My heart raced. I could feel it thundering in my chest. I knew if I didn’t get out of there, I’d be toast like the rest of them. I had only two minutes to get out. I wasn’t quite sure why I was doing this. All I wanted to do was make them pay and they would, I was almost sure of it. I could already taste the sweet revenge upon my lips. Tears welded up in my eyes. Never again would I give them the satisfaction of seeing my tears, never again would they taunt me.

There was only one minute left. All I could hear was my heart drumming in my ears and the rhythmic pounding of my feet on the tiled floor. The hall held an eerie emptiness. The lockers and doors swirled around in a blur as I sped past. I tried not to, but I couldn’t help occasionally glancing in the windows to see other high schoolers, like myself, staring at the teachers and wishing they could be anywhere else but here. Little did they know, they would be granted their wish, but it would be the last wish that would ever be given to them.

Thirty seconds left on the clock. Suddenly, I stopped running. I didn’t move, paralysis swept through my body like the blood in my veins. My conscience took hold of me, wrapping its slender but warm arms around my body. I stared out the open door. The early summer day was so calm and peaceful. It was cruel to disturb it. Twenty-five seconds left. All of the years of being called retarded, four eyes and being shoved into my locker; boiled down to these last twenty seconds. Part of me told me this was wrong and yet the other part was screaming for me to run, but still nothing moved. What if I got caught? What would I do? Fifteen seconds. Who cared? Revenge was so sweet! This is what I wanted, but why did I feel so awful? I tried to shove the knot down and, run, but I couldn’t. Ten seconds. I couldn’t stop now.

I stared at the black detonator in my hand. The red button allowed me to set it off before the clock, but that’s not the one I focused on. The one I focused on was the blue one . . . the one that would stop the bomb. Five seconds. What could I do? A light breeze floated through the door. Four seconds. I closed my eyes. Everything seemed to slow down and play in slow motion. Three seconds. My finger rested on the small blue button. Two seconds. "Just press it," one part of me said, and yet the other part of me screamed, "No! Run!" My brain began to argue with itself.

"No!" I let out a scream and I fell to my knees. My finger slipped, and I felt it press itself on one of the buttons. Silence. The bell rang and teens filled the hallway, not even noticing me. Lockers slammed and voices hovered it the humid air. How could it be that none of them seemed to care that they were so close to death? Tears streamed down my face.

"Are you okay?" I looked up to see a brown haired girl hovering above me. I nodded. Another bell rang and once again the halls were deserted. "I’m going to go to class." She said, "As long as you are sure you are ok." I smiled and gave another nod. Something about the silence was calming. "Let the world be at peace. This was the way it was and noting could ever be done about it."