It was a chilly morning during my junior year at Estill County
High School; October 25th, 2000 to be exact. Everything seemed
normal as I parked in our over 
crowded school lot. I made my way up to the west wing back doors,
and it wasn’t until I stepped through them that I knew something was horribly
wrong. I first noticed that the sounds were all wrong; none of the usual
laughter or horseplay in our small community high school. Everyone was pretty
much silent. My stomach flipped. I had heard this strange silence before, and I
tried to not remember the last event that had caused the silence. My mind
always wins; I remember Mitch and the tragic January morning we lost a member
of the senior class of 2001. My heart aches as I can’t bear to wonder what has
caused this new wave of silence.