Bonding in tragedy

Some of the most emotionally jarring pieces in “Where We Live” are the real-life stories of people who were either at the festival or found their lives irrevocably changed by Oct. 1.

Las Vegas artists/writers Larime and Sylv Taylor’s offering depicts the frightening time after the shooting when Sylv was unable to contact Larime, who was on the Strip. The anxiety was compounded by the rumors that ran rampant that night.

Their collaboration for the book is haunting and claustrophobic, conveying both the anxiety of separation from a loved one and the creepy absence of activity on the Strip. “There wasn’t anybody on the street. Just empty,” Larime said. “You never see the Strip empty.”

“Finding Savannah” is one of several eyewitness accounts in the anthology. It tells of the bond Sarah Angelo, an imaging technologist who does CT scans, formed with a young woman from Arizona who was shot in the abdomen.

The story features references to the film “Finding Dory,” which Savannah sometimes would watch from her hospital bed. Angelo and Savannah are depicted in a few panels as characters from the film.

Seeing her experience transformed into a comic book story was “really emotional,” said Angelo, who jokes that her comic self is “very cute, and I feel I have a lot to live up to when I look at her.”

Angelo and Savannah have stayed in touch since the woman left the hospital. “I was trying to help her, and she ended up helping me just as much as I think I helped her,” Angelo said.

Angelo, a Southern Nevada resident for about 23 years, appreciates that the anthology examines not just the shooting, but the sense of community pride that followed.

“I am so proud of this city,” she said. “I married here, I have two grown sons here, both battle born. This city is home. I’m proud of how the community is rising together.”

Bill Hughes Sarah Angelo, whose Route 91 Harvest festival experience is told in “Where We Live,” signs a book for Cassie Wallis.