Storymania - The Threats Against Edward Solomon High by Bradley Grimes

The Threats Against Edward Solomon High
Bradley Grimes

“… And perhaps that’s what really counts in the end. How will you be remembered?” He said to Mr. Dunn.
“NO!” Mr. Dunn yelled. But it was too late.

It was Thursday. Rainy. Jason’s alarm clock went off, but he was already up. Staring outside into the rain. It was raining so hard, he couldn’t see the street in front of his house. He clicked off the alarm clock. Same old quirky, perky, people in the morning. He hated it. He wondered way too often how people could be so happy that the morning had come.
Last year for example, it had snowed. Really hard. There must have been a foot of snow on the ground. The d.j. expelled optimism and caution through the airwaves. School just so happened to be cancelled that day. He listened to the d.j. all morning. He wondered how the disc jockey was able to get to work.
He looked at the clock. 6:45. His bus came at 7:07 every morning. Same spot. Same time. He usually showered the night before, he felt it gave him more time to sleep. He was always tired, though. On the days he stayed him he would sleep all day. He always felt exhausted.
He sighed and lifted his backpack from the floor. Heavier than normal.
He walked downstairs. Slowly. Painfully. He ached. He never knew why, but he ached. All over. Back, stomach, head. It didn’t matter he just hated life. Life was an ongoing joke, conceived by the greatest of deceivers. He wanted to point the blame somewhere, but had no clue where to.
His mother sat in the family room. In the dark. His father had already left for work. She sat in the dark, the TV. displaying this morning daily events. Fire, Car crash, Robbery.
“Did you hear about that car crash?” his mother yelled in.
“No.” he replied, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He loved the smell of it. Attractive. It was literally the best part of waking up.
“Some drunk guy ran into this car, killing this mother and her baby. Horrible.” She yelled back in. Jason appeared in the doorway. She could only make out the silhouette of him.
“The greatest reality show.” he said, sipping his coffee.
“I’d prefer a fake reality.” she said.
“Go to school. It’s about as fake as it gets.”
“You don’t know how good you have it.”
“You don’t know how good you have it.” he looked to the clock on the microwave. “I have to go.”
“Alright have a good day at school.” She told him.
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too.” She paid very little attention to it. Her attention was glued to the TV. spraying forth human tragedy. Jason looked at the TV. He wondered the same thing as the radio. How can these people be so happy and awake in the morning, when their job is to report death and crime. How could anyone be happy about that?
He dumped what was left of his coffee into the sink and headed out side.
The rain was coming down a lot harder than it looked. Jason zipped his coat and put the hood up. His bus stop was at the top of the street. He couldn’t stand the bus anymore. He sat in the back. Away from everyone else. He had been distant ever since entering high school. People started to split away. The friends he had in junior high were now hanging with different people. His whole world was changing around him and he couldn’t stop it. Perhaps that’s what he hated the most. His lack of control. His world made sense before, but now it was spiraling out of control. He didn’t know where he belonged. He would find himself talking to himself to feel less alone.
He tucked his hands into his pocket. It was cold. He was one of three people who got onto the bus at that particular stop. The other two were both freshman. Everyone else drove. The two freshman sat in a car. The mother driving the car rolled down the window.
“Would you like to stay in here till the bus comes?” she yelled over. Her concern was something he rarely saw. She always asked every time it rained. And every time he responded the same.
“No, thank you I’m fine.” he wondered after he said this if she would roll up the window and talk about how strange he was.
The bus could be seen rounding the corner. Even through the fog, the two blinking lights on the top could be seen. Warning other cars about its presence.
The two freshman jumped out of the car and ran over to stand beside Jason.
“Good morning.” The one girl said. She was half right.
“Morning.” He said back. The bus streaked to a stop, water spraying up from its tires. The door folding open and the yellow bar coming out in front. The stop sign flung open on the other side also. Jason laughed when cars ran through it. Stupid people always in a hurry. The freshman girl was always in a chipper mood in the mornings.
“Good morning.” She said to the bus driver. He nodded to her. The other boy just ran onto the bus. He couldn’t wait to sit next to his friends and begin the usual conversation. The girl sat by herself. But only for a few stops. A boy a year older than her got on a few stops ahead of hers. He always sat next to her, trying to be flirtatious.
Jason headed to the back. He sat in the next to last seat. No one else ever came back there. He remembered elementary school. Where you sat on the bus determined your social status. Now if you road the bus, you didn’t have a social status. Especially if you were a junior. He wanted a car. But first he would need to find a job. And he was much too tired to work after school.
The normal chatter continued on the bus.
“How was your night?”
“Great. How was yours.”
“Bryan called me.”
“Oh my god your kidding me.”
“Nope. Were going to the movies Friday.”
“Sweetie, he’s like so hot.”
“Fuck yeah.”

Jason liked to listen to the different conversations. He wished he had a camera. He’d record them all.

“Practice was so beat last night.”
“Yeah. In the fucking rain.”
“Yeah, and then Coach just being a dick. He needs to fucking get laid.”
“Tell me about it.”

The different people just separated into their groups. No matter where they were, they always seemed to find their own. Jason wondered why he couldn’t fit in anywhere.

“Dunn’s test was so hard.”
“No it wasn’t.”
“All completion.”
“You got to study.”

This one girl who sat in the middle always caught Jason’s attention. He first noticed her in Mr. Dunn’s history class. She was doing eleventh grade classes and she was only a freshman. She was about the only person that Jason talked to on the bus.

“What did you think Jason?” she asked him. Her question caught him off guard.
“The test?” he asked back.
“Yeah.”
“Easy”
“See!” she said, telling her friend. Her name was Sam. He smiled at her.
“All the good girls are taken.” he thought himself. Someone grabbed her the first week of school.
The bus rolled into the school at about quarter after seven. Classes didn’t begin until seven thirty. Jason began his normal morning routine. He walked to the basement of the school and then up to the top floor. And then back down to the first floor. It wasted the time.
It was a typical morning. Girls talking to boys. Boys talking to girls. People trying to get petitions signed. The jocks laughing at the mentally challenged girl as she limped by. The student council trying to sell cookies to raise money for a dance. Teachers monitoring the halls.
Jason walked the route and took notice of the normal things that never seemed to change. He watched these people do the same things every morning for the past three years. Repetition is hell. School is repetitive.
“Is this all the greatest years of my life have to offer?” Jason asked himself as he walked. He asked himself the same question every morning.
The first bell rang. Five minutes till classes start. By this time Jason had finished his walk and was now seated in his first period class. He was always the first to arrive. The teacher was a hall monitor so no one ever really noticed except for two girls who came in about two minutes after him.
Then everyone began pouring in. Punishment for being late for a class was an automatic detention. Jason hated the thought of being at school, the thought of staying later than needed was an unnecessary expense.
The teacher followed all of the kids in just as the bell rang.
“Have a seat.” he yelled. He was a track coach. One of those teachers who becomes a teacher because he loved high school so much. Arrogant. Truly arrogant. Jason, however, loved the way the man taught his class. It was a hand’s on approach. Very easy, as long as you paid attention.
“Good morning.” Mr. Dunn said. No one responded. Nobody like him. Too artsy. Most people slept because he didn’t care. Those were also the people failing his class. However on this particular morning most people were awake. Most people were talking. Not about the class though. Rumors began a couple of weeks ago about a threat begin made against the school. The police came and many people were investigated. No answers were ever found. The day the threat was made for was November 16th. Today.
The morning announcements came on.
“Good Morning Edward Solomon High. Today is Thursday November 16th. Would you please rise in join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance.” The young girl broadcast over the closed circuit television was Ashley Waterson. She had done the announcements since her first year of high school, all the way through to her senior year. Everyone stood and faced the flag. And everyone, in unison, recited the pledge. Ashley then went on to the announcements. And everyone else returned to their seats. No one listened after the pledge. A sign of the times, so to speak. “Mr. Donaldson has an announcement also. He asks everyone to please listen.” Mr. Dunn asked everyone to be quiet.
“Good morning. A few weeks ago a rumor was presented to myself and the rest of the faculty here. The contents of the rumor, as most of you are aware, were threatening in nature. The local police force will be on location today, to keep order if necessary. I of all of you to ensure that their services here are purely precautionary. And to inform you that to ensure safety school may be let out if this security is compromised. Thank you and have a good day.” The principals words struck up more conversation about the event. Jason hadn’t thought about those threats in a month.
“Alright everyone. Calm down.” Mr. Dunn began. “You all heard Mr. Donaldson. The rumors may or may not be true. But let’s not have to make use of the police unless absolutely necessary. Now, we have material to cover because you have a test next Tuesday. Were going to finish our discussion of Post-Revolutionary War in America. And look at the impact our revolution had on the rest of the world.”
Jason day-dreamed. He drifted in and out of Mr. Dunn’s lecture. He wondered what it would be like if there was a school shooting. He wondered if he would make it out alive. He felt guilty. A sentiment of excitement rose within him. The things that he hated so much had excited him. The bell rang ending first period.
“So it comes down to who you want to be in this world, and how you will be remembered. Alright homework tonight, questions one through ten on page two thirty four. Were going to have discussion about it tomorrow, so be prepared.”
Jason closed his book and threw it in his backpack. Just as he was the first to arrive, he was the last to leave.
“Did you like the lecture today, Jason?” Mr. Dunn asked him erasing the board.
“Of course. I love your class.” He answered.
“That’s good. I hope you were actually listening?” Mr. Dunn turned from the black board, smirking.
“Yeah. Sorry. I’m a little taken aback by this threat thing.” Jason said, feeling foolish for not paying attention.
“Threat? I think you should be a little more concerned on your report. It’s been overdue for almost a week now?” Mr. Dunn asked him.
“I know. I should have it to you by the end of the day”
“It better be something amazing?”
“I promise quite a show.” Jason answered him.
“Good I expect it today, but that doesn’t excuse laziness.”
“I understand, I‘ve put quite a lot of work into this Mr. Dunn.” Jason said, heading toward the door.
“You know my grading policy. It‘s an automatic failure already. However you still need the grade” Mr. Dunn said.
“I understand.” Jason left smiling, feeling a little less enthusiastic about Mr. Dunn‘s history class.

The rest of the day was pretty much a similar typical nothing out of the ordinary day. Except for the talk. Everyone was trying to play the blame game and figure out who made the threat. Jason heard different things.
“Its that funny kid who sits in the back of the library during lunch. He always wears black and he is always reading a book about guns.”
“It’s Jamie, that girl who is all decked out in anti-social ness.”
“No, It one of the teachers trying to get a day off.”
“Some drug addicted losers, trying to get a laugh.”
“Maybe it’s a test by the school district.”
The possibilities seemed endless. And Jason all the while seemed so attracted to the idea of a school shooting. In a way he wanted it to happen. He felt worse and worse for even thinking it. He imagined some the kids he knew, shot, dead, lying bleeding on the ground, begging for help. He couldn’t help but think about the pandemonium. It excited him.
It wasn’t until the afternoon that things truly started to get out of hand. People were calling parents to get early dismissal. Teachers were becoming less and less concerned about the class.
At noon the principal came onto the loudspeaker again.
“Please excuse the interruption. No more early dismissals will be granted for the remainder of the day. Thank you.” The speaker clicked dead. Jason was in a physics class.
“What the hell are they trying to do Ms. Trey? Kill us?” A girl spoke up from the back of the class.
“Calm down.” She said sternly.
“Seriously, this is bull shit. If my mother calls to get me an early dismissal, I’m leaving early.” The girl started.
“Sit down and shut up.” Ms. Trey demanded, slamming her hands on her desk. She sighed. “You see this is why we need cops in this school. To keep order.” Something about that lit a spark inside Jason’s mind.
“Perhaps there wouldn’t be a need to have cops, if the school district took proper precaution in preventing situations like this.” He said. He hadn’t even realized that he was speaking. But then he was.
“We do. We’re trying to maintain order here and you children are making it extremely difficult.” she replied back to him.
“With all due respect, I’m not sure if anyone told you, but there is a threat against this school.” he said. He wasn’t sure where all this was coming from, but it felt good to say it.
“The threat affects me as much as you.” She said back to him.
“Then why isn’t the district close this school today.?” he asked her.
“Because they want you and your parents to believe your safe. Now please, I am just trying to do my job.” That was the answer Jason wanted. The district wants to try and hide a lie. They want everyone to believe their children are safe, and sound, and secure. They do foot the bill after all.
Pleased, Jason nodded his head, signaling to the teacher that he would cause no more out bursts. The other students looked at him. He didn’t look back, but he could see them from the corner of his eye.
It was now lunch time. Physics takes a lot out of a person. Jason sat alone at his table.
“Time.” he said to himself.
“Right now?” he replied back
“Yes.” He finished the last few bites of his daily “chicken” burger. He swallowed it mostly without chewing and then took a swig of the 2% milk that sat before him. He remember when the parents spent months arguing with the school board about the milk. The parents wanted to have 2% in the cafeterias for the obvious health benefits. The school board told them it was cheaper to have whole milk. After much debate, and an election of new school board officials, the students now drank 2% milk at lunch. The whole thing was covered by the media, because it was such a “huge” event for this town.
Nothing out of the ordinary ever happened until today. Until right now.
Jason got up from his chair. He headed to the door. A teacher guarded the door heavily.
“May I please go to the bathroom?” Jason asked the teacher. Everything was very secure today. Normally you could just walk and go to the bathroom at the other end of the hall.
“Is it an emergency?” The teacher asked him.
“Now what kind of question is that?” Jason looked at him.
“The kind that is either going to get my permission or ask you to be seated.”
“Yes it is an emergency.” he replied.
“Go and be quick.” Jason went. And quickly. He rounded the corner, but instead of going to the bathroom he headed upstairs.
“This is it.” he told himself as he was walking.
“Are you really going to do this?” he asked
“I have to.”
“You don’t have to do anything.”
“Its either them or me.”
“Your going to chicken out. Your not really going to do it.”
“Sure I will.”
“I bet.”
“Just watch me.”
He came up the steps and headed down the hall to his locker. 23-45-02. The locker popped open. He grabbed his backpack. It had been in there all morning. Slamming the locker shut, he continued the way he was going.
He opened his backpack and removed the contents. He held it in his hand. His ticket to freedom. Looking at his clock he realized he was late.
He started running.
“Hurry!”
“I’m going as fast as I can.” He rounded the next corner and ran smack into Mr. Dunn.
“Jason what are you doing?”
“What I have to do, please move.” Jason answered him. Mr. Dunn noticed his hand.
“What is that, Jason?”
“What was that saying you said this morning Mr. Dunn?”
“What are you talking about?” Mr. Dunn asked him.
“Oh never mind. I remember it. And perhaps that’s what really counts in the end. How will you be remembered?” He said to Mr. Dunn.
“NO!” Mr. Dunn yelled. But it was too late.
Jason had pulled he fire alarm and was now running again. Mr. Dunn slipped behind him.
“Jason!” he yelled from the ground. But Jason was now far down the hall. He put his ticket to freedom under his shirt.
The students were now coming out of the classrooms. Everyone was extremely confused. The teachers were juggling through the people trying to figure out what was going on.
“Excuse me.” Mr. Davids said. No one appeared to be paying attention to the drama teacher. “EXCUSE ME!” He made his way through and helped Mr. Dunn off the floor. “Are you ok?”
“Yes. It’s Jason. He pulled the fire alarm.” he answered.
“Who?” Mr. Davids asked, confused.
“A student of mine.”
Another student happened to overhear this conversation.
“JASON MICHAELS HAS A GUN!” she yelled. Amongst the sound of the fire alarm and the gushing water everyone seemed to hear this comment. There was a momentary pause. Everyone tried to process this information, but processing took a back seat to pandemonium.
This was already a bad situation. The fire system draining water made it worse. The girl who screamed about the gun was knocked over and stepped on. Her glasses broke when someone tramped on her face. She was screaming as loud as she could, but no one heard it. Everyone else was concerned about one thing. Getting out of the building. If you could see things from above it would look like a huge blob swirling towards an exit. Everyone seemed to mesh together. And if you didn’t mesh together you were getting pushed over and walked on.
The teachers were caught up in all of this too. They were pulling kids off one another and trying to gain control of this situation, but it was way beyond control. This was anarchy without a formal declaration.
While all this was going on above Jason was running for the basement.
“What the hell did you do back there?”
“It won’t matter in a few minutes.”
“How do you figure?”
“Why do you think I made the threats?”
“To cause this.”
“Precisely. I want the parents to know their students are not safe.”
“Vendetta much?”
Jason ran into the room where the morning announcements were broadcast. Sam was one step ahead of him.
“You’ve caused quite a much of problems today, Jason.” she said turning as he entered the door. The TV. room was the only room that didn’t have the water system installed.
“I knew you would do it.” he smiled at her.
“No one must ever know? You promised me.” she said about to hand him the tape.
“No one will ever.” He said grabbing the tape. “Now get out there and look crazy. Help prove a point.” She smiled at him.
“You got it.” She reached for the doorknob. He watched as she became apart of the craziness, screaming, yelling, and pushing people out of the way.
“This is better than I expected.” he said aloud. He pulled his ticket to freedom out from underneath his shirt. A tape. He pushed it into the V.C.R. and pushed the play button.
Upstairs the crowd of scared children had just realized the doors to the school had been chained shut. At least the side doors. The main doors were still wide open. But no class rooms were close to the main doors. So while the giant amorphous blob of people were running towards the main doors to the school Jason’s project for Mr. Dunn’s class clicked on.
The TV’s in every class in the school clicked on.
“Hello. My name is Jason Michaels. Many of you know me. Many of you don’t. About a month and a half ago I was asked to write a report for a class of mine. The topic I chose to right about was our school district’s policy of being the best. When I chose this topic, my teacher Mr. Dunn immediately refused it. And how right he truly was. I do this act on my own free will.” The tape went on.
The water finally stopped pouring. People hearing the TV. talking sat back down. The principal was running as fast as he could to the room where Jason was broadcasting his report from. When he arrived there he was dumbfounded to find it locked. He rapped on the door and demanded Jason open the door. Jason stared at him. Blankly. He wondered why the principal was trying to stop him when he knew that everything he was saying was true.
Jason’s tape explained his theory behind the school district refusing to see a drug problem, a growing teenage pregnancy problem, and the growing threat of a school shooting. Jason took responsibility for the threats and apologized if anyone was hurt by his acts. He wanted to show everyone how vulnerable this school truly was.
He ended the tape with a broadcast from the security cameras in the hall at the time of the sprinklers going off.
The students were amazed. Speechless. So were the teachers.
Jason was arrested when the police finally broke into the office. The school board issued a statement saying that a minor problem with the fire system needed corrected and that a full investigation would be launched into the television broadcast.
Jason was expelled from Edward Solomon High, a mere two weeks later. He was on suspension prior to that. The school board was quoted saying his actions were “in poor taste” and proof that “some children are too mature for their own good.”
Jason’s parents were flabbergasted at their son’s action. But couldn’t help but think about all that he said. It was true. The school board hid behind it’s own lies to present a infallible school district. In the end someone exposed it.
A week after his expulsion hearing Jason got a letter in the mail. It had no return address, but when he opened it there was a comment reading “Great Report” and it had a giant letter “A” in the middle.