Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Hurts

One of my girls came to class today looking a little shaky and worried. She asked if she could use my computer to check the news really fast, that it was really important. I said no, since we were using the computer for the projector, but she could run next door to Hasselbeck, since he doesn't have a 4th period, and ask him if he would mind. About 10 minutes later, Hasselbeck comes to my door and motions me over and I look in the hall to see this girl almost in convulsions from hysterical crying. I went out in the hallway and all she could say, over and over, was "my dad's an ax murderer..." I had no idea what she was talking about and no idea what to do, and the security officer came down the hall just then and took her down to the office. I later found out that her father had killed his ex-wife (not the student's mother) and his ex-wife's 33 year old daughter with an ax on Friday, then tried to hang himself, and is currently charged with aggravated first degree murder. Due to privacy issues, I am not linking to the article. From what I can piece together, she heard a rumor about this and decided to look it up to see if it was true, and she read it all.

What do you say to a 16 year old girl, who has just read on the internet that her father hacked 2 women to death with an ax? No human being should have to go through that, much less a child who reads about it on a computer screen.

The things my kids go through breaks my heart on a nearly daily basis.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. Just wow. Saying my heart goes out to her doesn't seem to even begin to touch it, does it?

Unknown said...

Exactly, I was about to write wow... Christy I am sorry for the hurt that it causes you too! I am praying for you both!

Megan said...

OMGoodness! I heard about that news story and I really wanted to turn the channel. That poor girl!!! Prayers going out to her!

John Deere Mom said...

Oh my gosh...I can't even imagine. That gives me goosebumps. Poor girl...hopefully she will have the strength to get through this.

Ronnica said...

Wow, that's so much bigger than the usual teenage drama. I wish I could give her a hug and a shoulder to cry on.

Mimi said...

OMG, I have goosebumps, too. I hope someone gets that girl to a super-good therapist. No one should have to deal with that, much less a young girl.

My heart just hurts.

Rikki said...

I understand how awful this is (we had a similar thing happen at my school). There is just nothing you can do to make it better which makes it all the worse.

How awful for this poor girl!

Anonymous said...

Wow...that is insane. Prayers go out to her! It makes us just want to make things better when we know that there is not much we can do.

Melissa B. said...

This might be one of the harshest "teacher stories" I've ever heard. More than harsh. Scary bad. The only thing you can do is, trite as it sounds, "be there" for your student. Make yourself available to talk. Talking does make things better.

Finding Normal said...

Wow. Poor girl! I have no idea what you would say to her, or how she will ever recover from it. :/

Pseudo said...

That is a horrible thing for her to have to live with.

A few years ago, I had a student whose mother was shot by her step dad in front of she and her older sister. She went from being an A student with a great attitude to someone who was barely present in her own life. It did not help that she had to go live with her father, who was not very good at getting her through it all.

Bethany said...

Oh my goodness, how awful :( There are no words. That poor girl!