"With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept" is the sixteenth episode of the third season of One Tree Hill and the 61st produced episode of the series. It was broadcasted on March 1, 2006. A normal day becomes deadly when a despondent student brings a gun to Tree Hill High. While lives hang in the balance, Nathan and Lucas put themselves at risk to protect their friends and loved ones.
Synopsis
Jimmy shoots a gun in school
As the episode begins, it shows Jimmy Edwards lighting a cigarette and watching the normal day-to-day high-school life of Tree Hill High. He remembers what he said on the time capsule and says to himself, "Here we go," before walking into the school. As he approaches his locker spot, he finds the guys who beat him up going through his locker and trashing his belongings. As they push past him, he turns around and draws a gun from the pocket of his jeans, just as Peyton and Brooke are walking around the corner and looking through the glass doors. Brooke drags Peyton to the floor, and at the same time, upon seeing the looks of shock on the girls' faces, the boys turn around to see Jimmy aiming the gun at them. He shoots as the glass shatters and suddenly realizes what he did, running off as Brooke struggles up through the panicked crowds. Principal Turner gets the school evacuated and calls 911, while an unaware Mouth sits in the A/V room editing with headphones on. Haley and Skills go into the Tutor Center, a designated lockdown area, with a bunch of other students as Brooke runs around looking for Peyton in the crowds. As she runs outside looking for her best friend, Whitey and the Ravens are getting off the bus, and Brooke rushes to tell Lucas there was a shooting. Nathan runs in to try to find Haley as Brooke tells Lucas she lost Peyton in the commotion. Lucas follows after Nathan and tackles him to the floor, but fails to stop Nathan, who is followed inside by Lucas. As they run in, Whitey drags Brooke onto the bus.
Brooke is forced to leave the school with Lucas, Peyton, Haley and Nathan still inside.
In the Tutor Center, Haley tells the other students everyone will be safe. The students in the room include Skills, Rachel—and Jimmy. Meanwhile, Lucas drags Nathan into Whitey's office and tells him he needs a plan. Nathan picks up a baseball bat to use as a weapon, but Lucas tells him they should wait for the police, but Nathan argues that Haley is inside, and may be in trouble. Back in the Tutor Center, the students consider a way out, but they know the gunman is a student and therefore knows where they'll be hiding. As the students call him psycho, Jimmy asks why they call him psycho. Lucas and Nathan get to the scene of the shooting and go separate routes, with Lucas searching for Peyton and Nathan looking for Haley. Lucas finds a trail of blood on the floor and follows where it is leading, creeping around the library and hearing a sudden noise. As he rounds the corner, Peyton screams in pain, explaining that she'd been cut by glass and can't move. She begs Lucas not to leave her and he promises he won't. Meanwhile, after discovering Mouth and throwing him against a wall, (since he didn't know anyone else was in the school besides him and Lucas), Nathan informs him to leave, but Mouth decides to stick with Nathan as he has the baseball bat after learning that someone has a gun in the high school.
Haley, Nathan and other students are held hostage by Jimmy
Back in the Tutor Center, Haley hears the doorknob twist, and the students fall silent as they see Nathan's driving license slide under the door. Haley goes to open it, but another student—Marcus—is more hesitant, and this causes a disagreement as to whether to open the door. Haley has an idea, and she whispers, "Always..." through the door, and gets a reply of, "...and forever." This lets Haley confirm that Nathan is outside, so Skills helps her open the door. As Nathan enters and tells them to go, they all suddenly hear a warning of, "Don't." They turn around to find Jimmy holding a gun, and he tells them to stay. Jimmy gets them to line up against the wall and orders Nathan to tape a line that no one can cross onto the floor. Abby Brown, another student, asks why he's doing this, and Jimmy challenges her to say his full name. Abby doesn’t know, but Haley does and brings up the fact that Jimmy is a good person. However, Jimmy refuses to listen and orders her and everyone else to shut up and sit down—but not before noticing that Haley has been on the phone to the emergency dispatcher. He gets on the phone and warns them that if anyone goes near the school, he will shoot students. He demands all their cell phones and weapons, and they give them to him, but as he asks for Nathan’s phone, Nathan promises he doesn't have one with him and begins to tape the line.
Outside the school, Dan and Principal Turner are trying to figure out how this could have happened as a bunch of parents stand outside, terrified for their children’s lives. Inside the gym where the parents are all meeting up with students, Brooke tries to get out but can’t without a parent. She attempts to call Lucas in desperation for an answer as Jimmy’s mom, Mary Edwards, walks past and is suddenly approached by a policeman. She is asked to accompany him, assuming the worst. Back in the library, Peyton needs to apply pressure to her wound as she tells Lucas it was Jimmy but he didn’t look angry, just scared. In the Tutor Center, Jimmy has the students sitting at the desks as he begins to yell at them for leaving him out, especially Mouth. Rachel then interrupts telling him not to make Mouth feel guilty for simply living his life; it is Jimmy’s fault. Jimmy counters with the fact that he just wanted to be left alone. When Marcus dares Jimmy with the fact that there is strength in numbers, that Jimmy couldn't shoot all of them if they attacked him, Jimmy calls his bluff with the belief that there are others outside, with guns, and asks them if they ever treated anyone badly, as that is who will be out there. As they think about this, a phone suddenly rings; it is a ringtone for Marcus’s mom. Jimmy answers the phone and insults the person on the other line, as well as Marcus. Marcus gets up as Jimmy raises the gun to his face. Marcus tells Jimmy he won’t do it, but the other students aren’t too convinced. Skills gets up and shouts for Marcus, and as Marcus turns around, Skills knocks him out, to keep him out of danger. Outside, the police inform Dan that they can’t go in as they don’t know how many pupils are in there with guns, and a moment later, Keith joins Dan and tells him Jimmy is not a bad kid. He goes up to Karen who is devastated, as she couldn't tell the police what Lucas was wearing, and then sobs that she didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to Lucas.
Peyton kisses Lucas considering she may die
In the gym, a news reporter is watching the time capsule video and plans on getting the story, but Brooke comes up and closes the laptop. She addresses herself as the student-council president and tells her to switch it off. The newsreader gets the camera and asks her about the tragedy, and Brooke replies to the news reporter she should be ashamed of herself. In the Tutor Center, Nathan asks Jimmy what he wants, and Rachel says he could give up, because he never hurt anyone, but Jimmy admits he doesn’t know if that's true. As the rest of the students make it seem as though he may get away with it, Marcus laughs in their faces saying he won’t lie for Jimmy. Abby then begins to break down in tears and says they are only kids and they shouldn’t be doing stuff like this. Rachel says that high school is a short time in life—700 days. Couldn't Jimmy see past it? Jimmy counters with the fact that he can never get those days back—the days he'd felt useless, the days he'd been bullied, and the days he'd felt invisible. Jimmy admits that it's not because he didn’t get into college, and it's not because he isn’t popular; it's just because he is sick of it all. Back in the library, Peyton is tired and Lucas tells her to talk to him about a good day and she tells him of a day she and Brooke spent in a snow fort. But then, her mind drifts back to today, and she tells Lucas that no matter how many people analyze the shooting, they will never understand it and their lives will never be the same, if they do survive. She then finds out from Lucas that she was shot in her leg and that they have to leave, so Peyton can get medical attention. Peyton tells him that she love him and kisses him, in case she doesn’t make it out.
Brooke breaks down outside the school.
In the gym, as Brooke and the news reporter watch a family embraced in a group hug, the news reporter informs Brooke that Americans only tune into tragedy. Then she asks Brooke how much time she has spent with Jimmy Edwards, and as Brooke doesn’t answer, she says maybe Brooke isn’t the only one who should be ashamed. As she leaves, a mom approaches her looking for her daughter Glenda Farrell. As Brooke says she doesn’t know who she is, her mom says that Glenda says that she and Brooke were friends. Realizing it was a lie, Brooke says she will go find her. Walking outside, she breaks down in tears of guilt and worry with what is happening at the high school. In the Tutor Center, Jimmy tells them of a day no one talked to him and how good it was. The fact that he was invisible for that day made him feel depressed, so he went home and overdosed on anti-depressants. When he returned, no one had noticed he was gone. Mouth, now in tears, tells them that he just needs to get past high school and then, as adults, they can take it back. Back in the gym, Brooke asks if someone is Glenda and finds her. She tells her that her mom is waiting, but Glenda knows and wants her to be afraid of losing her as she takes her for granted. As she is about to go back, Brooke apologizes for not knowing her, but she says it’s OK, as she knows Brooke. As Glenda walks off, Brooke gives Karen a call, and Karen goes to get her from the gym. As she leaves, Keith promises to not let anything happen to "their" boy.
Back in the Tutor Center, Jimmy and Nathan argue over what Jimmy is doing, with Nathan protesting that everything Jimmy is doing today is wrong, while Haley notices Abby looking ill. Haley finds Abby's diabetic bracelet, but Abby's medication is across the way. The students persuade Jimmy to let Abby go and he agrees, but Abby is scared of "the others". Jimmy simply tells her to go, and Abby walks out of the room and breaks into a run out of the school. Karen gets a devastated Brooke, while Lucas clears the way for Peyton to get out. Meanwhile, as Jimmy smiles as Abby runs away, he turns around and suddenly sees Nathan on his phone. He gets the phone off him, furious at Nathan’s lies. Outside, Dan gets a text telling him that Jimmy is the only student with a gun, and that Nathan is being held hostage in the Tutor Center. Dan tells Keith, who asks to go inside as he can prevent Jimmy from hurting anyone. Inside the Tutor Center, Jimmy promises whoever steps into the hallway is going to die, just as the door slams behind Lucas and Peyton as they walk down the corridor. As Jimmy prepares to go out to shoot the person in the corridor, the students persuade him to not to, to no avail. As Lucas and Peyton go through the corridors, Jimmy confronts them and Lucas tells him that Peyton has been shot, and Jimmy says he didn’t mean to hurt them. A minute later, Keith comes round the corner and asks him to let Lucas go. He stands in front of Lucas and Peyton and tells Lucas he loves him and urges him to go.
Keith asks Jimmy for the gun so they can walk out, but Jimmy refuses. Keith says he won’t leave him, because Keith himself has been in that position, but it gets better. He tells him that the pain goes away and the voice saying there is no way out is wrong. Jimmy counters that it won't get better after what he's done, and he can’t take it back. Lucas and Peyton get outside as Jimmy continues to argue his case to an understanding Keith. He tells Keith that he just wanted them to like him, and the pain he has inside hurts so much. He then falls to his knees and apologizes to Keith, before turning the gun on himself and pulling the trigger. Keith screams in protest, but it is too late. The students in the Tutor Center hear the gunshot as Haley and Mouth break down in tears, while the others sit shocked. While Keith hovers over Jimmy's lifeless body, Peyton is lifted onto an ambulance as Lucas gets out and hugs his mom and Brooke.
In the corridor, Keith continues to mourn over Jimmy and realizes that he is dead. As he continues to look for a pulse, Dan suddenly approaches him. He picks up the gun that Jimmy used as Keith looks up, upset at the sight in front of him. Dan then raises the gun at Keith, as Keith stands up, realizing what is happening. Without saying a word, Dan pulls the trigger and shoots Keith, killing him alongside Jimmy and staring at the crime he has committed.
Memorable Quotes
- "Here we go"
- "Somebody has a gun inside and they're shooting...I lost Peyton, I don't know where she is...I mean she was right there and then a shot went off and now she's gone"
- - Brooke Davis to Lucas Scott about Peyton Sawyer
- "Always..."
- "...and forever."
- "It's him."
- "Jimmy Edwards. And you are a good guy and you are better than this.”
- ”Luke...it was your friend. The one from the time capsule...he had the gun. But he didn’t look evil or angry...he just looked scared.”
- ”You really think I’m the only one? Then ask yourself this, you ever treat someone like crap in this school, or left anyone out? You ever broken up with someone in the time it takes to pass a note and disappear, or talked trash behind their back? Or maybe you just ignored it all...You ask yourself, and then you tell me, are there others out there!”
- - Jimmy Edwards telling the students that there are other mistreated people like him out there.
- ”He’s just a kid. We’re all just kids and we just have this life. And the things you say and do, we feel that. How can you have so much hate in your heart? How can you act like it doesn’t matter? It does matter. What happened to us, huh? We’re just kids, we can’t be like this. It’s not possible.”
- ”You’re always saving me”
- “Somebody’s got to”
- ”If I say, ‘I love you’ right now, would you hold it against me? Because I’ve lost a lot of blood”
- - Peyton Sawyer and Lucas Scott in the library
- ”One day I spent a whole day in this school, without a single person looking at me or talking to me. And I realised, that was the best day I’d had in a long time, the day that nobody noticed me at all. The day I stopped being there, that was the best day. Well that was kind of depressing, so I went home and took an anti-depressant, and then I took another one, and then, for fun, I took 12 more. My mom and doctors called it an accident and then two weeks later when I got back to school, nobody noticed”
- ”You know, they’re all gonna remember me as a monster, I wonder how they’ll remember all of you”
- ”I just. I wanted them to leave me alone. I just, I wanted them to like me.”
- ”I understand son, it’s what we all want, that’s all any of us wants.”
- ”I’m not here. I’m not here”
- ”Jimmy please. It’s gonna be okay, son. It’s gonna be okay.”
- ”But it hurts. It hurts. It always hurts…I’m sorry”
- - Keith Scott and Jimmy Edwards have their final conversation
Voiceover
- "Does this darkness have a name? This cruelty, this hatred. How did it find us? Did it steal into our lives or did we seek it out and embrace it? What happened to us? That we now send our children into the world like we send young men into war, hoping for their safe return. But knowing that some will be lost along the way. When did we lose our way? Consumed by the shadows, swallowed whole by the darkness. Does this darkness have a name? Is it your name?"
- Lucas Scott (closing voiceover)
Music
- "God Bless This Child" - Michelle Featherstone
This episode's title originated from the song With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept, originally sung by Explosions In The Sky.
Trivia
- Deb does not appear in this episode.
- This was the highest rated episode for season 3.
Episode References
Like You Like an Arsonist • From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea • First Day on a Brand New Planet • An Attempt to Tip the Scales • A Multitude of Casualties • Locked Hearts and Hand Grenades • Champagne for My Real Friends, Real Pain for My Sham Friends • The Worst Day Since Yesterday • How a Resurrection Really Feels • Brave New World • Return of the Future • I've Got Dreams to Remember • The Wind That Blew My Heart Away • All Tomorrow's Parties • Just Watch the Fireworks • With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept • Who Will Survive, and What Will Be Left of Them • When It Isn't Like It Should Be • I Slept with Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me • Everyday Is a Sunday Evening • Over the Hills and Far Away • The Show Must Go On