“I’m so sorry you went through all that stress and worry. They took our cellphones when we went into the theater and didn’t give them back ‘til the police let us go. Then I had to get gas on the way home, and it was late, and I was not in a good area.”
“The whole night sounds horrible. I know you’re glad to be home. What about the live shooter? Tell me what happened.”
Christie knew she’d been dancing around it, talking about everything but that. “We were all watching the movie, everything was normal except for the cellphone thing, and then this man stood up and just started shooting.”
“Oh my God. What did you do?”
“Well, I was already on the ground, crouching behind my seat, because I’d sat next to the Navy SEAL who saved everyone. And he pushed me down before the first shots were fired and said to stay down. So I did.”
“Wow. That’s incredible! He saved your life.”
“Yes, and the lives of everyone in that theater.”
“He sounds amazing.”
“Oh, he is.” She curled up on the couch pillow and hugged it to herself, thinking how brave he’d been. Even more of a hero than Cole Kennick in that movie. “He called the police and then he gave his phone to me and had me talk to them while he checked on the wounded.”
“Wait. You said they took all your phones.”
“Well, he must’ve not told them he had one because he had it on him.”
“And he had a gun! You’re not supposed to have guns in theaters. There are signs up.”
“I know. He had both.”
“Oh, he’s a rule breaker then. A bad boy.”
“I don’t know about that. He got along with the police just fine. The didn’t even arrest him for having a gun.”
“Huh.”
“And when he put a tourniquet on the one man, I watched him and listened and put one on the other man.”
“Wow, really? That means you’re a hero, too.”
“Oh,” Christie felt her cheeks heat at her friend’s words. She hadn’t felt particularly heroic. “I don’t know about that. I was just doing what he told me to do. Doing what needed to be done.”
“Yeah I’ll bet that’s the kind of thing he says.”
Oh. Tanya is so right. “Well, yeah. It is.”
“See?”
But that didn’t make her a hero. She wouldn’t have even known what to do if Reed hadn’t told her.
Maybe that needs to change.A man could have bled out right next to her if Reed hadn’t been there with the right tools and the right instruction.Do they have classes for that like they did for CPR?Another class she really ought to take. She didn’t want to be in a position of standing by helplessly when there was something she could do to save a life.
