When something bad happens, many people think to themselves, “That won’t happen to me.” Well, a former Navy Seal, Gerald Green, who is now the history teacher at Highland Creek High School, had this kind of nightmare.
On a sunny Friday morning in Charlotte, North Carolina, Mr. Green walked into the school like he would every normal day, and he prepared for his first period class, which was his 12th grade AP History class. After he finished preparing himself for the day, the bell rang and all the students began to enter the building for the start of the school day. As each of his students filed into his classroom, he started to write a question on the old, rugged chalkboard to begin class. Each student sat in their assigned seats, and they read the question on the board which said, “What would you do if the entire school was held hostage by a dangerous shooter?” Each student pondered through their minds on what they might do if this situation would ever occur in their lives.
After 20 minutes went by in the class, Mr. Green asked for the opinions of his students. Once he asked, many hands flew up in eagerness to voice their opinion.
While Mr. Green called on numerous students, most of them answered with, “I don’t know what I would do. I would probably just run for my life.”
Once Mr. Green saw a consistency in all the answers of his students he said, “Why would you run and risk your life when you can stay calm and fight back to save not just yourself, but others?” The whole class became silent with blank stares across the entire classroom.
Suddenly, no more than 15 seconds later, gun shots were fired, and the entire class began to scream in terror and panic. Mr. Green began to assure his students that they will be okay, but they need to remain calm.
After Mr. Green calmed down the class with reassurance that they would be okay, the announcement bell rang, and a voice over the speaker said, “The school is being held hostage, I just shot and killed both school police officers. I also have a tracker on all phone calls made from this building, so if anyone tries to escape or call the police, you will be killed.” Mr. Green’s class started to panic, and some students began to cry in horror and distress.
While this was occurring, Mr. Green began to point at the question he put on the old chalkboard. The room became silent once again and Mr. Green said, “Guys, we just went over this question and now we are in the middle of this exact situation, so what do we do?”
Some students started to say, “Sit here and hope that someone rescues us.”
Mr. Green responded in a whisper, “No, why would we do that when we can actually be smart and work as a team to fight back and save the school and each other. See when I was in the military I was a Navy Seal. Becoming a Seal required hard work, commitment, smarts, and most of all teamwork to take down the enemy to protect our country. When my group of Navy Seals went out to battle, we had each other’s backs, and we would do whatever it took to protect each other, and most of all our country. So, with the current situation we have on our hands; let’s work together as a team of Navy Seals to take down the enemy, and save our school. Let’s think outside the box, and be smart with everything that we do. Everyone in this room can do something that none of the others can do, so we need to use each of our strengths and combine them together to become a force. Think of it this way, each one of us is a puzzle piece, each piece can only fit into one spot to complete the puzzle, so once all the pieces are assembled, the puzzle becomes a masterpiece. Guys there are no need to be worried we can do this, let’s do this as a team. Come on let’s do it!”
Once Mr. Green gave his speech, the scared faces of each student started to turn into grins, and their watery eyes became filled with determination and perseverance. Then, after a few minutes of planning what to do, they began to put their plans and strategies into action. They pushed the huge cabinet against the door, as well as all the desks. They covered up all the windows with paper and tape, and made a huge pile of the student’s book bags to push up against the cabinet so that the shooter would not be able to barge through the classroom door.   While the students were making contraptions throughout the room Mr. Green was working hard at his desk on his computer.
One of his students came to ask him what he is doing, and Mr. Green replied, “When I was a Seal, a part of our training was to learn to become a hacker just in case we needed to hack into the computers or any cameras of the enemy we were trying to take down. So, what I am doing now is hacking into the school database to gain access to all the cameras in and outside of the building so that we can find out where the shooter is located always. By doing this we will be able to develop a plan to take him down, and possibly see if the shooter could be a person that we recognize.” The student was in awe of all the amazing things that Mr. Green can do, and all the intelligence that he has from being a former Navy Seal for the United States of America.
Meanwhile, the students continued to work vigorously but at the same time quietly, to make the room protective and safe for everyone inside the classroom. Mr. Green had some spare flash lights in his big huge cabinet that held all of the books that he teaches from for his class. The flashlights illuminated the room, and made the room visible for everyone to see. Another student pulled out Mr. Green’s old map of the school, and brought it to Mr. Green’s attention. The boy who sat in the first row of Mr. Green’s class brought it to him, and Mr. Green’s eyes lit up, and were full of joy.
The boy asked, “What is so exciting Mr. Green?”
Mr. Green replied, “This map shows all of the air ventilations throughout the building as well as all the rooms that they lead to. This can be a huge factor to take down that shooter.”
The boy said, “That’s awesome, did you finish hacking into the school camera systems yet?”
Mr. Green said, “Not yet, but when I do I will gather the entire class around my desk and we will come up with a plan.”      
While these things are occurring in Mr. Green’s classroom, the shooter is ravaging though each classroom, trying to get into them, but all the classrooms are locked down. Once, he goes through each classroom he decides to make another announcement to the entire school. So, the announcement bell rings, and all the civilians inside the school are eagerly listening to what the shooter is about to say.
The shooter puts his mouth very close to the microphone, and says, “I’m surprised that you all know how to lock down your classrooms. I’m very impressed! But, back to the announcement. This will be the last warning that you will receive. If anyone attempts to escape, make a phone call or try to take me down, this school will blow! There are bombs placed in various parts of this building, and if you test me I will show you very clearly that they really do work, and that this is truly real. The only way to get out of this building is to give me exactly what I want. What I want is for each teacher to leave their credit cards outside their doors so that I can get money to start a new life because this school has ruined my entire life, so if you don’t do this I will ruin this entire school as well as your life because it is not fair! This is the last warning so do as I say, or this school will be blown to pieces, and you won’t have a life to live any longer.”
Once all the civilians in the building heard the threatening message from the shooter, they all began to panic and had no clue what to do.
Even with all the panic each teacher began to listen to the shooter, and they searched through their wallets and began to pull out their credit cards to leave outside the door. The first teacher to do as the shooter asked was suddenly shot and killed.
When this occurred, Mr. Green finally gained access to all the cameras inside and outside of the school. When he saw that the teacher was shot, the first thing that ran through his mind was when he was in the military and his groups of Navy Seals were making a negotiation with the enemy. They were trying to rescue an American citizen who has been held hostage for 20 years by the opposition. They gave the enemy the money that they wanted, but then they shot and killed the hostage.
When this flashback went through Mr. Green’s head, he thought, I must figure out a way to pretend like I am following the shooter’s orders so that we won’t get killed, and so that it can buy us some more time to develop our plan.
A few minutes later, after Mr. Green had the flashback, he got the attention of the class. Mr. Green said, “I’m not trying to scare you guys, but Mrs. Robinson was shot and killed when she followed the orders of the shooter. So, don’t panic! We just have to develop a plan to buy us some time to take down the shooter because we are the only ones that can save this school. So, what I need everyone to do very quietly right now is to gather around my computer, and see if you can identify the shooter, and if so tell us how to get through to him.”
The students then quickly gathered around the computer to look at the camera system to see if they can identify the shooter.
After a few minutes of waiting to see where the shooter was on the camera, he walked into a clear sight of the camera. Mr. Green zoomed in closely on the shooter’s face, and asked, “Do anyone of you guys know this man?”
After a bunch of noes from all the students, one student by the name of, Charlie Gold, said, “Yes, I know him. His name is Henwick Jones. He used to go to school with my dad, and my dad would always tell me about him.”
Mr. Green replied, “Well, what did your dad say that he was like?”
Charlie responded, “My dad always told me that he was actually a very intelligent kid, and that he was the smartest in the grade, but he didn’t show how smart he was to the school. Everyone used to bully him in school, so he was sort of isolated from all of the other kids in the school, but the one friend he did have was my dad. They were buddies from kindergarten to senior year of high school. They would hang out together almost every day, and they would play videogames and go on hikes together. After, they graduated they were friends for 20 years, and when I was born Henwick was there to meet me. He was like an uncle to me. He would always take me to some cool places and buy me some really cool gifts for my birthday and Christmas. I never knew where he got the money from because he never had a job and was never married, so he might have been stealing it. When I was 8 years old, Henwick was arrested for armed robbery, and was put in prison for 10 years, and he was just released 2 days ago. I never thought that he would become so evil like this, but he did. I love him, but we need to take him down to save our school so I can definitely help. I can try to find a way to get through to him. I don’t think he knows that I still go to this school because if he did I don’t think that he would be here right now.”
Once Charlie informed the class about his relationship with Henwick, the class was in awe. They began to ask Charlie what he is going to do, but Charlie said, “Give me some time to think about this, and in the meantime start getting ready.”
Mr. Green pulled Charlie to the side and said, “I know that this is very hard right now to throw someone that you love under the bus right now, but I want you to know that you are doing the right thing. See when I was about your age my father was very abusive to me, and I would get beat twice a day, and I finally came to the realization that it needed to stop. So, I called the police and my father was arrested, and he was put in jail, and later killed himself. I was torn apart when he died, and felt like it was my fault that he is dead, but I told myself that it needed to be done because I wasn’t going to let him hurt me anymore. By what you were saying, Henwick sounds like a nice guy, but now something has gotten into him, and you can’t let him hurt you or the school. So, let’s work together and let’s save the school, and be brave.”
Charlie said with tears in his eyes, “Okay…let’s do this.”
While this was going on in Mr. Green’s classroom, Henwick collected all the credit cards of the teachers and is now on the move to Mr. Green’s history classroom.
Charlie said, “Here, this is my dad’s credit card. Use this to buy us sometime.”
Charlie slid the card under the crack of the door, and then covered up the door so that Henwick couldn’t get into the classroom. As Henwick was inching closer to the classroom, each student, and Mr. Green began to hold their breathes. Henwick reached down and took the card, and walked away.
Then Charlie said, “It worked! Now we don’t have much time until he realizes that the name on the card is my dad’s name so we have to hurry.”
The class gathered around Mr. Green’s desk to develop their plan. Mr. Green started to show them the layout of the school, and all of the exits and places that lead to the outside of the school. Then, all of a sudden Mr. Green came up with an idea.
He said, “I know what we can do. I wanted everyone to look up at the ceiling. Do you see the air vent?”
The class whispered, “Yes.”
Mr. Green continued, “Well there are thirty rooms that this vent leads to in this building. Twenty nine of the rooms are classrooms, and one of them is the room that Henwick is located in. So, the plan is to have each one of you climb up into the air vent, each one of you go to a classroom and tell them the plan to take down Henwick and stay there to help them. When you guys are all setup I want you to flash the light at the camera so that I know that everyone is on board.”
Charlie asked Mr. Green, “Well, what’s the plan though?”
Mr. Green replied, “The plan is to lead everyone to the janitor’s room and wait there until I take down Henwick. Why you are leading your designated classroom to the escape room, Charlie is going to crawl through the vent into the office where Henwick is located when Henwick leaves the room. And then I will locate the bombs which are located in each room, and once they are all dismantled I will come to the office and take down Henwick.”
Each student began to get excited to save the school, and do the job that they are assigned to do. So, after each student decided which room they were going to crawl through the vent to, they began to put their plan into action.
One by one, each student made their way into the ventilation system and crawled to their designated classroom. While they were doing this Mr. Green began to load his hand gun that he had hidden behind the chalkboard in case of an emergency just like this one. He loaded three shells into the gun, and tucked it under his shirt.
After ten minutes, each student signaled with their flash light that they are ready to do their job, so Charlie and Mr. Green began to get ready to go. First, Charlie climbed into the ventilation system, and he informed each class to wait five minutes, and then when they hear him ring the announcement bell crawl through the ventilation system to the escape room and wait there until Henwick is captured and all the bombs are dismantled. After Charlie informed all of the classrooms, he crawled to the room where Henwick is residing and waited until he left, and then climbed down. Charlie then quickly rang the announcement bell for the signal, and all the students and teachers began to crawl to the escape room. Henwick sprinted back to the office where the announcement bell rang to see and kill who was there.
While all of this is occurring, Mr. Green stealthily waited until he saw Henwick run back to the office, and then went to each classroom to locate and dismantle the bombs. Just as Mr. Green began to look for the first bomb in the first classroom, he had another flashback to his days as a Navy Seal. He had a flashback about when he and his group of Navy Seals were trapped inside a room which had a bomb that was about to explode in five minutes. Mr. Green had to attempt to dismantle the bomb to save his fellow Navy Seals and escape the building. With ten seconds remaining on the count down to the bomb his fellow Seals finally pried open the door to escape so they has to run for their lives. Mr. Green sprinted through the door just in time before the building blew up. He was knocked out for ten minutes and when he woke up, he realized that his fellow Navy Seals didn’t make it out of the building in time before the bomb blew up, and they were all blown to pieces and they died. Mr. Green knelt on the ground and began to weep in horror of the loss of his friends.
After the flashback in Mr. Green’s head stopped, Mr. Green said to himself, I let my team get killed because I couldn’t detonate a bomb, and I’m not going to let all of these innocent kids and teachers die because I can’t dismantle a bomb. I am going to do this.
Meanwhile, Henwick sprinted back to the office and found Charlie standing there looking back at him.
Henwick began to weep, “Charlie, why are you here?”
Charlie replied, “Don’t you remember that I go to this school?”
Henwick responded, “I thought you graduated a long time ago, but I must have lost track of time while I was locked up in jail. I had no clue you were here.”
Charlie said, “Uncle Henwick! Why are you doing this? This is not you.”
Henwick replied, “I need to do this because this school ruined my entire life. I was bullied every single day of my high school career, and I felt so disgusted with myself because of all the things that my classmates did to me. I thought about suicide every day, but I just couldn’t do it because your dad would always tell me that I was special and that God had a great plan for my life, but I never listened to him. I kept stealing and making my way through life by being a criminal. I was involved with drugs and I was in gangs to make some extra money because that was the only thing that made me feels good even though it was wrong. I should’ve listened to your father, but I didn’t. Charlie your dad was so good to me even when I didn’t even deserve it. And you, you were like a son to me. I enjoyed spending time with you and seeing you be a happy little boy. I enjoyed giving gifts to you, even though I used the money from drug deals it came from my heart and I truly meant it.”
Charlie responded by saying, “Uncle Henwick, you were so good to me, and I truly appreciated the things you did for me. When you went to jail, I just couldn’t seem to understand the reason why you did what you did because the guy I knew was so nice and loving toward me, and would never hurt anyone. I used to brag about you to all my friends, and tell them that I have the greatest uncle in the entire world. What happened to that guy Henwick? Where is he at? Because the man standing in front of me right now about to blow up the entire school is not the Uncle Henwick that I know. The man standing in front of me right now is a criminal, and a killer. I just can’t even get past the fact that my Uncle Henwick is about to blow up the school right now and kill everyone inside. What do you think my dad would say right now, if he knew you were about to blow up the school his only child goes to? Uncle Henwick, this needs to stop right now! Please! No one needs to be killed today! There is much better ways to deal with your past childhood than to blow up the school, and they be put in jail forever or possibly killed. We can get you help! We can get you to see a counselor! Please Uncle Henwick! Don’t do this!”
During the conversation between Henwick and Charlie, all the students and teachers are making their way through the ventilation systems and into the escape room. Once, all the students and teachers finally reached the escape room the quietly sat there and waited anxiously for the signal that everything is alright, and that they can finally go home and be with their families.
While they are waiting patiently, Mr. Green is ravaging through all of the classrooms and locating the bombs and dismantling them so that the entire school doesn’t blow up, and so that everyone will be safe and live. As Mr. Green is going through each and every classroom, he finally works his way to last room to dismantle the final bomb when he realizes that the last bomb is booby- trapped. So now Mr. Green has to figure out a way to maneuver around the trap and get to the bomb to dismantle it. Mr. Green takes in a deep breath and remembers the time when he was trained to get through a booby trap. He was always told to take a deep breath and stay steady, and remember that if he screws up than everyone dies. So Mr. Green takes in a deep breath, and stealthily maneuvers his way through the booby trap, and finally reached the bomb. Mr. Green took a huge breath of relief, and after five minutes he finally dismantled the last bomb to make sure that the school would definitely not blow up.
In the meantime, Charlie is trying his absolute hardest to persuade Henwick to stop doing what he is about to do, but Henwick still won’t give in.
Henwick says, “Charlie I’m sorry, I just have to do this for myself because if my life was ruined then everyone else’s life will be ruined as well. This world is cruel, and it will never let you succeed at anything unless you are accepted by society. Charlie I’m not. I’m a very bad man, and there is no way to change me. I will be this way forever. If I die, than everyone else in this school is going to die alongside of me. Maybe once I do this, the world will truly understand bullying and how awful and terrible it is. Maybe people will finally change how they treat people. This is the only way for them to understand Charlie, don’t you get it? This is all that there is left for me is to die right now. I’m sorry Charlie. Go now why you can so you can live.”
Mr. Green is sprinting to the office where Henwick and Charlie are located so that he can stop Henwick. Just before Henwick is about to push the button, Mr. Green sprints in with a gun in his hand and says, “Stop! Put the controller down!”
Henwick says to Mr. Green, “Who are you to tell me to put this down? I can blow this school up with one push of this button.”
Mr. Green replies to Henwick, “I know that I can’t force you to do anything, but please don’t do it.”
Mr. Green starts to weep and says, “Mr. Jones, I heard you used to go to school here and you were seriously bullied your entire life. I understand your pain. I went through the same thing when I was in high school. Everyone made fun of me because I was weak, and because I barely had any money because my father was very abusive to me, and then I was the one that had to make a change. I called the police on my own father, and then days later when he was in jail he died. And now I have to live with that for the rest of my life, but I knew I did the right thing, and that I wasn’t going to let anyone hurt me anymore. So, what I did was, I became a Navy Seal because I refused to be weak anymore and let people push me around, and hurt me. I chose to become strong, and learn how to fight for myself even though I had so many tragedies in my life. I chose to be the bigger man, and say, “No! I am who God says I am.” And that’s what I held onto my entire life, and Mr. Jones I know you can be strong, and you can be the bigger man. So, Please Mr. Jones! Don’t do this!”
Henwick suddenly pulls out a gun while he is weeping and points it at Mr. Green and says, “No, I have to do this. This is the only way.”
The next thing you know, Henwick presses the button, but nothing happens. The school did not blow up. Henwick cries out in anger, “No! Why… why is this not working?”
Mr. Green replies, “Mr. Jones, it’s over. I dismantled all the bombs and secured all the students and teachers in the janitor’s room. Everyone is safe.”
Suddenly, Henwick is just about to pull the trigger of his gun, and Mr. Green shoots Henwick in the head.
Charlie runs over to Henwick and says, “I’m sorry.”  Then Charlie turns around and notices that Mr. Green was shot in the stomach.
Charlie asks in panic, “Mr. Green is you okay?”
Mr. Green responds in a silent tone, “Go tell the students and teachers that they are safe, and they can go home. I’ll be okay.”
Charlie starts to weep and says, “Mr. Green you can’t die! I will tell everyone and get you help!”
Charlie sprints to the janitor’s room and says, “The school is safe! You can leave, but Mr. Green shot the shooter and he was shot also and he needs help! We need to help him because he saved our lives, and now we have to save his life.”
After Charlie informed everyone that they are safe he ran to the gas station across the street, and said, “Can someone please call 911 and tell them to come to the school quickly! My teacher Mr. Green has been shot.”
The clerk calls 911 and Charlie sprints back to the school to go and comfort Mr. Green until the ambulance arrives. Charlie enters the school, and sprints to the office and finds all the civilians in the building gathering around Mr. Green holding hands and praying for him and thanking him for saving their lives.
Charlie crouches down to Mr. Green and says, “Mr. Green, do you remember when you were telling Henwick that when you were going through all of that pain in your life, you chose to be strong, and not be weak anymore. You chose to not let anyone hurt you anymore. So, Mr. Green, I want you to not be weak, be strong, and fight. Fight like a Navy Seal. Fight like you need to stay alive for your family and for your fellow Navy Seals. Fight and don’t give up! You are not dying today Mr. Green, you’re my hero, and you are the hero of everyone gathering around you right now, so fight Mr. Green! Fight!”
As soon as Charlie finished talking to Mr. Green, the EMT barged through the door, and Mr. Green was put in the back of the ambulance, and Charlie went with him to make sure he is okay.
Once the ambulance arrived at the hospital, the EMTs rolled him into the ER so that the doctors can try to save his life. Charlie had to wait in the waiting room, and wait to see if Mr. Green survived. As each minute passed, Charlie began to get even more nervous, and he began to cry in fear of Mr. Green dying. Charlie’s heart was beating through his chest, and he started to pray and ask God to let him live.
After an hour or two, the doctor came out to see Charlie to inform him of Mr. Green’s condition. As the doctor walked into the room, Charlie stood up in a hurry and asked, “Is he okay? Is he alive?”
The doctor replied, “Mr. Green is alive, and he is in room one hundred and three. Now, I’m not supposed to let anyone but family go back to see patients, but Mr. Green specifically requested that you come back to see him. He said you’re his hero.”
Charlie began to cry and started to follow the doctor back to Mr. Green’s hospital room.
As Charlie walked into room one hundred and three, Mr. Green said, “There’s my hero!” Charlie’s eyes lit up as he walked over to sit next to Mr. Green.
Then Charlie said, “I’m so glad you are alive, and I’m not the hero you are.”
Mr. Green replied in a very low tone, “Charlie, I heard every last word that you said to me before I blacked out. You told me to fight like a Navy Seal, and to be strong. Charlie when you poke those words to me, I told myself, I can’t die, I need to stay alive to thank my hero for saving my life and tell me to be strong. So, I chose to fight so that I can lie in this hospital bed and thank my hero, Charlie Gold.”
After Mr. Green said these words to Charlie, Charlie said, “Mr. Green, you are my hero! You taught me to be strong and to be brave and protect innocent people. Mr. Green, you are the definition of a hero.”
After a few weeks in the hospital, Mr. Green was finally discharged, and finally went home. When he arrived at his house, his phone rang. He answered the phone and Charlie said, “Mr. Green, come to the school. There is something that you need to see.”
After Mr. Green hung up the phone he was taken to the school by the nurse he had at his home. When he arrived at the school, he saw a huge gathering of people in front of something covered in a blue tarp. The car pulled in near the crowd of people, the nurse helped Mr. Green out of the car. When he walked out of the car, Charlie said in a loud voice, “Here’s our hero!”
Charlie rolled back the big blue tarp which revealed a monument that read, “OUR HERO.” Mr. Green began to cry tears of joy, and as he inched closer to the monument, each parent of every child in the school came up to Mr. Green and thanked him for saving their child’s life and for teaching them to brave.
After every person at the gathering thanked Mr. Green for his service, Mr. Green looked forward and saw his history class standing in front of him. They came over to Mr. Green, and said, “Thank you for saving our lives, and for teaching us what it means to be brave.”
Then Charlie said, “We have the answer to your question you wrote on the board about what we would do if this ever happened to us. The answer is to be strong and fight like a Navy Seal.”
After Charlie said this, Mr. Green’s history class saluted Mr. Green and said, “Thank you for being our hero.”