Teen poet shares feelings
Her best friend, Alyssa Alhadeff, died sitting next to her. Three other classmates in the same room also perished. So Eden Hebron turned to poetry.
The 14-year-old daughter of Igal and Nicole Hebron wrote a poem about how her wholesome, all-American world dissolved into a national tragedy.
Eden, a lifelong Parkland resident, has been taking voice lessons since age 4, but now can’t bear the sound of music.
She started writing poetry a month ago. And writing this has eased the pain a little, she said.
“It helps organize what happened in my mind,” she said.
“We walked into class together and sat down. It was Valentine’s Day in
our sweet Parkland town. We were laughing and doing our work, me and my best friend. But little did I know that 5 minutes later, her life would come to an end. I hear a sound. One. Two.
Three. Four. Five. Gunshots? That’s funny
Alyssa, of course, we will survive. We live in Parkland I
thought, how could this be? But sometimes your thoughts are not what you see.” We run under the table in
disbelief. I have my friends next to
me, what a relief. They move to the desk to
seek safer shelter. But I stayed there, thinking the sound was just bad weather. I close my eyes and wait for my teacher to say it’s a drill. But before I knew it, our door was shot through and I saw his first kill. Elaina, Alex, Justin, then
Alyssa. I’m next and this is not just
paranoia. He went to the next floor
and the next. All I could think about is,
how many will be left? The screams blasting in my
ear. The blood still won’t disappear. I scream their names, call
for my friends. Nothing else to do, they are
gone, they are dead. Didn’t think I would live my
worst nightmare. I kept hearing shots and seeing gunpowder in the air. I run home and check the
news. How could you do this Nick
Cruz? More and more I find out
died. I wish this didn’t happen,
and he never got inside. No feelings, no emotions How can you comprehend
this traumatic distortion? There are no words to describe, nothing else to say That will justify my English
class on Valentine’s Day