Hey guys, I'm so sorry this is has taken me a while, I've had so many test, you wouldn't even believe it. Anyway, I made this chapter extra-long to make up for it and I really really really want to hear what you think of this, so please review. Now since this is based on Shooting Star, this is an emotional one and I gotta admit, I almost cried writing it, so it would be interesting to hear if it almost made you cry reading it ;)
I will try my hardest to update real soon and I'll see you…well actually, I'll read you soon ;) Get your tissues at the ready…have you got 'em? Alright then, let's begin…
Disclaimer: I still don't own Glee.
-Kitty's POV-
The second 'bang' made all of us jump out of our skin as it pierced our ears in the most unpleasant way. We heard more screeches of fear and just sat there, shocked for another few seconds before everyone kicked in to action. I stood up, confused and a little afraid as everyone else started to mutter in fear and discomfort.
"Get down" Bieste mumbled sternly, moving quickly to shut the door as everyone started to panic a little.
"Everyone just spread out and hide, spread out and hide" Mr Schue told us franticly, nudging me towards the wall but I turn around first to grab a very scared Marley's hand and pull her with me, rushing to sit behind the band equipment. It doesn't matter how scared I am, Marley always comes first.
"Find a place to hide! Please, just go over there" he tells Unique as she begins to tear up and Marley, Jake and I sit down, me in the middle. Bieste turns out the lights and shuts the blinds, surrounding the room in darkness and fear as everyone finally sits down, hiding in corners and behind the piano that Blaine had pushed slightly in front of the door.
As the final running of footsteps and slamming of doors is heard, we are left in near silence, the steady, antagonizing ticking of the metronome and the sniffles and sobs of my friends being the only sounds that filled the room.
I couldn't get out of my shock, I wanted to turn my head, to check on Marley but it was as if I was frozen in place. I couldn't move. I don't think any of us could actually.
"Are we even sure those were gunshots?" Blaine's sudden voice almost makes me jump out of my skin and Mr Schue and Coach Bieste are quick to shush him…
Still.
Everything and everyone was just, still. All of us being too scared to make any sign of movement and too stunned to make any kind of sound.
However, I soon snapped out of it when I heard one of the only sounds that could make my heart break, Marley's fearful sobbing. I quickly snapped my head to the side to see her trying her best not to make a sound, with tears of fear streaming down her face as her lips quivered in attempt to hold back her sobbing.
She sniffed and let out that scared sob again, which instantly cause my instincts to kick in as I wrapped a slightly shaky arm around her shoulders and pulled her into my side. She turned her head towards me and looked at me with teary eyes; I sucked in a shaky breath to stop my tears from falling at how terrified she looked. Our attention turned away from each other and towards Mr Schue when he suddenly spoke up.
"Everyone…here, hey, guys, guys, guys…start texting, tweeting…let everyone know what's going on. But don't tell them we're here, all right? Shooters have smartphones too" he tells us, shakily sitting back down on the floor behind the piano.
"It's okay" Coach Bieste whispers reassuringly to us as everyone but me takes out their phones. I don't for two reasons, one; I don't want to let go of Marley and two; I have no one to text but my mom, and I doubt she'd care right now.
I see Marley pull out her phone with nervous and shaky hands, sniffing as she begins to type away on it. I struggle to keep my breathing steady as I rub her back, trying to calm her down in any way I can.
"Look guys, we're all just gonna stay here, okay? Got nowhere to be, we don't know what's out there" Mr Schue speaks up again but gets cut off when a door slams somewhere causing Marley and a few other people in the room to jump and let out a surprised sob at the same time, making me hold onto her tighter.
"Shh. Shh" Mr Schue and Bieste shush everyone softly and soothingly, but I could tell they were freaking out too. A phone buzzing abruptly causes everyone in the room to jump again, including me and Marley whimpers loudly. Mr Schue and Bieste shush everyone again, probably in fear of being heard by the…shooter.
"I love you guys" he says, almost choking on his words and looked at us all before going back to sit by Bieste, breathing heavily. Marley and a few other people (like Unique) were a sobbing mess and were really struggling in holding their sobs back, causing a strange but heart breaking sound to escape them as they attempted to choke back their sobs.
All of a sudden, we heard those footsteps again, but this time they were louder, more intense as we could hear them running towards our direction. I held my breath in fear as they became louder and louder, the louder and closer they got to us, the faster my heart beat painfully against my chest.
The doorknob rattled. Marley pressed her head back against the wall, pursing her lips together to keep herself from making a sound and her hand flashed up to grip tightly onto my shirt collar. I gently but shakily brought my hand away from her back to softly take hold of the hand that was gripping onto my shirt. Her grip was tight, but I didn't care.
The footsteps sounded again, before they rattled another doorknob and my heart was going crazy by now as Marley clutched even tighter onto my hand. Everyone was still, all of us being way too afraid to make any kind of movement…
*BANG*
A door slamming shut made all of us nearly jump out of our skin, it even made Bieste cry out. Marley whimpered loudly, making my head turn towards her in worry. I can see she's barely being able to keep it together with the mess of fallen tears that are still streaming down her face. She can't seem to be able to hold her sobs in anymore and the noises that she's making, that every person is making in here is killing me.
I react quickly, letting go of her hand to wrap my arm around her shoulder and once again take hold of her other hand, her shaky but strong grip returning. She turns her head to look at my hand through her tears and slowly links her fingers through mine before looking back towards Mr Schue and Coach Bieste, sniffling as she did so.
"It's okay" Bieste tries to reassure us quietly, attempting to calm us down as some people have begun to uncontrollably sob now (like Sugar, Unique and Marley). "Shh. It's okay" she soothes again, Marley clutching my hand tighter as she spoke and squeezing her eyes shut as well as pursing her lips, I think she's trying to stop crying. I squeeze her hand back, trying to help her as much as I can but if I'm being completely honest with you, I'm just as scared.
"Sam. Sam!" Mr Schue's and Bieste's loud whispering catches my attention and I turn my head to see what was going on. My eyes widen slightly as I see Sam crawling across the floor to get to Mr Schue. What the hell is he doing?!
"Sam, what are you doing?" Mr Schue whispers harshly as Sam reaches where he's sat and begins to, hopefully, explain himself.
"I have to go" Sam explains, standing up to go for the door but Mr Schue blocks his path and grabs hold of his shoulders.
"Sam, get down!" Mr Schue whispers again as we all look at the frantic blonde boy in shock.
"Brittany doesn't have her phone on her, she's in the bathroom, she left it here" he rushes to explain and as soon as he finishes I completely understand why he wants to leave. I mean if it were Marley who was in Brittany's place right now, I would do anything to get out of this room to be by her side. It kinda looks like Sam would do the same right now to get to Brittany.
"Sam, Sam, sit down. Sam, sit down!" He whispers harshly and forces Sam down so he now sat next to Artie, who rubbed the blondes shoulder comfortingly, but I imagine it wouldn't have helped at all.
Mr Schue sighed, slowly kneeling back down next to Bieste. That deafening silence appeared once more for a few seconds before Blaine broke it with a shaky voice.
"Tina isn't here either."
I let my gaze drop to the floor as realization smacks me hard in the face that two of us are missing. Even though I'm not great friends with Tina, and I only talk to Brittany occasionally, I'm still really worried about them both. I just hope they're okay…
Marley sniffs loudly and I look to my side to see she's let go of my hand and is now frantically typing away on her phone, panic coating her every move as she chokes back her sobs. I open my mouth to speak for the first time since I was shocked into silence.
"Marls…who are you texting?" I whisper shakily, I could take a really good guess as to who it was she was trying to contact, I just couldn't take the silence anymore. Marley takes a shaky breath before answering.
"It's my mom" she sniffs, confirming my guess. She puts her phone down and looks at me with teary eyes for a moment before leaning her head back against the wall, squeezing her eyes shut and pursing her lips together to try and stop crying, but it fails to work.
"There's no back way out when you're in the kitchen" she explains, sobbing whilst doing so and I swear to God, a piece of my heart just shattered. A tear dripped down my cheek as I thought about Mrs Rose…God, just the thought of something happening to her…no, no Kitty, you can't think like that, you gotta be strong, c'mon, for Marley. Just be strong.
"It's okay, It's okay" I try and comfort her, but I couldn't shake off the thought that something could have happened to Mrs Rose…and it scared the hell out of me. My attention is brought back to Marley when she chokes on another sob.
"Where is she?" she whimpers, sniffing and her shoulders tremble as she cries. "I don't know why she's not answering" she cries, going back to desperately typing on her phone as she breathes heavily. I kick into action at seeing her in this state.
"She'll be okay…no one's gonna hurt your mom" I reassure her softly, making her suck in a painful breath as her body still racks with sobs. "Everyone really likes her" I tell her, getting teary eyed when she doesn't stop sobbing. I quickly put my arm around her and lean in closer to her.
"Marley" I whisper softly and a little shakily to get her attention, she moves her head up to look at me with tears still streaming down her face. "Everything's gonna be fine alright? I promise" I say with a shaky breath and she crumbles into me arms, sobbing heavily into my shoulder as she clings onto me for dear life. I shush her softly, stoking her hair and doing my best to keep my own tears at bay.
That awful silence returns, only the ticking of the metronome and my friend's sobs could be heard. Marley hadn't pulled away and I didn't want to let her go, holding her just as tight as she was holding onto me.
Soon enough, the painful silence was broke by Sam, who couldn't seem to be able to take it anymore as he abruptly got up and started to make his way to the door, only to once again be stopped by Mr Schue and Coach Bieste.
"Sam. Sam" they tried saying desperately, but I could see Sam wasn't having it. He wanted to find Brittany and he looked like he would do anything to get out of here to do so, I would be exactly the same, if not worse if it were Marley in Brittany's place right now.
"I have to go. I got go. She's all alone, she doesn't have anybody out there" Sam stated, trying to shove past Mr Schue and Bieste who were desperately trying to stop him, acting like a wall.
"Sam. Sam, no" they said more sternly, grabbing hold of his arms as he tried to push through them.
"I have to go, I don't care" he exclaimed, beginning to shove them to try and get to the door as they clutched at his arms. "I don't care!" he began to get dangerously louder.
"Come on, Sam!" Mr Schue raised his voice as they tugged Sam back roughly.
"No, let go of me! I'm going!" Sam exclaims, his voice getting even louder and I was scared that if he didn't calm down soon, the shooter would hear us.
"Sam!" Mr Schue yelled again in warning, him and Bieste holding onto him tightly as he puts his hand over Sam's mouth so that his screams were now muffled. Sam thrashed around in Mr Schue's arms, screaming and breathing heavily as we all watched with wide eyes. I wrapped my arms tighter around Marley as she whimpered in fear, both of us watching Sam freaking out and trying desperately to leave this room.
"Sam…Sam, listen!" Bieste tried but he didn't stop screaming and trying to get away. Why can't he stop screaming?! He's putting all of us in danger; he's putting Marley in danger. I know he's scared but if he doesn't calm down, we could all be in serious trouble.
I purse my lips together as Marley puts her head in hands, sobbing uncontrollably at this point, much like a lot of other people in the room. I pull her closer into me; resting my forehead on top of hers and closing my eyes, letting another few tears fall out. I hated this, I hated that Marley was here right now. Dammit, why couldn't she be in the parking lot or at home or…or anywhere but here!
"I don't care!" Sam kept crying out, yanking and shoving but it wasn't working. He was just making it worse with his frantic movements and causing everyone to just become even more terrified than they already were.
"Shh!" Bieste tried to calm him down but he wouldn't stop.
"I don't care" his muffled scream came out again causing multiple people, including my little Marley, to let out another heavy sob.
"Sam, listen!" Coach Bieste hissed, getting in close to his face. "You are putting everybody's life in danger. Look at them" she pointed to all of us as we stared at them.
"Look at them" she said again as Sam began to stop moving around as he looked at all of us through teary eyes.
"Look at them" she said a little softer as Sam cried. Marley clutched onto my hand tightly with fear as I breathed heavily, both of us staring intently at Sam as he began to calm down.
"Sam, it's okay" she reassured him as he cried heavily, falling limp in Mr Schue's arms. Marley trembled in my arms as tears flowed from her eyes like a waterfall. I rested my forehead against her temple as she cried. She wouldn't stop crying and I didn't know what to do to calm her down.
I shushed her softly, pulling her closer as she let out small whimpers. I could see she was trying her best to calm down, but I could also see that she's never been more terrified.
"Sam, go sit. Go sit with Artie. Go sit with him" Bieste whispered to the blonde boy softly, gently guiding him over to sit down next to Artie. Marley let out what sounded like a cross between a cough and another sob.
Everyone was either crying or breathing heavily after what just happened. Suddenly it all felt so real. We could die. That thought suddenly scared the shit out of me, not because I could die, but because Marley could. My Marley. No. No, no, no, no, no, no! Just the thought of something happening to her…
My arm around her became impossibly tighter, but she didn't seem to mind as she turned her head away from staring at Sam and Mr Schue, who had sat next to the boy, to bury her face into the crook of my neck.
She had begun to calm down a little now, her sobs dying down to sniffs. My thoughts went back to Mrs Rose and I began to get that horrible feeling in my stomach again that something could have happened to her. She had to be okay. If she wasn't, it would kill Marley.
I know that Marls was thinking about her and probably playing out the worst possible scenarios in her head. I can't stand seeing her like this. There had to be something I could do.
"She'll be alright Marls" I whisper to her softly. She brings her head up from my shoulder and looks at me with a tear soaked face, shaking her head as her lips quiver.
"W-what if she's not?" she whimpers fearfully and I look at her for a second, not knowing how to respond. I lean back against the wall as Marley rests her head on my shoulder.
"She will be…she will be" I reassure her softly, also trying to reassure myself. Mrs Rose was like a second mother to me, a real one and she…she just has to be okay.
A sniff to my left makes me snap my head in their direction to see Jake sitting there with a few tears running down his face. God, I was so busy worrying about Marley, I had completely forgot to worry about my friend.
"Dude…you okay?" I whisper to him, getting his attention and he snaps his gaze toward me, wiping his nose and sniffing.
Did you seriously just ask someone who's sitting in a dark classroom, in the middle of a school shooting if they were 'okay'?
Conscience, do you really think this is the time?!
…Sorry, how you holding up?
Don't care about me right now, only Marley
"Uh, not really" he mumbles, sniffing again and letting a tear drop. I take a shaky breath before looking down to see his phone tightly clutched in his hands.
"You talked to Puck? Your mom?" I ask him softly, keeping my voice down to a whisper. I don't know if anyone else in the room could hear us but I didn't care.
"Y-yeah, they're on their way here right now…oh my god, I can't believe this is happening" he breathes out, another tear falling down his cheek. It was weird, seeing someone like Jake cry; he's normally so…together? But I can see he's just as scared as everyone else in here.
"Yeah…me either" I whisper, leaning my head back against the wall and breathing out a small sigh.
"W-what about you? Talked to your parents?" he asks, whispering softly and I freeze for a second. Sometimes I forget that no one apart from Marley knows that my dad's dead, I really should tell them…
Snapping out of it, I quickly shake my head, avoiding his gaze.
"Why?" he asks, confusion mixing with his fear in his eyes when I turn my head to look at him. Before I can answer, a small beep interrupts me, causing both of us to snap our heads to the side to see Artie with his phone out. Wait a second…is he recording this?
"Artie, what are you doing?" Blaine whispers, looking a little worried and confused like the rest of us.
"If we don't get out of here, people need to see this" he explains, Blaine shakes his head, putting his head in his arms and I just rest my head back against the wall, feeling Marley squeeze my hand tightly.
"Does anybody have anything they want to say?" Artie asks us and Ryder speaks up from across the room.
"Yeah, me" he slowly crawls across the floor to get to Artie, coming to sit beside Marley. Ryder sniffles and pants softly before speaking up again.
"I love you, Dad" he states, with a small smile, "Thanks for like…everything and I know I don't always let you know, but you've taught me a lot" he finishes with a sigh, leaning back to rest against the wall.
Marley sniffles and squeezes my hand before letting go and shuffling forwards a little so she's in front of the camera. I turn my head to look at her and rest my hand on her back comfortingly. She sniffs again before speaking up with a shaky voice.
"There's a fake bottom to my desk draw…if you look under it, um…there's a journal with a bunch of songs that I wrote…I've only told one person this but I'm really proud of them…" she wavers, beginning to break down again. I rub her back soothingly and she turns back around to rest her head on my shoulder.
Jake sighs and leans forward to speak up next.
"Uh…" he sniffles loudly before continuing. "Mom, Puck…I love you guys" he says before he begins to cry, I grab his shoulder and pat it a little, hoping that it would comfort him just a little. He gives me a small, grateful smile and pats me on the arm in thanks before sniffling and going back to sitting against the wall.
"You guys turn it off" Bieste whispers pleadingly. "Please turn it off" she whispers again.
"Kitty" he whispers to me making me turn my head towards him in question to see him holding the camera up for me to say something. But who would I say it to? My mom wouldn't care.
Without saying a word, I put my hand up to the camera and shove it away from me, causing Artie to turn it off with a beep. I lean my head back against the wall with a deep sigh as Marley sniffs and clutches my hand tightly in hers.
…
It's been five minutes now since Artie turned off his camera. Five minutes of deadly silence. Five minutes of undeniable fear. Five minutes of me listening to the girl I love sob over her mom.
I can't take it anymore. Marley needs her.
"Mar?" I whisper gently in her ear, resting my temple on her head. She chokes on a sob before answering.
"Yeah?" she whispers back, I sniff once and make sure no one can hear me when I whisper the next few words.
"I love you" I tell her causing her to let out a small sob and turn in my arms to wrap her own around my shoulders in a tight hug.
"I love you back" she whispers quietly into my shoulder so no one else heard but to be honest with you I don't completely care if anyone hears or not, all I care about right now is Marley and her safety. But right now, I could see her breaking…and I needed to try and do something about it.
I turn to Jake who was still silently weeping beside me. "Hey…Jake, can you come here and hold Marley for me?" I whisper to him and both people I mentioned looked at me in confusion through watery eyes.
"What? Why?" he whispers back and I just motion for him to take her as I begin to move away but Marley has a vice grip on me.
"Just do it please, just for a sec" I reply shortly to him and slowly removing Marley from my arms and pulling away.
"What? No Kitty, where are you going?" Marley whispers, her voice wavering as she looks at me pleadingly not to let her go. I didn't want to, but I just had to do something first.
As I pull away completely, she continues to object and whisper my name as Jake slowly wrapped a shaky arm around her, doing what I asked and for that I'm grateful. Marley needed to be held right now.
I slowly crawled over to where Mr Schue sat, ignoring the frantic whispers of 'Kitty!' and 'What are you doing?!'. Once I reached him he began to ask me what I was doing but I interrupted him in a low voice.
"Kitty, what are you-"
"Marley's breaking down, she can't deal without her mom Mr Schue, she's not answering her phone and Marley's terrified something's happened to her. Please. Please let me go and find her" I ask him desperately and he sighs deeply, shaking his head.
"Kitty, no. I just had this conversation with Sam; no one is leaving this room alright? Now I know you're worried but-"
"Mr Schue I am way past worried right now okay? I can't sit there for another second watching her break because she doesn't know if the person she loves most in the world is alright. I can't" I interrupt his stern voice and we stare at each other for a few seconds. Me with pleading eyes and him with sympathy and fear.
He sighs again, placing his hand on my shoulder in a firm grip as he shakes his head slowly. "I'm sorry Kitty, but I can't let you" he tells me sadly, giving my shoulder a little shake as my head drops down in defeat.
"Now go sit with Marley. She needs you" he finishes, with the tiniest of wavers in his voice. I nod my head slightly in understanding and slowly shuffle back to my space as Jake lets go of a sobbing Marley.
I wrap my arms around her again, surrounding her in safety as she clutches onto me.
"D-don't you dare try and do that again Kitty Wilde, you hear me? I'm already worried about my m-mom; I can't worry about you out there too. J-just don't leave me okay? I need you. I need you more than anything right now, don't leave me" she whimpers and I finally let another tear fall.
Sniffing, I rest my temple on hers gently, nodding my head slightly, not being able to form words at the moment.
"I-I won't ever leave you" I manage to choke out, wrapping my arms tighter around her and pulling her into me. "I promise."
…
Fifteen. Fifteen minutes since this whole thing started.
Marley and I hadn't said a word since my attempt to leave, just holding onto each other with the occasional sniff. Our foreheads pressed together gently and I could still feel her shaking.
I had calmed down a little now, my thoughts and actions completely focused on Marley. My protective arms wrapped around her being one of the only things keeping me sane at the moment.
"Guys" Mr Schue whispered loud enough for us to hear and it made me jump slightly since he was the first sound I heard in the last few minutes that wasn't the metronome or Marley's whimpers.
I felt Marley turn her head to look at him, causing my head to drop onto her shoulder. I didn't care to look up at him, just breathing in the comforting scent of my girlfriend. It was like I was drained of all energy, this whole situation overwhelming me completely and Marley was the only thing keeping me calm right now. I'm afraid that if I focus on anything but her right now I'll just burst into tears. I had to be strong for her. But I had to get my strength back to be able to do so.
"I'm gonna go look for Brittany in the bathroom. Everyone. Stay. Here" he whispered sternly before taking a deep, shaky breath and walking out. Just by the sound of his voice, I could tell he was scared out of his mind. We all were. But he was being unbelievably brave for us right now and I promised myself I'd never forget it.
A loud, ringing sound causes me to snap my head up from Marley's shoulder and I look around in alarm like everyone else before realising that it was mine. I quickly take it out of my pocket and go to turn it off before I realise who was calling me.
"Kitty, turn that phone off now" Bieste hissed at me but I couldn't, this person was calling me. This was my chance to find out who it was that was messing with me, they must have dialled me by mistake or something.
"It's them" I say shakily, looking at Marley and she seemed to understand as her eyes widened.
"Dude what are you doing? Turn it off" Jake told me, looking scared and I looked at everyone's faces to see equally terrified expressions on their faces. I flicked my eyes down to my phone then back up to everyone else.
"Turn it off!" Coach Bieste whispered harshly to me once more.
"Hang up the phone Kitty" Marley told me and I looked at her for a second in surprise.
"Hang up the phone" Jake said desperately, just like everyone else and looking at their faces…I just couldn't do it.
I turned it off with a deep, frustrated sigh. Breathing shakily, I slammed the phone down on the floor next to me. Dammit.
…
A knocking on the door makes us all jump and we look up to see Bieste open the door for Mr Schue. A blonde cheerleader rushes in, quickly being engulfed in a tight embrace by Sam. Brittany! Oh thank God.
Marley squeezes my hand, which had once again made its way around her shoulder in the past few minutes, in relief. Brittany's followed inside by two other kids that look scared to death and finally Mr Schue, who sighs and rests his hands on the piano.
Not a few seconds later, two words are yelled from the halls by a cop. Two words that we had all been longing to hear since the lights went off in this room. Two words that hit me with the biggest amount of relief I've ever felt.
"All clear!"
Marley lets out a relieved sob next to me as me and Jake look up in disbelief, like we didn't believe that this torture was really over.
"Is everybody here?" Brittany utters to Sam as tears stream down her face and those two words are yelled again, causing our hopes to be confirmed.
"All clear!"
Coach Bieste turns the lights on and it's like we've gone from Hell to Heaven in a matter of seconds.
Mr Schue sighs deeply in relief and people begin to stand up on shaky legs, looking hesitant.
"All clear!"
It's true. It's over.
It's over.
I sigh and Marley rests her temple against mine as tears pour down her face.
"Oh, my God" I hear Sam mumble as the cops keep yelling the 'all clear' for everyone to come out now.
I look up to see Sam wrap his arms around Mr Schue's shoulders from behind. Most of us haven't moved a muscle yet, too stuck in shock to move. Did that actually just happen?
I hear everyone begin to hastily get up with muffled cries and I slowly stand up to, bringing Marley up with me. The shaky girl turns to me once we're standing and engulfs me in a tight embrace as she sobs into my shoulder, her whole body shaking in shock.
"Come here. Come here everyone. Come here" Mr Schue says shakily, bringing us all together.
I pull away from Marley to walk towards where everyone was standing and turn my head to the side to see Jake there. Without another thought, I wrap one of my arms around him and he doesn't hesitate to do the same to me.
"You guys get over here. Come here" Mr Schue keeps breathing out as we all reach each other, wrapping our arms around all of us so that we're in a tight circle.
Everyone puts their heads down apart from me; I look straight ahead, still not having recovered quite yet from what had just happened.
"You guys get in here…it's okay, it's okay, we're all here" Mr Schue says in a gently voice as a few of the girls let out more sobs, but this time they weren't out of fear. It was relief.
With that thought, it hits me and I'm recovered. I let my head slowly drop down onto everyone else's as I feel Mr Schue grab onto the back of it and shake it slightly in affection as he attempts to wrap his arms around all of us.
"I love you all" he whimpers a little as he listens to all of us cry.
"I love you guys…Every one of you" he cries and I can't hold it in anymore as I let the tears slowly fall down as I hold onto everyone for dear life. These guys are my family.
"You guys were awesome" Mr Schue whispers, dropping his head down with us as we all cling onto each other. I don't ever want to let these people go.
I can faintly hear that metronome still ticking in the background through all our sobs and sniffs. I feel Mr Schue let go and slowly walk towards it and after a few more ticks, it stops as he puts his hand over it. That ticking, that painful ticking has finally stopped…
It's over.
...
I let out a deep sigh as I open up the door to my house. I stand there for a moment, thinking about all that had happened. When we had finally let go of each other, we parted ways out of the school. Blaine found Tina, who was in the parking lot and they cried and hung onto each other.
Marley found her mom in the kitchen and they sobbed with each other, hugging and crying together. Once they had calmed down enough to get out a sentence, they asked me to come over to their house. Of course, I accepted, happy that I wouldn't have to leave Marley just yet.
Me and Jake actually had a pretty emotional moment too before he left with his mom and Puck, I'm pretty sure we hugged for a full five minutes. I never knew how much he…how much everyone meant to me until now, when I actually thought that I had a chance at losing them.
Marley, her mom and I had spent hours just sitting in their living room, crying and hugging. But I did have to go home at some point, so after a few hours I was walking away from the Rose residence. Marley tried to make me stay, but I had to see my mom. I promised I'd see her tomorrow though, since we both agreed that we'd go to school.
This experience…this terrifying experience has actually taught me something. That you shouldn't have any regrets, you should say what you need to say as soon as you can…cause you don't know how much time you have left to do so.
With that one thought in mind, I sigh deeply and look up at the stairs for a few seconds before slowly making my way towards them. I rub my red rimmed eyes with my hands, trying to wipe away the tiredness I was feeling.
I slow down to a halt once I'm outside my mom's bedroom door, looking inside hesitantly to see her sleeping form. I suck in a deep breath before walking inside, slow and hesitant.
No regrets. You don't know how much time you have left. Say what you need to say. No regrets. No regrets. C'mon Kitty.
I hesitantly sit down on her bed and lie back so I'm looking up at the ceiling. I feel her shift beside me and I suck in a shaky breath, wondering if she'll snap at me.
Instead she does something that really surprises me. She turns around so that she's facing me on her side and sort of cuddles into my side, resting her hands between my shoulder and chest.
"Hey baby…you okay?" she mumbles in a gentle voice that I haven't heard in years. Did she…did she actually care?
Whoa…well this is kinda weird
You can say that again
...well this is kinda-
That was rhetorical conscience, rhetorical
Oh…I knew that
I realise that I haven't answered her question and nod my head quickly, wondering if this whole day was all just a dream from how crazy and unbelievable it's been.
My mom just snuggles more into me and I don't know why she's suddenly being so nice to me but then I remember that she probably got a phone call from the school about what happened…so she did care?
We stay in that position for a few more seconds and I gotta admit it was really nice feeling safe and secure in my home again. I was never really scared of my mom; I was always scared for her. I was scared she was gonna do something she'd soon regret and to be honest, I thought I'd lost her completely.
But now…it finally feels like I have a mom again.
A soft snoring sound brings a small smile to my face as I slowly close my eyes, the events of today washing over me and I feel more exhausted than ever, even more so than just after one of Coach Sylvester's 'Extreme Work Outs'.
I breathe out a deep sigh and finally succumb to much needed sleep, but not before I mumble the next few words.
"I missed you."
…
I sigh deeply as I walk through the school doors of McKinley High, all the events from yesterday rushing back and I pause for a moment. Hearing my friends sob and whimper out of fear all over again before shaking my head and continuing to walk down the hallway. Pushing all thoughts of yesterday out of my mind.
I look down the hall to see Marley standing at her locker, leaning her back against it and looking around for something. It's when her eyes meet mine and light up that I realise she was looking for me.
I couldn't have walked faster towards her and as soon as I was near her, both our arms engulfed each other in a tight embrace. I breathed her sweet scent in and savoured it, I know it was only a night but god, I missed her.
"How are you?" I mumble into her shoulder, not weakening my grip one bit and she doesn't seem to mind, just clinging onto me tighter.
"Still a little shaken up…I hardly slept at all last night, my mom and I just stayed up together, hugging and crying…" she answers softly. "What about you?"
"I'm just glad everyone's alright…I don't know what I would have done if something happened to you-"I start but Marley shushes me softly, interrupting me.
"Hey, hey, nothing happened, I'm okay…I'm okay" she mumbles softly, adjusting her hold on me. I look up for a second and see Blaine and Tine walking down the hallway, slowing down for a second to look at us.
It's then I realise how empty the hallway really was, at least half the school wasn't here. Wow…
"I can't believe you almost left that room yesterday Kit, why would you do that?" Marley asks, pulling away to look at me and I sigh slightly before answering.
"You were crying and scared and I didn't know what to do, you needed your mom" I state softly and she shakes her head in protest.
"But I needed you too!" she exclaims, pulling me back into her and I happily bury my face in her neck again. "I'll always need you" she mumbles, nuzzling further into me.
"I love you, Marley" I mutter, moving my head up to give her temple a quick kiss before nuzzling back into her.
"I love you" she replies, sighing as she cuddles more into me. I wasn't worried about people seeing us, since there was no one around to see.
I had slowly begun to think about the person who was sending me messages; they hadn't sent me one since yesterday but just to think that it was one of those people in the choir room with me…I had to find out who it was. I am going to find out who this is. I have to.
…
Say what you need to say,
Say what you need to say.
We all sang the last note smoothly with smiles on our faces. I looked at Jake and gave him a small smile and he returned it. Marley was sitting next to me on the bench in the auditorium, me with my arms wrapped downwards, across her torso so my hands rested on her leg and hip. I turn my head when I feel her kiss my temple lightly, that could be passed as a friendly gesture.
My lips lift up in a small smile as I stared back at her and she smiled right back at me lovingly. I look around and think to myself how important these people really were to me. They were like my family, and I couldn't ask for a better group of people to be with me right now.
"Hey, guys…I just found this on my phone" Artie spoke up, with a slightly shakier tone than he had been using before. We all look at him in confusion before we all gather round his phone to look and soon our eyes are filled with realisation. It was the second video he took in the choir room, the one after Marley, Ryder and Jake's messages.
"Should we watch it?" Unique asks hesitantly and we all look at each other for a second before telling Artie to press play.
The screen flashed on to show a teary eyed Sam.
"Mom, Dad, I love you guys and…there is a cat in my backpack in my locker. Please feed her for me."
It cut to then show Unique who was whimpering slightly.
"Anyone that ever watches this…n-never stop being yourself" she stuttered slightly and let more tears fall.
It then cut again to show Artie with red rimmed eyes as he sniffed.
"Mom, I just wanna say that…I love you and I love the people in this room so much."
It then showed Blaine, who was having a hard time keeping his tears in. His message was the shortest.
"Mom, Dad…Kurt…I love you."
The screen then cut to the final person that was left…me. I sniffed once before talking with a slightly wavering voice.
"Hey Mom…Dad…I just wanted you to know that I love you guys and…even though it may not seem like it, this has been the best year of my life and…I love these people more than anything" I finish with a small sniff, going back to holding Marley.
And with one last beep, the screen turns black.