“I remember telling my mom, ‘I would die if something happened to you.’ She always reassured me, ‘I’m not going anywhere Erica.’ I whole-heartedly believed she would live forever. Then she started complaining of severe headaches. Selfishly, I thought, ‘Well if God took my Grannie, he can’t take my mom too.'”
‘The guy who brought me to the party passed out. I should have left him, but I’m a loyal person. I fell asleep and was awoken by a man’s body on top of mine. I couldn’t move and yelled for help.’
‘He slipped something in my drink. He had a razor blade. He ‘accidentally’ sliced my thigh. I took photos of the blood dripping down my leg. When I woke up, the photos were deleted.’
“I met someone new. Someone who made me feel alive again. Six months later, I found out I was pregnant. Then I received devastating news.”
‘I wouldn’t even let you watch my DOG,’ the attorney said to me. I lost custody of my firstborn, my baby girl. I began sobbing. Then WOW, a miracle happened.’
“I had already seen my daughter, at 2 years old, my ‘angel baby,’ be taken over by this ‘STRANGER.’ Now here I am, years later with my son. I began to see this ‘stranger’ steal another one of my baby’s personalities. I had always looked forward to motherhood. BUT THIS?! Why my babies?!”
‘My mailbox was overflowing with ‘love’ letters. He started showing up at my house in the middle of the night. He’d stroke my cheek, and tell everyone I was his wife.’
“I was 21 years old when a man I knew surprised me at my front door with 21 red roses in his hands. He began a bizarre role play. He told everyone he was my fiancé and that my parents were keeping me locked away.”
‘Just lay there, be still, your Daddy’s good little girl.’ I stared at the ceiling, remembering his breath on me. Finally, he left the room to start my bath. ‘You wouldn’t want us to go away, would you?’
“There was a window behind the bed. A woman came out of the building. I waved violently. ‘HELP!’ The woman stood there, looked at me, and walked away, going to her car to leave. My safety, my possibility of help, was gone.”
‘I mumbled, ‘You just drove past my apartment.’ He stared at me. ‘Do you think I’m not going to take you home?’ That’s when he found the entrance into the woods.’
“It was very late and getting colder by the minute, so I started to walk home. I was passed by an SUV. The man inside asked if I needed a ride. I felt put off by him, but I ignored my gut feeling and got in.”
‘What the hell was that? Get down!’ 60 seconds later, our lives would never be the same. At that moment, it hit me. ‘Oh my God, people are really dying here.’
“I wanted to speak to my mom in case I didn’t make it out. It was already past midnight. She answered the phone tired and confused why I would possibly be calling. ‘Mom, there is a shooter here, we are on the floor, please stay on the phone with me.’”
‘I just got shot, I just got shot, I…got…shot.’ Trapped under a pile of squirming, scared bodies, I lay helplessly on the cold rooftop floor, blood inching toward my face. It wasn’t my blood.’
“I stared at a man next to me gasping for breath. A frantic woman gave him mouth-to-mouth through his blood-covered face, desperate to save him. He was alone. No one knew who he was. As the paramedics lifted me onto a stretcher and carried me down the stairs, I saw them cover his body.”
‘Dear neighbor, It’s me. The girl on the other side of your walls. The one who dialed 911 at 2:30 a.m. last night.’
“The one who heard you screeching as your alcoholic husband was screaming in a drunken fury. I’m the one who told the police that you have 5 children. As a survivor of domestic abuse, it pulls at my heart every time I hear yelling next door.”
‘I heard an unusual sound. Planes went over the house all the time, but this was different. A cascade of plaster and roofing crashed all around me. ‘It hit us!’
“The tail of the plane was in our kitchen. I noticed a small opening above me. I tried pushing the obstruction, but had no success moving it. I tried yelling in case anyone might be near enough to hear me. ‘That’s our house. I don’t know where my husband is. Please help my daughter!'”
