As a couple days have passed since the terroristic attacks that took place in Paris, more information is beginning to surface about those who were violently killed in the attacks as well as survivors. It is hard to believe that anything courageous could come out of such a story, but as time pass, we learn of the few acts of bravery and survival.

One such suvivor, Isobel Bowdery. “You never think it will happen to you,” the 22-year-old South African student wrote on social media talking about the nightmare. In her harrowing, graphic and poignant account, she writes of being trapped inside the Bataclan concert center as gunmen slaughtered more than 80 helpless concert-goers in a matter of minutes

“It was just a Friday night at a rock show. The atmosphere was so happy and everyone was dancing and smiling. And then when the men came through the front entrance and began the shooting, we naively believed it was all part of the show. It wasn’t just a terrorist attack, it was a massacre,” she wrote.

IMAGE SOURCE: FACEBOOK

Bowdery hid among the dead for over an hour as the nightmare unfolded around her. In a mere 15 minutes, the Bataclan was turned into a slaughterhouse. The band Eagles of Death Metal had been performing when gunmen emerged from behind the crowd. Muffled by the loud music and the excitement of the crowd, the initial cracks of gunfire either went unnoticed or were misinterpreted.

Bowdery describes holding her breath, trying to remain motionless and avoid crying so that she didn’t give “those men the fear they longed to see.” She describes the gunmen circling the crowd “like vultures,” an image that will haunt her the rest of her life, she writes.

IMAGE SOURCE: FACEBOOK

“The way they meticulously aimed at shot people around the standing area I was in the center of without any consideration for human life. It didn’t feel real. I expected any moment for someone to say it was just a nightmare. But being a survivor of this horror lets me able to shed light on the heroes.”

Please keep the families affected by this catastrophe in your prayers.