It’s impossible to describe the sheer terror we felt…we were all eating our October surprise mystery meat lunch when the screaming started. The scream… the scream that made every hair stand on end, it made my gut sink to my knees and my body tremble.

The cafeteria fell silent as everyone was looking at the gym entrance. The door burst open as young girl limped through. I recognized her as Penelope. She was a popular senior in drama club with my brother Kevin. She was wrapped in a white towel that was covered in dark red blotches around her chest and leg.

She was crying out for help but no one moved. The red that ran down her limp leg streaked across the floor. Sobbing and reaching one hand out for help she slipped on the wet bloody floor and fell. Some people let out a gasp but me and the rest stayed silent and stared.

Crawling towards the nearest table with students, she kept repeating “why won’t you help me? Why won’t anyone help me?” That is when we heard it… ting… ting.. ting.. a young man walked through the door wearing his cowboy hat, light blue button up, dark blue jeans with a big silver bull buckle, and those damn cowboy boots. The most noticeable was the large bloodied chefs knife he carried.

Stopping once inside the cafeteria, he bent down and ran his hand through the trail of blood. Looking up at all of us he grinned as he proceeded lick his fingers clean one by one. He started laughing uncontrollable, the mixture of saliva and blood dripping from his chin. “Happy Halloween! Brought to you by our very own drama lead Penelope ” He chuckled.

After a brief pause a few started to giggle. More and more joined in until everyone was laughing. Everyone except the student nearest Penelope. She tried to scream over the crowd “It’s not a joke please help me. He’s trying to kill me.” She was almost to the table where the student sat. Those hazelnut eyes used to be filled with hopes and dreams… right then they were filled with terror and sorrow. She reached out with a final tearful plea for help and all the student had to do was take her hand… but I didn’t…

The man stomped over and grabbed her leg, the dragged her a few feet away from me. She stopped fighting, she stopped crying for help. Her eyes were visibly empty, the color seemed to fade as if all hope and meaning in life vanished. We never took our eyes off each other. Even as he began to straddle her. He plunged his knife into her chest over and over. Her body convulsing under his weight.

She stared at me, her expression never changing. The other students slowly came to the realization this in fact was not a Halloween skit. From the first stab there was panic and screaming as they fled. He saw me sitting there unmoving. Without hesitation he walked over to me. Ting… ting… ting… an intense hot pain seared through my stomach as he sunk the knife into my stomach. Falling over onto the floor the man took off after other students as they clogged up the doorways he began the stabbing again.

I wanted to scream in pain, I wanted to run butI found myself unable to move. Now laying there near Penelope, our gaze never faltered from one another’s. I thought I was gonna die, of all the things to think of in my final moments. I just wondered if my eyes were failing to. If someone is seeing my life slip away. Still enchanted by her gaze I could not help but fee responsible for her death.

All I had to do was grab her hand. My indecisiveness and fear over powered my will. My eyes were feeling heavy now and the screaming was growing faint. All I could whispered was a faint “sorry”. The last image before I fell to the eternal sleep, was seeing Penelope’s eye’s slowly close. She now looked at peace.

To my surprise my eyes were opening again. The pain of movement was almost unbearable. My eyes clearing up, I could see the hospital was busy. There were multiple students in the large room I was in. Confused and dazed I laid my head back to rest but everyone I closed my eyes all I saw - and still see if her face.