AN: So, school shooting's seem to be a very popular story topic for HSM. I'd thought a long time about doing them, but there's so many! After a while I gave up on trying to think of an original one, but after reading about the Columbine Shooting, I thought of an original way to do it.

This was very hard for me to write, and it's not perfect. It's not an actual story, per se – it's a magazine article (in my mind it's People). I hope you all enjoy it, although get your tissues ready.

Title: A Nation in Pieces
Rating: T
Author: MadiWillow
Summary: A magazine article about the East High School Shooting. OneShot.
Genre: Drama/Tragedy
Chapter: OneShot

A Community in Pieces: How a deadly shooting effects three high school teenagers.

(Front page picture shows a previously taken photo of the three shooters, smiling)

What made them do it?

(Full page picture depicts three students sitting on a couch, arms around each other, staring down solemnly at a front cover newspaper article dedicated to the shooting)

Monday, March 12th was supposed to be a normal day for students attending East High, a public high school located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ryan Evans (far left) was stressing over a geometry test 5th period. Taylor McKessie (center) was trying desperately to think of a present to buy her boyfriend for their upcoming two-month anniversary while Zeke Baylor (right) did his best to keep up with his girlfriend's many demands. But none of them were prepared for what the day really had in store for them. Three boys, Luke Thomas, Brent Miller, and Vincent Showalter, had been planning a massacre on the school for over a month, and these students found themselves caught right in the middle of it.

Ryan Evans (RE): Everything that day started out like a normal Monday. We went to our first two classes the same way we would any day. I don't think any of us expected that when we went to bed that night, our lives would be completely changed, and for the worse.

Taylor McKessie (TM): After second period, which I had with my best friend Gabriella Montez, the two of us would meet up with her boyfriend, Troy Bolton, and our good friend Sharpay Evans, Zeke's girlfriend and Ryan's sister. Our lockers were all near each other, so we'd walk together, get our stuff, and then meet up with everyone else. But it didn't take us long to realize something wasn't right. There was a lot of commotion on the floor above us – people screaming, some shouting. At first, I thought maybe someone had set off those automatic-fire-sprinklers as a prank, but that was until we heard a loud bang, like a gunshot. Everyone stopped screaming immediately, and I started to get really worried. Then we heard another gunshot, and a bulletcame shooting from the ceiling and into the floor right in front of Sharpay. She freaked.

Zeke Baylor (ZB): Sharpay called me on my cell phone, hysterical, saying that someone had a gun. I remember hearing on the other line the others trying to quieten her down, but she was really scared. She asked me to please come and get her, so I went. I wasn't aware that our friends, who had been with me at the time, had followed me; I feel ashamed, that I should've told them to get out of there, but I didn't. I was too worried about Sharpay. (a tear rolls down his cheek)

TM: We tried to get Sharpay to follow us out of the school, since we naturally wanted to put as much space between us and this gun, but she said she had to wait for Zeke. Right after Sharpay hung up, we heard what sounded like a stampede running above us, and the next moment a huge crowd of students were running down the stairs from the floor above. There were so many of them... at that point Zeke, Ryan, our friend Jason and his girlfriend Kelsi, and my boyfriend Chad had reached us. Chad tried to guide me through the crowd of people but there were too many people... it was so hard to try and protect someone else when it was like a free-for-all.

ZB: Ryan and I were both trying to get Sharpay out of there safely, and Troy was doing the same for Gabriella, and Jason for Kelsi. We fell to the back of the crowd and kinda freaked out, because we weren't sure in the gunmen were there.

RE: But they were. One of them shot at the ceiling and everyone in the hall stopped running. The shooters were just standing there, dressed in dark army-type clothes, each holding a gun with a sports bag over their shoulders. They just stood there and looked at us as if they were amused.

TM: They split us up. One of them yelled that half of us would go in the library and the other half in the cafeteria. They said that if anyone tried to run, they'd kill us all.

RE: We all got separated. Zeke, Sharpay, Jason, Kelsi, and I were led into the cafeteria by two of them – later we found out they were Brent and Vincent – while Luke took Taylor, Chad, Troy, and Gabriella into the library. I remember hearing Luke say to the other two while we were rushing into the cafeteria, "You're lucky you have someone to kill with. I bet you two'll have more fun that way." That comment made my blood boil more than anything. If I hadn't been concerned for the safety of everyone else, I probably would've punched him.

ZB: The first thing everyone did upon entering the cafeteria was try to protect themselves by hiding under tables. I don't really know why people did that, but at the time I didn't care. The five of us hid too. I remember Kelsi and Sharpay were both shaking violently, and Sharpay's breathing was coming in gasps. She was so afraid... (is unable to continue speaking)

RE: Sometimes, I just think, why didn't we try and overtake the gunmen? If all of us had run at them, we could've been able to save a lot of lives. I know we would've lost people, but better to die defending yourself than hiding under a table. But at the time I didn't think of that. I was just trying to keep my friends alive. (long pause)

TM: The other guy was following us into the library, and it was really nerve-racking because the four of us were at the very back in the crowd. But what was going on didn't really sink in until he shot Troy in the leg because we weren't moving fast enough. That was when I started to think, oh my God, I might die. Chad might die. All of my friends could die.

I felt like I was in a Nazi camp. He made us stand in a line, backs against the wall, as he surveyed us. He put his sports bag on the ground and paced around us, his gun over his shoulder. My heart was beating so loudly I could've sworn he could hear it, and actually thought he could when he stopped and turned to face us. But he was really looking at Troy. He told him to stand up straighter, since Troy was slouching a little bit from his leg. Troy was sweating with the pain and the effort to straighten his leg, but he couldn't. So the guy, Luke I think, shot him twice in the heart. Troy fell to the ground, dead, and I saw Chad twitch, as if he was longing try and help him but couldn't. Gabriella, however, screamed out loud and started to cry. She collapsed onto her knees and held Troy's head in her lap, sobbing. Luke then took his gun, jammed it against her temple, and killed her at point-blank range.

It happened right in front of my eyes... I watched as my two best friends were murdered... (pauses as she starts to cry into her hands. Is comforted by Baylor and Evans before regaining enough control to continue speaking) ... then I shut my eyes as the tears started to pour out... I couldn't believe it... seeing them getting killed made it so much more real...

And then he started shooting random people. He'd walk around and then just start shooting. After a while I could barely stand the sight of all the blood and deformed bodies... I couldn't even think to look at Troy and Gabriella or I was sure I'd throw up... and the smell was terrible... but I just looked straight ahead, studying the binding of one book, not looking at anything else. I took deep, steadying breaths through my nose. I glanced at the clock and realized that we'd been there for half an hour instead of what seemed like 10 years.

Then before I knew it Luke was in front of me. He smiled, an insane smile that chilled me to the bones, a smile that I know I'll never forget. He stood in front of me and held up his gun, but Chad yelled out to stop him. Luke gave him a look but still shot me in the arm. The pain was terrible and for a moment I just wanted to rip my arm off, it was so painful. But Chad yelled again so, just to shut him up, I think, he shot Chad four times, killing him after the third. I started to cry silently, but I didn't move. Chad had been trying to keep Luke from killing me, so I wasn't going to do something stupid and get myself killed. That would mean Chad had died in vain.

Luke then backed away and surveyed the scene in front of him, as if just realizing what he'd done. He'd killed 12 people and injured almost everyone else in there – only a few people remained unscathed. Then, as quick as a flash, he stuck the gun to his head and committed suicide. A couple people screamed. We stayed still for a while, making sure he was actually dead, before everyone fled for the exit. I saw a freshman girl who'd been shot three times but was still alive, just unable to move. I helped her up and followed the crowd of people outside, where there were tons of police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, squad cars, and a large crowd of people. Once the girl had been rescued by the paramedics, I broke down and started to cry.

RE: Back where we were, in the cafeteria, Brent and Vincent were just walking around. It almost felt like no one was even there but the two of them. And then, without warning, one of them, I think Brent, bent over the table, said "peek-a-boo!" and fired off a couple of shots. When he stood up again, he and Vincent were both laughing. I wanted nothing more than to pay them back for what they were doing to us.

ZB: We were the second table they went to. When I saw their feet stop it front of our table, I thought it was the end. I held onto Sharpay tighter, because I somehow knew this was our last moment together. One of them bent down, Vincent, and he smiled nastily at us. He shot blindly before getting up. I think it was seven shots total. I'd been shot in the stomach and the leg, and I was covered in my own and probably some of my friends blood. But nothing prepared me to look down and see Sharpay, with a bullet in her neck and chest, not breathing. I think that's when my world really ended... (is unable to continue)

RE: (crying) I feel guilty, because they didn't get me at all. I was covered in blood, but sustained no injuries. I saw my dead sister in Zeke's arms and started to cry. Sharpay was my twin sister, and we knew everything about each other. I just couldn't, and still can't, believe she's dead. Then I looked next to me and saw that Kelsi and Jason were both dead, in each other's arms. My heart broke a little more seeing them dead, but at the same time, the sight was still beautiful. They'd died together, holding each other. I'm sure that's where they'd probably wanted to be when they died. It was bittersweet.

ZB: Every time Vincent and Brent walked by us after that, Ryan and I would play dead. It was awful, having to be so close to our dead friends for so long, and lay in their blood. It was disgusting. So many times I feared that I wouldn't be able to take it and would throw up. I felt like I was going through torture. The pain was awful and I was struggling to breathe. And three of my friends were dead... at least, that I knew about.

RE: Finally, we realized that the police were there. It didn't even occur to me to think, where are they? I don't know why, but that thought never crossed my mind. But when I heard one of them talking into a megaphone, I started to think, where were they? I heard an officer outside saying "Lower your weapons. We have thirty SWAT members out here. Just lower your weapons and we won't have to shoot you." but they didn't. The two of them just looked at each other. Then a shot was fired in through a window and it knocked the gun out of Brent's hand. Vincent must have freaked, because he looked at Brent's gun in fear before shooting himself in the head, killing himself like Luke had.

ZB: I guess Brent got scared. I doubt he knew that Luke was dead, but maybe he thought, well, if Vincent can take the easy way out I can too. So he dove for his gun, stuck it in his mouth, and killed himself too.

RE: I thought the nightmare was over then. All of the uninjured, and the people who weren't injured so severely that they couldn't walk, got up and rushed for the exit, trying to put as much space between themselves and the scene. Zeke struggled to get up, trying to stand and hold Sharpay at the same time. I remember I was crying and told him there was no use; that she was dead. He nodded blankly and let me help him hobble out.

TM: By the time Zeke and Ryan got out, I had been removed from the front of the school and was sitting with my hysterical parents and younger sister, Tabitha. I was being treated by my wound by a paramedic, but when I saw Zeke and Ryan, I took off running towards them. I hugged them tightly and the three of us started crying together. A couple of paramedics came and led us away from the entrance. SWAT team members, having learned that all three shooters were dead, entered the building.

RE: Taylor told us through her tears that Troy, Gabriella, and Chad were dead, and Zeke and I told her about Kelsi, Jason, and Sharpay. It seemed so surreal that just an hour earlier we'd all been alive, joking with each other. I just can't understand why anyone would do this.

ZB: I wish that the three of them hadn't killed themselves. I wish that we could ask them why they did it, and find out what made them decide to murder all those people. I want to know how they could laugh about it. I remember hearing about Columbine when it happened, and people would say, "I wish they were still here so I could talk to them" and I'd think, "Why? Aren't you glad they're dead?" But now I know what they meant by that. We will never know what possessed them to commit this horrible crime, and one of the things I want, above all, is to be able to ask them.

The East High shooting received national attention. The death count was released a couple of hours later at 25, all students. A memorial service was held in honor for the students who lost their life. Evans, McKessie, and Baylor are only three people whose lives have been destroyed because of the three young men who planned this deadly massacre.

(Two more pictures: one shows color photos of all 25 victims, the other shows a picture of Ryan, Zeke, and Taylor hugging and crying during the memorial service)

RE: A lot of people having been calling us a city, or community, in pieces. But that's inaccurate. Everyone in this country was stunned and horrified by this second Columbine. We are not a community in pieces, but a nation in pieces.

-a piece by MadiWillow