Outside the classroom at the strange high school, the teacher told us to stand on a box, grasp each other's wrists, and lean out, balanced. Meanwhile, at our school, they extracted bullets from the walls. The teacher said, “What will happen if you let go?” “We will fall,” we said. Duh. So we let go and stepped down. “See?” he said. We looked at each other, at him. We missed the point. “You can support each other, so no one falls.” We nodded silently. The problem was, we had already fallen. That's why we were here instead of at Columbine.
Fall Contest Editor’s Pick. THE ACTIVITY grabbed me not only for the subject matter and experience, but also because of how well Krista explored that giant space between what she needed, and what she was getting.—SB
Krista Hanley is a writer, artist, and violence-prevention expert living in Denver, Colorado. She is working on a memoir about surviving the Columbine High School shooting. kristahanley.com