One Step Wrong
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By Isaac Coronel
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You hear your alarm. It’s 7:30 am, and you’d rather stay under your covers on such a cold morning. But you have a test you need to take. You know your grades are looking a little desperate. You sloth out of bed with determination to get to the bathroom. You wash your face, brush your teeth, and you get dressed immediately. You text your friend, Jack. He’s in your class with you. You ask him, “Hey, are you already on your way for this test lol gonna be hard.” He doesn’t answer you. You assume he’s getting ready or that he’s already there. Jack is a pretty stern dude when it comes to his tests. Nevertheless, to be productive, you get a protein bar with some orange juice. You don’t have much time. It’s already 7:48 am and class starts in 12 minutes. You chug your juice, grab your backpack, and run out the door.
You walk along the sidewalk. It’s a bit icy. It apparently snowed last night while you were asleep. You tread carefully along, while determined to get to the classroom. You realize the ice is going to slow you down. It’s 7:52am. You’re running out of time. You decide to cut through the grass. Sure, you want the campus to look nice, but the ice has done the damage already. No one will notice.
You run through the glass, which is less dangerous. You reach the first building in front of you. It’s the recreational center. It looks like it’s locked. Damn! It’s 7:54 am. But on the other side is where class is. You have to go around the whole building. You traverse all the way down a staircase, which should allow you to reach your class. However, the staircase is full of ice. You don’t know if you’ll make it to class at this rate. But there is not much choice. You go down the stairs with haste. There are about 20 more steps, but there’s so much ice. How stupid you feel this is. You need as much time as you can get to do well on this exam. You reach the last step. And what do you know! You slip on the last step and fall on your butt! Just your luck! And your only number-2 pencil just fell out of your backpack. You grab it as soon as you compose yourself. But the lead broke off. You tell yourself you’ll sharpen it when you get to your class.
But there are the doors. The main entrance to all the classrooms. You open the main entrance. Now, there are four levels to this building. Your class is on the fourth floor. You run to the elevator on the left side, just a little pass the entrance. You press the button to go up. Now you wait. And it’s 7:58 am. Could the elevator go any slower?
Finally! The doors open. You run in and consistently press the number “4.” Your impatience is negligent in this matter, but who cares? It makes you feel better to smash the “4” button. The doors close. Now, the elevator starts going up at its regular pace. You just wait, trying to remember Newton’s three laws. No! Not the definitions. But how your teacher is going to screw you over with application questions.
The doors open. It’s 7:59 am. And the door to your classroom is at the end of the hall in front of you, to the right. You might just make it if you play your cards right. You also see Jack ahead of you. He’s all dressed in black with his large backpack. You are about to call to Jack, who hasn’t noticed you, but you take a step and trip to the floor. Thankfully not a bad fall. Your shoe was untied.
When you lift your head from the dark grey carpet, you see Jack paused at the door, though he still hasn’t noticed you. He’s just staring for a brief moment through the glass that is part of the door to your classroom. When you’re about to call Jack, you notice he pulls out something from his backpack. It’s a pistol. And he rushes into the classroom.
What just happ(BOOM)
You he(BOOM)ound coming from the classroom. The sound of shots, w(BOOM) some are drown(BOOM) the screami(BOOM)our friends. You recognize Katy’s voice. You reali(BOOM)his is all real. You can’t be(BOOM)ve Jack is doing this. He’s actually doing this. And your legs are frozen.
(BOOM)
You need to get moving.
(BOOM)
You don’t have time to think about anything.
(BOOM)(BOOM)
You need to move.
(BOOM)
Move.
(BOOM)
Move.
(BOOM)(BOOM)
Something.
. ..
You blink.
Now, you rush to the elevator! You click the number “1” button. But as you are clicking the button rapidly, you see Jack step out, guarding the door, still hearing the screaming. You haven’t seen anyone else leave the other classrooms. Are they scared to leave, are they blocking the doors?
(BOOM)
You realize Jack just shot his pistol towards you, but the bullet missed. The doors are still taking forever to close. But you see Jack walking up to you with his gun.
Does he not recognize that you are his friend? You don’t know what’s going on. You never had a clue what was going on. You had no idea. But you have no idea what is going to happen to you.
The doors are finally closing.
(BOOM)
It’s finally 8 am. A shot has been made! The test has finally begun...
But will you pass?