#prayforclaire

An online campaign to get One Direction to visit a Colorado teen critically wounded at school has led to a video message from the British boy band.

"Hi, Claire. We've heard you were a big fan and we just wanted to show you some love," Payne said. "What's happened to you is absolutely terrible, something we can't bear thinking about, so we just wanted to share some love with you. All our prayers are with you and your family. Hope you get well soon. Lots of love."

Louis Tomlinson then blew a kiss toward the camera.

The group couldn't be with Claire, but wanted to do something for her, the source said.

"Guys 1D found out about Claire,"

An online campaign to get One Direction to visit a Colorado teen critically wounded at school has led to a video message from the British boy band.

When I woke up December 13, 2013, I was ready for a regular Friday. I had no idea that I would be presented with a situation that would test my emotions in ways I never knew possible...in ways I never would have dreamed of.

The first four hours of the day were just like any other. I sat with my friends at lunch, and said goodbye to them as I headed for math. I didn't know I would be sitting in the corner of my classroom just half an hour later, fearing for my life.

Math class was the same old, same old- working on a study guide for finals with my friend Jessica. 

I kept telling myself, "Claire, you need your phone. Go get your phone." I felt weird. Something was about to happen. I knew it. Three loud sounds. The first spaced out from the second two rang throughout our hallway. 

"BANG... BANG. BANG."

It sounded like books slamming on the ground, but by the second shot, we knew this was not the case. The class fell silent. We looked at each other-you could see the panic written across our faces. I glanced at my teacher, only to see a look of pure shock.  "Get in the corner now. Don't say a word."

My teacher acted in an amazing way during our 5th hour Geometry class. He kept us calm (or, as calm as we could have been), and only communicated with us through a small white board we had in the back of the class. 

He wrote, "All okay? Thumbs down if not..."

"Do not panic. Stay calm. No talking. Do not text or call parents yet."

Someone I thought of as just a normal math teacher is now one of my biggest heroes. The announcement blared throughout the school: We are in lockdown. Teachers lock down.

The time following the announcement was a blur, to be quite honest. I can't exactly tell what happened when. My classmates and I held hands, while Jessica and I cried and prayed together. I panicked.

All I could think was, "Oh my God, I'm going to die. Please God, I'm not ready to die. I need to see my family. Please God. I can't die. Don't kill me. Don't kill anyone. I'm begging you."

Sitting in my classroom, I was honestly preparing myself for death. I looked back on my short fourteen year life, and reflected on my mistakes and triumphs. I thought about long lasting grudges I held, and the moments I considered the best of my life.

I realized that my whole outlook on life was wrong. For a very long time, I have just been going through the motions. I have not been spending time with God. I have been a bundle of walking sin. I wish the shooting had never taken place; but it has given me a different outlook on how to live the life we have, because it can be taken from us  at literally any time. 

We heard footsteps in the hallway, and whether they belonged to Karl I will never know. We heard police officers shouting from one end of the hallway to the other, "Not here." "Freeze!" "Go, go, go!". Somewhere in the midst of all this, the fire alarm was set off. Yet another announcement was given: Do not evacuate. There is no fire. Stay in your classrooms.

We heard Claire crying, pleading with Karl.

We heard him shoot her, and we heard her screaming,

"It hurts! Stop it! Stop it! Please!"

I think the moment he shot Claire was the moment he might have snapped. I think he realized what he had done, and that it was wrong. I'm not sure I'll ever forget her screams.

I don't know how long we were in lockdown before the SWAT team begun to bang on our doors, ordering us out of our classroom. Our teacher, reluctant to let them enter, finally saw who they were through the window, and let them in.

They screamed, "MOVE, MOVE!", and motioned us out of the classroom, into the trophy hallway, through the study center, and outside. A girl in our class had a hurt ankle, and had somehow lost a shoe in the process of running. I took her hand and prodded her through the hallway..

Unfortunately, we saw the blood.

The blood that stained the floors of our beloved school. The blood of an innocent victim only trying to help others. The blood that didn't belong there. The blood that was on the floors of the very same hallway where we laughed and talked just hours before. The blood that was in our second home- our safe haven.

We gasped a breath of fresh air once we were outside of the school, but we didn't stop running until we were safely across the street. Nothing had sunk in until I was in the alley behind Starbucks. I knelt over, and just cried. I didn't care who saw me. I didn't care. I cried and cried, and I didn't stop for a very long time.

I found two of my very good friends, Jacob and Mason, inside of King Soopers. I borrowed Jacob's phone and sent a quick text to my mom, dad, sister, and brother. All it said was: There was a shooting at school. I'm ok.

We were then transferred to a nearby church. We entered, met by chaos. The staff of the church and school acted amazingly. Teachers frantically navigated through the massive crowds of people, trying to locate students, while names were constantly being called over the speakers. Counselors searched for those especially affected by recent events, and students desperately searched for their friends. The weird thing is, if you watch something like this on TV, you never believe it s going to happen to you...until it does.

One of the worst parts of waiting, was the rumors. I heard just about everything under the sun, from "He has two hostages in the library." to "There are four shooters, and three are still on the loose." I just wanted to find my friends. I wanted to make sure everyone was alright.

Most of all, I wanted to wake up from the awful nightmare I was living. I never did.

I don't know how long I waited for my parents. I honesty had no concept of time. My mother gave me the biggest, tightest hug she ever has when we were finally reunited in the courtyard of the church. We walked to ur car, and I relayed the events to my parents. I cried. A lot. 

The days following have been some of the toughest days of my life. The very next morning, I went to Snooze with my parents. Something in the kitchen dropped. BANG. It sounded like a shot. I froze. I couldn't feel anything but fear. It might be a while until I am back to normal. Until I can hear something like that, and not be transported back to the scariest moments of my life. The very moments I legitimately thought my life would be taken from me.

The support from my family and friends has been tremendous. I have never felt so loved. I appreciate the people who have stood by my side in such a trying time.

Warriors:

Where do we go from here? Do we go back to school, as if nothing happened? Do we discuss it every day in class? How do we address such a tragedy? Every uphill has a downhill. Every struggle presents a new, good opportunity in our life. With everything bad, comes something good. Friday presented us with a lot of bad. A lot. This situation, though unfortunate, has presented us with an opportunity to become a more tight knit community than ever before. Through praying for a true Warrior, Claire Davis, to just coming together & sharing our stories, we can make something good come out of the bad. These next few weeks are going to be long and hard, and quite honestly, it's going to suck. But the reason this happened to us, is because we are Warriors. We can handle anything.