Suddenly, there was a loud bang. Once again, time slowed down to a standstill. At first, there was nothing. Then every feeling exploded upon me all at once. Fear, wonder, hate. Then the pain. There was a horrible pain in my chest like it was coming apart in ribbons. I was falling suddenly, the ground rushing up to meet me like an old friend. The world was fuzzy, and there was a ringing in my ears. I could hear my own heartbeat, faster and faster.

The shooter had another gun. He had it behind his head, under his jacket, strapped there as his own twisted idea of a contingency. He had shot me with it. Everyone was screaming for me, meanwhile, in the chaos of the moment, the boy had grabbed the rifle from the floor and shot the kid. Twice. It was his turn to collapse into a bloody heap. The boy then ran to me. He was saying something, but I couldn't hear him over the overwhelming chaos surrounding me at the moment. I couldn't speak, I was choking on my own blood. He turned me over so I could breathe better. The world was dimming slowly. My heartbeat became a steady rhythm in my ears. Then it became slower. Slower. Fainter. The world was just a shadow now. I couldn't hear my friends voices as they stood over me, asking me questions. There was nothing anyone could do for me now. I tried not to close my eyes, but the pain was overwhelming, so it happened naturally. One moment, everything was fine. Then, a split second later, everything I had ever known was gone. There was nothing but the dark. Everything was gone. But there was no more pain. It was all gone.

I can still hear them screaming my name.