Thursday, September 13th my mom called me but I didn't answer. I thought oh I'll call her back it's probably fine. My denial of her call was quickly followed with a text saying to call her she needed to talk to me. I thought she wanted to tell me something funny, something that had happened that day at work or something funny my brother had done. Despite my initial thoughts, I was wrong and my mom really needed to talk to me.

Upon calling her back she stated she wanted me to know my family, house, and dogs were safe and that they were okay. I was completely caught off guard and confused by what she was talking about. I followed this with "mom what are you talking about." She told me that the town next to mine, a town that I could walk to that borders my city had had an accident. Within the last hour, houses were catching fire from an apparent gas problem where pressure had built up causing houses to basically explode and catch fire.

Its disturbing in the society we find ourselves in that in the ensuing moments your mind processes all the horrible possibilities that my mom could be about to tell me. Was there another terrorist attack in Boston? Or a school shooter at my high school or my brother's school? Was there an officer-involved shooting in the city that my family lives in?

This is the reality that 2018 has brought forth for young adults of our society. This is what the world has come to, the fear and thoughts that you expect the worst sometimes out of situations.

Following the news, so many questions ensued in my head. The shock and my mind processing this news were overwhelming. Did my house have the same gas company as the people who were being affected by this disaster? Was my family at risk to experience this type of devastation? Why had this happened? Was this an act of terrorism? How many people were injured and was there any deaths reported?

Its moments like this that make being away from your family extra hard when you go to school four hours away. You want to be there for your family but sometimes its hard. You also want to be there for your friends from the affected towns and your friends that go to affected colleges.

It's disturbing to know that people tried to escape their houses such as a young 18 year old from Lawrence, MA and ended up losing their life from this devastating accident.

Moving forward I hope the investigation brings forth what has truly happened. In addition, I hope that Columbia Gas can get people home and restore a sense of normalcy to those affected.

It is during times like these that the best comes out in people and we see communities near and far come together. Fire departments from Maine traveled down to the affected areas supplying food, drinks, and snacks to first responders who I am sure are overwhelmed. In addition, people in my community have set up a go fund me page trying to raise fund for those affected. Below please find the link and donate if you can.

https://www.gofundme.com/help-merrimackvalley-fire...