The door to room 15A was closed. Blake Schiller stood before it in his long coat, holding a Colt .45 in one hand and a shotgun in the other. Behind the cheap wooden door sat Daniel Girch. He could feel it in his bones. Daniel, who had to know what was coming. Daniel, who deserved exactly what he was about to get. The room was silent and dark. Blake could imagine the students crouched beneath the desks or using them as a barricade against the wall, their cell phones silenced but buzzing with activity as they Snapchatted or texted their panic to the world.
“Daniel Girch!” he shouted. His voice echoed down the hallway. “Come out here. We need to talk. It’s Blake.” The lights in the east wing were shut off, and the green exit sign over the door at one end glowed ominously, reflecting off the freshly polished linoleum. Blake’s silhouette stood out in the dim hallway, and the combination of darkness and silence made it feel cave-like.
Inside room 15A, Daniel was indeed on the floor, hiding between Alexis and Karina. They’d turned the tables and chairs over, just as Blake had imagined, and they were using them as if they were shields that could actually stop the spray of bullets if necessary.
“Why is he calling you?” Alexis mouthed to Daniel. He leaned closer. “He’s saying your name,” she whispered into his ear. “Why does he want you?” Daniel turned his palms up and gave a shrug.
All eyes in the room turned to Daniel.
“Girch!” Blake called again. A shiver ran up Daniel’s spine. “If you try to save yourself, you’re only sacrificing the others!”
Mrs. Henderson, Daniel’s English teacher, looked at him with wide eyes. She was like a frightened rabbit with her curly hair frizzing around her face. He shrugged at her just like he had at Alexis.
There was no part of Daniel that wanted to stand up and walk out into that hallway. Alexis held her hands over her mouth as she listened to the loud sound of Blake tapping his Colt against the metal lockers right outside the classroom door. Karina reached over and pinched Daniel’s thigh as if this would force him to spring into action or do something to save them all.
“Tick-tock, Daniel,” Blake said calmly. With the blanket of silence that had fallen over the school, his voice rang through loud and clear. It was almost like he was standing in the room with them.
Mrs. Henderson stood up slowly and took a deep breath. The class watched in horror as she approached the door. Daniel got up to stop her; whatever Blake wanted with him had nothing to do with Mrs. Henderson, and she was his favorite teacher. Watching her stand up straighter and square her shoulders in her white sweater made his heart ache. There was no way Mrs. Henderson would be a match for Blake Schiller and whatever artillery he’d brought with him.
“Blake,” Mrs. Henderson said. “I’m not letting Daniel leave this room.” Her words were strong, but her voice wavered. “No one is leaving this classroom, and no one is coming in.”
Daniel sat back down again. Blake Schiller wanted to see him in the hall. This could not be good. It wasn’t that they had any current issues, but things hadn’t been good between Daniel and Blake for several years. It had all changed when they’d moved up to middle school. After years of being best friends, they’d started sixth grade with plans to conquer every sports team together and to be the social kings of the school. Everything was going according to plan until Blake noticed Daniel distancing himself. At least that was the accusation. It was always, “Daniel, why don’t you come over anymore?” and “Daniel, you don’t sit with me at lunch anymore.” But Daniel had wanted to branch out and meet new friends. It was simply what you did in middle school.
“Give me Girch,” Blake said from outside the door. “I’m not leaving until I see him.”
“You need to go,” Mrs. Henderson said. “Security will be coming for you soon, not to mention the police.”
Everyone looked at each other hopefully. Were the police really coming to save them? Could security do anything to stop someone with a gun and a grudge?
“Come on, Mrs. H,” Blake said. There was disbelief in his voice. “I’ve got two guns and I want Girch. You’re gonna give me what I want.”
Mrs. Henderson turned around and looked at Daniel. There was hesitation in her eyes. She was trying to stand up to the person who’d come to harm her students, but even she knew she was outmatched.
As the seconds ticked away in the quiet room, a loud crack filled the air. Almost in unison, everyone in the room jumped at the sound of a bullet being discharged. Daniel instinctively put his arms around Alexis and Karina’s shoulders.
Milliseconds after the sound of the gun firing came the shatter of glass. The long, narrow window next to the classroom door exploded, its shards ripping the blinds and spraying through the room like shrapnel. Karina screamed in Daniel’s ear and buried her head in his shoulder.
The fear in the room ratcheted up several notches with the realization that no longer was there anything standing between Blake and the people inside room 15A. Students pulled desks and chairs in front of themselves and ducked for cover. Two girls moved to use Mrs. Henderson’s large desk as a hiding place, climbing underneath it together and curving around one another like twins in the womb.
“Daniel. This is your last chance.” Blake’s voice pierced the air. There was no longer glass and wood separating them, and all Blake would have to do was reach through the broken window to unlatch the door.
Daniel watched as Mrs. Henderson fell to one knee on the hard floor, a hand covering her chest as she did. She made a muffled sound as she tried to speak, but whatever she wanted to say came out garbled. As she sat on the floor and leaned back on one elbow, Daniel could see the spread of blood across her white sweater like red wine spilled across a bed sheet.
This was too much. Mrs. Henderson was bleeding, people were screaming, and it was all his fault. Whatever Blake was there for had to do with him, and if Mrs. Henderson had gotten shot because he hadn’t been man enough to go out there, then that was going to be on his head--maybe forever. He couldn’t take it anymore.
“Blake,” Daniel shouted, his voice too loud for the small room. “I want your word that you won’t shoot again, and then I’ll come out.”