On Feb. 14, my life forever changed.

I was in a great mood during class. I couldn’t wait to get out and look at an apartment with Mike, my best friend.

I was ecstatic that I possibly could be signing a lease to an apartment with Mike. Class was dragging on.

We were talking about all sorts things. I had periodically checked the clock to see how much class was left. The last time I had looked, it was 3 p.m., which meant only 15 minutes left of class.

I was doing the crossword in the Star because the guy in front of me kept leaning over, blocking my view during the Power Point.

I was about to fill in an answer when I heard an indescribable boom. I immediately tried to figure out what was going on.

In the blink of an eye, I saw him.

I saw the gun. It was long and looked like a rifle. I blocked out all sounds. All I could hear were faint booms, one after another, in the background. I didn’t see anyone around me, not even my two friends on both sides of me. I stared at the tall, skinny boy whose face was void of emotion. What was he doing? Was this some kind of joke or drill?

As he walked across the stage toward the podium, my body was still pierced with shock. As soon as he dropped the rifle and pulled out a handgun, I knew this was real. I could die in this chair on this very day. Was my life ready to come to an end? I kept asking myself, how could this be real? Why wasn’t my body reacting? The thunderstorm of shots began getting closer as the mysterious killer got closer to the aisle where I was still sitting in my chair. That is when reality kicked in.

I dropped to the floor. The first thing I saw was the horrified face of the girl who had been sitting behind me.

We laid there, staring at each other because the fear left us speechless. She started crawling out and I followed, losing sight of her. When I got to the last row, I panicked. How was I going to avoid getting shot when I stood up to run? My instincts took over and up I went, literally running for my life.

Once I got outside, everything seemed surreal. Everything was a blur. Did this really just happen? People walking around gave us strange looks, probably thinking we were crazy. I kept running. despite the pains circulating through my knees and legs from dragging them across the hard floors in the auditorium. I ran through the pain.

When I got to the Holmes Student Center, I saw the girl I was sitting next to. She was standing there, white in the face. She didn’t even have shoes on because she takes them off during lecture.

I ran straight to her and hugged her. My heart dropped knowing she was OK. We kept staring at each other, wondering what the hell had happened. We were picked up by the NIU Police and taken to the station by Sycamore Police.

This was when I met another person who had survived — he had been in the third row. The three of us sat in the back of the squad car in shock. How did we all survive?

Although it was over and we made it out safe, the memory of watching that man kill and injure my classmates and professor will forever haunt me. But the people I met because of this ordeal will forever remain dear to my heart. We all share an experience not many will ever witness. We’ve felt things that words will never be able to describe.

I will be stronger because of the massacre and because of the people who were there with me.

After all, we are Huskies.