It was about 1:20 in the afternoon on Saturday, November 29, and my family and I had just made the spontaneous decision to take the Tri-Rail to Bass Pro Shops in Dania Beach. It was something I used to do when I was younger, and I thought it’d be fun to walk around and take pictures with Santa. Since it was Thanksgiving break, I slept in late and was nowhere near ready to leave, but we wanted to catch the next train at 1:43. I was rushing, and by the time we had to leave, I still wasn’t ready.
When we got to the station, I told my dad and brother to purchase the tickets while I finished up in the car; I had less than two minutes before the train arrived. Just as I was done, I heard the blare of the train horn and watched it pull up to the station. I had to run.
I jumped out of the car running as fast as I could, weaving through people just so I could make it aboard. I made it, but I couldn’t find my dad and brother. I quickly hopped off the train and found them still at the ticket booth. I told them to hurry and we made it on just in time before it started rolling.
Once we were on the train, it took us a while to find three seats so we could all be together in the second story. For the first few stops, my brother and I shared a row while my dad sat at the table adjacent to us. After we passed a couple stations, my brother and I could finally sit at the table with him. We had fun talking, watching funny videos on our phones, and looking out the foggy window.
It was about 2:30 when I realized we had been stopped in the middle of the tracks for about 10 minutes. I was on my phone and had noticed we weren’t moving, but hadn’t realized we weren’t waiting at another stop. We just passed the Cypress Creek station and there were only two more stops until the Ft.Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport station.
Just 30 minutes later, the train steward passed by and was checking up on us. We learned that the announcements haven’t been reaching the top floor, and so that’s why we were in the dark for so long. As he approached our booth, my dad asked him what the hold up was, and what he said made my jaw drop…
We had hit a person.
I couldn’t believe it. We’d been on this train for well over an hour and for the time we were stopped on the tracks, all I could think about was how bored and annoyed I was that we weren’t there yet, only to find out someone was killed. I felt awful. For the person, for the people on board who were running late for their flights and where they needed to be, for how I acted. I sat in silence for a little while, and slowly started to lighten up again.
For the rest of the time, I continued to talk with my family, played heads up with them, went on my phone some more, watched the cops outside the window investigating the crime scene, and the cycle repeated for the next three and a half hours.
Finally at 5:00, we were able to get off the train and evacuate to another one. The train arrived on the northbound tracks, but after we boarded we headed south and switched to the southbound tracks. Getting on the other train made the event feel even more real than it already was. It felt like we were in a natural disaster, everyone lining up and eager to evacuate. There were a few security guys on the ground in between the trains helping the passengers get from one train to another. They picked me up and carried me over, not really giving me the chance to do it myself. I guess that’s their way of keeping things as orderly as possible.
Finally, my family and I had boarded the train. However, it got crowded pretty quickly and it was difficult for us to find seats that were all together. We walked upstairs and downstairs, and we even travelled to different carts, which by the way is pretty scary. In between the carts there are two doors that you have to hold open if you don’t want them to close on you, and the train feels so unstable, it feels like it’s going to break open and you’re going to fall through. Eventually we found seats and waited another 10-15 minutes until we got to the Hollywood station.
At around 5:30, we got off and walked about eight minutes to get to Bass Pro Shops. After that whole hectic event, getting to our final destination felt like more of an accomplishment than ever before. Immediately as we walked inside, people were happy and enjoying their time, with no care in the world—quite the opposite of what we just came from.
The next train to get home was at 6:23, and that wasn’t enough time for us to walk around and enjoy ourselves. We made the decision to go on the following train, which was at 9:23!
It felt like our long day had only just begun.
If you or anyone you know thinks about taking their life or is danger of taking their life, help is available at the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Call 988 to speak with someone today; they are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
