YOU GO ON

After soccer practice and some intense strategizing, Tyler wins his favorite trading card game against his best friends and teammates: Jackson, Drew, and Brad. However, Tyler’s celebration is quickly eclipsed by the discovery that Brad is texting Jenna, a junior track star at their high school. Tyler’s girlfriend, Erin, is Jenna’s best friend and head of the prom committee, so prom season is in the air. After his friends leave, Tyler’s sleep is interrupted by a recurring nightmare, which causes him to oversleep the following morning. Still groggy, he enters the school hallway where typical high school antics ensconce the familiar blurred reality that is present on the “Thoughts and Prayers” posters hanging on the walls around him. After receiving the news that another student has died of a drug overdose, this reality quickly comes back into focus. When the familiar posters are suddenly replaced with prom posters, it eventually becomes clear to Tyler that time goes on with or without you.

YOU GO ON follows Tyler, a 15-year-old freshman, and his community as they deal with the aftermath of a school shooting that occurred three months prior, and spans the short period of time when the high school must transition from school shooting to prom season. This piece is based on my experience of living through and then dealing with the aftermath of a school shooting that occurred in my high school when I was 15 years old.