Imagine being 6 years old, sitting in your classroom in an idyllic small town, when you start hearing gunshots. Your teacher tries to sound calm, but you hear the fear in her voice as she tells you to go hide in your cubby. She says, “be quiet as a mouse,” but the sobs of your classmates ring in your ears. In four minutes, you hear more than 150 gunshots.

You’re in the first grade. You wholeheartedly believe in Santa Claus and magic. You’re excited about losing your front teeth. Your parents still prescreen PG-rated films so they can prepare you for things that might be scary in them.

And yet here you are, living through a horror few can fathom.

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The trauma of any school shooting is hard to imagine, but the Sandy Hook massacre was in a league of its own. These were first graders. Twenty babies, shot and killed in a matter of minutes. Six educators who tried to protect them.

That was nine years ago. Now the kids that survived Sandy Hook are in high school, and some of them are opening up about their experiences. Their voices deserve to be heard.

In February of this year, Sandy Hook survivor Ashley shared her story with NowThis News. Some of the scenario above was taken from her account:

Sandy Hook Survivor Speaks Out for the First Time

Ashley was 7 when she went through the trauma of Sandy Hook. She said she has experienced survivor’s guilt and the pain of people claiming that the shooting was a hoax. “I can’t give you proof except for my trauma,” she said.

Another Sandy Hook survivor, Maggie LaBlanca, shared her story at this year’s National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence last week. Her best friend, Daniel, was killed in the shooting.

“It’s been almost nine years since I endured that day. Everything has stayed with me so clearly,” she said. “The trauma never went away, and I still feel sad all the time that I’m here and they’re not. I look for Daniel everywhere because it’s hard to accept that I lost him.”

We mourn those who are killed in school shootings and focus on the numbers of deaths, but the survivors deserve just as much of our thought and emotion. It’s traumatic for anyone to have a loved one murdered or to witness someone being killed in front of them. In the worst scenarios, …….

Source: https://www.upworthy.com/sandy-hook-survivors-share-their-stories