Episode 05 / Sandy Hook / Dear World

Cyrena & Sarah

On survivor's guilt and late night cookie dough

Salt Lake City, Utah · Both 17

About This Story

Episode 05

Cyrena and Sarah move carefully through guilt, support, fear, and recovery. Their episode feels intimate and direct, full of reminders that healing can be ongoing without being a failure.

They speak about therapy, community, mothers who show up, and the need to keep insisting that Sandy Hook survivors are fully human people with futures still worth claiming.

The Participants

Cyrena & Sarah

Participant

Cyrena

Age 17

Cyrena talks about belonging to a huge community of kind and loving people who are far more than what happened to them.

Guilty pleasure: Eating lots of cookie dough in the middle of the night.
Fear: Not leaving her mark on the world.
Healing: Gymnastics gives her a safe space to release stress and emotion.
Support: Her mother reminds her to express her emotions instead of hiding them.

We are more than Sandy Hook. We are human beings and want to live our lives to the fullest.

Participant

Sarah

Age 17

Sarah wants people to acknowledge how every new school shooting affects survivors who are already carrying earlier trauma.

Perfect day: Sleeping in, going to Target and TJ Maxx with friends, then heading to bed early.
Fear: Not bringing change to gun violence.
Healing: Therapy, talking to people, and moving through survivor's guilt one step at a time.
Support: Her mother has been one of her biggest supporters while she processes being home sick that day.

"Time heals all" isn't necessarily true. I still think about it every day. And that's okay.

Watch The Series

Episode Films

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Story Moments

Visual Story

Cyrena finds release in gymnastics and keeps returning to the reminder that survivors are part of a larger community of loving people.

Sarah speaks directly about survivor's guilt and the way every new shooting can reopen what earlier survivors are already carrying.

Both of them frame healing as a long process of validation, support, and refusing the pressure to hurry themselves through pain.

What They Want To Say

Voices From The Episode

To Other Survivors

No matter who brushes you off, your emotions are valid. It may take a long time, but remember that people are there for you, whether it is family, friends, or teachers.

Cyrena