It was a normal Monday morning. I got up, and got dressed, as I would every other day. I said, “Good morning!” to both of my parents as they walked out the door for work. I made coffee, and felt it wake me up as I casually sipped on my mug. I walked into my bathroom, washed my face, brushed my hair, and brushed my teeth. I went into my room, packed up my backpack, grabbed my keys, and headed to school.

I was really nervous on my way to school, because I had a test in chemistry today. I thought, Why would a teacher schedule a test for a Monday? I had spent the weekend studying, and hanging out with my best friend, Micayla. We were quite literally the same person. We had the same brown eyes, long, brown hair, basically the same taste in everything. People mistook us for sisters all the time. I was excited to see her again in school.

I walked into our school building, and saw Micayla. She saw me, and yelled, “Good morning, Emily!” I shouted back at her, “Good morning, Micayla!”. We talked about how nervous we were for the chemistry test on the way to our first class. We walked into the classroom, said, “Good morning” to  the teacher, and took our seats, waiting patiently for the morning announcements to ring through the loudspeaker.

After we listened to the announcements, we started class. I was in math, and I’m not very good at it. We were going over our homework, and I realized that I had only done a few correct. I just don’t understand how to do math, it’s extremely confusing to me. We finished going over homework, and our teacher started her lecture for the day. As I was losing focus and daydreaming, all of the sudden, a loud bang rattled within the classroom. At first, I thought, it was just a construction worker on the roof, but then I heard faint screaming from down the hallway. That’s when mass chaos erupted, because we all knew what was happening.

My teacher started yelling for us to: get down, get away from the door, find something to protect ourselves, do anything to stay safe. I was paralyzed with shock. I thought we weren’t one of the schools this would happen at, I go to a safe school. I thought, that this wasn’t real, and that I was just daydreaming. However, it was real, it was all too real. Someone pulled me down behind a desk, and pulled me out of my trance. My mind could only think about one thing, escaping. I tried to design a plan, but my thoughts were interrupted by three quick bangs, that were a lot louder than the first one. Still, my mind was shouting to GET OUT, but I couldn’t move. There was nowhere to go, no window, the only way out, was through the hallway.

The same hallway that the vicious monster was in. It felt like it had only been a minute since the awful event had begun, but the second period bell rang. I have never seen so many of my classmates shudder in utter terror at the same time before. As we were waiting in the the terrifying silence, I realized our school would never be the same.  I looked to my right and saw my best friend crying hysterically. I felt the terror in the room. I realized what an awful society we live in for this to be a normal basis. Our school’s worst day, would just be another news story. No one would care about who died. Our classmates who lost their lives today, would just become another number. They would be the kids who died in a school shooting, not students, not people, just dead memories turned into numbers. We would walk into the building, once a calm learning environment, now a never-ending warzone, and be terrified of any sound, sight, or scent that was not quite right, because it would force our thoughts to come back to this dreadful day. Our entire lives would change. We would be known as survivors, not students. The hallways would be cemeteries filled with our friends and the memories cut short with them. We’d walk onto a battlefield, rather than a campus every morning. These thoughts horrified me more than the fact that I may never walk out of this classroom.

I peeked at the glass window pane that sat next to the door, leading to the hallway, and made eye contact with the monster. I froze, I knew him, he was my best friend when we were little. I was appalled. There was absolutely no way that sweet little Sam, was a murderous monster. In that moment, I realized that he wasn’t a monster, he wasn’t a murderer, he was a kid. While I watched Sam shoot the pane and step into my classroom, all of my fear went away. Sam wasn’t a horrible human being, Sam was a high school student.

Sam stepped through the shattered pane of glass, and kept walking towards me. There was no fear left in my body. I stood up and ignored the screams of my classmates. Sam started crying, and he said, “I’m scared.” I told him, “It’ll be okay. It will all be okay. Do you remember when we were little, and you broke our window?” He nodded. I responded with, “My parents were mad, but they forgave you. It’ll work out the same way, if you just stop now.” Sam claimed, “I can’t. I’m going to go to jail forever anyways. I might as well make it worth my time.” I started shaking my head, as he pointed the gun directly at me. The metal was cool against the hot sweat dripping down my forehead. I felt hot tears start to run down my face. I didn’t want to die. I had my whole life in front of me. I was only sixteen. I haven't lived at all. I still had so many things I wanted to do. I wanted to see the world. I wanted to go to prom. I wanted to start a family. I wanted to...

“This is the police, put your weapon down!” With this statement, I felt the cool touch of the metal leave my forehead and I opened my eyes to see Sam point the gun at his own head. I ran back behind the desks as fast as I could. I looked back to see him wipe the tears from his eyes, and say, “Goodbye.” I squeezed my eyes shut as I was too horrified to see what would happen next. There was a loud BANG! And then that was it. My childhood friend was dead, along with countless other high school students.

The rest of the day went along in a blur, my many thoughts getting twisted within another. I remember the police interviewing me, and then going home to greet my teary-eyed parents. I know I tried to just act like it didn’t happen, but that wasn’t possible. I went to bed that night, knowing I would barely get any sleep, but I knew I should, because I was going to have a tough day at school the next day.