What happened on Friday

One cannot cease to exist without the other, here's a telling of Friday 15/03/2019

Like any normal days this day began.

5.40 Subuh, 6.30 to breakfast, 7.30 I started changing into my costume.

I was the mascot for Valiant😜 for the school parade, and to say the least, that morning was exhausting due to the scorching sun. Exhausting, even though I only stood under the tent all the while cheering for the athletes along with others.

(The 2019 theme for KEJORA was "floral")

While that was going on, the judges also came to the tent in which Aliyatul presented the little details.
The morning was over quickly and the time for Friday prayer came. So the boys got ready and the girls all went back into the dorms to get some rest.

And in the dorms, were where heartbreaks began.

I couldn't get any sleep that afternoon, so I ate, talked, and did anything I could to fill up my time while also getting ready for the school parade. It was during this time that I received a phone call.

"There was a shooting in Christchurch"
my heart stopped. my home.

"A man shot at a mosque and recorded it live to spread"
my heart dropped.

My mum detailed me on what happened but I couldn't get my mind set straight because it hurt to much to hear. That Christchurch, my home that had been there for me for nearly 4 years, had been the target to such a cruel and brutal terrorist attack.

My mum informed me of the victims, that our family friend was still out of contact, that a family friend had been shot, that there will still more we hadn't heard news of.

She would contact me later to tell more, and I hadn't realized that teardrops were falling as I heard every word that mum had said. Alhamdulillah Aqirah was there, because she was the only other person that was awake.

3.00 pm and we were all out on the field. The parade would start at 5.00 but there was another judging before that. As I was preparing for the parade, here and there from the field to the court, I received another call from my mother.

I answered with all the cheerfulness I had because I was getting hyped up for Valiant. Unfortunately so, from a stand I dropped to a squat, covered behind the many props there I cried. News came that a very close family friend of mine had been there during the shooting. It was proclaimed that he was missing, but even his mother had accepted the most possible outcome of his Syahid. Some of the other close family friends, shot on the backside, shot to the chest.

"Injured" "Syahid" "Missing"

I felt like I had lost it, lost the cheer and my friends had started calling me to get to the tent for the judging, but my heart was still breaking and I couldn't hold the incoming tears.

I was blessed Alhamdulillah that on my way to Valiant's tent I caught sight on Aqirah carrying around Legacy's prop, the tent to the left of us. Immediately as I saw her, I went up and held her in a hug as I told her everything my mum had. I was left shivering and she too, had sighted tears on her cheeks. I was pulled away quickly to continue my job as a mascot.

Luckily I had a mask on that was able to cover my puffed eyes properly, although it was still red and a forced smile beamed on my face all the while the judges were there.

My friends' enthusiasm and the KEJORA activities overall had me forgetting for a while. The excitement of the crowd and the enthusiasm of all respective house colours, Valiant, Legacy, Legend and Orion drowned any sadness that was ever there.

As the mascot for Valiant, I was acting as the red riding hood but honestly speaking it should've been more of "red robin hood" instead, because I wasn't exactly dressed like an innocent young girl in the woods searching for her grandma. Accompanied by a bow and arrow, I felt like robin hood about to capture some bad guys .

The parade went on exceptionally well to say the least, and I was satisfied. Not long after, the closing ceremony began. The MC's, Dayana f4 and Zahin f3 started off with the prize giving ceremony, and the main highlight of it were the declaration of Aqil as the Senior Sportsman and Afiah as the Senior Sportswoman for Upper Secondary, while for the others, unfortunately I can't seem to recall.

But through a whole week of endless working and sleepless nights, the main highlight of the day was put into the spotlight.

"And first place for the parade, goes to..."

LEGEND

"And first place for the tent, goes to..."

LEGEND

"And OVERALL winner for the 2019 KEJORA goes to..."

obviously,
LEGEND !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And, that was it, Legend won, Valiant in second place, even so, I was satisfied because we had given our best. Fun can go on, but we still had to clean up. Right after picture sessions, with the house colours, friends, etc. we began packing up the props we had used and picked up any rubbish seen by the eye.

Eventually it got done and we all walked back to the dorms drenched with the weight of tiredness.

That night, I started thinking about the massacre once more.