This Is Where It Ends

Fifteen minutes after the shooting began, as the clock winds from 10:20 a.m. to 10:22 a.m., Chapter 10 closes as Autumn explores her responsibility in the day’s trauma and stands up before her brother to say: “Tyler, I’m here” (125).

Tomas breaks paperclips in the lock. Tomas’s one successful attempt gets interrupted by knocks from inside the auditorium. Tomas is unsure if the gunman will break through the doors any moment. When Sylv speaks, it’s revealed she does the knocking. She knocks a favorite song, and Tomas replies with the beat.

Meanwhile, Claire’s tangled between thinking about her brother, Matt, who is trapped inside the school, and the future romantic opportunity she imagines she will have with Chris, during the upcoming annual summer track team gathering: “We’ll toast our four years together, Chris and I” (119). 

Claire and Chris head back towards Opportunity High in the squad car. Tomas and Sylv continue their back-and-forth tapping. Just as Tomas raises his hammer to try and break the lock, Fareed arrives and stops him.

Autumn walks through the carnage of injured and dead.