(no subject)
I am in complete and total shock right now.
I wake up this morning, after a long, eventful, enjoyable weekend of partying at Ocean Isle beach, making new friends from a different school and staying up late dancing to crazy music, to an orange glow overtaking our living room. Thick, black smoke made it hard to breathe and made the sky look like nighttime. People screaming, both in our house trying to wake people up and get them out of danger, and people outside, shouting for help and yelling for their friends trapped inside. We see a guy jump into the canal which could be no more than 2 feet deep to escape the flames. An entire house completely engulfed in red and orange, embers and ashes coating our porch and blowing everywhere. Sirens and voices and panic and wondering how it is possible that a house that many of us stopped into 4 hours or so ago is now burning to the ground?
I’m sure most of you have heard about the Ocean Isle beach fire, and yes, I was staying in the house right next door with UNC’s co-ed service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega. The reports on TV are mostly compiled from our interviews. None of us know how this happened, although my best guess is the burning end of a cigarette or something along those lines.
Although the fire was luckily contained before it reached our house, that doesn’t mean we weren’t affected. I was one of many people in our house who had the pleasure of getting to know our neighbors, also college students. They were almost all from USC- The University of South Carolina, that is, and we had quite a good time shouting back and forth about which Carolina was the real Carolina, especially during our respective football games on Saturday. Well, one thing led to another and eventually they carried their party over to our house, where we proceeded to exchange alcohol and names and conversations. It turns out they were the same age as us, part of fraternities and sororities and just staying at a friend’s family’s beach house for a fun weekend. Some drama emerged between some of our more belligerent guys but it got resolved quickly, mostly because the girls who were over were so understanding and trying to avoid conflict.
I talked to most of them but I specifically remember hanging out with a blonde girl named Emily. She was the lone Clemson student in the house of USC students, and was one of the first ones to introduce herself to me. She was a sophomore, just like me, in an undergrad science program, just like me. We talked about what we were majoring in and what we wanted to do, she apologized for the rudeness of her weekend housemates in a. redirecting the police to our house on the first night when they were approached regarding loud noise/music, b. giving us a hard time after the UNC loss, and said she cheered with us when USC lost and asked if anyone wanted to take shots. I was bummed about being out of beer so she went and got me two from her supply, and shared her handle of Evan Williams while we talked about how ridiculous all the guys were acting. We figured out that one of her sorority sisters was a friend of mine from elementary school. We were having a great time just doing what college students do when a fight broke out between two of our guys. It was quickly broken up but then it became apparent some people were going to have to leave. Emily was really upset and apologetic but I told her it wasn’t her fault; I think her ex-boyfriend was the one who initiated the fight. She said we should come over later if we wanted and asked what my last name was so she could Facebook me when we got home. Emily won’t ever facebook me though, because at 7am this morning she lost her life in an overwhelming fire that took 6 others, too. Emily was also a twin, so she leaves behind a twin sister, Meredith, in addition to I'm sure tons of friends and a family.
It’s funny that I can get so upset over someone I barely even knew. I think the whole situation is upsetting, I mean that I was disturbed by it, but when I heard the news that among the “missing” was the lone Clemson student, it put a face to all the tragedy. How is it that someone MY AGE, basically on a similar career path as me, just at the beach trying to have a good time with some acquaintances, doesn’t get the chance to wake up the next morning? It’s not fair. I mean, why them? Why their house and not ours? What makes us any different; it is certainly not the gap between Tar Heels and Gamecocks that we emphasized so strongly all weekend. We were the same. A group of college students with a massive amount of alcohol, just taking a weekend to enjoy ourselves, meet some new people, and have fun. With a group of girls who appreciated a good late night dance-a-thon and a group of guys who got way too heated over football losses. We were the same. There is nothing that could have prevented this from happening to us and not them. We were no different. We were up way too late and probably had a little too much liquor and one too many cigarettes burning and irresponsibility in making sure they were extinguished before throwing them out. Any one of us could have ended up in there with them, as we were in and out of each other’s houses constantly and Christanna has a notorious reputation for passing out on people’s couches unexpectedly.
I want to do something. I want to help them, any way I can. I want to reach out to their families. I especially want to talk to Emily’s family, since she’s the one I got to know the most and for some reason, I feel connected to her death. Not that I’m blaming myself, even though part of me is cuz that’s just what people do, I just feel like we were on parallel planes, so similar and how easily it could have been me. That I will wake up tomorrow morning, and she won’t. It’s not fair. I feel guilty for having the opportunities I have, I feel selfish because I have this life ahead and right now I only feel remorse, whereas those who died have nothing more, they are done, and those who survived will never be the same. I’m not a prayer, but whatever you need to do: pray, think, hope, please do it for these kids. Not a single one deserved or deserves to deal with something like this..
I wake up this morning, after a long, eventful, enjoyable weekend of partying at Ocean Isle beach, making new friends from a different school and staying up late dancing to crazy music, to an orange glow overtaking our living room. Thick, black smoke made it hard to breathe and made the sky look like nighttime. People screaming, both in our house trying to wake people up and get them out of danger, and people outside, shouting for help and yelling for their friends trapped inside. We see a guy jump into the canal which could be no more than 2 feet deep to escape the flames. An entire house completely engulfed in red and orange, embers and ashes coating our porch and blowing everywhere. Sirens and voices and panic and wondering how it is possible that a house that many of us stopped into 4 hours or so ago is now burning to the ground?
I’m sure most of you have heard about the Ocean Isle beach fire, and yes, I was staying in the house right next door with UNC’s co-ed service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega. The reports on TV are mostly compiled from our interviews. None of us know how this happened, although my best guess is the burning end of a cigarette or something along those lines.
Although the fire was luckily contained before it reached our house, that doesn’t mean we weren’t affected. I was one of many people in our house who had the pleasure of getting to know our neighbors, also college students. They were almost all from USC- The University of South Carolina, that is, and we had quite a good time shouting back and forth about which Carolina was the real Carolina, especially during our respective football games on Saturday. Well, one thing led to another and eventually they carried their party over to our house, where we proceeded to exchange alcohol and names and conversations. It turns out they were the same age as us, part of fraternities and sororities and just staying at a friend’s family’s beach house for a fun weekend. Some drama emerged between some of our more belligerent guys but it got resolved quickly, mostly because the girls who were over were so understanding and trying to avoid conflict.
I talked to most of them but I specifically remember hanging out with a blonde girl named Emily. She was the lone Clemson student in the house of USC students, and was one of the first ones to introduce herself to me. She was a sophomore, just like me, in an undergrad science program, just like me. We talked about what we were majoring in and what we wanted to do, she apologized for the rudeness of her weekend housemates in a. redirecting the police to our house on the first night when they were approached regarding loud noise/music, b. giving us a hard time after the UNC loss, and said she cheered with us when USC lost and asked if anyone wanted to take shots. I was bummed about being out of beer so she went and got me two from her supply, and shared her handle of Evan Williams while we talked about how ridiculous all the guys were acting. We figured out that one of her sorority sisters was a friend of mine from elementary school. We were having a great time just doing what college students do when a fight broke out between two of our guys. It was quickly broken up but then it became apparent some people were going to have to leave. Emily was really upset and apologetic but I told her it wasn’t her fault; I think her ex-boyfriend was the one who initiated the fight. She said we should come over later if we wanted and asked what my last name was so she could Facebook me when we got home. Emily won’t ever facebook me though, because at 7am this morning she lost her life in an overwhelming fire that took 6 others, too. Emily was also a twin, so she leaves behind a twin sister, Meredith, in addition to I'm sure tons of friends and a family.
It’s funny that I can get so upset over someone I barely even knew. I think the whole situation is upsetting, I mean that I was disturbed by it, but when I heard the news that among the “missing” was the lone Clemson student, it put a face to all the tragedy. How is it that someone MY AGE, basically on a similar career path as me, just at the beach trying to have a good time with some acquaintances, doesn’t get the chance to wake up the next morning? It’s not fair. I mean, why them? Why their house and not ours? What makes us any different; it is certainly not the gap between Tar Heels and Gamecocks that we emphasized so strongly all weekend. We were the same. A group of college students with a massive amount of alcohol, just taking a weekend to enjoy ourselves, meet some new people, and have fun. With a group of girls who appreciated a good late night dance-a-thon and a group of guys who got way too heated over football losses. We were the same. There is nothing that could have prevented this from happening to us and not them. We were no different. We were up way too late and probably had a little too much liquor and one too many cigarettes burning and irresponsibility in making sure they were extinguished before throwing them out. Any one of us could have ended up in there with them, as we were in and out of each other’s houses constantly and Christanna has a notorious reputation for passing out on people’s couches unexpectedly.
I want to do something. I want to help them, any way I can. I want to reach out to their families. I especially want to talk to Emily’s family, since she’s the one I got to know the most and for some reason, I feel connected to her death. Not that I’m blaming myself, even though part of me is cuz that’s just what people do, I just feel like we were on parallel planes, so similar and how easily it could have been me. That I will wake up tomorrow morning, and she won’t. It’s not fair. I feel guilty for having the opportunities I have, I feel selfish because I have this life ahead and right now I only feel remorse, whereas those who died have nothing more, they are done, and those who survived will never be the same. I’m not a prayer, but whatever you need to do: pray, think, hope, please do it for these kids. Not a single one deserved or deserves to deal with something like this..