Gunshot

It couldn't be real. Head reeling, the world spinning. As if she could hardly comprehend the shapes before her. The block of grey that was the school, the blur of colours that motioned the stampede of the students. And the screaming. The screams that echoed in her ears, her mind, so similar to the sounds of last year.

But it was hardly a year ago; it had been months, if that. And she could hardly think.

She couldn't even breathe. Staring up at that school as if she were rooted to the spot. As if she were buried once more under its rubble. Lifting herself from the crushing pressure above her, yet it wasn't really there. Even so, her body shook from the effort.

Rachel had struggled to believe the note, despite her anxieties. It was surely a lie. Some nasty hoax. But there it was.

The echoing of a gunshot, somewhere deep within the school. The world around her chaos, as if she were engulfed in a flame of her own making. But this time, she would not be the victim.