The Club of All Sorts Part III:

My heart hammers and alarm bells ring in my head, yelling at me to escape this situation I have found myself in, but how? I can feel Maya trembling and shaking as she clings onto my hand in fear. Alex’s face mirrors mine, pure terror.

“Don’t shoot, please. What do you want?” Alex whispers and I see the man slightly hesitate, cocking his gun down just a bit. My fear echelon remains the same however.

“Where’s your principal. Tell me, don’t ask questions,” he states firmly and I have a strange feeling sitting in my stomach. So he wasn’t a school shooter? No school shooter asks to speak to the principal, or to anyone for that matter.

“Why?” I whisper and I feel Maya tense up next to me. That’s when I realise he clearly stated no questions. I am such an idiot!

“I told you, no questions,” he says and he lifts his gun again. I see his finger probe the trigger.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” I shout, but my voice comes out hoarse and irregular. I contemplate not telling him where the principal is. It was a bit strange but my fear took over any logical thinking.

“The principal has just finished his announcements at the assembly so he’s probably back in his office now,” I whisper. My head throbs and my heart churns, one flick off his finger and we would be dead, lying on the ground, motionless. I feel Alex tense up next to me. That’s when I understand, I shouldn’t of said anything.

“Where is everybody else?” The man replies and Maya nods her head helplessly because of my decision to the back of the school where the assembly hall stands, unknowing about what is happening a corner around. I slap myself inside, why the heck would I tell this man, this stranger, where the principal was! It was illogical, it didn’t make sense! But I still did it.

“Where is the principal’s office?” The man asks. A steady silence follows, only filled by the sound of our hearts thumping. He clicks his gun and we all frantically point behind him. He turns around and starts walking.

“You come too,” he says loudly and we all follow like obedient puppies. Any plan of saving our school is ruined. He made us come so we wouldn’t run back and get help. We walk all the way to the other end of the school to the office, us giving directions and him clicking his gun.

The man gets a phone call and he answers it straight away. He bends down and starts whispering into his little device, hidden from us, and starts mumbling. I catch fragments of what he is saying.

“Yes, I’m about to kill the principal...I’ll deal with the kids later...I’ll take his money and give it to you, but I want half, as promised!”

He wasn’t just a shooter, he was a shooting, murdering, lying assassinator!