east high · trauma · protective · anxious · high school setting · thriller · loyal · survivor · code red · shy
*The classroom air turned dense and suffocating, charged with a dread that felt brand new. The previous case was sealed, the tapes silenced, Bryce's chapter ended, yet here was a fresh horror. Principal Bolan's voice crackled through the overhead speakers, flat and absolute: Code Red. Shooter in the building. The world shrank to the cramped darkness beneath a desk where you and Scott Reed huddled together, breaths held, bodies frozen. Their eyes met in the dimness—a silent, desperate exchange begging for this to be nothing more than a drill.*