Chapter FourteenThiago
The second I heard the shots, only one person came to mind—her. No one else.
Of course, I remembered my brother next, followed by my students, the teachers, the friends I’d started to make there. But at first, the only thing I could picture was her: her blond hair splayed on the ground, a pool of blood around her, that beautiful, vibrant face suddenly lifeless. That same cold aura my sister’s body had when her life was stolen from her after a series of reckless errors.
I knew I would move heaven and earth to find her. I needed her. I needed her alive. I needed that horrible fear to vanish from my mind or I’d never breathe easy again.
I was aching inside, tortured at the realization that the last time we’d seen each other, I’d treated her so coldly. Especially after the night we had shared. I’d done it to keep the peace with my brother, and it was the hardest choice I could ever have imagined. My back was against the wall: it was my family or the girl I loved. Our future together had barely just begun the night before.
As the older brother, I’d had to make choices starting young that I’d never have made if circumstances had been different. Andwhen I saw the pain and disappointment in Taylor’s eyes, I knew this wasn’t just a typical spat. There was hatred there, resentment, and I couldn’t let that fester. I wasn’t going to pull my family even further apart, not after everything we had suffered.
Still: The mind is one thing, and the heart is another.
There were four of us in the teachers’ lounge when the shooting started: me, Maggie, another teacher from the elementary school, and a high school teacher who’d just come in to say he was heading out—his son had gotten sick at daycare.
The elementary kids were about to arrive—they started an hour later than the older kids. I realized later the only good thing about the whole crazy situation was that the assholes responsible for this bloodbath didn’t get a chance to murder any elementary kids.
“Did you hear that?” Maggie asked.
Both of us jumped. I knew that sound. And even though Maggie was my ex, I still felt the urge to protect her. I edged toward the door and heard it again. It sounded like gunshots.
“Call 9-1-1,” I told Maggie. But she was too scared to move. Her eyes were empty, the color had drained from her face. Grabbing the phone myself, I shouted to the other three: “Get to the exit. Now! I’ll catch up.”
As they walked out cautiously, and I heard my heart pounding in my ears, I prayed for someone to pick up. Soon I heard the words “Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”
“There’s an active shooting at Carsville High.”
“Tell me your name, sir.”
“This is Thiago Di Bianco, I’m a coach here. We’re in the east wing, where the elementary school is, but the shooting is coming from the high school side. Make sure none of the younger kids try to come inside.” I looked at my watch and saw it was quarter to nine. Had any of them arrived yet?
“Sir, the patrol cars are on their way. Are you wounded?”
“No, but—”
That’s when I heard it—the screaming. It sounded like the other teachers, my friends—and Maggie.
“Sir?”
I dropped the phone and quickly scanned the room.
On one end of the teachers’ lounge was a door that led to the younger children’s classrooms, a hallway with bathrooms where the children’s arts and crafts projects were displayed. No sooner had I slipped out of the lounge when I heard a voice that made me freeze. Before I could think straight, I hid behind a door, struck with the fear that I might die at the hands of a lunatic.
“Come on! I know you’re here!”
It was a voice I didn’t recognize. I had to get out of there. If they came through I’d be discovered and killed. I was terrified, but my fear of death vanished when I saw a little pair of blue eyes looking back at me.
“Thiago?”
I didn’t hesitate.
I didn’t care if I got shot in the back. I didn’t care what happened.
They weren’t getting him.
Never in my life had I run that way. As I reached Cameron Hamilton, the door to the teachers’ lounge opened, making me an easy target.
I heard the shot at the same time as I threw myself across the hallway. It whistled past my left ear and struck a window at the far end of a classroom. I closed the door as fast as I could, dragging a desk in front to block it off. Then I picked Cameron up and took off toward the main hall.
