Speak Up

Chapter 26

Mrs Kingston informs everyone to head back to class. She then asks me to follow her to her office to make a statement. I ask if Kara can come for support. I wasn't sure if she saw what happened to me or Trey, but I wanted her to be there in case I break down in front of my principal. She allows Kara to come.

I sit down in a chair in front of Mrs Kingston's desk. Kara sits beside me. I look down at the floor, recalling every single moment that happened in the corridor. I can still see the pain in Trey's eyes as he is unsure whether or not he might make it. The image was burn into my brain. I couldn't shake it out. I couldn't even look up and make eye contact with both Kara and the principal. I can feel their eyes on me.

Mrs Kingston asks me who stabbed Trey. I sit there for a long time, debating in my head to tell her who did this. I recall where Trey pushes me out of Liam's way, taking my place where I should have been stabbed. Trey should be in this office right now telling Mrs Kingston everything while I fight for my life in the hospital. But instead it's the other way around.

Trey saved my life for the fourth time. He didn't have to, but he chose too.

Oh God, please don't let anything happen to Trey.

As much as I was terrified of the incident and what will Liam do to me without Trey's protection, I knew I couldn't let him get away with what he did. I tell Mrs Kingston. She asks me to write a statement and then gets onto the phone to call the police.

I wonder where Liam is hiding, and what he was planning to do. Does he know he is going to be arrested for harming another person who is fighting for their life, and if Trey dies, he will be charged for murder even though he wasn't meant to kill him, but kill me? Does he think he can get out of this like he has every other time?

I found it difficult to write the report. I didn't want to remember the image in my head, but I had to. Several times I had to stop writing because the tears blurred my vision. While I wrote, Mrs Kingston got off the phone with the police, telling them they will be here soon. She leaves us for a second to ask the office administrators for a contact number for Trey's parents to inform them what has happened.

Trey's parents. What are they going to say? What are they going to do? Have I helped their son enough for him to survive? There wasn't much for me to do besides put pressure on his wound. The paramedics, the doctors and nurses will be doing the most work at keeping him alive.

What is Mom going to say when she sees Trey getting wheel in and rushed to the ER?

Kara rests a hand on my shoulder. "It's going to be okay, Zach."

I slowly nod my head and turn to her. "Do you think he is going to be okay?"

"I don't really want to say anything that's not promising, but I'm sure he will."

She then pulls me into a hug. We let go of each other as the principal walks in so she could make the phone call to Trey's parents. My heart slowly breaks to pieces as she explains to them. Mrs Cole answers the phone, and I imagine her standing there in shock, maybe collapsing from the shock.

I finish the statement as the police arrive. They said they wanted me to come down to the station later to give them a report on what happen. The school is put into lockdown as the police searches for Liam who may still be on the school grounds, hiding all of this out so he can't be in trouble for stabbing Trey, coming up with some kind of excuse to get out of his own actions, finding a way to get the authorities around his finger and let him off the hook. Maybe all of that worked in the past, but this time it wasn't. This time he was going to be paying for his actions.

They find Liam hiding in the bathroom with his friends. Handcuffs were placed on his hands behind his back as the police walked him down the corridor to the front entrance to their cars. He tries to tell them that he didn't do anything wrong, but the police wasn't listening to anything he had to say.

Kara is sent back to class and promises me to call me later. Mrs Kingston then drives the police station so I can give them a statement. I would ride in the back of the police vehicle, but the officers decided my principal can drive me down there. They didn't want me to sit in the backseat with Liam, feared of what he might do to me. I didn't mind Mrs Kingston driving me. It was better than riding in the back with Liam. He would just verbally abuse me in the back seat, saying how all of this is my fault.

"You did the right thing, Zach, with coming forward about Liam bullying you," Mrs Kingston tells me during the drive. "Remember to tell the police what he has been doing to you."

I promise I will. But right now I didn't care what I had to tell the police. All I want right now is to see Trey and to know if he is going to make it.