Time Magazine's Self-fulfilling Prophecy

I peered around the corner as the voices grew closer. What began as a miffed and nonthreatening few had grown to a sea of pumping fists and rhythmic shouts. They were nearly at the door and I knew I would only get one shot. I hadn't yet been seen, but I knew once I was they would descend upon me like seagulls to bread crumbs, each fighting the other for the chance to take a piece - or in this case to say their peace. To express the disappointment they felt. To say we were wrong. I slipped my hands into my pocket and grasped the can of mace I'd purchased just that morning. I knew there was a possibility that some crazed individual would be waiting, but I had no idea that he would be accompanied by a mass of unbridled dissidents amplifying each others emotions. All it would take was one thoughtless motion and the horde would pounce.