Kris's Story

When I was in 8th grade my best friend and I were starring in the spring musical, Aladdin. I was the Genie and he was Aladdin, a dream come true, really.

We spent weeks on end working on producing an amazing show. After 4 months of hard work and rehearsing, we began feeling confident as a cast.

We had one dress rehearsal left before the performance. Opening night was the day after.

I remember it like it was yesterday. There was an announcement on the intercom that revealed to us that our school was put on lockout. I’m walking through the hallways during passing period, looking for my best friend. I couldn’t find him.

The students in my math class were talking about the news they heard. “There’s a shooting at the high school down the block.”

My mind was slowly putting the puzzle together.

And then I realized, my best friend’s older siblings go to that school. I found out why he wasn’t in the hallways, and I began to cry.

Then I heard, “Anyone involved in this years musical, please go to the music room” on the intercom. I remember walking towards the music room, praying that David would be there as I walked in. Thankfully, he was.

Our director had then told us that all after school activities had been cancelled, meaning no dress rehearsal tonight. Tomorrow, we just had to wing it.

I remember hearing my two friends saying things like “We are sending all our love and prayers to the families affected” before the show started.

I think my favorite part about the show wasn’t the fact that my best friend and I were the stars of the show, but that the cast had a really strong bond. After the tragedy had happened, our school had come together to support and love on each other. But I feel like the cast had the most support for each other. My best friend was healing from the trauma and we all made sure we were right there next to him. We spent many minutes before the show talking about how much we cared for each other. We made sure that we all felt comfortable and were performing the show to the best of our ability, considering our situation and circumstances.

And thankfully, the audience got that. Our show wasn’t perfect. It never would’ve been, even with that 2nd dress rehearsal. But the audience was able to understand and support us. And that’s what made it so special.

I’m forever grateful for that experience. I will never forget the lessons that I learned and the pain that I felt. As tough as it was in the moment, I’m thankful that I had learned to be tough and really push forward to make the show amazing. It was still hard to go to school, but I had motivation and perseverance from being with such a wonderful cast that kept me going every day.