I'm 22 years old fresh out of college
And I recently got a job at my old high school as a sort of... computer intern in the school basement..
The basement of the school is very messy and disorganized,
But there is a small three-person office. That's actually very nice down there
It has three nice big desks, two mini fridges, a flat-screen TV mounted on the wall and also
Satisfying air conditioning- a luxury the students and teachers cannot enjoy in the school-
-and of course all the school servers and other computery stuff
I got the job because three of my old computer teachers flat-out adored me- I could actually consider them as real friends
Not just teacher figures, so they all helped tremendously in landing me this job
It's been great- until something that happened a few weeks ago
My two co-workers that share the office with me, Dave and Gary, weren't in the office at the time
They were upstairs working on papers or whatever
I was eating my sandwich during my lunch break when I got a phone call from one of the women in the front office
Telling me the school was on lockdown and that somebody possibly armed had entered the school
There wasn't much that I could do other than turn off the lights because
Surprisingly as nice as this little office was it didn't have an actual door to it
Just a big opening and the door to the whole basement didn't even have a working lock!
for my own safety I did turn off all the lights in the office and my computer screen
I kept my phone on the desk texting both Gary and Dave, but they wouldn't respond
I sat down there in the dark playing games on my phone for like 20 minutes
Waiting for the call from up front to tell me to resume working. I had no idea what was happening
I couldn't hear what was going on upstairs from down here
But I was not allowed to make any calls until I was informed that the lockdown was over
Then, the noisy basement door opens
As the creaking echoed across the basement and into my office
I sat up for my seat wondering if I should call out Gary or Dave. I was eager to get some info from them
Someone then came running down the stairs and their footsteps were approaching my office. I pushed away my chair and crawled under my desk
Somebody entered the office, but did not turn on the lights
There was just..silence
I can't even describe the fear I was experiencing- I felt like if I made one sudden noise I'd be a dead man
Suddenly my phone dinged as I got a text message
(DING)
I felt my entire world shrivel up and die at that one moment as I clenched my teeth in fear
Footsteps suddenly moved closer to me until I finally dove out from under the desk in capitulation,
begging whoever it was not to kill me
And just then someone grabbed my arm and pulled me up
It was some guy in a red plaid button-up jeans and a reddish black cap
He told me, "It's okay. I'm just down here hiding with you."
"What's going on up there?" I whispered to him
He kind of ignored my question and asked me if "There's an exit down here." I told him yeah around that way
Before he could do anything else. I asked him "...who are you?"
There was a brief moment of silence before he started explaining
He was coming in to pick up his son when a teacher told him to hide
After his explanation I checked my phone and saw the text. I received was from Dave
It said "Dude. This is fucking crazy some guy with a gun shot Mr. Buckley. He's wearing a red shirt and a hat
whatever you do don't come upstairs.."
I was about to reread that text out loud to the man
Until I realized I looked up and felt my stomach sink
The man seemed to catch on to my suspicious stare
Panicking all I could think to do was to run for the upstairs
A gunshot echoed through the basement and I could hear the bullet ricochet off something metal in the darkness
(PEW PEW)
But thank God that bullet missed me and I made it upstairs
Fortunately, police were waiting at all exits including the basement exit and caught the man the second he opened the door
More good news our teacher Mr. Buckley survived the gunshot
It was later determined that the man and Mr. Buckley
had some beef for whatever reason, but that was never revealed all we know is that
Mr. Buckley couldn't have done anything that would have warranted this kind of reaction
And I know that the sound of that gunshot
will forever echo in my mind.