I felt Staton's hands wrap around me. His hands pulling me close to his body. My heart quickens in my chest. A small bead of sweat starts to build on the back of my neck. My thoughts clouding my judgment and before I could even process anything I was on the ground.

Loud bangs were sounding through the store.

People were screaming.

My ears echoing as my body jolts with every sudden burst of sound.

What was going on?

I could feel the weight of Staton on top of me. At least I hoped it was him. He pushed me against the side of the checkout, hovering under the belt the best we could. His hand covering my mouth as the tears start rolling.

Seriously what was going on?

The loud noises began to slow, almost coming to a stop. People were crying, others were shushing their kids, but everyone had the same feeling rising in their chest.

This was never supposed to happen to us.

I felt a hand wrap around my foot, a quick yelp exits my lips as I turn to see who it was. Julia was crawling across the floor, trying to be as quiet as possible. I reached for her, trying my best to twist from under Staton, he shook his head, pressing me back into the ground before reaching back and dragging Julia towards us. The three of us now using each other for whatever comfort we could find.

My brain felt numb.

It felt like my chest was going to explode.

It was so quiet now.

Not a single breath could be heard.

When the lights clicked back on there was a loud buzzing, the refrigerators whirring in the background as they tried to fire back up. Was this the backup generator? Were things finally going to be okay?

How were we supposed to make it through something like this?

"Everyone off the floor now!" Voices started shouting.

Staton looked at me, not sure if he was supposed to get up or not. Was it the bad guy? Was it the police, where they finally here?

With all the lights on I couldn't see any flashing ones.

"I love you," I heard a whisper. I caught Staton's eyes one more time, before he leaned forward, trying to stand up to check if it was safe.

"Everybody please get up! This is the police, we have detained the shooter, but just in case there is another please head toward the main doors!" The shouting happened again. Staton slowly stands up to peak over the top of the check stands. A few others started to stand up with him, everyone was cautious though.

He must have noticed it was the police.

Before I could even breath he was grabbing me, pulling me to my feet and reaching for Julia. Once both of us were up he started pulling us towards the door, his head on a swivel.

"Wait, what about Breygan and Aria!" I found my eyes searching the inside of the store. But everything seemed to be a blur. People were running, trying to get off there before something else happened. The police would need to question everyone, that wouldn't be possible for us. We had to get out of here before they knew we were in the building.

If our parents found out we would be sent home.

"I'll find them in a minute!" Staton growls under his breath, pushing us until we were bursting through the front doors. Everyone was running to a safe spot, getting behind the police cars. But when we started running we went straight for the truck. Julia and I jumping in the bed, ducking below the rails to watch the crowds.

"I'll be right back!" Staton shouted, before sprinting back towards the store. My heart started racing once again. I wanted to call to him, to ask him to come back. I didn't want him to get hurt, and the fear that the shooter was still out there was too overbearing to process.

"What the fuck just happened?" Julia shouts, her voice filled with squeals. Her voice was more shrill than normal. I turn to look at her. Her normally tan face was as white as a sheet, her blood drained.

"I have no clue?" I whispered. Holding my hands against my chest as the feeling of bile builds up in my stomach. I pray for Staton to come back, for him to be fine, for everyone to be fine. Wishing with everything inside my body that things will be okay.

This wasn't supposed to happen to us. We weren't supposed to be here longer than fifteen minutes. We could have gotten here just a few minutes earlier, could have left just before this happened.

What if we were just leaving when the shooter entered the store?

Would he have gotten us?

I didn't see any injuries, maybe this was out of fear, simply just a robbery and a mass murder.

Breygan and Aria were rushing towards the truck, finally free from the crowd with Staton rushing behind them. The police were trying to calm down the crowd. As more and more cars showed up we knew we needed to get out of here.

Breygan and Aria jumped in the front of the truck, and soon the motor was running. Staton jumped over the edge of the truck, landing in the back of the truck as it lurched forward pulling out of the parking space.

Cars were all stalled, waiting for their chance to leave. Luckily for us, we had parked far enough in the back of the parking lot we still had a chance to get out of here.

We needed to get out of here.

My mind was still in shock. My body still trembling from all of the fear. But soon enough we were on the road driving.

The wind was rushing through our hair, Julia and I still leaned against the edge watching all the details passing by us. Everything that I was so lucky to see.

Things could have ended so much worse for us.

For our little group.

But as we drove down the road I realized we were all okay.

We made it through.

A huge weight was lifted off my chest but my heart shattered in my chest, for all the lives that would forever be affected today. All the things that would be different for the five of us. My best friends and I would forever be trapped in the thoughts of what happened today, having such a hard time to figure out how to move on.

How do you move on?

How are you supposed to just pick up and continue with your life once you've been through something like that?

I turned to look at Staton, tears welling up in his eyes. I calmly placed my hand on his knee. He looked up to me before crashing his body into mine, holding me in his arms so tightly I could barely breathe. He begins to cry, letting go of all the emotions as his chest heaves against mine. His fingers wrap themselves in my hair pulling me even closer into his body.

"I love you so much, oh my god..." He whispers through his sobs. My heart stopping in my chest, but this time for a different reason. It was shattering even further, breaking into even smaller pieces.

Staton had never shown this much emotion before.

The feelings he must have been going through at that moment broke me. It killed me inside, almost as if I had been shot by one of the bullets echoing off the grocery shelves.

The lives that were ruined by one man. Or woman. By one evil person that was so damn selfish.

Because of them, Staton was clenching me as if he had lost me. His mind probably thinking he had, even if just for a moment. Everything that person caused.

The feeling of the lights going out and the first gunshot ringing through my head. Yet once again I was numb. There wasn't a single thought passing through my mind.

The truck begins to slow, Breygan starts to turn it towards the side of the road and soon enough we were parked on the side of a back road. Miles away from where we were. Miles away from such a life-changing event.

I wasn't sure I wanted them to stop just yet. I didn't quite feel like we were far enough away. Would we ever be far enough away from that moment?

"What are we doing?" Julia questions, the panic rising in her voice once again. She was the youngest of the group. The least stable, the one who wasn't sure about running away in the first place. No one really knew what she was running away from. Everyone thought her life was perfect, she never spoke negatively of her family, her life, her expectations. She was always so positive when it came to stuff like that.

But now she was panicking.

Staton finally pulled away from me, wiping his face before he turned to Julia.

"Everything is alright, they probably just need to breathe and honestly we all need a regroup after that. Nobody knows what happened back there and we all have to deal with it in our own ways." Staton seemed stronger now, much better after allowing himself to break down, even if it was just for a moment.

"How do you know it's alright!" She shouts, turning to look at Staton. The makeup was running down her face as if she had been crying. She was all alone on our whole journey here. Aria and Breygan kind of had each other. Though they wouldn't admit it. Staton and I had each other, but Julia didn't have a guy. She was a child compared to us, though she was just a few years younger.

"Because we are together!" I shouted realizing my words were harsher than I had wanted them to be. The stress building up in my body. The worries of everyone's feelings crashing down on me. My desire to make sure everyone was okay, that things weren't going to destroy them like they were slowly destroying me. "Sorry, I think we all do need to stop and talk. I agree with Staton."

He nodded, wrapping his arm around me and holding me closer to him once again. Like he needed me right next to his side. I pulled away though. Realizing that Julia needed someone as well, I moved across the truck and grabbed her pulling her into a hug. She was static for a moment before finally melting into the hug and letting her own tears fall.

Breygan and Aria jumped out of the truck and jumped into the bed, meeting the rest of us in the back. It felt better to have the whole group together. The moment of silence between the five of us as we all sat in the back.

Just being together.

Realizing that we were all okay.

But our hearts were left in that store.

That's when Aria pushed forward and pulled the rest of us into a hug. All of us wrapped around each other trying to comfort the best that we could. Caring for each other as if it was the last thing we were going to do in our entire life.

Growing even closer as the family we were becoming.

After what felt like hours we finally pulled away, all looking at each other. Some of us with tears in our eyes, others without. We were finally all able to take a deep breath. Finally able to start processing.

"Where are we supposed to go from here?" With that question, the entire group looked at each other, not sure what our next step was. Not sure how we all felt, and not sure how we were going to make it in this big bad world that was surrounding us.

Would we ever be able to survive?