BENEDICT, FL—A terrible shooting incident occurred at Benedict Elementary School, resulting in two dead and one injured. The shooter, identified as Jacob McCullough, age 26, walked into the recess area of the school with a .22-caliber pistol, opening fire and killing one student before turning the gun on himself.

The sole victim of this shooting has been identified as Kate Egan, age 7. Egan, whose passing was mourned by few residents, was by all accounts a completely unremarkable student. No one particularly took notice of her when she was alive.

"She [Egan] did fine in math, and she liked to draw when she wasn't doing school work," said Anne Delaney, age 41, when asked about her now-deceased student. "At the same time, I can't bring myself to remember anything that she drew. I suppose she liked to draw fish, clouds, horses, the usual things little girls like to doodle when they're bored. I guess I'll never know for sure now."

When asked about how she felt about the shooting, Delaney said, in a detached voice, "It was quite bad, I suppose. But it could have also been a lot worse, and that's something important to keep in mind."

Indeed, several residents agree with Delaney's assessment, that the shooting was nothing special.

Completely forgettable, when one gets down to it. Our sources say that the numbers pulled here are mediocre, if anything.

"You know," said local businessman Kenneth Donahue, age 44, "compared to what happened at Sandy Hook, and Parkland, and Santa Fe, we got off pretty light here. Shame what happened to the [...] girl, but at least it didn't get worse." Donahue went on to list several more school shootings that were much more spectacular. True enough, there was not even a competition in this case. The Benedict shooting lacked the spectacle and body count of most other shootings, which meant that only local papers have been running the story for more than a few hours at a time.

The only other person attacked during the shooting, Shelly Smith, age 7, had taken a bullet to the right shoulder blade. She has been under watchful care since then, and doctors expect her to make a substantial recovery, at least physically.

Little Shelly has been naturally unavailable to comment on these events, but her mother Heidi, age 33, spoke with our reporter about the incident. "I can't even begin to imagine how I would react if it was my own daughter who had died," she said calmly. "Thankfully it was the other girl [Egan] who had been attacked more brutally. Poor thing. Still, I'm thankful that my little girl is safe now."

When asked about the name of the girl who had been killed, Smith found herself unable to give an answer. "I'm sorry," she said, "but I believe that sort of thing is up to the parents of the deceased to know." She twiddled her thumbs, looking guilty of something. "And besides," she said, "it's such a lovely day today. The sun is out, and the kids have gone back to school already. It's as if the whole ordeal never happened."

True enough, today is Wednesday, and Benedict Elementary opened its doors on time. Students attended classes as usual, and none of the teachers seemed to give Kate Egan a moment of silence. This would surely be a controversial move on the part of the school's faculty, if not for the fact that no one who's been interviewed has acted as if the shooting was news-worthy.

When asked about why McCullough could have ever murdered a small child in cold blood, local police officer Derek Callihan, age 30, said, "So far we haven't been able to figure out a motive for the killing. We've talked with Jeff and Joanne [McCullough's parents], and they're perfectly nice people. Good people. Jacob lived with them, and [...] as far as we can tell, he didn't exhibit any obvious anti-social behavior or what have you." Callihan, sounding exhausted, also couldn't remember the name of the victim, despite having received a file on her death.

"If I may be perfectly frank with you for a second," Callihan told our reporter, "I don't think it matters all that much. These things happen all the time, and we ought to just be glad that it was such a confined incident. You know?"

No, we don't.

Earlier today, our reporter made his way to the Egan household and talked with Kate's parents. Kate, who was the youngest of three children, came from a perfectly normal home by local standards. No one living in the area would think much of it.

Kate's mother Louise, age 38, said, "I feel empty inside." She didn't say much else, as her body language did most of the talking. She kept gathering all the photos she had of Kate and sorting them into a pile. "I've been thinking about getting rid of every picture I took of her," she said. "I don't want to walk around the house and be reminded of my dead daughter." Louise showed our reporter an antiquated digital camera that she used frequently. "I like to take pictures of us, when we're all together. At family gatherings and such." Her eyes appeared misty as she scrolled through high-quality photographs of Kate, a person who was alive and well just two days ago.

To keep the conversation going, our reporter asked Louise about smartphones, and if she also took pictures on hers if she had one. "Oh yes," she said. "It's an old iPhone. I remember my husband [Gabe] getting it for me last Christmas. I have pictures of my mother on there, before she died." Louise's mother had passed away from advanced liver cancer in April. "I'd been meaning to give Kate the talk about what happened to her grandma," she said, "but then she died too."

Gabe, Kate's father, age 39, refused to comment on what had happened. Our reporter noted that he just sat in the corner of the living room, in his rocking chair, with a glass of rum in his hand. He didn't say anything to anyone.

Truth be told, there is not much to say about the shooting. It is a totally forgettable occurrence, according to the residents of Benedict. Many of them have already forgotten there was in fact a shooting, and that a 7-year-old girl had been killed by a man who had apparently lost his mind for no reason. Indeed, there is no discernible reason for the shooting to have taken place. In the minds of many, the case has already been closed.

Even as I type this article, Kate Egan's name becomes foggy in my memory. She has been forgotten by most of the adults and fellow classmates she knew in life, and all of our sources say that she will only be more thoroughly forgotten in death.

But if there is anything to take comfort in, it's the prospect that in the case of the Benedict school shooting, both the killer and the victim are equally likely to be forgotten by history. Usually the killer has the better chance at being remembered, but perhaps not this time.

Be prepared to read an article rather similar to this one when more children are inevitably gunned down by maniacs.