An Eccleston student who survived one of the worst massacres in US history says she will never forget the tragic events that unfolded a year ago.
On April 16 last year, Gemma Sou was told to stay in her Virginia Tech dormitory while a crazed gunman went on a killing spree.
Luckily she was not one of Cho Seung-hui's 32 innocent victims – all shot dead during his terrifying rampage through th
e university campus.
A year on, the 25-year-old former Winstanley College student is haunted by the massacre and is still grieving for one of her best friends.
Speaking from their home in Eccleston, St Helens, her mum Maureen said Gemma was too upset to talk about it in great detail.
She said: "Gemma will never get over what happened, none of us will. She lost one of her best friends that day.
"I think that has been the hardest thing for her to take. She turned round to me today and said, 'mum do you realise it is exactly a year since it all happened?'"
"Gemma was so lucky that day because she would have been in one of the classes where the shooting took place."
The politics student had wanted to take French along with her other studies but the class was full. If she had applied earlier, she could have been one of the many casualties.
Like many of the thousands of pupils and teachers on the campus, she had to stay in her room – with her door locked – and was kept updated via the Internet.
She had to watch continuous news bulletins telling her about the bloodshed taking place just outside her bedroom window.
Gemma returned home two months after Cho Seung-hui shot dead 32 of her fellow students and teachers – and himself. She managed to finish her course and spent time with friends in Virginia but remained in constant contact with her family.
Maureen, 53, said: "She needed time to get over it and grieve and I think staying on helped her. We are extremely proud of her as she is a very strong, intelligent girl.
"She loves travelling and is going to teach in South America over the summer. I can't say that I am not nervous or worried about it but she can't change her life because of what happened."
A candle-lit vigil was held at the university campus. Thousands of students and teachers attended.
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