Lockdown

5:33pm

Lockdown

5:33pm

And just like that, another lowly soul living in this world has left it. Left it and gone away.

But that didn't matter.

Maurice was dead.

I didn't care about her. Not one tiny bit. 

She was nothing.

I held out my arm, which was beginning to shake. I droppedthe gun next to me. I didn't care where it went. I just wanted to stay away from it for a while. 

Then, I turned away from the body and looked down at Damien.

His hands were hovering inches from his face, curled tight and clenched, his eyes bloodshot and terrified. It looked like he wanted to cover his eyes. But didn't.

He was rocking back and forth, his eyes staring at the ground, not blinking. He looked so totally shocked.

Those blue eyes looked into mine.

"You killed her?" he asked in a small voice. Like a toddler asking his parents if they ate his Halloween candy.

I nodded. I felt surprisingly calm.

And then he reached out and hugged me. I fell onto him and hugged him back. He didn't sob, he just hugged me close to him.

And I hugged him back, ocassionally patting him too. It was at that moment I realized I didn't even know who this boy was. I had just met him. But somehow, it felt like I had been with him for so long. I didn't even know why he came to my school and started to kill. But I would find out. No matter the cost.

Finally I rolled away and sat up, staring at the forest. Damien sat up, too and stared with me. 

"Wow." he said. He sniffled and laughed again. "Wow."

I laughed too. "I know, right?" And then I looked at him and he looked at me. I would have thought he looked terrifyingly ugly, from his bloody nose to his red eyes but right then, I thought he was something entirely different. And I guess he was thinking the same thing, because he laughed again. I did, too. 

We laughed for a good long while. We sat there, in the forest, the evening soon dawning upon us. I could hear police sirens in the distance, many sirens. It sounded like the entire police force was coming. Let them. They'd be shocked about what just happened. 

I knew that this wasn't over. This was just the beginning. It was bad enough for me when I hid in the classroom, but that was centuries ago. I was different now. I had finally realized what I was fighting for - and when I looked at Damien, I could see that also. Things were going to change now. My life and its entirety would be very different now. Nothing was ever going to be the same. I was not Robin Wayne, a 16 year old blind girl, quiet and gets good grades. I was Robin Wayne, a 16 year old girl who could finally see. Who could finally see what she was meant for in life.

Sooner or later I felt Damien lean closer to me and put an arm around me. I would have jerked back and remembered Maurice's harsh warning for me to stay away. But she was dead now. And that didn't matter. I was alive, I had made it out. I had survived this far and I deserved some peace now. None of that mattered now. They were gone, but I was here. And so was he. 

So I let his arm stay there.