"Do you believe in God?"
A simple sentence. Five words. Six syllables. One question, but what answer? I licked my parched lips, and stared at the floor. An energy ran through me, unlike any I had felt before. It wasn't adrenaline, although I wouldn't have been surprised had it been. It wasn't terror; no I was long past the stage of terror. To have terror you have to have hope. Hope you would survive. The thought of survival hadn't crossed my mind. No, this was something different, and it tore through me, to the point where I was scared it would kill me before the bullet would.
"What do you want me to answer?" I asked my voice cracking. I had no dignity, no pride; we all knew we were scared, there was no point in being ashamed in the fear showing through my voice. The gun twisted along my head. "What kind of answer is that?" a voice growled in my ear as I sat there, hunched over facing the blank red wall of lockers. "Mine." I gulped. "After All, what do you want me to answer?" I tried not to flinch as the gun was twisted, first this way, then that, twisting my straight blonde hair into knots. I could almost make out that feeling. This rush, this feeling it was. "Do you want me to say I have no god, or do you want to kill me?" I continued. It was so close. The groan continued, and I heard sobbing coming from somewhere down the row of teens. I reached out, my arm trying to reach them, but a hand collided with it, sending my wrist hazardously into the floor. I bit back tears and shifted my weight. I need more time. I had only thought of it so much. I had to get more time. Had to think, I had to save more time for- the sobs erupted full blast as I thought I could almost hear hope. Terror arose in me again. "You would want to kill me anyways; do you want me to say yes?" I poised the question, cowering against the lockers the best I could. A sigh of frustration came from him. "Don't you think it's silly? Killing others because of their belief in a speck of dust as huge as a mountain. A man who can part seas that are lakes. If he was real you would actually be doing them a favor, sending them into his arms and away from hate," the gun pushed my head against the locker. "Answer." He growled. I gulped. The sirens were coming closer, I could hear them, but I didn't have time. "Why do you want to know?" they were right outside now. "Tell us or we kill you now!" he screamed. "Yes."
That feeling, so close. I could touch it with my fingers. "Protection."
The police came through the door, my head dropped.