Another boy, Herbert Jenkins, picked up this gun, and without any caution, shouted at me across the form room, “You’d better run Abhishek,” He smiled menacingly, pointing this M16 gun at me. I tried to dodge the continuous reign of pellets, as he unloaded the whole magazine of 36 pellets at me. I got caught and tried to protect myself under the thick, padded protection provided by my blazer. I barely felt a thing, as it was capacity and not power that counted for this gun. Everyone stood shocked and people laughed at me as tried to dodge the fire.
After this I went back to lessons, and had my lunch. At lunch break, John was still hanging around the form room, showing off his Desert Eagle, but a bit more cautiously, because any minute, Mrs Robinson would be coming back with her daily lunch; a leaf of lettuce, some cherry tomatoes and a big chunk of Morrisons’ finest Cantaloupe melon. He shot the odd coke can in the form room, but that was about it.
Break ended soon, and the final lessons began and ended. Now it was the end of school, and was I in for a shock when I entered the form room. It was noisy as usual, with everyone shouting and insulting others, doing wrestling moves, punching, kicking and generally beating up James Shaw. I went to my locker to get out all my homework books, and put them into my school bag. John was just playing with his pistol again, and just as I was about to leave and go for my bus, Jack Green shouted, half laughing, “I know, let’s shoot Abhishek with John’s Desert Eagle!” I tried to quickly make my way towards the door, i.e. to safety, when Herbert Jenkins closed the door and, and thus blocked my means of escape.
Everyone stood by the sides, and waited. It was like being in the collosseum with the crowds, hungry for some action, and me, standing in the middle, being mocked and insulted, helpless and unable to escape, waiting for the oncoming lions. I ran to my best friend, Muhammad Khan, to seek refuge, but he pushed me back into the centre, with the words I’ll never forget, “If you don’t get shot, they’ll shoot me! Better you than me!” I was furious, sad and betrayed, at the same time. I had no time to react, because then came the lions!
John aimed at my chest, and laughing, he also emptied the magazine of 12 pellets onto me. I quickly spun round, and again used my blazer as cover. It was pointless trying to dodge the pellets, as they zoomed past my sides and some over my head, as I ducked. Some managed to get through, and one hit me straight in the stomach! I let out a cry and collapsed on a nearby table. The pain was agonising as I tightly clutched my stomach. When the pellet first made contact, I felt a searing pain, like a knife stabbing me. It stung for a while, and left a mark too. Everyone was laughing a lot and renacting my dodging and getting shot. It is still vivid in my memory today, and I remember the aftermath of John getting suspended.
Abhishek Singh 10VM