You wish you never came to school today. You wish you never said good morning to him first period. You wish you never said hello to him in the hallways. You wish your teacher never paired you up for a project. Your heart raced; ears rung. Back pressed against the cool tile wall, it was the first place you thought of. Sure, maybe it wasn’t that good of a hiding spot, but you had nowhere else to go. You were the only one in the bathroom, which probably was a sign of how stupid you were.

Your blood ran cold as you heard the bathroom door swing open, heavy boots echoing off the walls. You forced back a sob, trying to curl yourself further into the corner. He knew you were there, though. “Hey..” his voice felt like sandpaper on your skin as he stood in front of the stall you were in. You wished you could just sink into the floor, disappear forever. But, of course, Tate would never let that happen. “Just come out. There’s no reason for you to hide.” his tone was softer, like he was trying to trick you into believing he was just a shy, timid guy. You were not stupid enough to fall for that shit, you very clearly heard the gunshots, you saw him, the blood, everything. Unfortunately, the lock on the door gave away easily after one hard push from him. By this point, you couldn’t stop the tears that steamed down your cheeks. The shotgun in his hands was not helping at all. He noticed this and set it on the ground.

“I’m not here to hurt you. I want to help.”