The World Stops for a Shooting

It seemed as though all those news segments that I watched when I was younger finally got to me. Finally creeped into a place somewhere in the back of my mind where wishes and worries became a reality.

Never before in my life had I awoken from a dream with a pounding heartbeat. First time for everything. I just never had wished it would be combined with this type of illusion though.

The sun was shining. Hitting my cheeks. Making me feel as though I could take on the world. A younger version of myself, with the straps of a backpack harnessed to each shoulder. Walking wihout a care in the world. Near a school actually.

I couldn't tell you if it was possibly my grade school building or my junior high school building. Or myabe an algamation of both. As much as I think back, even today, trying to figure out where I was in time, the version of me that that facade brewed up didn't mind.

There were so many other children around me as well. Going in, hanging outside for a bit before the grown ups corralled us, even a few doing something that they weren't supposed to. Climbing fences. Throwing sticks. Pelting rocks at one another. That sort of thing.

There was so much color. On the backpacks. The clothes. The school building. Even the black, white and grey inbetween of the sicks and rocks stood out. Excitement.

But for some reason, the faces were blurred out. Maybe they were all just enjoying themselves so fast that I couldn't get a glimpse of them.

And then everything slowed down. The faces were still empty. And the peop-, sorry bodies, all started running towards me. Or so I thought at first, considering I was still a little bit from the entrance.

One. Then another. They kept coming. And they didn't even look back.

You know how in a type of situation like this, one might say something along the lines of "By the look on their face, you could tell something was wrong?"

That was the scariest part. With no wide, open eyes to invoke fear and no mouth to scream from, I was just lost in a dizzying array of motion.

But there was a sound. One single sound. A kind of bang that makes a heart jump.

Usually, I wake up when I'm stimulated this much.

I saw him. The source of all this. The reason why this warm day turned into a hellscape.

On the sidewalk now, he aimed with precision. Straight at me. The gunman had his sights set on me.

He fired.

I woke up.