Innocents

Innocents: Doc

Doc Harrison’s POV

 “Hello there Sage.” Officer Cooper greeted as I made my way into the integration room the best I could on my crutches. The man jumped out of his seat to help me settle into my mine. I mutter a thank you as I adjust my position in my seat. Officer Cooper takes his seat and, and my blue eyes met his for a moment. I tear the gaze away. Every since that day, I can’t look anybody in the eye. Anytime my eyes meet contact with another’s, all I see are his eyes.

 “You can call me Doc.” I say. “Everybody does. It’s my nickname. Heck, it’s practically my name.” I let out a light, nervous laugh in a desperate attempt to lighten the mood of them. But of course, with everything that has happen since the shooting, laughing is nonexistent. Anything related to the emotion of happy is gone from our small town. But with what has happen, I can understand. I don’t even know why I laughed. I can’t remember the last time I smiled a real smile; not a fake one to please the doctors at the hospital or my over worrying parents.

 “Well Doc,” Officer Cooper says, “I need you to tell me everything that happened that day. From the moment you walked in the doors of the school to what you can last remember. Can you do that for me?”

 I nod my head. “That day, I walked in late to school…”

 *~*~*

 January 24th, 9: 31 A.M

 I silently swore under my breath as I ripped my books out of my locker. The cup of coffee in my hand was threatening to spill all over my shirt as I shut my locker with a loud slam. I mentally went through my brain of my schedule. Checking my blackberry, and seeing that it was 9: 31, that would mean I was in…English. Class has just started in there, and wouldn’t end till ten. Then I remembered I had a test in there.

 “Crap!” I muttered to myself as I became to rush away from my locker. I was never one who liked to be late, and the fact that I missing a test added even more speed to my fast jog.

 Down the hall, I saw Mike Richardson and his friend, Gabriel Bennington. If you asked me if I had a crush on Gabe, I would lie right away. Him and I go all the way back to first grade, and from there, we had a steady friendship. In eighth grade, we finally made it official. But in tenth grade, after several stupid fights, we ended it. Gabe…he will always be my first love. I tensed at the end of the hallway, keeping my head down before marching forward again. Once I had passed Gabe and Mike, I let out a breath I hadn’t even know I had been holding in. Then a pair of arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me into the strong body behind me.

 “No hello for me?” Gabe’s sweet voice whispered into my ear. I let out a soft laugh as Gabe continued to hold me from behind. “I can’t believe the famous Doc Harrison is coming in to school so late. Did you have surgery before hand?”

 “No Gabe.” I replied. Gabe’s strong arms released me, and I turned around to face him. In that one moment, I took in everything about Gabe. From his pale blue/green eyes to his short, messy blonde hair that seem to be sticking up in several places, everything about that sixteen year old boy just made me feel like I was that first grader in the sandbox again. “I had a dentist appointment this morning.” I clarified.

 “But you still had time to stop for coffee afterwards?” Gabe asked with a raise of the eyebrow. With a quick movement, Gabe grabbed my coffee from my hands and took a long chug of it.

 “You always know where to get the best coffee.” Gabe complimented. I smiled and took the cup back from. That’s when we heard Mike let out a scream.

 “Mike!” Gabe shouted. He took off down the hall, and I followed closely at his heels. We entered the main hallway of the west wing, where Mike was laying on the ground. I could hear his panicked intakes of air at the sight of the boy looming over him. A boy with a gun pointed at him.

 “What do you think you are doing?” Gabe shouted. He waved his arms frantically in the air, trying to grab the gunman’s attention. “Look at me freak, not him!”

 “Gabe…” I whispered. Gabe quickly placed his body in front of mine, and it was only then that I realized what Gabe was doing. He was sacrificing himself for me and Mike. He was going to die so we could live. Peeking out from behind Gabe, I saw that he had successfully gained the gunman’s attention. And I also saw two bodies down the hallway, covered in blood.

 “Let him go.” Gabe pleaded. “Let Mike go, and kill me. If you want a target, take me. Not Mike. He has done nothing wrong.”

 “Why should I?” The gunman questioned. “Why should I let any of you live? Those two,” The gunman jerked his head in the direction of the boy and the girl lying at the other end of the hall, “Are already goners. Tell me why I shouldn’t kill little Mike, you, and your lover behind you right now?”

 “Because they did nothing.” Gabe replied. “You don’t know Doc and Mike like I do. Please, just let Mike and Doc go. Please, I beg of you.”

 “And how exactly do you know these two?” The gunman questioned, cocking his head to the side as kept the gun pointed at Mike, but his gaze on Gabe. “What importance do Mike and Doc have to you?”

 “Mike is like my brother.” Gabe confessed. “I love him like one. We have been through everything together. He is my best friend in the whole world. I can tell him everything. And Doc…I love her. I love the way her blonde hair shines in the sun, or how her laugh can brighten up a whole room. I want to spend the rest of my life with Doc Harrison, and I want Mike to be the best man at my wedding to her. These two are the people I want to be by my side the rest of my life. So please, just let them go.”

 The gunman was silent. I looked at the back of Gabe’s head, my heart pounding at his confession at the situation at hand. Then the gun cocked. “I can’t do that Gabriel.” The gunman said. Then he cast his attention back to Mike, and put a bullet straight through his chest.

 Gabe let out a roaring scream. I let out a cry, my hand flying to mouth at the sight before my eyes. Blood splattered everywhere, and Mike was gone. Before I could move again, the gunman raised his arm and fired at us. Gabe and I took off in different directions as bullets flew by us. I jump into the wall across from me, feeling as the pain surge through my as my body came in contact with the plaster. Gabe had a different idea. He ran straight towards the gunman; to where Mike laid dead in his own pool of blood.

 I watched as the gunman didn’t even blink as he fired two bullets into Gabe. One in his shoulder, another in his arm. But Gabe charged forward, determined to reach the person responsible for the death of his best friend. But then three more bullets flew out of the gun, lodging themselves in Gabe’s chest.

 And like that, Gabe dropped forward the ground, dead.

 I screamed. It was the only thing I could do. I stayed frozen in my spot, my body half exposed from around the corner. Sobs escaped my body as I looked at my dead love. Then that awful sound echoed the hall again, and my leg felt like it was on fire. Looking down, I saw my knee was bleeding heavily.

 Everything was swarming in red. The blood splattered on the walls, to the blood pouring from my leg, it’s like the hallway I was lying in was painted in an ugly red. A buzzing began to ring in my ears as I stared at the ceiling tiles. My head became lighter and lighter as I felt one more bullet lodge itself in my already damaged leg.

 Then my whole world washed over in a wave of red, before I sunk deeper and deeper into the black.

 *~*~*

 “Next time I woke up, I was being carried out of the school by several police officers.” I conclude. “I never saw who Gabe and Mike’s killer was until the news later that evening after my first surgery.”

 “Thank you for your time Doc.” Officer Cooper says as he gathers my crutches. On my one good leg, I position myself on the crutches and begin to exit the room. When I’m standing in the doorway, I look over my shoulder at Officer Cooper, who is still standing by my chair.

 “Oh, and thank you for finding me in the school that day.” I say. I give Officer Cooper a smile; a real smile, before leaving the room.

 *~*~*

The cast for this chapter is listed on the side. As for the cast, I only list who is playing who in the chapter you are reading. I don’t want to give away on spoilers on who is coming up.

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