Sure to Shine

"You need a hand there, son?"

Eric looked up to see his father looking at him worriedly. He forced a smile and shook his head.

"No, I’m all right, thanks, Dad," he said.

"You sure?" Matthew asked, looking at his son closely. Eric hadn’t been right since the accident. Matthew had been expecting his child to be acting a little strangely for a while afterwards, as he had probably given himself a nasty fright. But it had been four days, and even though Eric seemed to be healing well physically, his mind was elsewhere for most of the time. He hadn’t even come out of his shell when Adam had been over, and usually if anyone could get a smile out of Eric, it was Adam.

"I’m all right, Dad," Eric insisted, going into the fridge and grabbing a carton of milk. His father raised his eyebrows when Eric took a swig straight from the carton, but didn’t say anything. Eric supposed his father was probably just relieved to see him drink something. Eric had barely been able to stomach water these days.

The truth was, although Eric hadn’t seen Skylar since the car crash, he knew when Skylar was going to do it. He didn’t know how he was so sure that Skylar would be picking the anniversary of Ben’s attack on the school for his own shooting, but he just seemed to know that it was going to be that day.

Of course, Eric was a little apprehensive. He supposed it would be common sense to think that Skylar, a person so obsessed with school shootings, would chose hat date. But it went deeper than just guessing, Eric realised. It was almost as though he could read Skylar’s mind, and see that he was going to do it.

Eric didn’t know what to do. He wanted to tell someone, but he knew he wouldn’t get the chance. Skylar would be able to get him right up until school started tomorrow. Tomorrow was the twelfth anniversary, and so Skylar would be doing it then. Once Eric was at school, it would be too late to try and explain everything to the cops.

Eric found himself wishing his had a gun of his own. He would bring it in tomorrow and shoot Skylar as soon as he got through the door. He would, of course, be arrested, but he thought they would go easy on him he they saw he had managed to stop a school shooting.

"I might get you checked out at the hospital again," Matthew told his son.

"What?" Eric asked. "Why? I’m alive, aren’t I?"

"You’re not the same, kiddo," Matthew said. "I’m worried that knock to the head has done more damage than they spotted. Perhaps you and me should go back down to the hospital tomorrow?"

"No, Dad," Eric said. "I’m fine. I’m going into school tomorrow."

"No you’re not," Matthew said. "You’re not well enough yet. You can barely stand and you’re hardly eating at all."

"I’m fine," Eric said. "I have to go in tomorrow, anyway. We’ll have all the assemblies and stuff; it’s disrespectful to miss it all."

"Well, how about you just go in for the morning, then?" Matthew asked, sighing. "That way you don’t miss the services and then you can come back up to the hospital in the afternoon."

"All right," Eric agreed. He knew that the plan would never work, but he just wanted time to think.

Eric went back to his bedroom then, and lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He was so nervous that it was almost as though he himself was planning the shooting. Then again, he realised, he was just as bad as Skylar. He could stop it if he wanted to. He could go to the police and tell them what was going to happen. He could tell them that Skylar would kill him if he found out. They could protect him.

However, something was telling Eric that Skylar would just know. He didn’t know how to explain this, but Eric could sense the other young man and knew that he wouldn’t get out of the front door without being interrogated by him.

Eric couldn’t understand why Skylar was going to do this. He didn’t even attend the school; he had no motives apart from infamy. Then again, considering Skylar’s delusions and sense of self-worth, Eric wouldn’t be surprised if infamy would be all he needed.

Even if it was highly unlikely Skylar would live to see said infamy.

Perhaps that was why he had told Eric all of this? So Eric could be the one to get interviewed and write books and tell the world how terrified he was of Skylar, and what Skylar had done to him. Perhaps he had chosen Eric as some sort of prophet, to spread his message after he went out with a literal bang?

Eric’s head was aching from all the thoughts. None of his answers seemed reasonable. Skylar had told him that he had taught him all of that stuff to make his job easier. Skylar’s "job" was shooting up Eric’s school. Eric was confused as to how Skylar’s little lessons fit into all of that.

Eric thought about if he didn’t succeed in stopping Skylar. Would that make the lessons apparent? Would it be the fact he would show no fear when Skylar pointed the gun at him? Would that play into a bigger part of Skylar’s plan?

Eric sighed, feeling restless. He got up and went into the living room, which was empty. His father was in the kitchen, reading over insurance letters from the car company. Eric felt awful. As if his father hadn’t got enough bills to pay, Eric had gone and totalled the car, as well.

Well, he hadn’t totalled the car. Skylar had, but of course Eric couldn’t really say that. Eric was under the impression that he was the only one Skylar actually spoke to, and again, he questioned why. He wondered if telling his father it wasn’t his fault would lessen the guilt.

Eric had been told by the doctors that he should have been killed in the car accident. It had been pure luck that he had survived with relatively minor injuries. He had spent a couple of days in hospital while he had been observed for brain or spinal injuries, but now he was back home and recovering well. Eric had seen the car after the crash. The front driver’s side had been crumpled by the fence and the tree had left a huge indent in the car, almost bending the car around in a near semi-circle. If the car had hit the tree in even just a slightly different position, Eric knew the tree would have slammed straight into his door, and then there was no doubt that he would have been killed instantly. Instead, he had only suffered a knock to the head, some cuts and bruises, whiplash and a slight case of shock. He hadn’t exactly walked away from the accident, but he realise that it could have been a whole lot worse.

What terrified him was the lack of control Skylar had had over the whole situation. Sure, the crazy teenager had tried to kill Eric before, or at least threatened it. But Eric knew that Skylar had been in control of the situation the entire time. This time, Skylar hadn’t been able to control the way the car would leave the road, or how it would stop. Even more disturbingly, Skylar had had no evidence that the car would spin round to Eric’s side. He could quite easily have killed himself in the accident, and the young man’s recklessness regarding not just his own safety, but the safety of others as well, further convinced Eric that Skylar was a textbook psychopath.

Eric sighed heavily and he turned on the TV. Skylar was a total psycho, and tomorrow, Eric knew he would be face to face with the little fucker as he fired a gun around his school.

Eric quickly realised that he wouldn’t be able to get away from the thoughts of school shootings for the next couple of days, at least. The local channels always played things on school shooting around this time, because of what the date would be soon. It was the same in April.

Ben and Eric looked even more alike today. Eric stared at the picture of the shooter on the TV screen, as the documentary showed it. Ben looked moody, distracted, very much how Eric would expect someone like him to look. He caught his own reflection in the window. It was dark outside, and the light from the room made it almost impossible to see outside.

Eric wore the same glowering, distracted expression as his look-alike. He growled under his breath and leant his aching head against the back of the couch. He wondered what the news would be saying this time tomorrow. Would it be reporting deaths? Would his own death be one of those reported?

Eric wondered if, when he got into school tomorrow, he could get the principal’s attention. If he got in early, his could probably find the principal already in his office. Eric knew that any threat would be taken with the up most seriousness. The entire building would go into lockdown and the police would be called instantly, as soon as Eric even so much as mentioned the idea of another shooting. But then, what if this was all part of Skylar’s plan? What if Eric was just guessing wilding regarding the date, and Skylar would wait for Eric to get into a shitload of trouble, be carted off to jail, and be out of the way for good. Then no one would stop Skylar from walking in and opening fire.

Eric thought about this disturbing thought as he listened to the narrator on the documentary telling the viewers how Ben had arrived an hour late to school. He hadn’t bothered disguising the guns as he walked in and opened fire, shooting people indiscriminately in the corridors.

Eric shuddered. Gunfire in the halls was a high school kid’s worst nightmare.

The only thing that Eric could do was go in tomorrow, and remain as vigilant as possible.

He felt that this thing Skylar had worked both ways. Skylar seemed to be able to read Eric’s thoughts, but Eric was finding that he was beginning to predict the young man just as well. Perhaps Skylar allowing Eric to think like him, to give Eric an insight into his own disturbed mind, would come back to haunt him? Eric had a feeling what Skylar had taught him would come in handy, but then he wondered why Skylar would teach him it in the first place, if he knew that it would jeopardise his plans.

This was what frustrated Eric the most. Skylar was, indeed, smart, and Eric knew that Skylar had done all this to deliberately confuse him, making it impossible to set any proper plan. Eric knew that much was fact, and he also knew that Skylar was gleeful that his plan had succeeded. He was probably sitting there, gloating about it, right now.

Eric glared at the floor as the narrator told everyone how Ben Murdoch had gone into the library after killing all of his victims. He listened as he was told how there were still a few survivors in the library. He learnt that Ben’s last words were, "I hope you’ll all happy now."

Eric could picture the scene as the narrator described it. It didn’t help that Eric was so familiar with the library, it being one of the only places in the school to get some peace. Listening to this programme, he realised how ironic it was.

The picture he had from the morning spent sitting in the library after the first incident with Skylar was completed in Eric’s mind. He saw Ben come into the library. He saw the survivors quickly scurry back under their desks, terrified that Ben would open fire again. But Eric could see Ben not caring any longer. He pictured the boy’s glowering expression, the hurt in his eyes, the defeated look; shoulders slumped, dragging his feet. Eric saw it so well because he could picture himself in the same pose. He saw Ben go into the room, sweeping the gun across it to terrify the students who had tormented him so much once last time. Eric heard him say his final last words. He pictured everything as the narrator said it. Ben cocked the gun, put the barrel of it into his mouth, and pulled the trigger, in front of half a dozen horrified students.

There was a pause, before they all pulled themselves out from under the desks and fled, running out of the school, hands raised to show the police they were no threat. Traumatised by what they had seen. Knowing them would never forget stepping over Ben’s broken body, his head resting in a growing pool of blood, as they made their escape.

Knowing that perhaps, they could have done something. Knowing that, perhaps, they were partly responsible.

Eric closed his eyes as he heard the documentary end. The tears still made their way down his cheeks.