Nothing was quite the same anymore.

And although he was so much older, he felt like a tiny child with his arms wrapped around her waist, soaking her blue tee shirt through until it clung to her skin. She made no comment, no sound but the beat of her heart that rang through his ears. It drummed through his head, pounding the concaves of his brain as a joke almost, tormenting him with the sound of life.

When life didn’t seem to exist anymore.

Not the life he knew. Not the life they knew. The life that the people around him knew. For a moment he was able to close his eyes and go back; go back two hours and see his best friend sitting with a guitar in his arms and a girlfriend at his side, and his other best friend animatedly talking about the next football game. They were shaded from the rising afternoon sun by the courtyard trees, people passing to and from their classes. And he sat in the middle of it all, book bag lying forgotten beside him, basking in the peace of an afternoon spare.

He bit down on his lip, nuzzling his head further into her chest; trying to escape the world that now surrounded him. The helicopters flew above, and people all around swarmed; people who screamed and cried and when he opened his eyes for just a moment looked lost. Quarterbacks in their jerseys who just stood there with tears in their eyes, classmates clinging to each other regardless of popularity or clique, everyone with blood on their hands and fear etched onto their faces.

Because who would have thought it could happen to them?