Memory Lane

The gun clamored to the floor, firing off one more warning shot before it fell. The class looked at us in shock. Octavia was in tears trying to wrench hee hand out of the hold, and I was still stunned I had just done that. Though my instinct was to run when I saw her holding the class hostage, the expensive kung-fu lessons kicked in and I crept back in the class and managed to disarm her. Recovering from her temporary trance, Mrs. Brooks kicked the gun away and secured Octavia's wrists with her trusty roll of duct tape that basically held the classroom together.

The police came and arrested her for murdering the principal, three of her closest friends, and a science teacher. No one in my class was hurt (except Garth who got shot in the leg when Octavia dropped the gun) physically, but emotionally, you can see the scars. Thirty years later and I still wonder why I sprang into action. I question why she'd shoot up the school and what would've happened if she had just looked to her left. She only said that the science teacher was a creep (which was why no one at school really mourned him), her friends were liars, and the principal just got in the way. And yet, as I flip back through my high school yearbook with my kids and catch a glimpse of her unnoteworthy face, I wonder what drives a person to kill.