SenseLess

"The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window."

The reason behind this sudden recrudescence of life, this lone candle shining for all to see...

Can you truly claim when something will happen, in good or bad, you sense it?

Hollywood has gotten us convinced we all have sixth senses hiding somewhere, ready to leap to the rescue whenever our lives will be in jeopardy.

Heroes will be revealed, not only in words but in actions, but the truth of the matter is.

Nothing of the sort exists.

Everyone stuck in their little world, looking at what the next trend will be, how to be 'in', how to gain fake friends that will be cast aside the moment they are no longer 'convenient'.

Hollywood has made us all believe evil is something that makes your hair raise on end, something that freezes the blood in your veins or makes your nose bleed, but, truth is much worse.

Evil, danger, death?

You cannot see it, you cannot smell it, you cannot feel it until it is right in your face.

36 hours earlier...

1:

That morning Eddie wasn't feeling too well. She thought she was having pre-period pains or maybe it was the fast food of the day before. She should learn to cook because her mother worked two jobs and was almost never around.

She sighed as she slipped her phone back in her pocket, the school had a no phone in the hallways policy that was strict and she didn't want to go see the principal again. She couldn't afford more attention, the wrong type of attention.

Lay low and get through these final days of high school.

Hell had never seemed more inviting when compared to this wretched institution that was school.

She swept the grounds not wanting to attract the attention of the bullies, always ready to make snide remarks about her clothes, about her family's financial status, making her regret the moment she had been born on the bad days.

Anything for a day of peace and quiet. She wished school would be about studying, proving yourself through your brainpower, not through the size of your parents' wallets.

The same hallways looked so drab and useless, she couldn' t wait to get out, if only she could get that scholarship... but the obvious choice was no.

She would end up with a job as a hairdresser or waitress, and scrape for money her entire life, looking at others live the good life.

It was so depressing a thought she could envision it, no escape possible, making her confidence falter.

The bell rang and everyone started to run to get to class and she did the same, not wanting to be accused of truancy... she was the first one to get to her class and rushed inside.

She saw a flash that was out of place... and that was the last thing she saw.

2:

Lucas was feeling a little feverish that morning but he didn't know if it came from the heat that was promising to be unbearable by midday.

He had been using his puffer all the way to school but the shortness of breath wouldn't leave him. His mother wanted to send him to the doctor for a check-up but too many people depended on him to prepare for the Spelling Bee competition. He wanted to win and he was the memory of the group. He liked the thrill of competition more than he would have admitted to himself, especially crushing his adversaries.

With severe asthma, he had never been able to impress anyone much but now he felt as though he had found his true calling.

Finally, finding his place in the world.

How could he want to stay home when he had people depending on him.

Even with his breath failing him, he scampered the last meters to get into the school. Once the day of classes was over, the fun would begin, but he wouldn't be alone eating in the cafeteria.

And that was the greatest victory of the year, as far as he was concerned.

He was going over the plan in his head again, seeing their victory, inevitable in his mind,when the bell rang.

He hurried a bit more to get to class, and so when he was jostled, he was almost knocked out.

For a few seconds, he just saw a blur, his glasses having tipped off his nose.

A metallic flash, a glimpse of something dangerously shiny...

And suddenly a lasting darkness...

3: Aaron was going through the hallways, sighing in boredom at the thought of another day spent in this chokehold that was high school. Just the thought of sitting down and having to go through Mr Guthrie's lecture was enough to make him wish he hadn't gotten up in the morning.

Why subject them to such hell, what was the point?

He wasn't learning anything more, except how to look awake when he was in fact asleep.

Who had invented this torture and who had decided that all children had to be subjected to it?

Mystery to him but it wasn't like blogging about it would change the world.

One tiny voice lost in the immensity of the noise would never make a difference.

The bell rang, strident, and made him hurry to get to his torture chamber.

He heard noise, shouts that seemed a bit out of place and looked up to try to see what was going on. A loud booming sound made him freeze in place, incapable of processing what he was seeing. Incapable of admitting what his eyes were showing him.

He wet himself but that wasn't enough to break the paralysis.

The gunman was dressed in black and green camouflage clothes, his face smeared with black grease, carrying a duffel bag and a rifle and as Aaron watched in stunned terror, he turned towards him.

A flash and nothing else, not even the time to hear the sound of thunder of the weapon firing.

4:

The moment the bell rang was the moment Julianna returned to reality, as she had been thinking about her date night on Friday, getting her nails done, where to get her dress for the graduation ball, very important preoccupations as she was popular enough, in her opinion, to be named queen of the ball.

Classes first, unfortunately, but she knew she had would nail every exam, she believed in herself and that was her greatest strength.

The throng of students rushing to the classrooms did not deter her, she jostled as much as she pushed around, but suddenly there were strange, unusual booming sounds and everyone seemed to come to a deadstop, and that made her trip and fall down.

Before she could regain her senses, screams and more booming sounds, thunderous in the hallways. Julianna's brain refused to work, to give her the obvious answer to this reversal of fortune.

The students, screaming in panic, were storming back, trampling over everything in their path, showing no care for her or her predicament. She was half-knocked out and was whimpering in pain and incomprehension when a shadow fell across her.

" Help me please, " she managed to blurt out weakly.

The help turned out to be a violent kick to the face that made her lose consciousness. She didn't see what came next; she never saw anything again.

5:

Paul heard the bell, then the shots. Weapons' firing. His father took him tot he range sometimes on Saturdays and there was no doubt in his mind. The students closest to the gunman ( and his heart pounded so hard in his chest suddenly, stealing the breath right out of him, gunman, shootout, in his school!) panicked and stampeded out of the hallways, trying to run away from the danger.

Paul knew firsthand what damage a firearm could do, he had seen it on animals when his father had taken him up hunting with his uncle.

While he enjoyed shooting at targets on the range, or a can, he could not tolerate seeing the damage done to living tissues, and to imagine...

Another shot made him jumpstart and he realized what kind of predicament he was in. While the others were fleeing, he was the perfect target against the wall...

Still it took all his strength of will to force his legs to move his body away. His feet were made of lead, his focus was swimming, his heart was beating so fast he was gasping for air. Worst time for a panic attack but at the same time, perfect timing. This was pure panic.

He slinked his way to an empty classroom and somehow made it under the teacher's desk.

He was shuddering, knees close to his chest, blood pounding so hard in his veins he could not hear anything else.

Was the gunman done, had he gone away, could he come out?

Every new shot made him jumpstart and whimper, what was happening , why wasn't anyone doing anything about it, where was the police, the security guards, the teachers, anyone?

Where was everyone supposed to protect them?

How could this happen? He could see the blood oozing out of the shot deer, the shredded skin, the eyes, lifeless, empty, and then his own, the same, a ominous omen...

Why wasn't anyone doing anything against this madman?

He was holding his breath and gasping for air every now and again but he wanted to stay as invisible as possible, hidden under a desk, why would he be found?

Plenty of other students around... and Paul almost cried at his callous take on the situation, but he didn't want to be that dead deer, he didn't want to be a number, a statistic...

He could hear screams still but there hadn't been a shot in a few minutes.

Maybe that monster had shot himself, good riddance, that would be perfect, let them be, no more deaths, no more!

His phone rang at that moment, so loud: he panted in fear and shut it off as quickly as he could: who was calling him at this precise moment?!

The squeak of shoes coming from the hallway was barely perceivable but whereas before all noises had seemed subdued, now it was as though he could hear every last decibel from a mile away.

The crunch of the soles as the person entered the room, scanning it for its prey. The steady breathing, the cocking of the weapon was so loud Paul had to bite his tongue not to cry out in panic.

The report was lost on him however, when the desk was destroyed by the rifle's blast.

6: When the bell rang , Joey didn't feel the inclination to rush to the classes. He didn't feel like doing anything at all except going back to bed. He thought he might be coming down with something, something bad, and he wished his mother would have been home so he could have stayed in bed all day. But his father had given him that look and he had piped down before even uttering one word.

He groaned to get his body moving from the slump he was in, but it was hard. He was getting a bad fever and would end up in the infirmary by midday...

The shots , so loud in the enclosed environment, made him freeze in place. He had trouble seeing clearly because of the rising fever, everything was in a haze, but he couldn't miss the panicked students, the flash of gunpowder exploding, the spray of red, blood... the screams, even more deafening than the bell had been.

He felt groggy and threw up, incapable of doing anything else.

He must have passed out because suddenly he woke up, lying in a pool of his own vomit, a smell of gunpowder in the air, screams now in the distance.

He couldn't believe his weakness, at the wrong moment, but he felt so strained and feeble he could not even get up to run away. He could only crawl forward at a snail's pace, not even seeing too well where he was going, where was safety or danger.

His heart was jackhammering his ribs but that was just stealing what little strength was left in his body.

Where was shelter, where would he be safe?

Was it just an illusion, when his own insides were revolting against him?

He coughed, bile coming up once more, and didn't even have the time to feel fear that someone had turned him over without kindness.

For a moment all he saw was the camouflage clothes and he almost cried in relief, thinking he was saved.

Before seeing in a fog the eyes. So cold.

And nothing else.

7:

Britney was walking with her boyfriend to class, giggling as he had just whispered another sweet message in her ear. Best days of her life as far as she was concerned, nothing could go wrong now.

She didn't really understand what was going on, the bell, the booms, and suddenly Tyler was pulling her back, nearly unsocketing her arm.

She started crying without even knowing why.

There were so many screams she thought her ears would explode, Tyler screaming the loudest of all. And the bodies pressing against her everywhere, pandemonium like she had never experienced.

It was a blur, indescribable, and the school hallways, the path to the doors, had never seemed so long, so impossible to cross.

People gasping, whimpering, crying, wheezing, the sounds jumbled with new screams when more thundering booms echoed in the enclosed space.

And suddenly she couldn't run anymore. Tyler dragged her on but her legs wouldn't move. She felt choked and dazed and would have fallen down if her boyfriend hadn't picked her up and carried her over his shoulder as though she was a dummy.

The sun hit her hard, she wasn't seeing properly anymore, darkness at the edge of her vision, but what was going on?

She could hardly breathe, but what was wrong with her legs, her arms?

And Tyler had set her down and his shirt, white before, was smeared with red and he was crying.

Screaming at the top of his lungs even though he had pulled out his phone: "Call 911, call the cops, call 911!!!!

Britney had trouble keeping her eyes open, and the sun was so hot on her eyelids, all she wanted was to close them and find peace, calm, somewhere that made sense.

Tyler was against her but she could barely feel him, only the touch of his tears on her face. Breathing was getting harder, impossible almost, she didn't know what was wrong, she was tired.

So tired.

"Here, bring her here! My wife's a retired nurse! " an elderly voice croaked.

She saw the scenery change, with a concerto of screams and cries in the background; now she was in a cool AC kitchen, set on a kitchen table that she could not feel.

"Oh my god, oh my god, "Tyler was repeating like a litany under his breath, walking back in forth helplessly, she had never seen him in such a panic.

"Oh this is bad, said an old lady's voice. It lodged in her spine, I don't know how she will... her lungs are filling, we need an ambulance now.

"I'm tired, Britney said softly. I want to sleep. "

"Don't let her sleep, the woman said, grabbing her phone. Do not let her sleep! "

Tyler grabbed her hand, he brought their entwined hands, covered in blood, to her face, the only reason she knew, because she felt nothing.

"Brit baby, stay with me, you hear? You're gonna be all right, you're gonna be all right! "

The old man swam into focus. " They're coming. "

"Stay with me, baby, say something, please, say something, stay with me. " Tyler insisted.

"I'm tired, she said, the only thing that came to mind, her most pressing concern, the only thing she could think about. It's too bright here, I need to close my eyes. "

Her breath grew raspier and wheezier before just snuffing itself out.

The old couple usually stayed away from any excitement, away from the horrors of the world, but the school was just around the corner and they saw firsthand the damage, the tears and pain.

That night after giving their statement to the police, they went to their cabin in the woods, they hadn't been back there in years.

And in memory of the 7 victims and 23 wounded, they lit one lone candle.