12. Lié lies

                                    

                                          
I woke up in pain. I checked under my shirt to see if the bindings were still in place. There was a big red stain on the otherwise white tissue, but the blood seemed to have dried up. No active bleeding anymore, great. I was fighting back tears just sitting up on my bed.  Standing up was less painful because I did not have to bend my hip. I felt dizzy at first, but after a few steps, it felt more okay. The pain was more intense than it had been yesterday. The shock and adrenaline must have saved me from the worst of it.
                          
I looked into the mirror that I had bought for myself some time last year. There were a few scratches on my right cheek. Just great.
                          
I took out a large black dress that I believed was going to cover my wound just fine. It was thick, so even if the wound started bleeding during the day, I would have some time to put on new bindings before everybody noticed. A few tears ran down my face and I suppressed screams of pain while I changed clothes. A loud announcement called for all students to come to the schoolyard immediately. I tied my hair into a ponytail and tried to wash my face as well as I could in the public bathroom. Leaning down was not easy. I hurried to the schoolyard as well as I could.
                          
A large group of students was already standing in front of the fence when I arrived. They were all standing in one line, so I joined in. Some of the first years were still wearing pajamas. 
                          
Mr. Naveel was walking up and down in front of us. He was wearing a black suit per usual, but he had not tucked in his shirt. His face was cold, but the way he moved revealed great anger. His steps ended abruptly when he before he turned around and his right hand was clenched into his fist. He started talking once the last student had arrived: 
                          
"One of you has violated school regulations." His voice was pompous and loud. Even without any microphone, every last one of us was scared to the bone. "One of you was strolling around outside of school premises last night." Mr. Naveel took his time to look at each and every one of us for a brief second. His eyes were piercing through my very soul. "And this scoundrel shot through our fence, and killed our dogs.", a lot of students started shaking for a moment as his voice got even louder.
                          
He made a noise that sounded like some combination of a grunt and clearing his throat.
                          
"We will not tolerate this kind of behavior at our school. One of you is going to come forward. None of you are leaving until I have found and punished the person responsible."
                          
Some students were holding hands, I was not even sure if they knew each other. 
                          
The director pulled out a long and thick wooden stick from his fine black satchel. He pointed it at the students as he walked by. I avoided his eyes like my life depended on it. And it probably did. I supposed that yesterday I might have cared more about dying. But for now I decided that I really wanted to live despite all of it.
                          
One of the first-years finally broke under the pressure and stepped forward. "IT WAS HIM!", she screamed panicky and pointed at one of the other first-years in the crowd. His face turned to dread and he let out a high yelp. His mouth opened and eyes widened as he was preparing to fend off her accusations.
                          
Mr. Naveel took out a gun and shot the student that had come forward and the student that she had just pointed at in the head.
                          
"Go to class", he barked. Everyone walked hurriedly to their classrooms. I looked back at the dead bodies on the floor, wondering if maybe I should not have come back here. 
                          
Mr. Naveel was smiling at me secretively. He smirked once I looked at him and then turned around to go back to whatever he was doing all day in his office. I decided that it would be better not to be late for class, especially today.