February 14th, it was like
Obviously, it was many things. It was Valentine's Day. My best friend's birthday, and there was the day that
17 people lost their lives at my high school
And it's crazy because
It happened the last period class period of the day and right before that class
My friend looked at each other and we said we were like this is just an off day
Like I just felt weird like and then it's crazy to think that an hour and a half later
That happened. So I remember it was
ten minutes before
There 20 minutes before the class was ending I went to the restroom and as I'm walking to the bathroom on the second floor
The fire alarm goes off and like I didn't really
Understand what was going on until after because we had a fire alarm drill
Like three hours before that day and all of a sudden I see people kind of rushing out of class
So I go Mike I go into my room
Classroom grab my bag and I go outside of everyone and I lose all my friends
I mean, I'm before I knew it. I was just kind of walking alone. I see tons of people though around me
I just known of my close friends
And my building was the farthest building away from where the shooter was
So I was about I was forced to evacuate all the way
Like along the highway and along the canal
to behind the middle school West glades middle school next to the Douglas and
After maybe a minute
People behind me started screaming. There's a shooter run for your life
and for me, the only thing I can think of was my little sister because I
had just turned 18, but I had a 14 year old sister who is just starting her high school experience and
That's the only thing I could think about so as soon as I realized what was going on, the first time I did realize was
When and one of my group shots with a couple of my friends my friend writes
I just watched someone die in my class and I still couldn't believe it. But I knew that I had to do something
so the first thing I do is text a
Neighbor who is in my sister's grade. And I said, where is Eden my sister?
And she said I think in the freshman building but at that time, I didn't know that's where the shooter was
so I called my mom right away and I
Asked her
I
Asked her if she if Eden had a contact to Turkish. My sister was not answering any of my texts and I
refused to
Leave the grass area of the middle school or high school to evacuate to Walmart until I knew that my sister was safe
I was not allowed to
Obviously go back, but I knew that my conscience would not allow me to keep running until I knew she was safe. So
Finally, my mom calls me and said parents of children hurt and Eden's class just said that she's okay
So I told my mom forget about me. I'm fine. I'm safe
Take care of my sister
so
Hundreds of kids behind me were jumping the fence
Almost running in the canal to get to Walmart and I was stuck in a tiny area with hundreds of kids
I ran was fine and
It's just traumatized to know that not just me but all these older siblings are younger knew that they had
best friends sisters brothers
Boyfriends girlfriends just in a classroom and they didn't even know if they were ever gonna see them again
so I
Mean I can't even I was there and I wasn't even in the rooms and I still AM traumatized to even walk into my house
alone at night
I mean this has happened so many times so there's no true words that can convince every person on this planet to
Understand but I guess the only thing is even though this might not make you capture the full story, but imagine imagine
What so many events are losing the most important person in your life or a sibling
Just imagine having to live with that and how it must feel to be a parent and to know that
You're never gonna see your child again. Just because our government can't
Can't ban assault rifles but shouldn't even be something that an 18 year old
Let alone anyone should be able to buy I just if we're not allowed a drink alcohol
We're not allowed to get a lottery ticket at 18, but you can buy a was unreal to me
So I guess for everyone to know that we need to make something change or else
This is gonna keep happening, which it has been for years
Honestly, it made me kind of appreciate my life and the people around it. But it also it's gonna I
Mean it changed me forever. It's gonna be something that every day
I'm gonna wake up and think about my classmates my close friends from middle school that aren't allowed to have the
experiences that I guess I have now so like
part of me feels guilty a part of me feels thankful a part of me feels
Like it's still unreal
but that I'm gonna have to keep living and I know that my neighbors that
People in my community don't have a life anymore because of one kid because of a gun
I mean, I'm always gonna have to live with that. I
Think it's sad that it's that it's only until now
That's something that people are trying to change it so much, but I think it's amazing that we our whole community and nation
has been able to come together and make I
Mean, I don't think my school will stop until something has changed just from the look of it
Just from how much everyone of course has been putting into it because this should never happen again