The Future of America

I strolled happily down the school hallway, it was my 16th birthday and I had absolutely no care in the world for academics so I had taken one of my bathroom passes to take a walk and enjoy some time by myself. I was too absorbed in my freedom when I heard a loud popping sound, something like a large balloon getting popped by a needle. My instinct was to think it had been from one of the science rooms nearby, labs were always obnoxiously loud and distracting. I continued my stroll down, not knowing where my final destination was going to be until I heard one last popping sound coming from somewhere near me, it wasn’t muffled like how it would’ve sounded like if it were to come from behind doors, and this time, it came with an ear piercing scream and steps that followed coming my direction. From instinct, I picked up my pace and started walking faster, almost in a jog until I heard an urgent voice from my principal saying, “students and faculty, we are now going into lock down, this is not a drill, I repeat, this is NOT a drill.” I now understood what was happening, where the popping sound came from, the scream, the footsteps. I slapped my face from stupidity and started frantically running to the nearest classroom which seemed to be a freshman class, another question, “how had I walked so far without noticing?” I quickly slipped in and saw a large group of freshman students huddling together behind a lab table, there were several tools left out on the table, some had been pushed to the ground from the students urgently trying to hide. Many of the students were frozen or shaking, some were even crying from fear. I closed the door and just as I was about to lock it, the teacher ran over and pushed me away, telling me to hide myself, I left right away, following her directions as she tried to lock the door behind us. I quickly hid across from the other students behind another lab table; right as I was crouching behind it, I heard the teacher scream. The world seemed to stop for a solid minute before I peaked out from my hiding place, shaking so hard everything looked like a blur, but I could see enough to realize that the teacher had saved her life for us. It seemed like the lock wasn't working right and she had tried to keep the door shut for as long as she could hold. But the shooter was still there, standing in the middle of the doorway over the person he had just cold-heartedly killed. I brought myself back to my senses and grabbed the nearest chair to throw at the shooter. The shooter held up his gun once again and started firing at us. I saw that the other younger students who had been frozen before started to follow my example, some threw whatever they could find in the classroom while others hid themselves behind large textbooks, too scared to move. I then looked to my right as the shooter started pointing the gun to our end of the classroom. “Use this book to shield yourself!” the boy standing next to me frantically yelled, he held a firm textbook for me, I took it and shouted a quick, “thank you!” before protecting myself from the bullets being fired at us for no humane reason. I took a step to the side trying to protect the rest of my body before I heard a sudden thump right next to me as the boy who had saved my life, fell dead on the stone cold floor. The shooter had now started getting even more violent, firing more bullets than before, now realizing that time was getting limited. I suddenly felt a rush of fear, I didn’t know what I was doing anymore and the only sense left in me was to act dead so I fell just like the boy next to me had and laid there. I closed my eyes and tried to not make my breathing obvious but inside, my lungs were screaming out for the police to come over, for anyone to come save us from this horror. I prayed hard to make myself blend in with the other students who had been shot and tried to not think too much about the students laying next to me who had been alive and well just a few minutes before as well as the ones who were still standing, screaming for help while trying to avoid the gun shots in between. After the most grueling five minutes of my life, the shooter finally ran out and left us alone, but this time, with almost a third of the class unconscious or dead. After that day, I kept thinking to myself, I should’ve been killed. From when I was carelessly walking in the open hallways where the shooter had a clear shot of me to when the teacher sacrificed her life to keep the door closed when I had been there just a few second before to finally the time where the boy had handed me that book to save myself but yet had been shot instead. But no, the truth is NO ONE should die in these cases. No one should die for going to school and getting an education. 

No one should have to feel scared, feel like they are sacrificing their life and their safety to learn. It’s crazy to think that our very own government, who is put in that position to protect the country’s citizens is letting these people run free, letting these people carelessly kill the youth, kill students, kill innocent people. This story is nonfiction and I am grateful to not have had to experience this, but I have heard countless stories similar to these. It might sound dramatic but this is what’s happening in our country, this is our reality, and there needs to be action taken on it. We have a basic human right to be able to safely receive education and yet it has been stripped from us. Let’s come to our senses and just think about it, this is the future of America you are destroying.