that I could now hear foot steps coming down the hallway.

Andy took a step towards me and grabbed me arm, pulling me out of it. He pushed me towards the shattered doors and outside onto the steps of the building. It didn't feel like it was me anymore. It didn't feel as if my legs were connected to me as I squinted my eyes to keep the sun out and ran down the steps. I collapsed into a heap as soon I reached the grass, sobbing and yelling.

It wasn't until then that I realized there were hundreds of people standing all around. Police, parents of the kids inside, even an ambulance. A few people rushed towards me. Stroking my hair, patting my back, speaking words of comfort and trying to get me to stand up. I lifted my head and sat up properly ignoring all of them. Because something wasn't right.

"Where's Andy?" I thought I yelled. But when no one flinched at my yells or replied I realized I was whispering. I turned around to the broken school doors. I watched as three men with tshirts marked POLICE ran into the building. I started crying harder then at the realization that the only people who could stop this were police!

I turned away from the school doors and took a bottle of water that one of the ambulance officers were handing me. I drank it quickly, relieved at the feeling of having water and hating the burning feeling in my throat from drinking too fast. I had to stop drinking soon to take a breath.

"Who's that?" I heard someone ask. I turned around to see what they were pointing at. Andy. Running down the stairs to me. To freedom. We both had freedom now.