by Jo Ramsey
I’d better text Mira. She hasn’t done anything to me. She should stay home tomorrow. She doesn’t deserve what everyone else is going to get.
As long as she doesn’t try to stop me. If she does, she’s on the list too. I’m not taking any more shit from anyone, not even her.
Chapter Nine
AFTER ROB took off on Saturday afternoon, I didn’t hear anything from him. At all. I texted him right away. A few hours later, when he hadn’t answered, I texted again. He didn’t reply to that either. No midnight chat. Nothing.
If I hadn’t promised to keep quiet about what Rob had said, I would have asked Dad to call Lee-Anne to make sure Rob was okay. But I couldn’t. It would have upset Rob even more. If Rob hadn’t gone home, Lee-Anne probably would have called us or shown up at our house, so the fact that she hadn’t was probably a good sign. I just had to hope Rob hadn’t hurt himself.
All day Sunday, my phone stayed silent other than a text from Talia to remind me I’d taken her Sunday afternoon shift. I’d completely forgotten she had some family reunion thing. Working wasn’t my ideal thing to do, but maybe it would take my mind off Rob.
Keeping my mind on the job turned out to be harder than I’d expected. Rob had never gone this long without talking to or texting me. Not in the whole time I’d known him. I checked my phone every chance I got to see whether Rob had answered my texts, and each time I didn’t see a reply from him, I got more worried. But I got through the five hours of work and then went home and failed to finish my homework.
Even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep, I went to bed early. Lying down staring at my ceiling was better than pretending to Dad and Olin that I wasn’t worried about anything.
I shouldn’t have promised Rob I wouldn’t talk to Dad. I needed help figuring out what to do about the messages Rob had gotten and how to find out whether he was okay. If he’d hurt himself, his parents might not let me know. They would probably blame me.
Just before midnight, my phone buzzed. I yanked it out from under my pillow so fast I almost dropped it and had to fumble to see the message.
It was Rob, but he didn’t use his usual greeting. Stay home tomorrow.
What? Why? He had no reason to tell me to skip school. No one had threatened me. Rob was the one they’d sent the messages to, and I refused to abandon him. He would need backup, especially on the way to school in the morning, and I would be there.
I don’t want you to see.
I blinked at the text. It didn’t make any sense. What didn’t he want me to see? Maybe he was afraid someone would seriously hurt him and was trying to protect me from seeing it, but if anyone attacked him, surely he would rather have a witness. See what?
A few minutes passed. I kept staring at the phone. With each second, my heart beat faster, and I caught myself holding my breath a couple of times.
Finally Rob replied. I’m going to take them all out. They’ll never hurt me again. You’re my only friend, so you get to live.
The words took a few seconds to register—take them all out.
I would get to live.
He was going to kill someone. Maybe more than one person.
I had to be reading it wrong. Rob would never hurt anyone. He was scared and angry, and plenty of people had hurt him, but he couldn’t actually want to kill people.
He was venting. Spouting off the way he always did. He just meant he wished he could stop the bullying, not that he would actually do anything.
But if he was only venting, he wouldn’t have told me to stay home from school.
Whatever he was planning, I had to talk him out of it. I was the only one who could. He knew I cared about him. If I tried to stop him from ruining his life and other people’s, he would listen. He always listened to me.
The kid in Wyoming hadn’t listened to anyone, though. If someone had tried to stop him, they’d failed. Now he was a murderer, and people probably thought he wasn’t worth caring about.
I didn’t want anyone to think that about Rob. I had to convince him to calm down.
What are you doing? They aren’t worth destroying your life.
I won’t have a life to destroy. We’re all going to die. That’s why I don’t want you there.
A chill ran through me, and for a second I forgot how to breathe. Die. People were going to die. Including Rob. If he was just blowing off steam, he needed to shut up. He was scaring the hell out of me.
He couldn’t mean it. He’d gotten freaked out by the messages online the day before, and now he was talking about wanting to make them stop. He wouldn’t actually do anything.
Even though I didn’t know how to handle this, I couldn’t tell anyone else. Dad would only call Rob’s parents or the police. They would think he meant it and would go through with locking him up. Maybe in a hospital, but they might put him in jail instead. Threatening to kill people was against the law.
I refused to let it happen. Every time Rob had been upset about bullying or his parents before, I’d been able to settle him down. I could this time too.
Calm down. Let’s talk, okay? Can you get out of your house? We can go for a walk. Fresh air. You’re just venting, right? You know you shouldn’t do anything. I didn’t know if I’d be able to sneak out without Dad hearing me, but this wasn’t something to discuss by text. I needed to see Rob face to face. Then I would be able to tell for sure whether he was serious, and he might be more likely to pay attention to what I said.
Stop it.
Stop what? I shivered. I was pissing him off. Even just looking at words on a screen, I could tell. He was already upset and angry with everyone else, and now he was getting angry with me. If I pissed him off too much, he might decide to come after me too.
Except he wouldn’t do something like that. He wouldn’t hurt me or anyone else. If I thought it enough, it would be true.
Shut up, Mira. If you say anything to anyone, I’ll come after you first. I’m trying to be nice and warn you so you’ll still be alive. Just shut up.
My heart stopped.
He was threatening me. My best friend would kill me if I told anyone about his threats.
He wouldn’t know if I said anything. He couldn’t read my mind. If I woke Dad and showed him the texts, Rob wouldn’t find out.
Except Dad wouldn’t be able to do anything except make phone calls. To people who would tell Rob I’d talked. And then he might show up at my house and make sure I never talked to anyone again.
No. I was overreacting. He was panicking about going back to school the next day. That was all. He didn’t mean any of this.
Maybe he hadn’t even said it. I was having a nightmare. But I was pretty sure I hadn’t fallen asleep, and the words on my phone were way too real.
Rob, come on. Stop it. Talk to me.
I waited. No answer. Five minutes passed while I shook and tried to remember to inhale and exhale. When no reply showed up, I tried again.
Answer me. Please. What are you doing?
Again, minutes passed. They felt like hours. Even days. My heart wouldn’t slow down, and I couldn’t stop shaking.
For all I knew, he’d stopped texting because he was on the way to my house. Think, Mira. Come on. He won’t hurt you. Just keep talking to him and everything will be okay.
If he was serious about this, I needed to find out exactly what he intended to do. He hadn’t said how he planned to “take out” the people at school—or himself. I had a pretty good idea, though. He’d complained about his father owning a gun. If Rob wanted to stop everyone from harassing him, shooting them would be a way to do it. Even if his father kept the gun locked up, Rob would figure out a way to get it.
He might be walking to my house with the gun right now to stop me from talking to anyone. He’d told me to keep my mouth shut, but he hadn’t given me a chance to agree. Maybe he didn’t trust me anymore.
Then again, I didn’t know whether he had the gun. Or whether he’d even left his house. I couldn’t assume anything. I needed to find ou
t for sure.
With hands that trembled so badly I could barely hold the phone, I sent another text.
What are you going to do?
This time, he answered, but it didn’t reassure me a bit. Shoot.
My stomach dropped, and I almost gagged. I was right. He had his father’s gun. He was going to bring it to school, and the bullies might not be the only ones he shot. If he was furious enough, he might just start firing and not care who he hit. Everyone at school would be at risk. The gun would only be able to fire a few bullets. Rob probably wouldn’t want to take time to reload, because that would give people time to stop him. But a few bullets were enough to kill a few people.
At least he’d replied to my text. That meant he probably wasn’t on his way to my house. When he went outside, he always paid attention to what was going on around him so no one would be able to sneak up on him. If he wasn’t in his house, he wouldn’t even have read my text, let alone replied.
I wasn’t in danger right this second, but that didn’t matter. In a few hours, I would be. Along with a few hundred other people.
Maybe you can stay home tomorrow too. It was a really stupid thing to say, but I didn’t know how else to convince him to drop his plan. If he stayed home for a day, he might have time to cool down.
No response. I kept staring at the phone, watching the time change on the display, until I couldn’t stand it anymore. Rob?
LEAVE ME ALONE!!! And keep your mouth shut. I mean it.
I blew out a long breath and put down the phone beside me. My stomach rolled, and a rancid taste filled my mouth. The room spun. I didn’t know whether it was from fear or because my heart was beating so fast my chest ached, and I’d apparently forgotten how to breathe.
For now, I was probably safe, but I was the only one. In the morning, if I didn’t ignore his command to stay quiet, people would die. No matter how much I wanted to believe Rob was only venting, I knew better. If he didn’t mean what he said, he wouldn’t have threatened me. He would have kept texting, and he wouldn’t have said he would come after me if I told anyone.
I couldn’t sit still. I got up and walked over to the window above my desk. All I saw was the streetlight right outside and the other houses. No people. No moving cars.
It was after midnight. School started in less than eight hours. People would be on their way to school in about seven hours. If Rob let them get that far.
Something had happened to make my quiet, peaceful best friend snap, and whatever it was had happened since he left my house the day before. During his visit, he’d been freaked out about the messages, but he hadn’t made any threats. Only his usual comments about wanting to stop the bullying and being afraid of what people might do to him.
All the times before that he’d talked about getting rid of the bullies, he’d never said he actually intended to do something. And he’d never said he would hurt me. No matter how hard I tried to push his threat out of my mind, it stuck. Rob had actually said he would kill me.
If I didn’t do something, people might die. Not even might. They would die if Rob had a gun. If no one stopped him before he started shooting, the bullets would hit people. If he was close enough or aimed well enough, those people wouldn’t survive.
If I tried to stop him, I would betray my best friend. And I might be the one to die.
Fear chased panic around in my brain. I needed to move around. Find something to distract myself. Looking out the window wasn’t helping.
I should have gone to Dad’s room and showed him Rob’s texts, but aside from not being able to do anything, he might not even take it seriously. He’d heard Rob rant about being done with the people who harassed him, but that didn’t mean he believed Rob was dangerous. He just thought Rob needed help.
Obviously he was right. And I had no clue how to get Rob any kind of help without risking my own life.
My life was at risk. That wasn’t a thought that should have even been on my radar. Especially not where Rob was concerned. But there it was. Rob had threatened my life.
I lay down again and checked my phone. No more texts. Not that I’d expected any. I was pretty sure Rob hadn’t left his house, though. He was simply through talking to me. He had plans to make for the next day.
Time. I needed time. And I needed to be able to think, which apparently wasn’t going to happen. Every time I tried to decide what to do, Rob’s threat flashed through my mind.
I went out to the hall and stared at Dad’s door. If I woke him, he would know how to handle this, if I convinced him the threat was real. He was the adult. Adults were supposed to know what to do in situations like this.
On the other hand, if Rob somehow found out that I’d told Dad, he might come after Dad as well as me. Maybe even Olin. Rob wasn’t thinking clearly, and I had no way to predict what he would do.
My legs shook too much for me to stay on my feet, so I sank to the floor and leaned against the wall. Finally, my brain gave me a break and let me make a decision. I definitely had to tell someone about Rob’s threats. Even if he came after me, I would keep other people from being hurt. Not that I wanted to die, but if I stayed silent and Rob killed other people, I would have to live with it. That would be worse than dying.
I didn’t have to wake Dad. He wasn’t the one who needed to hear about this.
Slowly, I got up and went back into my room to pick up my phone. Still nothing from Rob, but I wasn’t checking texts.
I didn’t know whether this counted as an emergency, but I didn’t know the police department’s regular phone number, so I hit 9-1-1 anyway.
“What is your emergency?”
The calm male voice on the other end of the phone cut through some of my panic. I cleared my throat. “Um, I got a text from my friend. He said he’s going to shoot people at school tomorrow.”
“Okay. Which school?” He didn’t sound quite as calm now.
My eyes watered. I squeezed them shut. I couldn’t cry. Not now. Until I knew the police were on their way to Rob’s, I had to keep control of myself.
“The high school,” I said. “He gets bullied a lot. Two guys were arrested the other day for assaulting him. He’s afraid they or their friends are going to come after him.”
“Okay. So he said he’s going to shoot them?”
“Yeah. His dad owns a gun.” My voice cracked. I cleared my throat again, but it didn’t do much good. My mouth was so dry it felt like my lips would split open. “He said if I told anyone, he would come after me.”
“We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen.” The dispatcher paused. “Can I have your name, please?”
If the police knew my name, they could tell Rob I’d called them. If Rob found out, the police might not be able to protect me.
“Do I have to?” I asked.
“No.”
I was shaking again. I couldn’t stay on my feet, so I sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m afraid he’ll find out I called. He said if I didn’t keep my mouth shut, I’d be first.”
“I understand. You don’t have to give your name.” He paused again. “What’s your friend’s name and address? I’m going to send police to his home.”
“He’s still going to know I called.” The realization hit like a concrete block to my gut. “He didn’t tell anyone else about this. He’ll come to my house.”
“If you’re afraid he’ll retaliate, we can send a unit over there as well. But for that, I’ll need your name and address.”
This had to be a messed-up nightmare. I was on the phone with a dispatcher who would be sending police cars to Rob’s house and maybe mine. Otherwise Rob would kill people. Possibly including me.
Except it hadn’t been a nightmare when Rob sent the first text, which meant it still wasn’t.
“Um, my name is Mira MacDonald.” I gave my address. “They’ll make sure he doesn’t get here, right?”
“Absolutely. Don’t worry.” Something clicked at his end of the phone. “I’m entering the informatio
n for the police now. Where are you in your house?”
“My bedroom.”
“Okay. I need you to go someplace where you’ll be able to see the cruiser when it arrives.”
“Um, I can see from here. My room’s at the front of the house.” If Rob showed up, he wouldn’t be able to find me as easily if I stayed in my bedroom. “It’s a one-story house.”
“They’re going to need you to answer the door,” the dispatcher said patiently.
“I will.” I could still stay in my room until the police showed up. I would be able to get to the front door by the time they did.
“Let me have your friend’s name and address, please.”
This was it. Right now, I was going to betray Rob. The one thing I’d promised I would never do. Now he would never trust me again.
But no one would die. That was more important.
“Rob Stevens,” I said. I gave Rob’s address.
“Thank you.” More clicking. “We have a unit on the way to his house and one on the way to yours. When they get to your house, they’re going to come to the door. They need to see the messages he sent you.”
“I’ll answer the door when they get here.”
“Thank you. I’m going to stay on the phone with you until they arrive, so if anything happens, tell me, all right?”
“Yeah.” He wouldn’t be able to do anything if Rob and his gun showed up at my door except tell the police to hurry up. As if that would do any good.
I started pacing. My room wasn’t really big enough to pace in, though, and I was way too wound up to sit down. I needed more space. My room should have felt like a safe place, but since those texts, it had become a trap. Walls closing in just like in the movies. I had to be somewhere else.
I went out to the living room, hoping Dad and Olin would stay asleep at least until the police got there. I didn’t want to explain what was going on until I knew we were safe.
“I’m by the door,” I said. “I decided not to stay in my room.”
“Okay. The police should be there in a couple of minutes. Hang tight.”
“Yeah.” I stared out at the street.
