From Cartoons to Shot in The Head

     The writing project assigned by the seventh grade health teacher was for the students to focus on safety and write a short story. I read the story written by 13 year old Ari and  had to wonder what our society has come to when a child does not even feel safe on a playground? The fear was not even being physically beat up by other children, but gunned down. Read her story below and voice your comment. By the way she told me there were copyright infringements I was violating and permissions I needed to get to print her story.

         Wooh Wooh Die

     One afternoon Christopher was at the park with his friend Riley.Christopher and Riley were at the park on the swings for hours and hours until suddenly, you could hear three gunshots being fired. As people were fleeing the park, Christopher fell backward off the swing. Riley looked over and started screaming at the sight of her best friend with two holes in his shirt and one on his temple.

     Riley was so scared, that she thought she was going to get shot, but she had to help her friend. She stopped screaming and called 911, not wanting to look at her best friend. Riley thought for sure that Christopher was dead, but she still had to help. After she called for help, she took off her jacket and wrapped it around Christopher's stomach and held it tightly. Then she screamed as she had to rip off a piece of her jacket to apply pressure to the side of Christopher's head. She felt so sick. She tried to stop herself from throwing up and failed, crawling away as the liquids shot out of her mouth. Riley kept crying and crying, knowing she was going to loose her best friend.
     Riley remembered that the lady who picked up the phone from emergency services told her to check her friend's pulse and see if he was breathing. As Riley checked to see if Christopher was breathing.  She was so surprised that he was actually breathing. Christopher was barely breathing and his pulse was very slow. Riley quickly jumped at the sight of police cars and ambulances, she began screaming and crying even more.
     It seemed as if days went by as Riley sat in the hospital waiting room, hoping for the best. She refused to call anyone, not even Christopher's parents. She knew that they would already know. After what seemed like three days, although it was only about eleven hours, a doctor came out and called for the family of Christopher Williams. She ran to the doctor bombarding him with questions as the doctor told her, "We couldn't save him. Christopher is dead." Riley had never been so upset as she fell on the hospital floor in shock and sadness, knowing that her best friend was dead.

The End

By: Ari M.