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Third Place The Email That Changed Me Maya LaClaire November 13, 2020 at 9:48 in the morning. It was cold and raining as I sat at my dining room table. My phone went off with a subtle vibration informing me that I was receiving an email. As I listened to my teacher talk through the camera screen, every student at Frontier Regional High School was receiving the same vibration at the same time. The mood of every student began to be portrayed through the morning’s weather, cold and dark. The email that changed me came from the principal of my high school and was titled, “Sad News.” It read, “It is with great sadness that we are writing to tell you that one of our seniors was in a fatal car accident this morning.” Our phones started to blow up as our class began to get quiet. We sat in silence, even though our Chromebook screens showed our teachers continuing on with our lessons. Students’ cameras started to slowly pop off the screen until the only face left showing was the teacher’s. As we sat there nervously waiting for more updates contacting our parents and other students, our teachers also began to go quiet. The silence being portrayed was a scary noise through the camera screens that sent chills down your spine. You could hear the faint static the microphone was picking up from the silent classroom. We were lost. When you are in school, you are taught what to do in almost every situation. You learn what to do if there is a fire or a need to go into lock-down. The tragic death of a classmate is not something we were taught. When something like this comes up unexpectedly, everyone is at a loss for what to do next. The email gave little to no information about who or
when, where or why. With my heart sitting in my stomach, I get a text from my sister’s boyfriend, Scott, asking if they told us yet. How did he know? What does he know that we don’t? He sent me a picture that I will never forget. A small, black car so crushed and damaged to the point where you could not tell what the car originally looked like. The front windshield was completely shattered and the airbags were still slightly inflated. I recognized the location, it was right outside of Scott’s house, his front yard. That picture began to spread. It spread like a wildfire. Soon enough, the whole school had the picture showing on their phones, just staring at it. The picture was a new piece of information given out to a group of students in the search of knowing more. It was like our whole senior class was in an episode of The Goonies trying to solve all the unanswered questions. By this point it was easy, people began to recognize the car. The puzzle pieces were finally coming together. Cole Baranoski’s 18th Illustration by Sabrina LeBlanc birthday was November 12th. He went out with some friends that night to celebrate the new year ahead of him as a legal adult. He was known for being the life of the party, he was funny and kindhearted. He was the kid at the party who you knew would go a little too far. That night, he went a little too far. After a long night of drinking and celebrating with his friends, he got into his car to drive home. Around three in the morning, he was taking a sharp left turn onto his road. He crashed his car on that left turn ending his life, only two minutes away from his house. It was a risk he chose to take. A risk that
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