Ten thirteen. At 10:13AM on today, 10/13/09, a bomb was rumored to go off at my high school.

This morning, at 9:22AM, right before the bell rang to signal the end of second block, my principal went on the intercom and told everyone to report to the field house for a "safety drill." We had never done this so called "safety drill" before, and even the teachers didn't know about it, (they are usually told in advance when fire drills or lockdowns and such will be occurring), so we knew something was up already. However, the whole school obeyed, and a little more than ten minutes later, we were all packed inside the gymnasium.

We were told to stay with our classes so our teacher could take attendance, but after a while, everyone just kind of wandered off to their own clique of friends. Even teachers wandered around talking to each other. No one was worried that something might have happened. We all figured it must have been something serious, but we crossed out the option of bomb threat since we figured we would have been outside instead of inside the field house (Note: apparently they had checked the gym before having everyone get inside to make sure there wasn't a bomb in there. They also thought it would be safer than being outside in the rain waiting for everyone to get a ride right outside of the school.) However, after a while, I found out from my friend at around 10 o'clock that there was indeed a bomb threat found in the boy's bathroom, one that was said to go off at 10:13AM, since today's date is the thirteenth of October. I remember being skeptic to believe whether there really was a bomb in our school. I kept thinking, "it's probably just an idiot doing a prank." But I also remember looking at my cellphone clock at 10:10AM, getting more anxious as time drew nearer to 10:13AM. What if it isn't a prank? What if there really is a bomb in the school? I could feel the panic and adrenaline rushing through me. I asked myself, what was I doing there, laughing with my friends as if all was normal? What if that had been my final moments of my life? I would want to say so many things to my friends and family, but as time did not permit, I simply texted "i love you~" to my family and told my friends -- just in case something did happen.

Thankfully, nothing did happen. The next few minutes flew by quickly, and the next time I looked at my phone, it was 10:14AM. My friends and I laughed it off, saying it was nothing, but then we were quickly doubting ourselves. What if the bomb's time was different than our cell phones? It could still be going off somewhere in the school. For this reason, we stayed in the gym until dismissed while the police did a bomb sweep (they were doing a sweep of the school already before 10:13AM as well.)

Nothing much happened after that. One senior tried to leave through the doors in the gym, but the police stopped him. The kid didn't comply and struggled against them. He was arrested. Someone else I don't know got arrested as well, and for what, I'm not sure. On facebook, I remember reading statuses of people saying, "FUCK THE DANVERS POLICE." "FUCK YOU STROUT. (our assistant principal) YOU JUST GOT TWO KIDS ARRESTED." "DHS IS A JOKE." "DHS SUCKS." People can be so immature sometimes. The police (and Strout and DHS) were only protecting us by having us together inside. What if something happened to that student outside? Parents would blame the school and police for not doing a good enough job of keeping us in control, or something. Why don't other people see and realize this?

Whatever. We got dismissed early at 1PM. That means we stayed in there for almost four hours. Lucky for me, I had some crackers and candy in my bag, so I ate those and shared it with friends who didn't have food. We weren't able to get lunch, obviously, since we were in lockdown. At the end of the day, people weren't even allowed to go to their lockers to get carkeys or whatever they needed, which is pretty understandable. Lucky for me and my sister, we both had the car keys, so we didn't need to walk home in the rain. Others, on the other hand, had to grab a ride home from someone else or their parents, or go on the buses.

In a nutshell, it was a pretty long day, but it passed by quickly, if you know what I mean? I doodled on my friend's folder for most of the time, and talked about random things. I'm just glad that I'm alive today.

^ A crappy picture of what the field house looked like. People were clustered together on the ground, spread out across the room. Some were even sleeping during the lockdown, like my sister was. xD

I feel motivated to write letters to people now, and tell them my feelings or something. Tell them something I'd want to say to them as if I'd die randomly tomorrow. So I don't regret that I didn't take my chance in telling them something I wouldn't say to them in everyday conversation. That way, they can know how I truly feel about them.

Another long post is long.

On a lighter note, some more of my fobby parents:

^ My Mom's list of things we need to buy, which includes cereal, or cheerios, meh, sandwich bags, and dish soap.

^ My Dad's list of things that we were going to put on a sign.
Random: When I sent the mass text of I love you to my family, only my Dad and Alice replied back. Alice said, "ily too! bomb threat! aghh" (She is only a year older than me, so she attends high school with me.) My Dad on the other hand, with his amazing texting abilities, says, "Wh" which can only mean "what" or "why." Later, Alice texts me saying, "i txted ma and da (LOLOLOL) bout the lock down situationn hes like ily! hah" I can feel the love radiating from you dad, really. <3

More random Update:

THANK YOU INDEED. Hahah, I love Dan; he's so funny. xD
 

Labels: bomb threat, fob, life, school