Echo

• Georgina Richards, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2017

‘Beeep!’ A blood curdling siren echoed around the school. “This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill, find a secure spot and hide!” my Principal’s raspy voice took over the school’s loud speaker. My mind panicked, I tried to run, but my body would not move. ‘Great,’ I thought, ‘Just my luck, a real lock down starts in the middle of me walking back from my music lesson and I can’t seem to run.’
Out of nowhere, my eye caught a small glimpse of a shadowy black figure carrying a machete and a riffle. I ran, running as fast as my legs could take me despite the fact I hated running and had no idea where I was going. I found a small dark storage room with no windows tucked in the corner of the school’s gym.
To my surprise, I was not the only one hiding in the gym's storage room. Three other people were in there. One of them was a year eleven girl, my best friend Riley and my Korean teacher Mrs. Wong. Mrs. Wong was wearing all black and carrying a butter knife. She pulled up her sleeve revealing a wrinkled tattoo saying ‘hangug-eo jug-ida geulub’ also known as the Korean Kill Group. I ran to the door of the storage room yanking on the handle. The door was locked, I gave up on trying to unlock it and sunk down to the floor. My eyes shut, dreaming about the happy days when mum was still alive.
My eyes opened to the sight of blood spewing out of the senior school girl’s stomach. “Soon that will be you,” whispered Mrs. Wong.
I started to hear echoes of my mother’s last words, "Remember Charlie, be strong and believe in what is right, I love you and I’ll miss you." The scene kept replaying in my head, I miss my mum so much, but I had to be strong.
Riley dropped to the ground. She had a deep knife cut in her leg. I turned around to see who had done it, Mrs. Wong was smirking she pulled out another knife stabbing it into her heart. Mrs. Wong then dropped to the ground near Riley. I picked up the knife, holding it tight.
All that was left from my Korean teacher Mrs. Wong was the weapon she used. My hand clenched the knife leaving imprints in my palm. The knife dropped to the ground bouncing up about 5cm. I was in disbelief my knees shaking. Bloodstains were on my dress. Heavy breathing was all I could hear, tears ran down my cheeks as I stared at Riley, I still could not believe she was gone. My eyes shut, I heard a gasp, shocked I opened them to see Riley gasping for breath.