Just a Thought...
By Joe Nguyen
2/27/99

Everyone by now has heard of the Columbine incident where 15 people died. I'm a student at Overland High School and ever since that happened, I've been a little edgy. I see the kids at my school, looking out the window during their lunch period, watching to see if someone in a black trenchcoat comes along. During class, with half the class missing, we talk about the incident, as some kids seem almost to break down in tears.

In the past few days, I've heard rumors from some of the other students. These fall from Columbine not re-opening to school uniforms to the gun laws. However, there were some rumors that I found to be really disturbing. One was that in the basement of one of the suspects, there were maps of Overland. Another one was that Overland, along with George Washington and Cherry Creek, was on some sort of hit list. At first, I was a little skeptic of all this until I heard about something Eric Harris, one of the suspects, wrote in his e-mail. It states, "All I can leave you with to decipher what more extensive death is to come is '12Skitzo.' You have until April 26th." I was freaked out when I heard this. I was scared out of my mind wondering what was going to happen on the upcoming Monday.

Today, as I entered into my school, I looked around, worried. I feared that perhaps there were pipe bombs set in the trash or that someone wearing a black trenchcoat would run into the school and make an "Overland Massacre." As the day went on I went into class after class, noticing that there were very few students who attended. I sat there wishing that I were one of the ones who stayed home. Throughout the day, I listened to the halls, looked out the windows, fearing that something would happen. As the end of the day rolled by, the principal came on the speakers saying that Overland was not on any hit list. It didn't really calm my nerves, though, but I was happy about getting to go home.

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