Rachel sat in the after-school debate club when the loudspeakers spat out a warning of an emergency lockdown. At first, all the kids thought that it was some sort of a funny drill, but Rachel noticed the expression cross their teachers’ face. It was then that she was sure that there was something wrong.
The next day she met Jean and told her about the way she shook with fear when she heard the gunshots in the parking lot. Half of the school was in a frenzy trying to separate rumor from reality. Jean tried to tell Rachel about her breathing problem that she had had the day before, but Rachel was seriously overwhelmed. She couldn’t see how Jean’s problem was any more horrifying than her problem. At that point, Jean dearly wished that she had a device to directly communicate her thoughts to her friends.
The night brought rain and with it a knock on Rachel’s door. A tear-stained Jean stood at her doorstep, shaking like a leaf in her pink shoes. Once Rachel succeeded in calming down her friend whom she had never before seen so sacred, Jean confessed that she was very scared. Never in her life had she let the reality get to her but now, she was utterly broken.
She narrated her threat to her mom and told that her mom’s boyfriend came to pick her up from school. As a warning to Jean, James took out his gun and pointed it at her. It was there that he shot thrice in the air and drove Jean back to her house like nothing had happened. Jean wasn’t sure if complaining was a good idea anymore.
She gave up and made Rachel promise that she would never tell anything about what had happened to anyone. But, from then on, Jean grew silent and promised herself that she would one day grow into a powerful lady who wore a suit and got this man sued.
