I wrote this ten years ago on Feb. 15th, 2008. I think I’m sharing this because so many others are also remembering in their own ways. ——————–

It’s hard to think right now of what to say to express all of the emotions that ran high through me yesterday. At the time the shooting occurred, I was at work at the Art Museum in Altgeld Hall (that castle tower logo you’ve probably seen on the news, is the building I work in). I had been at work for an hour, when some students filtered into the gallery and were talking quietly amongst themselves. I wasn’t really paying much attention at first, until I heard a girl out in the hall say something about a shooting on campus and mentioned the Holmes Student Center. I immediately spoke to one of my co-workers and told her to go tell the director of the museum. Within seconds she returned and said “we need to start locking the gallery doors.” We did this, and the director ushered in the students that were out in the halls. I grabbed my coat and my laptop and belongings. We moved into the office and those doors were locked as well. There were about a dozen of us in the office, and frankly, …it was surreal.

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NIU

I lived in an apartment across the street from Neptune North Hall and Cole Hall. I was leaving my apartment for class when I saw people running out from behind the Student Center. Everyone on the street including myself was corralled into a nearby building. People were crying and praying. I couldn’t call out on my cell phone, because so many people were trying to call as well at the same time. I just couldn’t be in that room anymore, so I snuck out a side door that said an alarm would sound if I opened it. I figured all the alarms were going off anyways. I walked through a small wooded area behind the building to get back to the street my apartment was on. When I was almost home, I saw one of my friends wandering blank faced in the streets. He walking past Cole Hall when it happened. He came back to my place with me, and we watched the news. He was super shaken up. He kept saying that he thought he walked through blood and that he thought it was on his shoes. I didn’t see any blood, but I wiped them off anyways. It made him feel better. After a few hours, our other friends started coming over since the apartment was so close to campus. I was glad to not be alone.

NIU

That day I was studying in my dorm room for a test I had later that day. My room overlooks Cole Hall. I used to zone out my window looking at the students walking around the fountain just in front of the building. I never could have imagined what I saw that day. I didn’t hear any gun shots, but I heard the screams of the students running from the building. I was so scared. I locked my door, grabbed my cell phone, and hid under my lofted bed. I sat alone in that spot for three hours before the cell towers let my mom’s call through.