The Brave Roar

On September 6th, 2024, Multiple student-athletes met up for a swim meet, and a student attending got attacked, this is his story with a little fictional twist to it.

John was debating whether he wanted to go because he just had a weird feeling and a gut feeling telling him not to go. John went to the swim meeting because someone he thought was his friend, David, convinced him to come, he was also new to the swim team and wanted to make new connections and friends.

John decided to go to the gathering even though his gut feeling told him not to, so before he left out, he prayed and asked God to protect him. Once he made it to the gathering, he felt weird like something was about to happen because a group of the athletes were standing in a group laughing and looking at him. As John introduced himself to someone on the swim team, a group of seven boys walked up to him and started talking with him. John felt uncomfortable but saw his friend who convinced him to come, so he felt safe. As his friend walked up to the group, one of the boys grabbed John, and restrained him against the wall so he could not move at all. John started to pray again because he knew his life was in danger.

David walked up and started to carve the n-word into John’s chest with a box cutter while laughing. John was so confused and hurt because he thought he could trust David and that they were friends. John screamed and prayed asking God to send something or someone to save him. The louder John screamed the bigger his hero got, the first time John screamed a cricket appeared, then he screamed a little louder and a bird appeared, as the screams got louder the animal got bigger and bigger. The last and final time he screamed a lion busted into the door and roared the group of boys off John, and protected John by allowing him to get on her back, and she took him to safety and got him healed.

As the lion led John away from the chaos, he felt an overwhelming sense of relief wash over him. The warmth of the lion’s presence reassured him that he was safe now. With each step, John realized that he had not only escaped a terrifying situation but had also learned a profound lesson about trust and courage. John learned that when he is in any bad or even good situation he can pray to God, and he will be okay. He also learned to trust his gut and not let people convince him to do something.

-Cece Bryant