OLIVER

Oliver's head was racing, like the race cars in Nascar. His mind was still processing what had just happened. The shooter had banged on the door, then the teacher told all of the five students, with hand motions, to go into the big cabinet and not to come out. The whole class did so then shut the large doors in on them, locking them into the cabinet. The shooter had broken down the door, only to find the teacher, Mr. Beckett, standing there.

"Where are the students!" The shooter had yelled.

"I have none, this is my prep hour!" The teacher had lied.

Oliver had heard the shooter scowl, then had heard the bang of the gun, followed by something heavy hitting the ground. The active shooter ran from the room and the police yelled for him to surrender. The shooter had in fact shot the teacher, killing him on spot. Oliver and his classmates were still stuck in the cabinet. Oli's face was wet from tears that had escaped the safety of his eyes. Oliver remembered hearing the police's handcuffs opening then closing, signs the shooter had been caught. Oliver and his classmates had banged on the cabinet, trying to catch the attention of the officers. After two minutes of banging the police finally noticed and ran into the room.

One of the officers said something quite sadly when they walked in, "Looks like the shooter killed the teacher."

"We are in the cabinet! Please help, officers!" Oliver remembered yelling, still trapped.

"Hey! How many kids are in there?" Another officer asked, approaching the cabinet.

"Five." Oliver had yelled back.

"That's a lot to fit in there!" Another officer, a woman, exclaimed.

An officer had tried opening the cabinet, but it was jammed, "Get some firefighters in here, will you?" The woman officer yelled.

"You okay in there kids?" Another officer asked.

"Yeah, but we might need to get out quickly, we will eventually lose air, it's already going low." Oliver had gasped, trying to breathe the best he could.

"Will do." The woman officer replied. "I'm Officer Angeles, who may you be, who has been speaking?"

"Oliver Coleman."

"Very good, is everyone else okay in there?" Officer Angeles had asked.

"Yeah." The other four said briefly.

"Good." She had replied, her voice followed by heavy footsteps. "The firefighters are here, don't worry, we will get you out of there."

There were lots of sounds of tools, then, finally, the two doors burst open, and all five kids fell out, gasping for more air. Then, Oliver saw the teacher, still on the floor, a pool of blood around the man's body. Oliver felt sick. He had never seen a dead person, only at funerals, but this was different.

"Calm down. Y'all are safe now." Officer Angeles comforted.

"You had a very good teacher. He sacrificed himself for you guys..." Another officer sympathized.

Had.

"I need to get out of this room before I throw up!" One of Oliver's classmates, Johnny, exclaimed, stumbling out of the room.

"Oh, yes, I need all of you kids to get out, please." Officer Angeles demanded.

Oli and his four other classmates had walked out of the room, breathing heavily. They were escorted outside to the gym where they had to get checked if they were breathing right. When the Oli and the others walked into the gym, they noticed that all the other students were sitting in the bleachers. Most of the kids stared at them, their expressions sad and soft.

Now present time, Oliver was sitting alone after his check up on the bleachers, the terrifying image of Mr. Beckett implanted in his brain. It wouldn't go away. He buried his face in his hands. Suddenly, he felt someone sit by him, the bench creaking.

"I'm sorry." A girl's voice sighed.

Oliver looked over at her realizing it was none other than Willow.

"Don't be."

"I'm sorry you had to witness your own teacher's death. It must have been terrible." Willow cried, her eyes closed tightly.

"I didn't see it, I just heard it, okay. Please leave me alone. I just want to be alone." Oliver cried, tears streaming down his pale face.

"I'm sorry. I was just trying to be nice and comfort you." Willow apologized.

"Please leave me alone. I just want to be alone." Oliver repeated in a hoarse voice.

Ateacher walked up the bleachers to Oliver and told him his parent was here.

Parent? Why would his father be here?

The teacher walked Oliver over to the corner of the gym. Oliver saw an oddly familiar woman. He recognized her eyes from anywhere. His mother was standing in the corner, all nervous looking. Oliver looked the woman that walked out on him in the eyes. Why was she here?

"Mom? What are you doing here?" Oliver asked when the teacher left Oli with his mother.

"Once I heard the school was on lockdown because of a shooter I drove up here from Preston. I was worried." She confessed.

"So, you just show up like this? You left me with dad five years ago! You haven't visited me!" Oliver outburst.

"And I'm sorry for that. I got worried that my little boy might get shot so I came down." His mother apologized.

"Whatever, I'm fine, so you can just leave." Oliver growled.

"I will not leave. I want you to move in with me in Preston. I don't want you living with that disgusting alcoholic you call your dad!" His mother sighed, getting to the point.

"Maybe you should have thought about that when I was what? Seven!" Oliver yelled, unfortunately making a scene.

"Oliver, please-"

"No, Mom! Why would just all of a sudden think I would move in with you after all of this time?"

"Oliver. I can't make up for leaving you, believe me I know. I had to leave your father. I had to get out of there. I couldn't take you with me, but now I am. Please let me take you away from that disgusting man."

Oliver stood in shock.

"So?"

He took a deep breath, holding back the tears in his eyes. "Really?"

"Yes, really. Your father isn't a good man, and I regret ever leaving you with him." Oliver's mother responded.

"Of course I will, Mom. As long as it means I get away from Dad."

"I'm so glad! You are gonna have to leave this school though." She responded happily.

"Good, everyone hated me anyways." Oliver sighed.

"I can take you to the trailer house to pack, if that's fine with you?"

"Can I say bye to someone first?" Oliver asked nervously.

"Of course, take as long as you'd like." She agreed.

Oliver walked across the gym to where Willow was still sitting, texting on her phone now.

"Hey." Oliver greeted Willow, sitting next to her.

"Hey."

"You're the only person who has been nice to me in this school..." Oliver started.

"I know."

"I'm changing schools." Oliver told her.

"I hope your new school treats you better. Which one is it?" Willow asked, her head facing her feet.

"It's in Preston, Idaho. I wanted to say goodbye to you before I left. Even though we aren't friends."

"Who said that?" Willow asked, looking up confused.

"Well you didn't seem like you wanted to be my friend." Oliver sighed.

"Sorry, I just wasn't having a good morning." Willow informed him.

"It's okay. I should better get going." Oliver said.

"Promise you won't forget about me at least."

"Of course, I won't forget my only friend currently." He got up from his seat then walked back to his mom.

"Shall we go now?" She asked, putting her hand onto his shoulder and smiling.

"Wait, what about all my school stuff in my locker?" Oliver wondered.

"Oh, yeah. I'll go ask your principal." She replied, walking away from Oli and over to the principal, Mrs. Gubell.

After a while the two came over to Oli, then Mrs. Gubell said, "I'll let you into the school to gather stuff from your locker, but not your homeroom, police are not letting anyone in, not even me."

"Thank you." Oliver sympathized.

"Come." The principal said.

* * * * *

Oliver stood in his small room in his dad's trailer home, overlooking the room, going over if he missed to pack anything.

Oli had only packed all of his clothes that he had in one small plastic bag. His father never cared enough to buy him clothes, he just got clothes from garage sales and got clothes people threw away. Then, he had another plastic bag filled with things like books and papers.

"Is that all your clothes!" His mother, Madilyn exclaimed surprisingly when Oliver hopped into his mother's car after slamming the trailer's front door.

"Yeah, Dad didn't buy me clothes. Well, in less you count garage sales." Oliver reported.

"I'm so sorry, hun." Madilyn sympathized.

"Eh, can we just go?" Oliver sighed.

Madilyn pulled out of the trailer park in her gray Chevy Traverse and found her way to Main Street, also known as Washington Street. As they drove down Washington, towards the overpass, Oliver looked at the theater and the Ford dealer buildings. When going over the overpass a train passed right under the concrete bridge. The whole hour drive was quiet and barely anyone spoke.

When they finally drove into Preston, Oliver noticed a gas station, which had a green Brachiosaurus in front of it, Oliver cocked an eyebrow. Soon they came to what he assumed to be his mother's street. Both sides of the street were filled with nice looking houses, most of them two stories.

After a short period of time, the car pulled into a circular driveway of a two story house with large trees. The pathway from the driveway to the house's front porch was lined with bushes and flowers. The house was painted an off white color and the window and door frames were painted a clean, bright white.

"Wow." Oli muttered.

"Eh, it's too big. I only have my husband, your step dad, Cameron, and my adopted toddler, Harper, in the house."

"I have a sibling?" Oli asked, surprised at this new find.

"Yep, Harper is three. We adopted her because her family abandoned her when she was born." Madilyn confirmed cheerfully.

"Wow, I've always wanted a sister." Oliver exclaimed.

"Shall we go in, or should we just sit out here?" Madilyn laughed.

"Oh, yeah, that'd be a good idea." Oliver replied, opening the backseat car door.

Madilyn and Oliver walked the path to the front door, which Madilyn opened, revealing a clean mudroom.

They walked inside and took off their shoes, then the two walked into another room that split into the dining, kitchen, and living room. In the living room there were two large gray sofas parallel from each other with a dark gray coffee table in the middle, set upon a bright white rug. The walls were a dark gray and the windows had white drapes hanging so low they could touch the ground.

The kitchen had shiny, black appliances and the countertops were marble. The island had 4 stools and had a bowl of fruit in the middle, and also had a modern sink on it. All of the cabinets were painted black and the tiling on the wall behind the stove, and counters were a white marble just like the countertops. In the corner of the kitchen area was a breakfast table, that was made of oak or cedar wood, and surrounded by small wood stools. Oliver was amazed at the decor in his mother's house, it was simply amazing.

Out of nowhere, a toddler, Harper he assumed, came running into the room, a man close behind her, yelling, "Mama's home! Mama's home!"

Harper immediately stopped when she saw Oliver standing next to Madilyn, a stranger to her. Harper had beautiful blond hair that was pulled up into two pigtails and had amazing eyes that were the color of a periwinkle, a beautiful light blue flower. Harper was wearing light colored overalls with a black and white striped shirt under them.

"This is Oliver, Harper! He will be staying with us, he is your brother!" Madilyn smiled.

"Brother?" Harper repeated, confused, not really knowing the word.

"Yes." The man behind Harper replied.

The man, Cameron, had blond, practically golden hair and was quite tall. He had on a gray t-shirt and bootcut jeans.

"Hi." Oliver greeted Harper.

"Hewo." She greeted shyly.

"This is Cameron, your step dad." Madilyn informed Oliver, ushering towards Cameron.

Oliver greeted Cameron. Cameron nodded his head in acceptance.

"Come, Oliver, I'll show you your room." Madilyn said, going through the living room and up the stairs.

Oliver followed her through the house and up the stairs. Madilyn opened a door at the end of the hall, revealing an empty room with one twin bed, light blue walls with one black feature wall on the same side of the bed. On the opposite side of the room from the bed was a white dresser.

"The feature wall is chalkboard, so you can draw on it if you'd like." Madilyn informed him.

"Oh cool." Oliver responded.

"Make yourself at home, I'm going to go cook dinner." His mother smiled, then walked back downstairs.

Oliver walked into the room and set his stuff on his new bed. He noticed a white nightstand on either side of the bed and the window on the wall opposite the door was white drapes. Oli unpacked his small amount of clothes and organized them into the drawers. After a few minutes a delicious smell filled his room, he immediately knew it was almost dinnertime.

He had fully unpacked by the time his mom called him down for dinner. Oliver found his way downstairs and into the kitchen. His mother was sitting Harper in her high chair and Cameron was setting the table.

"Smells amazing!" Oliver smiled.

"Pick a seat with a plate in front of it, sweetie." Madilyn settling herself in a chair right next to Harper.

Oliver picked the seat right next to Madilyn and Cameron settled in a seat straight across from Madilyn. Madilyn got back up from her seat and set all the food that was on the island and set it on the white dining room table, then sat back down. On the table was now a bowl of mashed potatoes, brown gravy, and a plate of pork chops. Oli dug in.

After dinner the family sat down in the living room, watching a movie. The movie was about a girl who went to another dimension and had to protect that world from a harmful being. Oliver was quite interested in the movie. After the movie Oliver was told to go to bed, for he had to get registered to go to his new school the next morning. Life was finally turning around for him.

* * * * *

Oliver awoke to his mother shaking him awake. Oli rolled over and opened his eyes.

"We have a meeting with your new principal in an hour, dear. Wake up." She said.

"An hour? That can't be enough time to get ready and get there." Oliver groaned, throwing off his covers.

"Well then get up." Madilyn laughed, then walked out and shut the door.

Oli moaned and threw himself off the bed, then forced himself to walk over to his dresser and throw on some clothes. He was sort of excited for a new school. Maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't be an outcast or get bullied. He was afraid of it happening again.

After he was dressed he walked out of his room and down the unfamiliar hall, and then down the stairs. His mother was picking up Harper when he walked into the living room/ kitchen. Oliver admired Harper's outfit. She was wearing a denim dress with white flowers plastered on the rim of the bottom of the dress. Her pretty hair was down, small curls in it.

"Hey sweetie, we are just getting ready to go, want a granola bar or a pop tart?" Madilyn asked her son, Harper sitting on her mother's hip, a leg on each side of her.

"I'm okay, but thanks anyways." Oliver smiled.

"Okay, let's go." Madilyn smiled, walking towards the front door.

* * * * *

Oliver, Madilyn, and Harper were in the principal office of Oliver's new principal. They were waiting for the principal to come in to talk to them. The secretary had let them in while the Principal was doing something in a classroom, and now they were waiting in silence. Oliver was nervous to go to this school. Suddenly, the door opened and a large man walked in, a smile on his face.

"Hello! Hello!" He crossed the room and sat at his desk.

"Hello Mr. Johnson. I'm Madilyn, we spoke on the phone."

The two adults shook hands then the principal, Mr. Johnson looked over at Oliver, "You must be Oliver! I'm Mr. Johnson."

Oliver and Mr. Johnson shook hands, "Nice to meet you, sir."

"I really hope you'll enjoy this school. We have a zero bullying policy here." Mr. Johnson informed Oli and Madilyn.

Yeah so did my last school, Oliver thought angrily.

"Great! It's great to know I don't have to worry about it." Madilyn smiled, sitting back down.

"Yes, yes it is." Mr. Johnson smiled, also sitting back down. "Shall I give you a tour, Oliver?"

"That, um, would be nice." Oliver answered hesitantly.

"Great! Let's go." The principal cheered.

The four walked out of the office and into the hall filled with lockers. The hall was deserted, no people insight. They walked down the hallway and Oli noticed the principal had a piece of paper in his hand, studying it. It must've been Oliver's schedule. It was. Mr. Johnson showed Oliver where the bathrooms were, the auditorium, the gym, cafeteria and his classrooms, and his locker.

"You will start tomorrow." Mr. Johnson cheered, handing Oliver his schedule.

"Thanks, Mr. Johnson." Oli thanked, taking hold of the schedule.

"Anyday. Just speak to me if you have any questions." The principal smiled.

The bell rang, ending class, and kids filed into the hallway. The principal escorted the four down the hall and towards the front doors. Oliver could feel kids eyes on him, and hear them whispering that there was a new student. Oli kept his eyes on his feet, anxious about the amount of attention he was suddenly getting. Soon he would be the topic of talk at the middle school.

He was not used to attention, and that was just a simple fact. The only attention he got was when his bullies had jumped him and the whole school watched. Oliver had a scar from one time they beat him up. He caressed where the scar was placed, remembering how a sharp rock cut him open.

When outside, the principal waved goodbye to them then Mr. Johnson went back into the school. Oliver, Harper, and Madilyn walked across the street to their parked car in the tabernacle parking lot.

"He seems nice." Madilyn smiled when they got in the car.

"Yeah." Oli replied.

"This school has a good record of no bullying, don't worry." Madilyn informed him, starting the engine.

"I'm not worried about getting bullied." Oliver sighed annoyingly, clearly lying.

"I know, dear."

Oliver was still getting used to his mom. I mean, out of nowhere, his mom shows up and saves him from his horrible father. I wouldn't expect to get comfortable in new surroundings real fast either. Oliver tried to scan the town of Preston and its surroundings while they drove back to Madilyn's house but he kept getting side tracked. It was sort of weird seeing people just walking around the town instead of driving. In Montpelier, most people just drove, barely anyone walked on the sidewalks and if they were to it was to get from store to store or to their vehicles. They passed lots of houses before they got to Madilyn's. Most of them looked pretty nice. The neighborhood was quiet, probably because all the kids were at school and their parents at work.

"Do you have a job?" Oli asked as they pulled into their driveway.

"Yes. I write books and publish them." She answered, shutting off the engine.

"Oh, cool. Are you writing one currently?" Oli asked.

"Yep. It's about Harper."

"What's so interesting about Harper." He asked, the question coming out mean sounding. "That didn't come out correctly."

"I know what you meant, sweetie, no sweat. Harper has asthma, and a few other minor illnesses, making little smells or foods cause her to have an allergic reaction that starts an asthma attack. It's very deadly."

"Oh, I didn't know." Oliver replied, looking over at Harper, playing with a stuffed animal, preferably a dog, a big grin on her face.

She was a sure beauty. Oliver got out of the car and so did Madilyn. His mother walked around the car, opening the right passenger side backseat door and unbuckled Harper. Oliver still felt weird just walking into the house, like he was intruding or something.

"Did you bring all of your school supplies from Montpelier?"

"Yep." Oliver sighed.

"That's good. How about we online shop for some new clothes, it looks like the clothes you have from your dad's are literally two sizes small or two sizes large." His mother sighed, pulling out her phone.

"Mhm."

He directed his attention to Harper who was on the floor playing with small plastic toys. One of them was a horse, another a dog, and the rest shapes like rectangles and triangles. It was hard to tell that Harper had an illness. She was so happy and active. If Oli had as bad of asthma, mixed with other illnesses, he would be miserable, but she was only three years old and didn't really understand.

"Do you want to go grab some ice cream? You look bored, plus it will be a mother son experience." Madilyn asked, snapping Oliver out of his thoughts.

"Sure? You don't have to." Oliver answered.

"Of course I do! I barely know you." His mother smiled, getting up from the couch.

"Sure why not." Oliver smiled, getting up too.

"Harper, dear, do you want some ice cream?"

Harper jumped up, eyes wide with excitement, "Yes, yes, yes!"

Oliver couldn't help but laugh at her hungry and excited face. She was just so adorable. He was so glad to have a sibling. Oli knew he couldn't play with her though, at least not with her condition.

* * * * *

"You have your father's face." Madilyn pointed out while they sat at an outside table at the ice cream parlor, eating their ice cream.

"Was that supposed to be an insult or a compliment." Oliver asked playfully, eyebrows raised.

His father was not a handsome man. He had ugly, black, messy long hair that Oliver hated to look at. In fact he hated to look at his father period. His father was always drunk. Practically whenever you saw him he held either a bottle of alcohol or cigarette. Oliver couldn't stand the smell of his father. Whenever his father yelled at him, Oli could smell the alcohol on his father's breath. Most times it was so strong it nearly choked him. Oliver's father was not a good man.

Madilyn laughed, "I'm not quite sure."