Friday, February 16, 2007

my friend rory chapter four
chapter four: eleven thirty: hell on earth

once i had reached the main hallway i immdently wished that i had never left that bathroom stall. the bodies of students littered the hallway. the blood from the students was also now flowing everywhere; i slid in it slightly as i moved away from the bathroom. behind me i heard rory coming my first instinct was to run but i wanted to see who had been killed; i had to make sure my brother and ellie were alright. my eyes scanned the hall silently counting each body my total came to fifty five bodies in the hallway alone. i had wondered how rory managed this until i saw a persumably empty semi automatic gun laying in the hallway discarded next to the bathroom door. "it's empty" i heard rory say from behind me, i turned quickly to face him. "why rory?, why are you doing this?" i asked so out of myself that i wasn't quite sure i'd even understand the answer he'd give me. "these people deserve this layla!" rory said montioning his hand to signify the massive damage he had inflicted. "are there more?" i asked praying that he'd say no "not too many more" he began "i caught alot of them when they were running downstairs and trying to get outside" he stated. i was afraid of the person who stood before me, it was no longer my friend rory it was a person who obviously went over the deep end. rory was now nothing more then a monster.

i turned away from rory and scanned the bodies again looking for the clothes that my brother and ellie were wearing that day, i was relived when i didn't find any sign of them but i shuddered to think of all the places i'd still have to look. i remembered that rory had said that he shot people inside classrooms; i instantly raced to the classroom i had been sitting in just thirty minutes ago. inside the classroom was no better then out in the hall, tables were turned onto their sides probably used as make shift shields and the chalkboard was cracked and shattered by a bullet. our teacher mr. stevens was laying dead infront of the board his back stained with chalk. i went to where we'd been sitting and peeked over the flipped table afraid of what i'd find, to my relief neither of them was here either. from the windows in the classroom i could see the street outside; i also noticed that some of the students had made it outside as well. i could see that the police had blocked the streets off all except for news vans which were also parked outside the building. how long would it be before this was all over the news? would my parents see the report? would they think i was alive or dead? all these questions raced my mind, questions i vowed to anwser once i found my brother dead or alive.

from inside the classroom i could hear a TV on from somewhere, i followed the sound as it lead me to the school's office an area i now feared to tread. despite myself i entered the office anyway and found rory was watching the TV he had it turned to the local news channel that was currently showing a picture of our school. a newscaster soon replaced the photo and rory turned up the volume using a remote he held in his hand. "this is sarah jenkins live at the scene of a school shooting at clearview highschool. we have little information about the shooting including the identidiy of the shooter but we do know that he is a male student. we will keep you updated as the stroy proresses" the newscaster left the screen and a helicopter's eye view of the school was shown.

"i'm famous" rory said proudly. "you should turn yourself in" i suggested to rory, "are you crazy? i'm not done yet! we have to keep the police from coming in here..." he stalled off as if he was thinking. he looked up grinning "i have an idea, come on" he said grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the pricipals office. "what's your idea rory?" i asked sickened to find the secretaries bodies under their desk's lifeless. the principal's office on the other hand was empty "did you kill mr. radcliff?" i asked "yeah, he was trying to stop me" rory said climbing up on the principal's desk "to anwser your first question layla, my idea is to take you as my hostage"

"what?" i thought not clearly understanding what he meant. clearly the situation had gotten worse. rory was slowing losing it right in front of me i was terrified. the further rory slipped into insanity the less likely it became that i would escape with my life.

i watched as rory glanced out the window that was located just above the principals desk. i wasn't really sure what he was looking for i didn't ask; i just sat and watched trying hard not to think about the two dead bodies that lay just beyond the office. i was snapped from my thoughts by rory climbing off the principal's desk. while i watched him i contemplated grabbing the gun from him and even possibly shooting him while i had the chance; but i was cowardly and stood my ground as i watched rory safely press his feet to it. he turned and looked at me but said nothing and i was the same. a huge amount of silence grew between us but we kept eye contact oh god how i wanted to look away. finally rory broke the contact and glanced again to the television continuing to watch the news cast.

"get up to the window" rory told me. his eyes still glued to the TV.

i did as he said using the principals swivvle chair to climb atop the desk. i kneeled on the desk infront of the medium sized window sickended when i realized that i was kneeling in blood left by rory's shoes. i looked back at rory unsure of what to do next. he was now gazing at me instead of the TV.

"uh-what now?" i asked him frightened that the smallest word from me might set him off.

"unlatch the window and get the cop's attention" rory said now holding his gun level with my back. i glanced to the gun; rory saw and laughed a bit.

"don't worry it's just for show" he started motioning the gun towards me as a signal to get a move on with the plan. once again i followed rort's orders and unlatched the window. i felt the warm spring breeze hit my face and i couldn't help but wonder if this would be the last day of my life; and for how many countless others it was. now my goal was to get the police's attention but what to do? should i just yell? or throw something? before i could make up my mind on what my distraction would be the police noticed me.

"hey there's a girl in that window" i heard one of them yell. almost instantly all eyes were on me. one of the cops had grabbed a microphone and proceeded to talk to me.

"young lady! tell us what's your name?, are you hurt?, where's the shooter?" he yelled at me.

i was silent rory hadn't told me what to say. did he want me to say anything at all? i was about to ask him what i should do next when he spoke first.

"yes it worked!" i heard him excitily say. i turned once again to look at him and the TV which by now i knew he was staring at. the TV newscast had changed from a overhead shot of the school from a helicopter most likely. the view had changed to a straight close up of the school, of the principal's window to be exact. the camera was pointing directly at me. i was too far away from the television to see myself clearly; but maybe i didn't want to see myself in that situation. did i really want to see it on TV? because if it was on the news then it meant that it was real and i had realized that this whole time a part of me had believed that it wasn't real; though i didn't see now how that was possible.

"were famous laylah!" rory exclaimed as if we had won some sort of award or that we were famous for a good reason. he looked at me with excitied glee filled eyes and emptiness filled me. rory really did believe that this exposure was a good thing and i had recalled in other stories of school violence that the shooter was always desperate for attention.

"keep going laylah, tell them your name so our fame will continue." he spoke softer now his eyes gazing adoringly at the newscast. as i perpaired to speak to the police i realized that i could hear the reporter talking through the TV.

"its a horror story here at clearview highschool" the reporter began, her voice showing all the emotion of a somewhat interested participant in the action. "a teen boy whose identidity is still unknow; brought a gun to school today and began shooting his classmates." i was slightly sickened to hear our situation being catogorized so casually. i perdicted that after everything was said and done the clearview school shooting would be told as another classic case of a picked on kid who snapped and killed his tormentors. the reporter babbled on: "it appears the boy has taken a female student hostage. police are trying to get anwsers from her as we speak."

"young lady please anwser us!" i heard the police yell at me. "m-my name is laylah hodge!" i yelled back at them. for some reason this simple anwser caused me to break and tears flowed freely from my eyes. maybe it was the fact that someone would help; maybe it was that i felt that i was safe now. either way i was crying. "and do you know the shooters name?" the police called to me. "yes," i called back "its my friend rory-rory daniels" almost instantly ours names were broadcasted over the TV. " we now know the name of the shooter. its a sixteen year old named rory. his female hostage is a seventeen year old named laylah"

"you see now laylah? were totally famous." rory told me; as if i be pleased that i was on TV for this reason. "laylah are you hurt? do you know how many people are dead?" the police asked. "i'm not hurt but alot of people are dead." "how many laylah?" the asked me. i didn't know; "why are they badgering me? its not time for twenty questions" i thought slightly angry at the people who were suppose to be saving me.

"i-i don't know; all i know is that its alot" i told them in all honesty. i hadn't gone through each body and counted them indivually hell i couldn't even find my brother or ellie. i decided at that point that it was now my turn to ask the questions. "did anyone get out?" i asked eagerly. praying that my brother and ellie had managed to escape and were now safely outside. "yes a few people got out when it all began" they said "why are you looking for someone?" "yes my younger brother. his name is alexander" i said apphrehensivly. i was afraid that they'd tell me no and that my brother was still trapped in this hellhole.

i never got an answer from that police officer because at that moment rory grabbed my arm and pulled me down from the desk. i fell backwards onto the office floor; it wasn't too far of a fall so i wasn't hurt. as i was perpairing to get up i noticed that my knees were stained crimson; the blood from the desk.

"what are you going to do now rory?" i asked apprehensively, somewhat afraid to know the answer. he just looked at me a smirk plastered on his face.

"i'm going to become infamous"

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