Forever Day, Never Night

Friday, February 15, 2008

its only been about 8 hours after this has happened but

the shock still hasnt worn off. there was another college shooting today, but this one particularly hit close to home. Northern Illinois University was turned upside down today by something we thought wouldnt happen again after the events at virginia tech, nearly a year ago. 6 are confirmed dead at this time, including the gun man. It happend around 3 this afternoon. I was at home enjoying some hot tea and decided to call my boss to see if i was to come into work tomorrow. we chatted casually when i spoke of my intentions to potentially go to oshkosh this weekend when he said maybe you should stay off of the campus for a little while. Puzzled i asked him why. He said that just minutes ago a shooting had been reported at NIU. I calmly handled the news and thousands of thoughts ran through my mind. Backing up a bit. NIU is about 40 minutes from house here in Illinois. Many MANY of my friends from high school attend school there. One person specifically came to mind and that was JT. Granted Jt and dont really talk at all anymore.. i still care greatly about him. I fed my mom and sister the news and ran to my room. I almost immediately called JT. He didnt answer. I was panicking now. I called my other friend Sandra and she didnt answer either. I was shaking so bad i didnt know what to do. tears were welling up in my eyes. i kept praying over and over for their safety. I watched the news almost constantly. As i was watching the number of injured grew.. with still no answer from any of my friends i started pacing. My mom knew i was worried. My cell clenched in my hand i watched tv trying to find out any other information. I finally recieved a text from my friend sandra around 4:20. I still hadnt heard back from JT. I called Sam and some other friends about the news. I was nearly consistantly on my phone trying to find out information which just led to more dead ends. I tried texted Jt and still never recieved an answer. As the reports of what happend and where it happend my fears where calmed slightly. It was a level 104 geology class. I dont think that JT nor any of my friends would still be in a level 100 being in their 4th year of college although i cant rule the thought out completely. I called my friend Jenny who spoke with JT's best friend. No news. He had received a call earlier in the day before the events from JT sayin his phone wasnt working properly. I jsut tried callin again and he didnt answer. I have a feeling in my heart that he's ok, but theres always that thought in the back of my head. No names have been released on any of the victims. Things are still unraveling. I never thought anything like this could happen again but i was proven wrong. i'm deeply saddend and praying for the entire university and community. their lives are forever changed. pray for the huskies!

posted by Kristen at 12:02 AM -

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