“I’m here… Bri… Hell…o Brian… are you still here? Oh Brian…” A voice seemed to come in and out of his sub-conscious mind.
What had happened to him?
Was he dead?
He tried to recall what had happened and the first thing that came to his mind was the explosion. The detonation was like experiencing a blast from an explosive chemical reaction due to wrong formulas. He did not really pay much attention to it until someone ran up to him and told him about his cousin being caught in the shoot-out.
Shoot-out?
Oh yes, slowly his memory drifted back to the shoot-out episode where he remembered of seeing a boy having a strong fight with his little cousin on the floor. How he was determined to break the two of them up, unaware of the black weapon that was in possession in between of the fierce struggle. Although they were on the floor exchanging blows on each other, yet his cousin never gave up in holding tight to the boy’s hands while the others rushed their way down to get out of the school building. Despite of being pulled away by his friends, Brian refused to budge. His main concern back then was his cousin so he ran up to lend a hand.
Upon reaching the scene, Brian began to panic. The sight of the gun caught his attention as the blonde one tried to get it away from the dark-haired boy. Realizing that both of them were in a life-threatening situation, Brian thought of sprinting back to the stairways but watching that fearless look on his little cousin’s face and how he tried to seize possession of the gun encouraged him to stay behind and do something. Something that he considered as a sensible move.
He knew he was racing against time, and just like someone in a trance that possessed a power of a dozen bulls, the boy refused to give in to release the gun. The brawl on the floor finally ended when Brian was elbowed away and got shot on his left thigh. Brian was down on the floor, bleeding profusely. It seemed like only a while ago he was there trying to save his cousin but the whole wrestling scenario was too fast and the shot definitely caught them by surprised. The last image he saw before he blacked out was the smile on the boy’s face filling with an utmost sinful satisfaction as if he was in controlled of the deadly game followed by a loud gunshot.
“Nick… Nick…” He muttered softly as he tried to wake himself up from the terrible nightmare.
“Hey Brian! Stop mumbling and twitching your eyes dude! Time to wake up! You’ve been in bed all day like Sleeping Beauty… wake up now!” The high-pitch voice was familiar as it kept snapping into his already muddling head.
“Nick? Nick! Nick!”
“Hey, hey, hey! I’m here dude! I’m here! I’m here…”
“Where am I?”
“Heaven!”
“What?”
“Just kidding! You’re still here on Earth in a place called… hospital.”
“Hos… hospital?”
“Eeer... yeah… what? Were you really expecting it to be heaven?”
“Shut up!”
“Okay, I can breathe easy now… welcome back!” The scolding coming from Brian made him smiled in relieved. He recalled how freaked out he was at the sight of Brian lying in a pool of blood, motionless and thought he was dead despite of his own condition. If anything should happen to his cousin, Nick knew there was no way he could ever possibly forgive himself.
“What happen man?” Brian asked as he rubbed both his eyes and thus brought Nick back to present reality.
“Whatever that is supposed to happen… has happened Bri.”
“Thanks a lot for the explanation! That sure helps a lot!” The minute Brian carved a weak smile on his pale face, Nick felt better. Compared to Brian’s condition when he first came the day before, his cousin definitely looked better.
“Glad it helps! So you want a drink or something?”
“You… you’re getting me a drink?”
“What? You’re expecting Pamela Anderson to come and serve you?”
“Sure, why not…”
“Sure! In your dreams maybe but in the meantime, you’ll have me, the gorgeous one to get you a drink.”
“This is truly amazing! Nick Carter is getting me a drink…” Nick turned and looked at his cousin who seemed to be smiling to the air.
“And I supposed that you’re still somewhere out there? Hello Brian? Can you hear me?”
“What the fuck was that about dude! You’re hurting my ears!”
“So how’s Disneyland?”
“Huh?”
“Oh okay! That’s fine… just to make sure that you’re still here with me…”
“Right!”
“Right! You should have seen how you smile to yourself dude… you look… you look stupid, I mean… the shot was on your thigh and I thought its affecting your brain!”
“Right!”
“Right!” Nick imitated the word coming from Brian’s mouth before they both suddenly made way for silence to fill in the empty spaces.
There were just too many things to talk, to share and to unveil but most importantly how grateful they were to be alive and be able to see each other again.
“Thanks dude…” Nick said.
“Dude? Are you alright? My shot is affecting your brain now?”
“Funny!”
“I don’t think so!”
“Look… I’m… I’m just trying to thank you for saving my ass alright. For being a hero.”
“Now, look who’s talking now.”
“What?”
“You!”
“Me? What’s wrong with me?”
“Seriously Nick… how many times do I have to tell you that you’re not Superman or Batman or whatever superheroes there are out there… what if he had shot you? What if its you who is lying down here and not me… how do you think we’re all going to deal with that huh? What if I didn’t come on time? What am I supposed to tell your mom?”
“Brian?”
“What?”
“You’re sounding like my mom now!”
“Right!”
“But seriously Bri… aren’t you glad that we did something that maybe no one else could think of doing it? I mean, yeah we got shot but at the end of the day, its all about saving people.”
“Wait a second… hold it there… what do you mean with we got shot? You got shot? Where did he shoot you?”
“Oh! Did I say we get shot? I think you heard it wrongly Bri…” Nick carved out a silly smile for accidentally blurting out his true condition. Not that he tried to hide it away from his cousin but he knew his cousin too well. Getting over-worried and over-excited over little things and at that state, Brian should be spared of any other unnecessary disturbance except resting.
“Now, don’t lie to me Nick… what happen to you? Out with the truth!”
“It’s the truth Bri, I’m fine-”
“Is that a bandage?”
“What? Where?” Nick tried to cover up his arms but nothing could escape Brian’s sharp eyesight.
“What’s that on your arm?”
“Oh! You mean this - ouch! Fuck man! Damn!” Nick was putting his hands up to convince Brian that he was fine forgetting all about the stitches he had and thus generating a new spasm of pain.
“You’re hurt dude and you can still say you’re fine?” Brian asked in great concern.
“I’m fine Bri, stop worrying about me! I’m a man remember so this is no big deal alright! I just need more drugs to ease it… not to worry… just a little scratch.” Nick strived to hide the pain and put up a macho pitch despite of the sweat trailing down his cheeks for enduring the throbbing ache on his arms.
“Right! A little scratch with that constipation look on your face, you think I’m an idiot?”
“Hey! You sure can read my mind aren’t you?”
“What?”
“I’m just kidding! Of course I didn’t say that!”
“Well, you DID think that I’m an idiot right?”
“No I did not-”
“Then tell me what happen to you?” Nick gave up debating with Brian and threw his uninjured hand in the air, his usual way of giving up talking. As expected, he knew Brian would always want to get to the bottom of everything.
“Well… after he shot you… he turned to me… he tried to shoot me but I was fast to dodge his shot.”
“Fast to dodge his shot and you still have that bandage on?”
“I mean, I thought I was very fast enough to escape his shot you see… but damn! The bullet was faster than I thought, I mean… I didn’t know the bullet could be that fast! You know in CSI, the bullet doesn’t seem to really move that fast-”
“Alright Nick, so the bullet was moving fast and then what happen?”
“It passed by and kissed my skin before hitting the floor.” Nick said, gesturing with his hand on how the bullet grazed against his skin and even animated it with full of expression.
“You know Nick… you could have just mind your own business and –”
“Run away like what most of them did and let him open random shots at other students?” Nick shook his head lightly with his usual trademark, a smirk.
“But you could have just waited for help to come Nick instead of trying to be hero.”
“Its not about being hero dude, its about saving lives… what if I didn’t try to stop him and he went berserk out there and start shooting at other kids? What if he shoots at you, you know… random shooting could kill anyone… even you or myself… at least, I know… while I had him on the floor, many kids get a chance to save themselves.”
This time it was Brian who shook his head lightly at his little cousin. In a way Nick was right. To save others especially strangers you hardly knew was a noble act and Brian saluted Nick for that but certainly there were many other ways to extend a helping hand than putting himself in a huge risk. No matter what his reasons were, he deserved a smack on his head, thought Brian.
“You still don’t get it don’t you? What you have done could just press the wrong button and he could have just killed you right there and then!”
“Come on Bri! At a situation like that, you have to gamble… risking yeah but running away, hell no! As far as I’m concern… I know what I’m doing and you, what the hell were you doing there?” Nick asked as he turned to face Brian.
“Me? I was there for Pamela, of course I was there for you dude!”
“Oh! That’s really sweet of you… really, you shouldn’t have to. I know how to take care of myself.”
“Right! The last time you tried to be a hero and saved an old lady from being robbed, what did you get? Black eye and bruises on your face and what did I get? Lectures from my mom and your mom, why? Because I should be helping you out instead of running away to get help.”
“Then you can just tell my mom that her brave son, Nick Carter fights fiercely to save others-”
“Right!”
“You should be proud to have a brave cousin like me Bri… don’t you feel flattered to have reporters coming after us, interviewing us, have our pictures on papers… then the school giving out Medals of Bravery…”
“You know what Nick?”
“What?”
“You should be glad that you’re still alive and breathing right now, so stop talking about those reporters! You have someone else who is even more important to answer to.”
“Oh really? Who? The school journalist?”
“Its your mom duh!” Brian said as he rolled his eyes in disbelief while his cousin smiled sheepishly, scratching his cheeks.
“Now, that’s not even in the zip code of funny! Oh well… try harder next time!” Nick said sarcastically.
“You have any idea why he’s… you know… shooting at everyone? And why are you on the floor with him? Are you… in some kind of a trouble that I’m unaware of?” Brian raised his eyebrows at Nick, the same gestured his mother gave each time she suspected him of creating problem in school and Nick hated that look.
“Hey! Don’t give me that look alright! Not my fault! I’m just trying to help.”
“Help who?”
“That son of a gun came to my class and shot at my teacher… then he ran off to the stairs and he let out another shot… I’m not sure who got it or maybe he was just trying to scare me off but I’m not that easily threatened so I went after him. I know I must stop him and man! You should have seen how I tripped him over and slammed him down and I-”
“I can’t believe you man… you’re on the verge of getting killed and you’re so excited about it?”
“When you are determine to save others, you won’t think of getting yourself killed. Furthermore, I’m here, alive and dandy sharing this room with you… and dude, try to imagine the headlines as “The school heroes led by Nick Carter saving his schoolmates from random shooting massacre. Wow… amazing huh? Looks like I need to start working on my signatures… you know fans nowadays, they only want something nice and perfect.”
“Looks like I didn’t call you an attention whore for nothing huh?”
“Hey! Mind your words dude! There’re many underage kids around here.”
“Why? Since when did you ever be so conscious with people around you?”
“Since the day Nick Carter saved the day!”
“You’re watching too much TV now. So anyway… what happen to that fella? Did they manage to get him?”
“No.”
“No? You mean he’s still at the large?”
“Worst than that.”
“What?”
“Make a guess.”
“Honestly Nick, I am really and I really mean it when I said I am really not in a good state of mind to play guessing, so out with it dude!”
“You’re such a wet blanket Bri! Come on, just one shot! Make a guess what happen to him.” Insisted Nick.
“What? He died or something?”
“Bingo!” Brian’s mouth was gaping. “And now… make a guess how he died?”
“Not again!”
“Come on, this is the best part!”
“Nick, when I get out of this place and when my thigh is perfectly fine for some exercising please remind me to kick your ass! Now, out with it!”
“Fine! Where’s the love now…” Nick muttered as he smirked at Brian. He dragged the chair closer to Brian as if he was at the edge of sharing the most confidential information ever with his cousin. “He shot himself in the mouth.”
“What?”
“See! I knew it! I knew you’re gonna be blown away by it! Gruesome huh? You know I really thought it only happens in movies but man! This is for real! He actually shot himself in the mouth! If I had chased him, maybe I could have seen it myself, with my two own eyes!”
Brian took a deep breath, deeper than the previous one seeing the excitement on Nick’s face. Weird how Nick could still find himself smiling with the bandage on his shoulders. How the way the shooter killed himself amused him or rather fascinated him so much. Yet, Brian felt relieved watching the craziness because it proved that his little brother was in good shape and better condition than his.
“Who’s that guy?” Brian asked, pointing at the other end of the room.
“I don’t know… but he’s from our school. Not sure which class but the other one on bed, he’s from the Student Council.”
“He was involved in the shoot-out too?”
“Yeah, both of them. Speaking of which… I haven’t thank those two guys for saving me… or else I wouldn’t be here keeping you accompany right now.”
“So what are you waiting for?”
“Fine! I’m going now… you stay here.”
“Right! Like as if I can move at all!”
Bit by bit, he dragged himself up on his bed. The long night sleep has made his throat all dried up. It was like having someone stretching his throat with hairdryer. Once in a while, he would hiss in pain as he moved his leg. He was not sure when it hit him because he was too engrossed in the struggle and chasing after the shooter. The chase had probably made him oblivious to the pain and if it was not for the sticky fluid that kept dripping on the concrete floor from his shoes, he would have no clue that he had been hit.
He raised his head slightly higher to see if there would be anyone out there to help him but so far, everyone was busy tending to their own business. Then he turned back to the side table. It looked so close from where he was and yet when he stretched his hands out for the glass it proved to be quite a distant away. The shot must have affected his eyesight, he thought as he dropped his head back to the pillow. While shutting both his eyes, his hands were like tentacles searching for the remote control to call for assistance.
“You alright there bro?” He opened up his eyes and looked up. A small recognizable figure with one of his hands bandaged and slung across his chest walking towards him.
“I… hmmmm… I…” His voice was caught among the saliva and small coughing but his eyes were on the glass hoping that whoever it was, would get the signal.
“You want a drink?”
He nodded his head lightly as he swallowed his saliva down his sultry throat. His eyes shone bright with tons of appreciation.
“Here… let me help you.” The kind stranger poured warm water into that clear glass and handed it over to his ward mate.
He took the glass and sipped a few times, appreciating every single drop of it as the water soothed down his throat. Everything seemed surreal. The incident looked pretty much like one of those stunts in those action pact movies and even the news on the shooting massacre happening at their neighbouring school did not affect or leave much impact. Maybe the only difference was that, in this case, he was going through it himself.
“Thanks…” He said handing over the glass to the boy standing next to his bed.
“Not a problem!”
“You look very familiar…”
“I do? Man! Everyone keeps saying that! Even some of the nurses here!”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah, they said I look like that… what’s the chap’s name again… gosh! I thought I had it just now… AJ, yeah, that AJ guy from the Backstreet Boys or something… you know that group?”
“Not really sure-”
“Its okay! Not that it really matters but if they are popular, man! I’m so lucky to look like a celebrity! Maybe its something to do with our names.”
Howie smiled at the kind and friendly stranger who appeared to be gloating and floating away in the air. AJ. So his name was AJ, thought Howie as he nodded his head as if he was answering to his own enquiry.
“You’re Alexander James McLean right?”
“Wow! You sure can remember my full name? Dude… you’re my stalker or what?”
“I… hmmm… not wanting to sound rude to you but… I always see you in school.”
“Of course! We’re from the same school so definitely you’ve seen me, if not everyday, you’re bound to see me every week.” He said with a chuckle.
“Well… actually not sure if you recognize me but you’re the one who always come for DC right? Detention Class? But strange that we hardly talk to each other in school.” The smile on AJ’s face was instantly replaced with a raised of his eyebrows, and that was enough to trap Howie in his own guilt-trip. What a way to thank the kind soul for saving and helping him, he thought. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to… I mean…”
“Don’t be sorry! I’m used to those DC thingy! No friggin big deal! What can I say when teachers seem to adore me a lot, you know, being their favourite student of all time is not easy afterall.” Instead of fuming with embarrassment and walked away, AJ was more relaxed as he helped himself to the empty chair facing Howie’s side bed.
“Sure… I can see that. By the way, I’m Howard… Howard Dorough, but you can just call me Howie or D.”
“Peace to see you! I’m… well, you already know my name right? Ayway, girls call me Bonnie, family calls me Jay, friends call me AJ, and famous people call me Johnny-No-Name… so pick your choice, but strictly no Alex alright!” He said, stretching his free hand out for a warmth handshake.
“Pleasure to meet you too! I think I’ll go with Jay or AJ.” Howie reciprocated the handshake with a warmth and grip.
“Ditto that!”
“So, how’s your hand?” Howie asked as he pointed to the bandage.
“This? Not as bad as yours. At least I can walk.” AJ was right.
Howie let out a weak smile and nodded his head in agreement before he turned his attention back to his bandaged foot.
“Yeah, I guess its only a foot huh… but it feels like I’ve lost a leg. I almost I was… going to die.”
“Me too but…”
“But what?”
“They’re not as lucky…”
“They?” Howie strained his eyes at AJ, looking confused and sorry for whatever he was about to say.
“My friends… who got shot.”
“I’m sorry-”
“Don’t be! Its not like you’re the one who killed them! It’s that son of a bitch! He killed them! And he almost killed us!” The tone in AJ’s voice began to change. The jovial tenor suddenly became distressed. The low monotone of his voice had developed into one high-pitch note. The punch in his voice indicated his anger and resentment but far from his expression, Howie knew AJ was trying to hide and control his anger.
Perhaps AJ, himself knew there was no point venting it out on others. They were innocent and in this case, both of them were victims, just like those casualties. AJ admitted that he has never been so emotional in his life before. Not even when his father left him. To him, that was an incident not worth to think about. He was very young back then and the rebellious side of him had made him so immune with the reality of leading a life without a father. So far he has been doing great in going through that phase but when he witnessed how an innocent life was snatched away maliciously, he felt grateful to be alive.
The moment he saw bodies of his innocent friends being carried to the morgue, he felt thankful to be able to breathe and see his mother again. When he was interrogated by the two police officers and was informed of another victim battling to survive because of the misunderstanding, he felt indebted to the boy who was lying on the bed for saving his life.
“Jay? Jay?”
“Huh?”
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah, yeah… I’m fine… sorry…”
“Sorry? What for?”
“I didn’t mean to… you know… shout at you or anything like that… its just that… hmmm…”
“Its okay. I guess everyone has the right to be angry right now, especially with what had happened. You’ve lost your friends and that’s not something easy to deal with.”
“I just find it so stupid! I mean… this shooting thingy… is just plain stupid, don’t you think?”
“It is Jay.”
“I should have done something yesterday.”
“Done something? What do you mean?”
AJ wet his lips and forced his saliva down his throat. The more he thought of it, the more he blamed himself for not doing anything to salvage the whole situation.
“I was there D.”
“There? Where?”
“I was there when… when that son of a bitch threatened to kill them but I… I just brushed it off thinking that he’s just a small freak that never creates any problem so… killing them would be the last thing he would ever brave enough to do but I was wrong. I took his words for granted. If only… if only I had taken it seriously… then maybe we wouldn’t be here right now. Its all my fault… my fault.”
Howie wished he could have been more comforting to his new friend but he was not sure what else to say. The grieving emotion on AJ’s face was obvious and being an observer, he could read the lad’s facial expression and remorseful was first word that struck his mind.
He could have said it was not AJ’s fault and that everything happened for a reason but realized that he was NOT AJ and can never feel the guilt pricking his conscious. He could have said to AJ to move on and stop blaming himself but he was NOT in AJ’s shoes to feel what it felt like to have such burden of holding on the truth where you could have done something to stop it.
Every word did not seem to come out right at the back of his head. Afterall, that was just not the right time to get everything messed up again.
“Jay… I don’t know if I can say this but listen to me… don’t be so hard on yourself… nobody, and I mean nobody would have seen it coming right? Even if its me who was there and listen to his threat, I doubt I would do anything about it because with what has happened to St. Joseph has tighten up the school’s security and I’m sure everyone learnt something from that incident so… who would have thought its going to happen in our school right?”
“Maybe… and maybe I could have saved us all.”
“That’s the keyword, maybe. Maybe you could save the day and maybe not. Maybe he has decided to strike yesterday and maybe not… maybe he thought he could escape from getting punished, thinking that no one dare enough to stop him but we were there, you were there to stop him as well and you were there to see how it ends.”
“Yeah, maybe if he had used more of his upper brain then we all would have probably in school right now. Those kids will still be alive, you wouldn’t be lying in bed with your foot getting shot, and everyone will be living happily ever after…” AJ cracked a smile in between of his self-reproached.
“That happens quite a lot especially when people tend to act in anger. Acting emotionally instead of rationally is equivalent to more disastrous to other innocent people. By the way… do you know that guy? The one who’s… shooting around?”
“Not me, but Anne.”
“Anne?”
“She’s my classmate and… she’s one of the victims. Remember when we tried to run after that son of bitch and he tripped over a body at the stairs?” Howie nodded his head. The incident remained vividly afresh in his mind, so fresh that he could even play it all over again. How he was puzzled seeing other students running and stomping out for their lives, but it was the loud commotion coming from the top floor that caught his attention. He was on his way up when he saw a body facing down in a pool of blood on the stairs but that did not deter him from going up. There, he saw a boy being shot and he was bleeding profusely. His strong sense of responsibility in helping others had conquered all his fears and his own safety.
He knew he had to act fast in order to save another one from being killed. Without thinking twice, he charged at the shooter only to find another student leaping on the same target. It was AJ.
“D? D?”
“Huh? What?”
“You’re alright?” This time it was Howie who got himself into deep reflection of what had happened.
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. So it was her body on the stairs?”
“Yes. That was her.”
“She looked very familiar.”
“She’s Angela Brown if you want to know.”
“Angela Brown? One of the top student and one of the school’s best speaker in the debate team?”
“You know her?”
“She’s very popular in school… definitely everyone knows her!”
“Yeah, but she’s one humble pie.”
“I agree on that one. So… they have a relationship problem?”
“Who?”
“Angela and that guy?”
“You see, that’s the strange part. I’ve known Angela for almost six years and we’re like brother and sister and so far, we all know they have nothing going on but that ass insisted that they were an item.”
“Then why didn’t she tell him that?”
“She did but she will always ended up having those bruises and knowing that she has soft heart so he’s making use of that against her but not Josh.”
“Josh? Who is this Josh?”
“Our close friend, three of us are very close… but not anymore… now, I’m alone.”
“You mean…”
“Yeah, Josh is one of those who didn’t make it from the shoot-out.”
“Wow… I don’t know how you can handle this but come to think of it again… this is nuts!” Howie exclaimed in disbelieved.
“Oh yes it is… trust me, I’m having a tough time to actually absorbing the fact that number one, I’m still alive. Number two, that I’m still sane.” Then they both broke into short laugh.
“You should go and get some sleep Jay.”
“Sleep? I’m getting too phobia to sleep now. You know, you may never know what is going to happen the moment you close your eyes.”
Howie understood what he meant. He had difficulty in getting back to sleep as well. Apart from enjoying that chat with AJ, image of the shoot-out haunted him too. The tragic happened during the daytime when everyone was active in school and yet they did not see it coming so when he tried to shut his eyes, he could sense a presence watching him and waiting to release the trigger. It was more of being traumatized than just a plain phobia, he thought to himself.
“So you know… anyone else getting hurt?”
“Those two and a teacher.”
Howie stationed his attention to the other corner of the room where the two blonde boys were talking to each other. He recognized them instantaneously. They were in the school basketball team but how were they involved in the shoot-out? They too had issued with the shooter? Or were they just like them, trying to be heroes to help the others?
“You were mentioning a teacher? You know who?”
“No idea but the officer said, he’s in pretty bad shape.”
“He?”
“Yeah… I think it must be him. That ass thought he’s having an affair with Anne.”
“And does this he has a name since you know who that guy is referring to?”
“Yeah, its –”
“Hi!”
Both AJ and Howie looked up and saw one of the blondes walking up closer to Howie’s bed.
“Hi!” They greeted in unison.
“I’m Nick… and that’s my cousin, Brian.” Nick said as he pointed politely to Brian.
Howie nodded his head to Brian and back to Nick in response to the introduction while AJ waved proudly with his free hand.
“I’m Howie.”
“And I’m Jay, AJ. You were in the basketball team right?”
“Yeah-”
“Well, the team sucks alright! The last time I wanted to join, the coach actually failed me just because I can’t do the slam the dunk, or whatever you called it!” Nick blew his bang with a smile.
“Well, its his loss then.” Nick continued shyly.
“Sure it is!” AJ replied extending his hands out for a handshake.
“Hope I’m not interrupting you guys…”
“No, no… we were just chatting.”
“Yeah, we were just chatting.” Supported AJ.
“Great! I mean… I won’t take much of your time, I actually I… I want to thank you both.”
“Thank us?” Asked Howie looking puzzled.
“For saving my life, our lives actually. If its not for you guys, I guess I won’t be here right now and my cousin would be dead by then.”
“Well… welcome aboard dude!” AJ said with a huge grin.
“What?”
“It means we’re all boarding the same boat. We’re here, alive because of one another.” Howie continued.
“And don’t forget, thanks to that ass that we’re even here in the first place!”
“Come on Jay… aren’t you glad that at least we’re still breathing right now? Talking for the first time with one another?” Howie was right as the three of them nodded their heads in agreement.
“Yeah, you’re right D! We’re like the unlikely heroes of the school.”
Heroes? Nick smiled at the mention of that word. He had just talked to Brian about them being heroes of the day, saving people, saving lives but Brian would always be the wet blanket and burst all those bubbles floating above his head. Not that he had anything against his cousin, besides he certainly had to thank Brian for always bringing his feet back to the ground.
“So he managed to shoot you?” Howie asked.
“Nah… it passed by and grazed my skin… only a few stitches, compared to my cousin, I’m considered very lucky. He shot you as well?”
“Yeah, it hit my foot when we chased after him and the weirdly enough, I didn’t even notice it at first.”
“Your cousin looks like he got it bad!” AJ said.
“A shot on his thigh, so you can imagine how bad it is.”
“But anyway, you’re brave kiddo! Credit for that! You actually tried to stop that lunatic all by yourself, you must be crazy!” This time, AJ sounded with full admiration.
“Who told you that?”
“Hey! Everyone was screaming at that time, the whole place was in total chaos and people were running up to me saying Nick is holding the shooter, so that’s where I got to know about the shoot-out.”
“Can’t help it people! He shot my teacher!”
“Wait! He what?” AJ exclaimed, almost could not believe what he had heard. A teacher has been shot? Does that mean Sam really execute what he said?
“He shot my teacher dude! I can’t just run away and let him get off easily!”
“Who’s your teacher?” Howie asked.
“Mr. Richardson.” AJ’s eyes became wider as he turned slowly to Howie.
“D, remember earlier on when I told you about this one particular teacher that the ass thought having an affair with Anne?”
“Yeah, I remember that!”
“Well… looks like he got him.”
“You mean… its him?”
“Yeah, its him.”
“So, he is the one you’re talking about?”
“Affirmative! Its him.”
“Oh wait! Wait a second… what are you two talking about? Who is this he? And what does this he has anything to do with this thing?” Nick asked anxiously, hoping for more explanation rather than having “he” and “him” all over the places.
“It’s a long story Nick… trust me… you have all day to hear that but now… I think I want to visit my teacher.”
“Your teacher got shot too?’ Nick asked innocently.
“No, no… its more like our teacher Nick!”
“Gosh Jay! A moment you’re talking about he, him, then comes your teacher and now you’re telling me about our teacher… you’re confusing me man!”
“I know, I know… I find it hard to believe too, but I tell you what? You come with me and I’ll tell you everything on the way there alright?” Nick nodded his head.
The moment Nick and AJ stepped out of the room, the environment was totally different. The air was still and silent became their immediate companion. Without saying a word, they both knew just how much they hated the silent and wished Nick and AJ were there, it did not matter if they both tried to make up those stupid jokes or silly riddles. All they wanted was to get away from that silent.
“Brian?”
“Yeah?”
“Hey… I’m Howie!”
“Nice to… hear you!” Chuckled Howie as he stared at the ceiling and he could hear soft chuckles coming from Brian’s side as well.
“Yeah, same here…”
“You… you wanna talk?” Then he heard Brian letting out further soft chuckles as if something was tickling him on the bed. “Brian?”
“Sorry Howie. I just find it funny.”
“Yeah, talking while you stare the ceiling, it looks pretty funny to me too!”
“Not that!”
“What is?”
“Cause I was about to ask the same thing to you.” Continued Brian with soft giggles.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the 3rd and final chappy, its quite long so you've been warned, lol...
“Its not about being hero dude, its about saving lives… what if I didn’t try to stop him and he went berserk out there and start shooting at other kids? What if he shoots at you, you know… random shooting could kill anyone… even you or myself… at least, I know… while I had him on the floor, many kids get a chance to save themselves.” – Nick
“Its not about being hero dude, its about saving lives… what if I didn’t try to stop him and he went berserk out there and start shooting at other kids? What if he shoots at you, you know… random shooting could kill anyone… even you or myself… at least, I know… while I had him on the floor, many kids get a chance to save themselves.” – Nick
