When Reed asked her daughter why she wrote the message on her arm, she replied, “In case the bad guy got to us and I got killed, you and Daddy would know that I love you.”
Oh mamas, my heart.
“She started to cry (as did I, as I watched a little piece of her innocence get stolen away),” Reed wrote. “To know that my 7yo was put in a position to think that [thought] is absolutely gut wrenching and it’s killing me inside.”
Reed told Yahoo Lifestyle that the school had conducted drills prior to February 7th, but never an actual lockdown.
“Vanessa said she was scared because her classroom didn’t lock from the inside and the ‘bad guy’ could have gotten in,” Reed told the news outlet. “She wrote it because, ‘If I got killed and my parents came, they would see it when they found my body.’” Vanessa told her mom that she hid in a corner between a bookshelf and the wall with her marker.
“It’s now been a couple hours, and I can’t seem to shake this awful feeling,” Reed continued her post. “Feeling of sadness, fear, and plain disgusts for this new ‘normal’ our kids have to deal with on any given day…..it’s a very scary and disturbing society we now live in, and it’s heartbreaking.”
Vanessa’s father Jeff said that Vanessa was offered therapy in school following the scare, but she’s found more comfort in the scribble on her arm.
Praying hard today for the world we’re raising our babies in, mamas. And praying for Vanessa as she overcomes this traumatic experience.
