PAIGE'S P.O.V.

"Ah!" I fell on my other side and hissed in pain. I could neither move nor speak, for I was in a state of shock.

I was not naive. If one person is able to be shot, who says that the rest of us are immune? I just never considered that I would fall.

My stomach heaved up and down, and the two teachers, the only adults in the lunchroom, instructed all of us to hide under the tables and be quiet as possible. If this were a drill, the students would be joking around and talking. Even they were fully aware that this was the real deal.

The students, including me, ducked under the tables and kept their mouths closed. I was hiding alone and had my hands on my head. While the teachers were checking to see if all the doors to the lunchroom were locked and shutting the blinds, I noticed that most of my classmates were filled with fear. Did I blame them? Nah.

The girls were trying their very best to not burst out crying, and the boys comforted them. I wished that I could comfort each and every one of them but...I had my own problems.

I placed a hand over my mouth to keep from moaning and hissing and gently ran two fingers along my injured side. I shut my eyes, for it was sensitive to touch, and prayed to the Lord that I would not die.

But if it was my time to die, who was I to argue? I was pretty much prepared for death. Except my family would miss me dearly. My mother and father. My sister...

I opened my eyes. Penny! Oh my gosh. She had left the lunchroom right before the disturbing announcement. She could be outside with the shooter!

All by herself. No one protecting her.

Being her big sister, my job was to protect her at all costs. She was too young to die. Granted, she was already saved, but still...

Sadly, I was unable to protect Penny for two reasons. One, the teachers forbade me to leave. And two, I was in no condition to search for her. I was shot after all.

I stared at my fingers that touched the injury and was on the verge of throwing up. I was bleeding. Badly.

I waved to the teachers for assistance, and one of them hurried to me and asked if anything was wrong. I nodded and showed him the wound. He told me that he would retrieve the first-aid kit that was in the lunchroom and was about to fetch it.

I screamed when we heard another shot, and the teacher whom I was talking with said a curse word and held his arm. Blood seeped through his jacket sleeve, and he hid with me.

The next horrifying noise was the sound of glass shattering. My body shuddered as a tall man climbed in through the broken window. The man ripped off the blinds and surveyed the lunchroom.

It was him! He was the shooter!

The shooter was in all black, and his mouth was covered by a thick, black scarf. He clutched a gun...

...and his finger was on the trigger.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the shooter spoke for the first time. "You have been chosen to be part of history. My history."

He did not say anything else because he was waiting for any of us to answer or even object to his insane plan and continued when nobody said a peep.

"Aw. What is the matter? Cat got your tongue?" A wicked grin spread across his face. "We can fix that. How about a bullet instead of a cat?"

One of the girls in my grade could not hold back the waterworks and pleaded for the man to not go through with it.

"Please! Do not do this. We are too young to die..."

The shooter stomped to where he overheard her and looked under the table. "Found you!"

By this point, everyone was either panicking or ready to defend themselves and their friends. The shooter grabbed a girl, not the one who had begged, by the arm and dragged her out from underneath the table.

"Do not be afraid. I will make your death quick and painless."

"No! Please!"

One of the boys who happened to be the girl's boyfriend crawled out and kicked the man where the sun does not shine.

"Ow!" The man released the girl and gritted his teeth. "I hate when young people do that..."

Another girl was out in the open and running towards him with a frying pan. "Maybe you should not shoot innocent people!" she yelled as she smashed the pan in his face. "That will teach you!"

The rest of the students quickly crawled out from under the tables and got ahold of what they could. Plates. Bowls. Utensils. Food. Drinks.

"You will have to shoot us if you want to kill us!" a boy exclaimed.

With the exception of me and the injured teacher, the students jogged around the lunchroom and threw their weapons at the shooter, and it was working. He could not kill any of them! Heck, he could not shoot!

"We should go while we have the chance," I suggested to the teacher. He agreed, and we helped each other up and limped to one of the doors.

I prayed to God that we would all survive and that the police would arrive. The Lord indeed listened to my prayer. Just not in the way that I expected.

"Stop it!" the shooter commanded. "Stop!" But not one student slowed down. He grew bitter. "I will be known!"

I looked over my shoulder to check on him, and his eyes locked on me. I bet that you can guess what occurred next.

It happened so fast. Before I could react, the shooter aimed his gun and shot me in my shoulder. Not once, but twice.