Terror and Tragedy

"I am Charlie"

May 5, 2013,

Around 7:25P.M.

It was a Sunday. The whole family split ways inside SM Megamall. Dad went on his own way towards the hardware store or the men’s section of the department store. Mom, my brother, and I stayed at Komoro Soba, a Japanese restaurant where we were supposed to meet at for dinner, but Mom needed to go to the restroom, and the restaurant didn’t have one. Placing all our bags and shopping bags on the table, she leaves my brother and me, waiting for our order to arrive. He plays with his phone. I tend to have wandering eyes on the people who pass. 

In a matter of minutes, screams could be heard. Wow, people are really worked up on the sale, huh? Then, people are running, running towards the exit near where we were. Is there a celebrity? Finally, a huge wave of crowds is running in panicked terror. Screams intensify. “May pumuputok! (There’s a shooting!)”, “Takbo! (Run!)”, “Bomba! (Bomb!)”, they yell. 

My brother and I looked at each other with a sudden realization of what was happening. And the sound just seems to drown out from you.

I stood up and so does my brother. Everyone in the restaurant is confused, yet alarmed. I moved inward the store and signaled my brother to do so too. When the chaotic screaming and running did not stop, I quickly made my way to the safest place I could think of at the moment. I went into their kitchen and everyone started pushing in after me. The kitchen was like a vacuum that sucked everyone in. My brother was still outside. I yanked him in. He won’t die without me. 

We positioned behind a wall for safety. By then, the people with us were beginning to panic. An employee pulls down the metal gates, placing us on lockdown. If there was a bomb, there's be no escape now. Another screams for the cook to close the stove and gas. We were all shaking. Mom! She had went to the bathroom! We called her cellphone. Mom’s bag vibrates in my brother’s hand. We called Dad. He didn't pick up. Rattling sounds started to echo outside the metal gates. Oh, God.

January 10, 2014

I can only imagine the terror and immense sorrow the people at Charlie Hebdo, Dammartin-en-Goele, and the kosher grocery have experienced in the last few days. Seventeen people, in total, lost their lives in the violence that has ensued, including the editor of the French satirical magazine, famous cartoonists, police officers, and four civilians in the grocery. And when the tragedy happened so far away in France, the reality of what happened does not fully sink in until you get a closer glimpse into the people that are now lost forever in such a senseless incident. 

I pray for the recovery of France and for the families and friends of the victims

Rest in peace.

...

faith 

photo not mine