The eight-hour hostage situation at Rotesway Academy officially marked my last day there as their music teacher.
All through the critical situation, my life flashed before my eyes like I watched an action movie on a cinema screen—larger than life and surreal.
In a daze, I stared into space as a paramedic treated the wound on my forehead where Nigel Benson had hit me with the handle of his handgun. Another checked my vitals and asked questions but got no response from me.
Those eight hours were gruelling, the worst time of my life. I thought the end had come and I almost cried before my students. Thinking about it now made me a little ashamed.
In one of those flashes, I saw my mom's teary face. I'd not spoken to her in six months because she pestered me to find a wife and give her grandchildren like my younger brother, Edwin. So I stopped calling. For a while, at least. Then time went by so fast and I thought I'd never speak to her again.
Ruddy, my Abyssinian cat, came to mind too at that life-threatening moment. She skipped breakfast this morning. Who would feed her in my absence? Ruddy was scared of everyone and everything, including her shadow.
When I tried to convince Nigel to drop the gun, that he was going down a dark path, he asked, "What did you and other scum teachers do when I reported Gary and Dennis? Huh?"
I held his gaze but died inwardly with shame.
The matter was taken before the school disciplinary committee but the boys were given a slap on the wrist because their wealthy fathers practically owned the school.
I did not know the bullying continued.
Nigel Benson had had enough. Classes were ongoing when he burst into mine, raised his gun and fired a shot into the ceiling.
In an instant, the school was in chaos.
The boys immediately went down to the floor, like they had been taught in Emergency Response class. The girls shrieked while some fell off their chairs to the floor.
I froze by my music stand, my wand in midair.
Nigel had tears in his eyes but he scowled at me, trying to act tough. He locked the door and ordered all the girls to one side of the class and the boys to another side.
He asked Gary and Dennis to stand up. The quivering cowards wouldn't. Nigel fired another shot into the ceiling. I came down to earth then and tried to reason with him.
We heard a commotion outside the door. The school security and principal tried to open the door. Nigel threatened to shoot anyone who came into the class.
I advised the principal to step back so no one would get hurt. I presumed he'd called the police because an hour later, we heard the incessant roar of a helicopter above the school building. I looked out the window and saw patrol cars and a SWAT tank parked around the school.
Nigel was shaking badly. So were Gary and Dennis who lay face down on the floor.
"Nigel, look at me!" I wanted his gaze on me and not on the boys. We had been talking for some hours now and he wasn't yielding. I was tired. He turned to me with a scowl. "I know we've failed you…"
"No. I know you tried your best but this school - this school…" he stuttered in tears.
"Hey, Nigel. We all take the blame for this. But we can make things right, okay? Drop the gun so that you don't hurt anyone. If you do, you make everything worse…"
Nigel gritted his teeth and wiped his brows, waving the gun around. I quickly crouched and held my breath. "I can't let them keep bullying me. I hear stories…"
"Listen to me. Drop the gun and I'll see to it this time around that the bullying stops."
He turned his back on me and began to pace beside Gary and Dennis. I thought I could take the gun from him.
I tiptoed towards him when the voice of a police officer through a horn speaker rang out.
Nigel turned suddenly, his eyes widening in fear at my nearness. Reflexively, I raised my hands in surrender and was crouching down when he hit my head with the gun handle.
I fell to the floor and stared at the ceiling. Then the flashes came because he stood over me, with the gun pointed in my face and anger in his eyes.
"You liar! You just want to take my gun and hand me over to the police…"
My sight was blurry from the sharp pain in my head but I could make out Aaron, the tallest boy in the class, standing behind Nigel.
He held Nigel's hand in a tight grip while falling to the floor with him. Nigel struggled beneath Aaron. That was when the police burst in and took the gun away from Nigel.
Nigel yelled and trashed around when he was about to be handcuffed. The medical team quickly sedated him and he was wheeled into the ambulance.
Many parents were in tears as they hugged their children and took them home.
Gary and Dennis' parents threatened at first to sue the school for its negligence in the care of the students. But after they'd talked with the leader of SWAT and the principal, they calmed down and their boys became remorseful.
I spoke with the detectives in charge. I gave them a full narration of all that transpired in the classroom and signed some papers.
The paramedics wouldn't let me go, stressing the need to have me checked 'properly' at the hospital but I declined.
I was breathing and walking, so yes, I was going to be fine.
I didn't know the hostage situation was televised. I threw my jacket over my shoulder and walked away from the ambulance.
Then I saw Edwin standing by his car and our mom with him. Her eyes were teary and red.
I paused. I was going to return to my empty apartment, hold onto Ruddy and a bottle of whiskey for comfort while I reflected on life. I thought that was all I had.
But I had much more.
I had a loving family who cared enough to travel three hours from another state to see me.
In a flash, I found myself in the warm embrace of my family.