Bullet Wound

[Asterisks (*) are used to put emphasis on a word.]

A loud engine powered bus, polluting the air around with noisy sounds, rolled into a curving stop at a school. The words on the side of the bus were in bold, and read "MABANK HIGH SCHOOL". It was bus number 24, a bus that carried a lot of misfits in the afternoon and tiny children in the morning. After a sizzling sound, followed by a pop, the doors to the bus opened, and released a herd of students unto the school grounds. They were Mabank High School's highschoolers, and they were a rowdy group of kids. The last student to step off was a girl by the name of Howie, while it was a strange name for the girl to have, it was indeed her legal name. She strolled down the steep bus steps and thanked the driver as she often did, and began to walk into the school. She was almost 15 minutes late every day because of how pesky and particular the bus driver was, and she'd grown used to it. Howie walked over to her usual spot, a near-empty table with only one person sitting there, one of Howie's friends, a tall girl nicknamed Clark. Howie and Clark met through a mutual friend, a very *chaotic* friend, whom the two had grown a bit tired of. After Howie set down her things, she started her morning ritual; bapping her bestie on the head, poking her crush, and going through the breakfast line for food. The food wasn't very good, it never was, so she always grabbed cereal. Her favorite was the Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, which they had, partnered with some graham crackers. She grabbed her cereal and a handful of crackers, as she usually did; the lunch ladies let it slide, partly because she was one of the only people who actually *ate* the graham crackers. After sitting down, she stared off into space while eating her cereal, saving her precious crackers for class.

The bell rang and students upon students crammed through the tiny halls, all trying to go to their first period class. Howie hadn't moved an inch, and she wasn't going to, not until she finished her food and found her friend, Dale, in the hoard of teens. Howie and Dale's first period class were right across the hall from each other, so they often met halfway and walked together. Howie finished her cereal just in time for Dale to arrive, for almost everyone had to pass through the cafeteria when they first entered the school. She often timed the arrival of Dale, and the finishing of her breakfast, quite perfectly. She glanced at her crush, Keith, as he hoisted his things upon his shoulder and disappeared into the crowds. She looked at him solemnly, hoping he'd want her too some day, and looked back.

Howie and Dale talked about the usual, zombies, the plague, video games, the Marvel and DC universe, and DnD. While they're walk up the main staircase together was short, they always managed to cram a few jokes in the time they had, lightening eachothers day to the best of the others ability. They parted ways before entering their classes, and said their temporary goodbyes. "See ya." Keith said, "Tootles." Howie jokingly said back.

The first period bell rang and time slowed to an all time low.

"UgghhhhHHHHHHHH! Why does this class have to last so LoOoOoOoOnGgGgGgGg!" she exaggerated upon seeing the clock noting the time at 8:25, 25 minutes after the bell rang, and 15 minutes before the bell would ring again. The torturous class that she was in was Chemistry, a class that, had she actually tried, she would be able to ace, but thats if she actually tried. She was making a flat 76 in her Chemistry class, taking zeros when she could, and only doing work to get her grades barely passing. Yup, Howie was indeed one of those students. If her grade could take it, she'd get a zero for a test or project, just 'cause she was a *tad* lazy. Howie laid her head down, intending to get a nice powernap in for the last 15 minutes of class, but the itching need to socialize, that had recently taken over her life, told her no.

Time surprisingly zipped by when she started talking to her class friend, Imari, and before she realized, the bell rang. Her classmates swiftly dispersed out into the halls, searching for their friends and their classes. Howie bumped into Dale, as she did any other day, right after throwing on her bag and leaving. The two walked for a few meters before Howie stopped and slipped into a computer lab. It was her second period. As she slid into the room, Dale had said his usual 'see ya,' before walking off to the stairs. Howie sat down as one of the first people in the classroom, and waited for her classmates to join her. Clark walked in, tossed her bag to the floor, and sat in the wheely chair next to Howie.

"Oh my *god* bro, last night was *insane*. So, you know how the movie theater over here is haunted, right?" Clark said as she sat down.

"uhm, well, I didn't know it was *haunted*, but go on" Howie replied with a smile.

"Okay, so, I was in one of the theaters, cleaning up popcorn, as I usually do, right."

"mhm" Howie nodded along

"Okay, well, I was in there alone, right- and then i heard this creepy old man's voice come from behind me, and it whispered my name! *It whispered my name-!" Clark said half out of breath.

"It said 'Chloee~' and I turned around and there was no one there and I was like "what the fuck motherfucker? I'm out of here. Nope, nope, nope, it's dark and I'm alone. Jose can get this." and then I walked out and went over to Jose and was like "Dude! the ghost is back- it called my name, and now I'm too scared to go back in there-!" and Jose basically said "Lmao, white people" and went in there and cleaned the rest of the mess up." Clark had said, in one, really big, long breath.

Howie sat and cackled for a good few seconds before replying, half out of breath, "really-?" and Clark nodded, "Yeas-" and looked as if they were about to cry while smiling and laughing at the same time.

"Bro, I'm so done with this job, I'm so done. I'm quitting, this job is *not* it-"

"You've said that you're going to quit like- seven times, mate." Howie had said cackled quickly.

"sh-shut up' Clark managed to say while cackling right along with Howie. "We don't talk about Bruno, okay?"

Howie and Clark continued to sound like a couple of Hyenas laughing, as they tried to catch their breath after hearing Clark's stupid Bruno joke. After calming down, the two started to do their own things, Clark worked on the class's assignment while Howie laid her head down and napped. The computer class that Howie had with Clark was Howie's lowest failing class with a *beautiful whopping 36* as her *semester* grade. Unlike others, Howie was quite proud of her class grade. I mean, who else do you know of that is optionally failing a class with a 36? *Exactly*I mean, I'd be proud too.

The rest of the day slipped by slowly after Howie's second period. She traversed the school to arrive at her dreaded third period, once again did almost nothing, and went on to her fourth period. Dale and Howie shared a fourth period Spanish class, and passed with easy 100's. Alongside Dale and Howie, another friend attended the same class, her name was Mels, short for Melissa. She was pretty cool to be around, and was often relatable. The group of three shared many stories and jokes amongst themselves, making their fourth period something like a grace period. A "de-stressing" period, one could say.

The bell rang yet again, and went on from fifth period to lunch, from lunch to sixth period, and from then to seventh and eventually to Howie's 8th period; English II. Howie never really did anything in her 8th period, mostly because the teacher wasn't very good at wrangling a full room of class clowns. To help pass the time, she'd read comics of all types on her phone; translated, action, romance, comedy, slice of life, magic, transmigration, it would be easier to list off the genres she *didn't* read then to list the ones she did. However, this time, Howie had a late assignment from her Spanish class to work on and turn in, and she did exactly that.

Howie timed herself to see how long it would take her to get her extra Spanish work done, and it took her exactly 7 minutes and 48 seconds, using SpanishDict.com, of course. Howie arose from her seat and approached the teacher about the assignment, and got permission to go turn it in. She left the room quickly to escape the chaos of the Class Clowns, and walked down one of the longest halls in the school, went down a small stairwell, and turned the corner to find her crush, Keith, being stalked by a suspicious man. While Howie worried for Keith, she had faith that he'd be able to resolve the situation. He was that type of person after all, a bit tall, kind, and he was built like a teddy-bear. She loved that about Keith, and missed the times they had together very much.

As she stared at the weird man stalking Keith from behind the both of them, she approached her Spanish teacher's door. right as she turned the handle and cracked the door open, Howie spotted a slim sliver of dark metal in the man's hand, and it was definitely not a phone. The door that Howie had been slowly opening creaked, and it startled the man, causing him to draw what was in his hand to his face. When the man had moved his hand, Howie caught a full glimpse of what he held, and it was an iron black pistol. With this realization, Howie dropped her papers, ran towards the man, who was not, in any way, dressed as the campus police. Her feet hit the ground before she even realized it, and the sound of fluttering papers paired with loud footsteps alerted the man, causing him to turn to his side, drawing his attention away from Keith, and onto Howie.

Now, Howie was, in no way, athletic, and this shortcoming of Howie's is what determined what would happen. It seemed as though time slowed, the man lifted his pistol holding hands slowly to his eyes, lining up the sights with his target: Howie. Keith noticed the footsteps as well, and turned to see a man, whose lower half faced himself, and his upper half which faced Howie. Howie and the man were not far from each other in range, 15 meters at best, 10 at the worst.

The campus police were doing their rounds, and walked in front of the entry to the hall in which the man and Keith stood. The Police officer saw the man raising his pistol to shoot, and in turn raised his own pistol. Time suddenly sped back up, everything happened in the flash of an eye.

"BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!" the shots from the police officer and the man rang out through the school. A sharp piercing noise infiltrated the man's, the officer's, Keith's, and Howie's ears all at once. Keith ducked at the sound of the shots, and looked up at the man and Howie just in time to see both of them fall to the ground. The policeman put down his gun, and shakingly walked towards the man and the girl. Keith stood there, stunned from both the sound and the sight.

The sight of his ex, his first love, and his current friend, laying on the ground a meter or so away from a school shooter. The sight of red pooled out from the shooter's chest, 'the police officers gun training was put to good use' Keith thought with relief for a split second before noticing Howie's blood beneath her. At that moment, Keith had recalled a moment in his and Howie's relationship where Howie had come over to his house for Keith's birthday.

Keith was laid down on his futon-bed-couch with Howie laying on top of him, her head resting just beneath his, and all was quiet. They held hands and smiled together, cherishing the moment of peace and bliss. Keith remembered how Howie had lifted her head a few inches above his, cupped his face in her hands, and stole away his first kiss. That same girl, whom he would have given his first and final everything to, laid silently on the red floor.

Keith dropped to his knees, tears streamed down his eyes as he recalled more and more of his relationship with her. The moment he drove on a small race track with her, the moment they played bumper cars together, the moment they laid peacefully together, the moments and kisses he gave her, the hugs and the jokes they shared, all of of it pained his heart as he saw his first lover's motionless body on the floor. The police man patted the boys back, and told him to stay there while he checked the situation of the two on the floor. As he walked over, he mumbled to the radio on his chest, and the principal came over the intercoms and ordered an immediate lock-down. The officer walked towards the shooter first to assess the man, and as he turned the man over, a pond of red stain bled through his shirt. He was shot in the heart. After confirming the man was dead, he went on to the victim, and turned her over on her back to reveal two bullet wounds piercing through the girls sides, a third bullet struck a hole in the wall. While the man had not hit any vital spots, Howie still bled like no tomorrow.

Just the day before, Howie had talked with Keith, and asked him for a second chance. She had been unable to forget let alone move on from Keith after she had made a mess of things due to her emotional imbalance. Keith had thought that he wouldn't really care, if she left or if she stayed, but now he knew. He knew from the sharp pain in his knees, and the sharper pains in his heart, that he was not ready to lose Howie yet.

And now, he thought he had lost Howie forever.

~The end~