This weekend marks one year since the London Bridge and Borough Market terror attack, and many of the family and friends of the eight people killed are still struggling to come to terms with the horrific events that unfolded.
Here, Sam Hetherington tells Sky News about what it felt like to find out her best friend, Australian au pair Sara Zelenak, 21, had been killed.
Sara was out with a friend in Borough Market on the evening of the attack, when she was stabbed by one of the three terrorists.
She had been working and saving so hard to go overseas and see the world, just to grow and learn and do things on her own.
She was very smart but I don’t think she ever realised just how much.
I think she surprised herself a lot when she could build this whole life in some place new with no one’s help.
When I found out, my heart just broke.
I had known Sara for almost 10 years.
It was about two days of waiting between the initial news of the attack and the confirmation of her death.
I found out on my break at work and I completely broke down. My whole family took two weeks off work and grieved.
Sara was really close with our whole family. The day I found out was the first day I ever saw my dad cry.
I think I not only hurt so much for losing Sara but also so much for losing hope in the world. My life has been turned upside down by something so foreign.
Explaining loss is already hard enough but the fact that in my lifetime a terrorist has personally affected my life definitely impacts how much I believe in the good of the world and that’s really hard to take on.
I still think of Sara everyday.
It has been a very tough year. There’s a gap close beside me where Sara always stood that is so noticeable and unfillable everyday.
No one can tell you how hard it is to lose your best friend, especially when it makes no sense the way she was taken.
I miss her laugh that would make me feel like there were no problems that couldn’t be fixed, her unwavering assurance that everything will always be okay and that fun should always be the priority.
It’s hard to find friends as true and good as Sara was. I haven’t had a good belly-laugh quite like the ones I had with Sara in a while.
I try my best to do all the things I know she would be cheering me on to do because in those moments of life is when I most think about her, and that always makes me smile, like she always did.
I just want to be the person Sara loved me for, because she had the biggest heart and I feel very blessed that I was one of the ones that got to do life with that kind of human that touches your soul.
I remember her as a ball of fun, the kind of friend that makes you skip out on assignments to go out on the town because she knows you’d remember that more in 10 years than a silly university subject.
I always just had the most honest fun with Sara. She made people believe in themselves and always told you she loved you. I miss her, so much.
I just hope I make her proud.
From – SkyNews
