I honestly don’t know how to even begin to explain this. I don’t know whether to believe it or think my friend maybe is having problems, but I’m not sure anymore. This whole month has been hell for us after what happened to Trevor.
Trevor was your typical quiet kid. Nothing about him was weird to say the least, he just preferred to be alone and keep himself. Honestly, I had no problem with him. He seemed kinda cool. He loved to draw and sketch cartoons. I even saw some myself and would comment that he could a artist someday. He was a great student.
Trevor was in our homeroom class in our freshman year. He and his family had moved from the country side and into a new town to start a fresh beginning after his dad got a new paying job. Trevor had a older brother who I met as well, Dillon though everyone calls him “Dill” for short. He was a senior and couldn’t always be there for Trevor, but I could tell the two were very close. But like I said, Trevor was alone and sometimes wouldn’t say anything when someone talked about him.
Even when Galvin started “joking” with Trevor.
He was one of my close friends, but I will admit, he’s a asshole. He would misbehave in class, talk over teachers, curse at students. I mean, he has good qualities too. He’s funny, loyal, and willing to lend a hand. But Galvin has this…mean way of joking. It seemed more like he was insulting others, however, he always tell them to “lighten up, I was just joking with ya.” But sometimes, I seemed to me the person he was making fun of WAS the joke.
And he saw Trevor as his next target.
It started small. He would comment on Trevor’s choice of clothes, how pale his natural skin is, all that shit. He would turn around on his desk just so he could look at Trevor straight in the eyes when he started. Trevor would just look down and be silent, never saying a word. I and our group of friends would have to motion him to turn around as Mrs. Bree started our English lesson for today. He would see Trevor’s face, smiled and nudged him saying “Hey, don’t take it to heart man. It’s just a joke. Lighten up,” then turned back to us for the remainder of class.
Then it got…a little personal. You see, Galvin would pick someone in our classroom and joke mostly about themselves and their personal life’s. I never knew why he did that. I think maybe he because he barely got in trouble back at home and teachers didn’t give a shit as long as you got good grades and such. And Galvin did and he always saying he was kidding and most people found it funny so I think that’s why nobody ever did anything when he was talking to Trevor.
The things he would say to Trevor, for example, was ask about his life in the country. Trevor and his family used to live on a horse farm. Galvin would joke about how he basically had to be covered in horse shit all day and even if he left, the smell would never leave him. Or how Trevor could be so pale if he worked on a farm, basically calling him lazy. I think it really got to Trevor because of what happened a month ago.
I wasn’t there at school that day, I had a doctor’s appointment that day because the flu was going around and I caught I so I had to stay at home. I remember laying in bed, groaning in annoyance as I grabbed another tissue to blew into when my phone pinged with a text.
It was Cheryl, though we never called her that, so our friend group nicknamed her “Cherry.” Usually she would text me and we talk for hours about school, life at home, what stupid stuff our friends were doing. I will admit, I do have a crush on her so I got a little excited despite my sickness and picked up my phone to see what she had texted.
The words that were texted will forever be placed in my mind. A chill ran down my spine and I could remember the internal dread in my stomach.
“There was a shooting at the school. Trevor’s dead. There’s police cars everywhere. Trevor is gone. He’s gone Dylan”
For what I got from others and one of my friends, during a lesson, Trevor was acting off. When the teacher asked him to answer a question, he remained silent, just staring at his desk. That’s when Galvin commented, “I guess farm bot here don’t know the basics of English, huh? Makes sense.” Some students scoffed, others chuckled, but mostly our classmates stared at him. One of our classmates nudged him, whispering “Dick move, Gals.” But Galvin just said, again, that it was just a joke.
That’s when the horror of that day came. Trevor stared at Galvin for a moment, slowly stood up, making the rest of the students and the teacher look at him and stood silently for a moment.
That’s when he pulled out the rifle.
The police say he must have gotten it from his dad’s safe. His family keeps some guns in the house, mostly for hunting and some for protection. Nobody knew how the hell he was able to bring a whole rifle to school. My dad says he must have had a gym bag in it, which makes sense cause we have gym class in 3rd period and our couch gave us duffle bags to put our clothes, water bottles, phones and other stuff in. It was the perfect length for a rifle.
You would think that’s when he would start shooting at others. Maybe you think the police saw him about to attack another one and shoot him dead. Or maybe he did shoot other students and turned the gun on himself like many shooter cases.
But no. He never did.
He never turned the gun on our classmates, or the teacher, or even at Galvin. Instead, he put it below his jaw, stared straight ahead, and before anyone could stop him, he pulled the trigger.
It was the most horrible thing that had happened to our school and that whole month was hell, but mostly on Galvin.
I know I said he’s a jerk, but I don’t think he meant for this to happen. How do I know? Galvin hasn’t been the same since. He’s more quiet, looks more tired barely speaks, and never eats lunch at school like normal. I think he believes it’s his fault. Though Trevor’s parents say Trevor was struggling from depression and he took medication for it. But Dill took it the hardest.
Galvin took a week off school because the trauma of seeing his classmates shoot himself. He was there when it happened and was sitting two seats from him when Trevor pulled the gun on himself and some of the blood had gotten on Galvin. Cherry says Galvin looked…blank, numb, shock. He just sat there was everyone cried and screamed as Trevor’s limp body fell on the floor.
When Galvin returned, Dill snapped at him. He kept screaming and punching Galvin, saying “You killed him, you bastard! My brother is dead! What did he ever do to you?! Why?! Just why?!” Galvin said nothing as some students and a teacher tried to restrain Dill.
To be honest, I don’t fault Dill for his reaction. That was his baby brother and he wanted to take it out on the person that insulted Trevor every single day, whether it was intentional or not. After the news, I kinda just strayed away from Galvin. Not because I hated him or anything, but because of the circumstances of Trevor’s death.
It’s a tragic end for Trevor, whatever was going through his head. I think about why he decided to end his life the day at school. Did he snap? Did Galvin’s comment broke something in him? Or was everything else that had happen in his life just came a toll into a bloody end? Why at school? Why there? Was it because that’s where all his problems began? The sad part is I’ll never get a answer. The reason why he shot himself at school will be a mystery.
But that’s not the reason I decided to tell this story. The reason why is Galvin is experiencing something…odd? I can’t even put in the right word to explain it. But I’ll try.
It started a week after Trevor’s death. We couldn’t use our original room since that’s where he died and most kids didn’t want to learn where a student killed himself. I remember the room being so quiet and everyone was listening to our teacher. Some kids were missing, maybe still coping after seeing a student die right in front of them. Galvin was there. Even though he wanted to say home, his parents didn’t care and send him off to school because he needed the education.
I remember seeing him fidget a little. He was barely paying attention. Not because he was talking to others and laughing as usual. But because he was acting nervous, I think? He kept looking to his side or behind him with wide eyes, like he was looking for something…or someone. That’s when I noticed Galvin turned to look at the left corner of the room and I never seen someone’s face grow incredibly pale in a matter of seconds. His mouth was open in a stupor, just staring at the corner.
I turned to see what he was looking at but there was nothing there. But Galvin could clearly see something I couldn’t and he quickly turned around to pay attention. I remember thinking that was odd though I didn’t question him, though I should have asked what was wrong. I just thought he was still recovering so I turned back to the teacher. I could make out of Galvin kept glancing at the corner sometimes.
Then it would spiral down to Galvin absolutely terrified of…something. I don’t know it was, but whatever it was, Galvin was on edge all the time. He was very quiet, kept glancing all around him, and when someone approached him, he would jump a little and get a little angry. I never seen him like this so one day I confronted him on our way to our houses the day after school.
“You know…You been acting kinda…quiet lately,” I said to him. Galvin was looking down at the sidewalk as I spoke. “I mean, I get why, but I noticed other things too. You seem kinda…nervous of something.”
He looked up at me, both of us staring into each other’s eyes.
“Look man, you don’t tell me what’s going on, but I’m worried. After Trevor’s death, you seem to be in deep shit. You barely eat, talk, and when you do, you give short answers. You cursed at Cherry when she tapped your shoulder. She’s still pissed at you for that.”
Galvin stared at me blankly for a moment and then the next words he said…I can’t make sense of it. I don’t know if he said it due to lack of sleep or his mind set at that moment. But here’s what he said.
“I…I think…I see Trevor.”
I froze, staring at him in confusion. “Trevor?”
“Yeah…I see him everywhere.”
If you would asked me what I thought in that moment, I couldn’t give you a clear answer. At first, I thought he was joking and I kinda stared at him sternly.
“Dude, I get you like to joke at times, but that’s-“
“I’m serious!” Galvin interrupts, his voice a fidget whispered. His face looked pale and his eyes were wide, just like the day Trevor killed himself.
“I see Trevor. Every. Single. Day. Everytime I wake up, he’s there, staring at me with those blank eyes. He…he still has the blood on him. No matter how much I apologize or beg him to tell me what I can do to earn his forgiveness, he never fucking answers me! He just stares me! When I go to school, when I walk home, when I sleep in my bed, he’s always there! Taunting me! I can’t take it anymore!”
He grabs my shoulders, gripping them tightly as I stare at him in shock as he looks on desperately, tears in his eyes. I never seen Galvin cry.
“What do I do Dylan? How do I make him stop? Can’t he see I’m sorry? What do I do?!”
God, it’s so hard to type this in. I never seen Galvin so desperate, so miserable in my life. I didn’t know what to say. What could you say to someone who sees a dead teenager everywhere? So I didn’t say anything. I think Galvin knew I had no answer because he let go, apologized, and walked away from me.
I did think about what he said. Could it be possible? I always had a neutral take on paranormal stuff. I knew demons and angels were real due to my belief. But ghosts? I always thought those paranormal shows were tacky and fun to watch, but one of my friends just claimed to see the ghost of Trevor.
Galvin got so worse that he had to be taken to a hospital. Apparently during lunch hour, Galvin broke. He was sitting alone quietly until he just screamed out of nowhere. He fell on the ground and wouldn’t stop screaming and teachers had to restrain him before he hurt himself or other students. He kept saying “He’s here.”
I don’t know if he’ll get better. Cherry and the others don’t think so either. I haven’t told anyone what Trevor told me because I don’t know if I believe it or not.
Maybe Galvin is hallucinating. Maybe he’s suffering some mental problems and he’s just seeing Trevor due to gulit and it led to this.
But, if Galvin really did see Trevor like he said, I don’t think he came back as a ghost. Because when I saw the teachers taking Galvin away, I noticed three scratch marks on his back, like some animal attacked him. I think if Trevor did return from beyond the grave…he didn’t return as himself. He returned as a demon.
And his target…is Galvin.