Sure to Shine

Eric barely slept. If it wasn’t for the fact that he awoke slouched on the sofa, feeling cramp bite at his leg, he would have thought he had never slept at all. He felt exhausted, like he had been constantly running up and down stairs all night. It wasn’t the first time in this last week or so that he had awoken feeling more tired than when he went to bed, and he was starting to wonder if he would ever sleep properly again.

He became aware that someone else was in the room with him. There was a slight shadow where instead there should have been light from the window.

He looked up to see his father standing over him, looking down at him worriedly. Eric briefly wondered if he had been having a nightmare or yelling in his sleep, as his father looked a little nervous.

Eric forced a small smile.

"You been here all night?" he asked. "I thought you were going to school."

Eric’s eyes widened.

"What time is it?" he demanded.

"Calm down, you’re only running twenty minutes late," his father told him, but Eric leapt up. As he ran to the door, not caring that he looked a state, he turned and glanced at his father.

"Dad," he said, and he swallowed. "Say if something happens today, I love you."

Eric knew that it was in no way inconspicuous, but he didn’t want to leave without saying something. His father frowned.

"What do you mean, Eric?" he asked. "What’s going on?"

"Nothing," Eric muttered. "I – er – I was watching a documentary on the shooting last night. It’s the anniversary today, twelve years. The programme just said about … about copycat killers striking out on the same date as the original. I was just thinking, on the off chance, if something happened, you know. I mean - I’m just paranoid, that’s all. Don’t worry. Forget I said it. I gotta go."

"Eric -" Matthew began, looking more worried than ever.

Eric felt terrible, and decided to just make a quick exit.

"I gotta go, Dad," Eric called, already out of the door. "I love you."

"Love you too, son," Matthew Jensen replied, visibly confused, but Eric was already sprinting down the street. He had left his schoolbag at home, but he knew his father wouldn’t be suspicious. There were no lessons in the morning today, instead everyone would be at the memorial assembly and then there was no point starting classes until the afternoon. His father was under the impression that Eric would be coming home them, anyway.

As he ran, he passed someone, also late, driving into school. They looked at him through the window before rolling it down.

"Nice look, Jensen," he called, laughing. "You look like a right fucking psycho!"

"Yeah, thanks," Eric called, not really caring. He leapt the fence into the park, wincing as he reminded himself of Skylar, and continued to run towards the school. He would do anything. He would run screaming through the corridors. He would pull the fire alarm. Hell, he would start a fire if he had to. He just needed to get everyone out of that building.

He didn’t know how the day would play out. All he knew was that he was the only person standing between another massacre and a day with simply a security alert. Strangely, he didn’t feel like a hero. He thought about all the characters in movies that would run to the scene of an incident, being all cool and collected, feeling good about what they were doing.

Eric felt none of that. All he felt was a blind panic, an urge to scream and shout and cry and wonder why, out of all the people this could happen to, it had to be him.

What if no one took him seriously and it happened anyway? Eric didn’t think it was likely, but he knew he didn’t look exactly like a sane person at the moment. He certainly didn’t feel sane. He felt away from himself, almost as though constantly drunk or in a daze.

As he neared the other side of the park, something threw itself at him from the left hand side, and before he knew it, Skylar had rugby-tackled him to the ground and was pressing the shotgun into his chest.

Eric noticed that Skylar was dressed for the occasion, looking as though he had turned into one of the Columbine shooters. He had the look right down to the glove on one hand with the fingers cut away and the backwards baseball cap. The trench coat was no change, but it still added to the effect.

"Where do you think you’re going?" Skylar hissed, his eyes glinting madly. "Trying to ruin my fun, are you? Fuck off, I won’t let you!"

"Skylar, please," Eric gasped, the fall having winded him badly. "Please don’t do this. You don’t have to do this!"

"I know I don’t have to," Skylar replied. "I want to."

Eric appealed to the only thing Skylar cared about – himself. If he could appeal to Skylar’s human nature in any way, however small that nature might be, Eric knew that the way to do it was to make Skylar think of himself, not anyone else. He didn’t care about anyone else, only himself.

"Skylar," Eric begged, not caring that the desperation in his voice was making Skylar’s smirk more prominent. "Why are you going to waste yourself like this? You think you’re going to get out of this? You’ll be killed. Why would you want to get yourself killed? Why waste everything you’ve discovered, every single thing you’ve learnt? Why would you just throw it all away when you’re so proud of it all? Why not try and make something of it? You’re smart; you could do something great with your life. You could make a name for yourself."

"Oh, and I won’t make a name for myself by doing this?" Skylar asked, laughing. "Kid shoots up the school on the anniversary of the attacks? It’s something that’s never been done before. Sure, kids have shot up their school, but have they ever gone into a school which they don’t even attend, on the anniversary of a previous massacre, and shot it up simply because they could? I never went to that school, I have no motivation apart from the fact I want to do it. They’ll all be so fucking terrified, so confused. I’m going to be a new breed of school shooter. Imagine the fucking panic; the stories coming from this will make me immortal!"

Eric knew he was looking into the face of someone who was totally mad. Skylar’s whole face was lit up, his grin manic, his eyes bright with the thought of what he was going to do. Eric began to realise just how powerless he was. Even more terrifying was the niggling suspicion that Eric had over Skylar’s intentions. He got the feeling the young psychopath was just gearing up to kill him, right here in the park.

"Everyone has the power to do anything that they want, Eric," Skylar said softly. "They can do whatever they please if they have the right mindset. Sometimes, it’s the only thing keeping a person going. For nearly a year before the shooting, Ben Murdoch kept a bullet in his shoe. That way, whenever someone was a bastard to him, he would feel the bullet against his foot and know that he had the power to change it all. As his plan started to take hold, he realised that he would soon have the power. When they removed his body, took it away to the hospital, they found he still had the bullet in his shoe. It was with him until the second he died, always making him realise that he was making his own choices. Making him accept that he was his own person. It encouraged him."

"What’s this got to do with anything?" Eric gasped.

"I was that bullet to you, Eric," Skylar said. "I showed you what you could do. What you were capable of. But you can’t forget that I am always one step ahead of you. I’m the more advanced one here. I know how people react. I’ve seen them puss out, or try to stop me. You were different. You listened to what I had to say. This is your last chance. If you want, you can walk the fuck away and get on with your life. You can do what needs to be done. On the other hand, you can put up a fight, I’ll win, and you’ll end up doing exactly what I want anyway. You can’t outsmart the very person who taught you everything. You’ll do anything I want, because even though I have taught you what you know, you’re still terrified of me. And that’s pretty smart. If I was in your position, I would be terrified too. So, Eric. What’s it going to be? Coming quietly, or are you going for the kicking and screaming option?"

"I’m begging you, Skylar," Eric pleaded. "Don’t do this. Please."

Skylar sighed, as though disappointed in the way a parent would be in their child.

"Then I’m afraid you’re going to have to be removed from the picture," Skylar shrugged. Eric felt his heart skip a beat.

"Are you going to kill me?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly. He began to get the sneaking suspicion that his hunch from earlier had been correct. After all, it certainly sounded like that’s what Skylar meant. He was about to go into a school and open fire, what did one person beforehand matter?

Skylar gave a thin smile.

"Kill you? No. Not yet. I still need you. Afterwards, yes, probably. Right now, I think I’ll just do this."

For the third time in a very small amount of time, Eric felt something hard crack into the side of his head. Spots exploded in his vision, but he realised he couldn’t give up the fight this easily. He reached up and blocked Skylar’s next hit, yelling out as loud as he could. This area was a rough neighbourhood, so even though someone might not come running to see what the problem was, Eric could at least hope that they would call the cops. If they arrived now, they would have Skylar. They would catch him in the act, with the guns and everything. Just the sight of the gun would be enough for Skylar to be arrested – the shotgun was, after all, illegally sawn off.

Skylar jumped up then, and for a second Eric thought, optimistically, that he was going to do a runner. He rolled over onto his stomach, but was too slow in getting up. Before he could even get to his hands and knees, Skylar’s foot collided with the side of his head, with such force that Eric jerked a little way across the ground.

Eric, briefly stunned, could only force his eyes up as he saw Skylar approach him, and stand over him, looking down at him with a seemingly curious expression.

"You’re not ruining this for me," Skylar hissed. "Trust me. I’m not sure if you’re brave or just stupid yet, but it ends here for you. You’ve done all I need you to do."

Skylar grinned and gave a slightly mad chuckle.

"You’ve helped me in more ways than I could ever imagine," he said softly.

Eric saw Skylar bringing the gun down towards his head, but he saw nothing after that.