Flashnano25
Day Six
Prompt: Write a story that takes place in a cafeteria
Like I’m sure many other teachers, even retired ones like me, been dealing with nightmares while following in horror the Virginia Beach teacher shooting trial.
Here’s one of those nightmares.
He’s just a kid
Before the first shots rang out in the crowded cafeteria some students were already seated and nibbling on Friday’s lunch of cheese pizza, broccoli, applesauce, while others waited in line. Still more were walking into the cafeteria single file and silent per the elementary school’s rules though some were sharing silly whispers and a few jumped up and down. They were just six after all. Yet others, trays clutched close to their bodies because they were still learning how to balance, were meandering toward their seats. When the shooting started, some, startled by the sudden blasts, dropped their trays. As the firing continued, time stood still then sped up, as screaming children ran toward doors, windows, while some hid under tables and others stood frozen, their tiny nervous systems overloaded by fear. Some teachers on duty yelled, “Oh my God,” and rushed toward the doors, and others toward the screaming, crying hordes. More shots rang out and the three children seated across from the shooter fell backward onto the floor. The two on his left and right slumped forward onto their trays. The teacher closest, who’d been opening stubborn milk cartons and squeezing out ranch dressing, lunged forward, but her small charge, the one all the teachers worried about, the one with parents who scoffed at their concerns, the one the vice principal said was just a first grader and couldn’t hurt a fly so she didn’t even bother checking the backpack for the gun four students swore was in there, aimed too well and she was gone too.
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