The following night, Stoney’s parents were arguing again so he decided to take a walk down the street and get some snacks from the gas station that wasn’t too far from his home. He was fiddled with his phone to change the song he was listening to, and looked up just in time to see Sarah walking out of the gas station with multiple plastic bags full of groceries hanging off of her arm. She waved at him with her free hand and yelled, “See you at school, Stoney!” but this time, Stony had a creeping sensation that something wasn’t right. As he walked onto the gas station lot, Sarah was climbing into the passenger side of an unfamiliar, rusty, red 4×4 truck with cigarette smoke curling out of the driver’s side window. As the pick-up rumbled past, Stoney noticed that it was being driven by an older male with shaggy facial hair who gave Stoney a sinister sneer as he passed by him blaring country music from the radio. The days came and went, but Stoney realized that Sarah had been absent from school since the last time that he saw her at the gas station and he began to wonder about her whereabouts. The other students were becoming curious as well; then one day their principal walked in the classroom, apparently flustered, and broke the news to everyone.
‘ “Listen up everybody; there’s no easy way to put this, but your fellow classmate, Sarah has passed away. She was the victim of a brutal attack and her body was found this morning by the authorities. There will be a candlelight vigil held for her outside of the gymnasium this Saturday at 6 PM if anyone would like to attend.”
As the principal briskly turned to leave back out of the classroom, Stoney immediately raised his hand but the principal waved him off; and again he heard,
“Not right now…”
Class ended for the day, and school was finally out. As Stoney was walking home from school, he was again attacked by the school bullies. They pushed him to the ground and yelled mean comments at him as they kicked him, saying things like,
“Maybe YOU killed Sarah!”
This group heard a loud voice from an adult across the street that yelled “Enough!” and they ran. Stoney was left bleeding and confused. As he slowly picked himself up off the ground, he looked up just in time to notice a familiar raggedy, red pick-up truck pulling off from in front of a house further down the block. He thought to himself,
“That’s the truck I last saw Sarah in.”
Stoney headed home; and as usual, his parents were preoccupied with their back-and-forth bickering. He quietly went to his room and went to bed. Stoney fell into a restless sleep; tossing and turning; and when he awoke, he felt different. Still dressed in his bloody clothes from the attack, it was as if his mind was lost in a haze. Stoney wrote two words on a piece of paper, and then went to his parent’s bedroom. He retrieved his father’s automatic pistol from a shelf in his closet, along with 2 extra magazines of ammunition, and headed to school. Stoney had finally decided he’d had enough and that it would be a day of reckoning for all those who had ever crossed him. He had felt trapped with no way out for long enough, so he made the decision to take matters into his own hands.
Off to school he went, and one by one he located those who attacked and bullied him and issued out what he felt was justice for all that he had endured from them. In his mind, he treated it like he was playing a video game and felt no remorse as shots rang out through the halls of the school. Panic and terror overcame everyone inside of the building as Stoney went from classroom to classroom seeking vengeance. As his last stop, Stoney went to his math class, balled up the piece of paper that he had previously written two words on, and threw it at his teacher, who was crouching under his desk. Stoney then turned the gun on himself and ended his own life.
Once the police had gotten everyone out of the school safely and was sure that the building was clear of any threats they began to take statements from everyone regarding what had happened. The math teacher walked up to where one had just finished interviewing one of the students and said, “Excuse me officer, Stoney gave this to me before he committed suicide.” As the officer opened the paper and read it, his face paled and he shook his head. Another officer walked up, seeing how visibly shaken the first officer was, and asked what the paper said. He replied,
“Nobody’s Listening…”
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