My name is Haley and I’m afraid to go to school. Like many high school students, waking up to go to school is hard. For me, balancing the homework of AP and Honor classes, keeping up with social media, and tutoring kids half my age is a constant battle. On November 14, 2019, I woke up to go to my first period, thankful that it was already a Thursday. 5 minutes before the 1st period ended, we heard on the loudspeaker for all first period teachers to report to their 2nd period classes. Everyone in class was so confused. Then, another announcement sounded, saying we were going on soft lockdown. My mind immediately went to shooting. As far as I can remember, this was the first non drill lockdown. Minutes later we found out that there was a shooting at Saugus Highschool, 6.3 miles away. For the rest of the school day we tracked the news, hearing about the people who got hurt and the terror kids my age faced. The horror and anxiety our community confronted was because of one thing. A thing that was meant to be a tool. A tool that's first purpose was to knock down fortress walls. A tool that was weaponized to create disruption and unimaginable horror. They classified this event in Santa Clarita as a mass shooting. According to cbsnews.com there has been more mass shootings than days in 2019 alone. They calculate the total, “of 366 mass shootings includes several high-profile, mass casualty attacks, two of which happened within 24 hours of each other” (cbsnews.com). Another source (cnn.com) states that “there has been 44 school shootings across the nation.” However there has been only 46 weeks this year. The amount of shootings in our country is daily and it’s alarming. There were rumors going around saying that there were 3 people along with the 16 year old who were going to target the 3 highschools, one of which I attend. Classmates have posted on social media not to go to school on Monday because there could be another shooting. I don’t know what to believe, but I am scared. I wasn’t at the place where the open fire took place but I am concerned for my life. Never in a million did I ever expect that I would be in a place where such horrific events could take place. I thought I was safe. I knew that these horrible things existed but I thought I wasn’t going to be part of it. A little piece inside me died on November 14, 2019. My innocence has been taken away. Our country adds my city, Santa Clarita, to the long list of places that have lost lives to metal. This event is surreal.They teach us that school is a place of safety, but for me and thousands of people in my community, it isn’t anymore. No more lives must be put to rest because of guns. There needs to be change. Some type of change must be made. Change wasn’t yesterday or is going to be tomorrow. Change needs to be made today, right now.