December 17, 2021- Tiktok's last laugh

 TikTok, Get Out The Glock

        I leapt like a drunken chihuahua to my door and zipped through to my car. I have never been this excited to go to school. After all, it was the last day before winter break! The labor and drudgery, the constant 8-3 grind every day for the last half a year would finally yield a hiatus for us to truly enjoy life. Little did I know what this day bore. 

    It started out like any other- stupendously unordinary and frankly quite insipid. Math, Science, History, the subjects seemed to pass by like strangers at a park. Finally, my last period came, P.E, a lighter day where we would just be pegging off some balls with classmates. As we were sorted in line to be paired up, a conversation between a chubby brunette and his plausible twin brother shot my ears into discernment. 

    “Hey, did you hear about the latest TikTok trend that has been created?”

    “Yeah, yeah, National Shoot Your School Day. My mom was debating on whether or not she would even send me to school today. But don't worry. We live in one of the safest cities in the world. There’s no chance something like that could ever happen to us.”

    That piqued my interest. I rarely divulged in trivial social media platforms, so this was news. National School Your School Day? That sounds trippy. Oh well, that won't happen. So anyway, hopefully I get Doug as my partner for this game, I heard he’s an expert ballsman…

    In a trice, a resounding noise emanated from the siren-red speakers atop our school buildings. BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP! ‘Lockdown Alert’, a mechanical voice whirred audibly, and almost instantaneously, a barrage of teachers bombarded the doors of our small fitness centers like the FBI, and side tables, chairs, furniture, even a stuffed animal teddy bear was launched upon the double decker doors and the room hushed to an eerie darkness in a matter of seconds. I was schlepped along with the boisterous crowd of angsty kids and chattering teachers to a corner of the room, and was forced to squat on my already exhausted knee joint adjacent to a tall metal door.

    “Everybody calm down!” My teacher exclaimed in the least calm voice she could possibly muster. “There is a shooter in the school, spotted right outside this classroom, so make sure to let out not but a peep, or else things will get dicey” She bit her fingernails in anticipation, and despite the millions of questions spurring through our heads, we were contained, in both our minds and physically. All that was heard was the labored breathing of 50 sweaty 8th graders, mumbles of prayers in all different languages, and a few muffled tears. 

    30 minutes of anxiety passed by. Nothing was heard or said from any direction, and every little creak of equipment or sigh of a child was taken with a mass shudder. Kids were frantically plodding their fingers on their phones, contacting parents, loved ones, everything they could do to console them. My phone was still outside. I had left it in my bag, and with the intensity and pandemonium that immediately broke loose after the alarm sounded, neglected to carry it with me. All I could do was glance wearily at the door, crossing my fingers that we would get through this. At this point, it was not the shooter, but the clock that felt like public enemy number 1, its every tick a malicious snicker at our state of peril and frenzy. It was beginning to feel like we might never escape. 

    “Hey, “ my friend next to me nudged. “Why don't we run out of the building and dash to my house. It's not too far. I can’t stand sitting here any longer.” Although it allured me, I knew that going outside and risking such a thing would go South easily. We were locked, isolated, prisoners in our own school, surrounded by an unknown force that could bear a weapon of high potency. Suddenly, a radio perched upon a guidance counselor’s shoulder crackled, and a slow yet leery smile crept upon her face. “The lockdown has been cleared,” she gulped for dramatic effect, “and the situation has been contained.”

    We later found out that there was a high school student who was there at my school, an airsoft gun in his possession, and the idea of a simple prank fueled by the ludicracies of Tik Tok in his mind. Little information is present about his fate, but one thing is for certain. TikTok is a curse to humanity. TikTok should, no, must be banned.