Excerpt from Only Child by Rhiannon Navin, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Miss Russell all of a sudden looked up and said, "Fuck," again. "My phone!" She opened the door a little and when there weren't any POP sounds for a while she opened it all the way and ran across the classroom to her desk with her head ducked down. Then she ran back to the closet. She pulled the door closed again and told me to hold the metal piece this time. I did, even though it hurt my fingers and the door was heavy to keep closed. I had to use both hands.

Miss Russell's hands were shaking so much they made the phone shake when she swiped and put her password in. She kept doing it wrong, and when you put the wrong password in all the numbers on the screen shake and you have to start over. "Come on, come on, come on," Miss Russell said, and finally she got the password right. I saw it: 1989.

POP—10 POP—11 POP—12

I watched how Miss Russell dialed 9-1-1. When I heard a voice in the phone, she said, "Yes, hi, I'm calling from McKinley Elementary. In Wake Gardens. Rogers Lane." She talked very fast, and in the light that came from her phone I could see that she spit on my leg a little bit. I had to leave the spit there because my hands were holding the door closed. I couldn't wipe it off, but I stared at the spit and it was there on my pants, a spit bubble, and it was gross. "There's a gunman at the school and he's ...OK, I'll stay on the phone with you then." To us she whispered, "Someone already called." Gunman. That's what she said. And then all I could think about in my head was gunman.

POP—13 Gunman POP—14 Gunman POP—15 Gunman

I felt like it was hard to breathe now in the closet and very hot, like we used up all the air. I wanted to open the door a little to let some new air in, but I was too scared. I could feel my heart beating at super speed inside my chest and all the way up in my throat. Nicholas next to me had his eyes squeezed shut tight and was making fast breathing sounds. He was using up too much air.

Miss Russell had her eyes closed, too, but her breathing was slow. I could smell the coffee smell when she went "Huuuuuu" to let some long breaths out. Then she opened her eyes and whispered to us again. She said everyone's name: "Nicholas. Jack. Evangeline ..." It felt good when she said, "Zach, it will be all right." To all of us she said, "The police are outside. They are coming to help. And I am right here." I was glad she was right there, and her talking helped me feel not so scared. The coffee breath didn't bother me so much anymore. I pretended it was Daddy's breath in the morning when he was home for breakfast on the weekends. I tried coffee before and didn't like it. It tastes too hot and old or something. Daddy laughed and said, "Good, stunts your growth anyway." I don't know what that means, but I really wished Daddy could be here right now. But he wasn't, only Miss Russell and my class and the POP sounds—

POP—16 POP—17 POP—18

—sounding really loud now and screams in the hallway and more crying in the closet. Miss Russell stopped talking to us and instead she talked into the phone: "Oh God, he 's getting closer. Are you coming? Are you coming?" Twice. Nicholas opened his eyes and said, "Oh!" and then he threw up. All over his shirt, and some throw-up got in Emma's hair and on my shoes in the back. Emma did a loud shrieking sound and Miss Russell put her hands over Emma's mouth. She dropped the phone and it fell in the throw-up on the floor. Through the door I could hear sirens. I'm really good at telling different sirens apart, the ones from fire trucks, police cars, ambulances ...but now I heard so many outside that I couldn't tell—they were all mixed together.

Excerpted from Only Child by Rhiannon Navin. Copyright © 2018 by Rhiannon Nevin. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.