Johnny’s Got a Gun

Curtis A. Bass

part 1

The rattle startled me as I walked past the open door to Mom and Dad’s bedroom. It was the sound of a phone vibrating on a wooden surface. A faint glow across the room, on top of Dad’s bureau caught my attention. A cell phone was receiving a text. My cell phone. The one they confiscated, along with grounding me, for staying out too late last week. One night. What’s the big deal about that?

Seeing the coast was clear, I ducked into the room to check the message.

Benjie: Prowl 2nite

I knew the message wasn’t from Benjie but from Digges, using Benjie’s phone. Digges can’t afford his own. I tapped in a quick “I’m in” and erased the message. No sense in letting snooping adults reading my personal messages. I was so ready for a prowl. We usually reserved them for weekends, but today was special. It was Halloween, and I expected Digges had something cool in mind. No matter that it was Wednesday. It wasn’t like I had to worry about school tomorrow, given what had happened.

Digges and Benjie are my “hoodlum” friends, as Dad called them, and the reason I was grounded. Yeah, Digges has a record and Benjie is just a doofus hanger-on, but they treat me nice. Better than anyone else in my stuck-up school. Except Tyler, but that’s done. I try not to think about that. Dad just says, “Chad, fifteen-year olds don’t cry.”

* * *

Mom and Dad went to bed at ten-thirty, and the house settled into the quiet of night. About eleven o’clock, I eased out the window of my bedroom. God bless ranch houses. I had on my long johns, a thermal T-shirt, sweater, thick leather jacket and knit cap. It was cold as a bitch out, but that’s October in Connecticut for ya.

I met up with Digges and Benjie at the all-night Seven-Eleven a quarter mile from my house. I spotted them a block away, two figures loitering in the parking lot under the streetlight. Benjie was taller but slighter than Digges, who was wiry but solid, a build earned from his hard-scrabble life. Benjie was gangly and fidgeted constantly, reminding me of junkies I’d seen hanging about. I bumped fists with Digges and then Benjie when I got there. Digges had on a knit cap like mine. Benjie was without a hat, his colorless, lank hair hanging around his face.

Our “prowls” were mostly roaming around. We’d sometimes break into abandoned buildings or factories. Nothing major, but it relieved the monotony.

“It’s the witching hour, boys,” Digges said. “Midnight on Halloween, restless spirits and ghosts moving back and forth between Hell and earth.”

Benjie giggled, but there was a nervous edge to it.

“Let’s go,” Digges ordered.

“Where we going?” I asked.

“You’ll see.” That was all I could get out of him. As we continued, I began to get a sinking feeling, a hollowness in the pit of my stomach. We were nearing the school.

“We’re not supposed to go to the school, Digges. They said it’s a crime scene. It’s got police tape all around it. We might get arrested or something.”

“Don’t get your panties in a wad. The CSI guys have been all over this place since Monday. If there was any clues, I’m sure they found ’em. It ain’t like they don’t know who did it. And there ain’t nobody standing guard over it at night. I just want to take a look-see. If there’s any restless spirits out tonight, that’ll be the place. Don’t you want to see all the bloody floors and walls? All the bullet holes in the blackboards? I know I do.”

“Me, too.” Benjie giggled in a higher pitch, now tinged with fear.

“I know you do, you psycho,” Digges said to him, derision in his voice. Benjie was unrepentant and giggled some more. I looked down, not wanting to be singled out as scared.

“How are we getting in?” I asked.

“I know a window where the lock’s been busted for a few years. I guess you just cain’t get decent maintenance men no more.”

Digges growled out a soft laugh.

* * *

We found Digges’ malfunctioning window behind the school in a dark bend in the architecture. With practiced ease, as if he’d done this a thousand times, Digges pulled an unused old crate over to give himself a boost. He hoisted himself up to the window ledge and balanced while pushing the window open. Then he was in.

He had barely cleared the sill when Benjie scrambled up after him. I didn’t like the idea at all. I was afraid we’d get in trouble. But I didn’t want to look like a pussy. So I climbed up and struggled through the window. I overbalanced going in and landed on my ass. Digges and Benjie howled with laughter at me.

The inside warmth made my face tingle, or maybe that was just embarrassment. They had to keep the heat turned on or the school would never warm up during the days. I wasn’t sure why it was still turned on now. It wasn’t as if anyone would be using it for a while.

I squinted in the dimness. The soft glow of the emergency exit lamps and the ambient glow coming in from outside past the edges of the boarded-up windows were the only light. The overcast sky allowed no star or moonlight through. The school was in a residential section with no overnight business lighting, only a few lampposts on the school grounds. As we stood in the dark, it felt wrong. The air was odd. There was a coppery smell, with a hint of dead things beneath it.

“What’s that stink?” asked Benjie.

“You idiot. That’s the smell of blood, shit, and piss rotting. They ain’t got around to cleaning it up yet. This is just like it was a minute after Jenkins stopped shooting,” Digges told us. He looked about as if fascinated.

“You were in school Monday, weren’t you?” I asked Digges. I’d been home with a fever that probably saved my life.

“Yeah. Come on. I’ll show ya.”

We exited the classroom. It was darker in the hallways without windows, just the reddish cast of the emergency exit lights. We crept down the hall toward the north end in the hellish gloom, compelled to remain quiet under the enormity of what had happened here.

“He began up here. Classes were changing, so the halls were full of people. Yeah, the bastard was goin’ for the maximum kill. I wasn’t but about twenty, thirty feet away from him when he started. You always hear people say they thought it was firecrackers or a backfiring car. Where I come from, I knew in a flash it was gunfire. Bam! Bam!”

Benjie and I jumped at Digges’ outburst.

“I spun around and made eye contact with Johnny. We ain’t never been friends, but he ain’t never crossed me, either. He just looked at me for a second. He had a big grin on his face, but his eyes were wide and looked like wasn’t nobody home. Johnny was gone.

“I dived behind a trashcan, but I think I was safe anyway. He coulda killed me, but he didn’t. I been thinking about it ever since. He coulda shot me right then. But he stopped, looked at me and moved on. Why? I really wish I knew.”

Benjie’s mouth dropped open as he hung on Digges’ every word. “Woah,” he murmured.

I was kinda creeped out by his story. We knew Johnny. He was an ass, but to do something like this? And to be standing there while Digges narrated what happened wasn’t right. People were dead. People we knew. I looked around the hall, wondering if evil was a physical thing or left a stain. That thought made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, and I sidled a little closer to Benjie.

“He came on down this way,” Digges continued, walking down the hall. “Most of the people had cleared the halls by then. I was watching from behind my trashcan. He shot some of the wounded who were still in the hall. I seen this one girl, Misty, who was on the floor wounded. She turned her head and looked at him. He put the gun right in her face and pulled the trigger. Her head busted like a cantaloupe.”

I shuddered at that thought. Misty was a sweet girl who never said anything bad about people. She had said she’d save a dance for me at the Halloween dance. The one that was supposed to be tonight but was now cancelled. Why would he do something like that to her? How did he become a monster?

“Most of the classrooms have locking doors,” Digges said. “That’s what saved peoples’ asses. Before he could blow the lock off, they’d busted out the windows and were gone. He found a few more people but, after the big start, he mostly just shot up the place. I bet it pissed him off. He was loaded for bear, but only killed ten people.

“I saw him go in and out of several classrooms. I don’t know if he killed anybody there or was just shooting off. There was wounded kids all over the place, and now the shock of what happened wore off, they started screaming and moaning and crying. I think that was scarier than him shooting.”

I imagined the awful moment when the initial shock wore off and the screaming began and shivered involuntarily. God, that was so sick. Benjie was just eating it up with that stupid grin still on his face. Our friends were dead, and Digges was making it into a side show. I used to think he was so cool, but to see him like this shattered that image.

“Once he was done with the classrooms, I thought he’d come back to finish off the wounded. But instead, he suddenly come running down the hall back toward me, turning and firing behind him every coupl’a steps. I seen some guys coming through the gun smoke with rifles with laser aims. One of ’em took him down with a head shot. Then everybody got in on it. I bet that guy had twenty bullets in him by the time they stopped.” Digges paused, his breath coming quicker. I could see in the dim light that he was lost in the past, reliving the moment. Maybe even enjoying it. I was afraid I was going to throw up.

“Dude,” Benjie said reverently, clearly impressed, “I didn’t see nothing. I was outside when it started.”

We had been making our way slowly down the hallway as Digges talked. “There were several students dead right here,” Digges said, stopping. In the dim light I could just make out the floor was discolored, and I suddenly did a little dance step trying to get out of it.

“It’s dried now. Ain’t gonna mess up your sneaks,” Digges told us.

I still didn’t want to be standing in anybody’s blood, dried or not. A fly buzzed my ear and I slapped it away. An icy wind went down my spine, even though it was warm in the school.

As we walked farther along the hall, I detected more and more discolored places on the floor and even the walls. The stench was worse in some places, and I was closer than ever to hurling.

“Folks ain’t nothing but a bag of blood. Poke a hole and blood goes everywhere,” Digges said, as if he were philosophizing. I swiped at another fly buzzing my ear. A drop of sweat ran down my forehead, so I pulled off my knit cap and stuck it in my pocket. As I reached up to smooth down my short hair, I felt a faint breeze lift the hair at the nape of my neck. Someone whispered something behind me. I spun around but only saw the dim hallway. Something touched my ear. I swatted again.

“What’s wrong with you?” Digges looked at me, annoyed.

“A fly keeps landing on me.”

“It’s freaking October. Ain’t no flies.”

“Well, something touched me, and I thought I heard something.”

Digges laughed with delight. “Yeah, the ghosts of all the dead students have come to get ya, Chad. It’s the witching hour.”

“Don’t, Digges. I’m scared of ghosts,” Benjie murmured, as if embarrassed to admit it.

“You pussies. I show you some of the coolest crap in town and you’re scared of ghosts? I gotta find me some new friends.”

“I ain’t scared, Digges. Not really. It’s just Chad’s trying to spook me, and it’s dark.” Benjie was placing the blame on me, and I didn’t even want to be here.

Johnny’s got a gun. I heard the whisper behind me. At least I thought I did. But when I looked, I didn’t see anybody there.

“Digges, was that you?” I asked.

“Me, what?”

“I thought I heard you say, ‘Johnny’s got a gun’.”

“I heard it was a big freakin’ gun, but I didn’t say nothing. Why would I do that?” Something crawled over my ear. I jumped, swatting at it.

Johnnyjohnnyjohnny.

“Something’s on me! And there it is again. Can’t you hear it?” I was dancing a jig trying to get the insect or whatever it was off me.

“I don’t hear nothing,” Digges said, but he did a quick glance in both directions.

“I don’t like this, Digges,” Benjie said, nervousness growing in his voice. “Let’s go.”

“Pussies,” Digges spat at us. “Let me show you this.” We walked on toward the hall’s end. He stopped at a large stain.

“I figured it out from the video on TV. This is where Jennifer Kellar bled out. Cryin’ shame. She had one fine ass.”

I remembered that from the news report. She was one of the prettiest girls in school. Her boyfriend was on top of her trying to protect her and the bullets went right through him. I always choked up when I thought about that.

Somebody help me!

Benjie jumped as if touched by an electric wire. “I heard somebody whispering in my ear!” He backed violently into a locker, making a loud “clang” that echoed down the empty hall. “Which one of you is doin’ that?”

“Cut the crap, Ben,” Digges warned. I stumbled into Digges.

“What the hell, Chad?”

“I got pushed.”

“Ain’t nobody there to push you. You trying to cop a feel?”

“We need to get outa here,” Benjie gasped, totally spooked. “Damn, something touched me.”

“You’re scaring yourselves like a bunch of old women.”

Hn, hn, hnnn.

I couldn’t tell if that snickering was in my head or not. Benjie must have heard it, because he yelped and bolted. The first classroom door he tried was locked. He dashed toward a second door, but Digges caught up and grabbed him.

“Don’t freak out on me,” he commanded.

Benjie yanked open the door. “I can’t stand this dark. Lemme turn on a light.” He palmed the classroom light switch. There was a brilliant flash during which I got a momentary glimpse of every blood vessel in my eye. Benjie’s yelp was cut short, and we were plunged into a deeper darkness.

Within the dark, I saw a pulsing purple blob in front of my eyes. “What the hell?” I shouted.

“We must have blown a fuse,” Digges said. At least one of us was still calm. The purple blob slowly faded. It was totally black now in the classroom. The windows, mostly boarded up, were only fainter black against funereal black.

Proceed to part 2...