Its Been 9 Years Since the Boston Marathon Bombings and One of the Scariest Weeks of My Life
The Boston Marathon is happening on Monday, April 18th, and will be the second marathon run in the streets of Boston since the pandemic started.
Nine years ago today, on April 13, 2013, was a terrifying day in Boston, MA. It was the day that two homemade bombs were planted on Boylston Street, near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
According to CNN, the homemade bombs went off between 8 to 12 seconds apart, about 50 to 100 yards from each other, and injured at least 264 individuals and killed 3. CNN states that the bombs were hidden inside backpacks that contained pressure cookers.
April 13, 2013, affected a lot of people around the world. However, it led to a terrifying week for me and my family as it hit too close to home.
Let's go back 9 years, I was in college and went to Emerson College, which is located on Boylston Street. I was working for my college radio station and thought it would be a great idea to go watch the marathon and cover it for my show. My friend and I had planned to go meet up with some other friends at the finish line since it was only a 10-minute walk away.
As we were about halfway up Boylston Street, I had received a text from my friend that was already there that just read, "Bomb." I didn't know what to think about the text at first, I knew that my friend had been drinking and I just thought that she meant that watching the marathon was so cool. Little did I know that one-word text would be much more horrifying.
I received another text saying, "Don't come," so my friend and I decided to walk back and sit for a picnic in the Boston Commons, that's when I received a phone call from my mother explaining exactly what was going on. Not long after, my college went into lockdown.
We returned to our dorms and waited. Public Transportation was shut down for a few days. According to CNN, a couple of days later on the evening of April 18th, the Tsarnaev brothers carjacked a driver in Cambridge, MA.
As if it wasn't too close with the bombings occurring near my college, the bombers were spotted not far away from where my family resides. I didn't know how, but I knew I needed to get home, and somehow even though everyone was in lockdown and I did (which to this day my family and I don't know how). I went into complete protection mode.
The following day, April 19th, officers went door to door in Watertown, MA to look for the brothers, according to CNN. At this point, I was sitting on my sofa at home with a kitchen knife in hand, just staring out the windows, wanting to make sure that my family was safe.
You see, my family lived right smack in the middle of Watertown and Cambridge, so again this was really close to home. CNN states that between 6 and 7 pm David Henneberry, a Watertown resident, went outside after the lockdown was lifted and discovered one of the Tsarnaev brothers hiding out in his boat.
This was a huge sigh of relief, however, it was horrifying to find out that the boat in which he was found was only three blocks away and a 2-minute drive from my house.
April 13, 2013, will always be a day that is remembered by all and will always be the start of one of the most stressful and terrifying weeks of my life.
Today, Boylston Street has a new look with new stores, restaurants, and memorials for the victims of the Boston Marathon.