This was sent to me by a friend...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [name removed
Buzz, 1am. I would say later that this was one of the most horrible and beautiful things I have ever experienced. Crouched in the corner with friends, absorbing their presence, I was swept up from my feet and was started away from the shadows. A blink, a flash, and the curtain was raised. The wall. A few figures rapidly dashed through, and at this point, I was led to the ground. I don't know how, for sure. But I have a few ideas.
Realization eventually swept me over; the police had arrived. Arrived...not as if we were expecting them, as that was certainly not the truth.
People kept dashing through that wall, that cascade of grey-black reflection. "Never run away," I said to myself. And for the first time in my life, I heard the shockwave crack of a firearm. I wasn't even really sure that's what it was, though my idea was reinforced by others. And in my stillness, kneeling low and trying to gather an idea of what was going on, I was pulled closer to the earth. I heard no one until then.
Sean (or Shawn...maybe Shaun) was there, someone I'd never met until now. He told me to lie down, and to keep safe. He asked me my name, he introduced himself to me in the quietest way possible, he kept me protected.
Down on the ground, curling up slightly, I felt the first breaths of fear in my body. I looked up past my arms, past my eyebrows, to find the face to the female voice talking to me, telling me that things would be alright.
Danielle. I had met her before, and when she took hold of my hand, intertwining our fingers, I felt safe. But soon enough, that was dispelled.
My arms were needed stretched out to my sides, and I had to let go. The space heaters had been shut off earlier, the music had been slain, and the cops were asking for money. And light. I wasn't so sure they were cops
anymore, but realizing I had only $21 on my person, I didn't much care, as long as I got out alive and unharmed.
People had been beaten. I heard it.
I imagined it behind closed eyes, and found fear in the idea that a mass of speeding metal might tear through my flesh.
Sean stayed with me the whole time. His arm resting on my back, my arm resting on his, he helped to keep me quiet, to make this experience as painless as possible. I lie looking at the floor, my chin scraped by the
concrete, my face becoming stained with mud. I felt who I thought was one of my group with me; later I came to the knowledge that this wasn't the case. My hands were needed behind my head, then, and I held my own hands. It was then that I became cold.
"Go back to Suburbia, and don't ever come back to Detroit."
"Yeah, right."
"These rave parties are over."
"No way, pig."
Seemed like females were being led out first. That made me happy, as I knew that Danielle was getting to go. Eventually even I was nudged to get up, and the best way I knew how, I found my way to my feet. Hands behind my
head. The image that greeted me was depressing at best...lights once used for musical augmentation were pointed dead and white to the ground, a ground littered with silent dark bodies. Colorful lights were around in random places; glowsticks without owners. I started to walk my way to a line full of guys like myself, and I placed my hands on the shoulders of the person in front of me.
Sean kept me safe, still. Comforted me. I made my way eventually to man to search me, and I left Sean's safe grasp. He patted me down in standard procedure, and asked me about my pants. Where I got them. I told him, he wished me a nice night, and no sentence uttered from my mouth ended in anything but sir. Confusion ticked inside my head, how the police could be so horrible and then so sweet, and I replaced my arms on my head and walked out.
In the snow, originally coming from a group of five people, I was alone. Dead alone. Cold. I walked out, dazed, mentally shattered from the experience, and eventually discovered the road where we were all parked. I looked back; Sean was gone. But in front of me stood a woman, a woman dressed rather nicely in a furry-lined coat. Her blonde hair stood out wonderfully amidst her black clothes and white snow, and she asked if I was alright. I said I was, and she held me, and told me that everything would be okay.
And I felt safe again.
The rest is simple: I found my friends, their car, and we left. But as we exited the horrible scene, I mentioned, "This is the most horrible and beautiful thing I've ever seen." As though people may trash on candy kids, and other kids will trash on "power ravers", it didn't matter. I don't know how I look to you, or Sean, or Danielle, or that woman outside, but they still all showed me the greatest concern I've felt in a while, particularly from strangers (or near that).
We all came together, we all helped each
other, and I left feeling washed over by peace, love, unity and respect.