This is being written on behalf of a young man I’m family friends with. I’m not sure how to feel about it but I’m gonna write from his perspective.
Hi, my name is John. I’m an 18 year old high school student who’s set to graduate in a month. We had prom recently and an altercation happened the day of prom.
For context, I come from a refugee background. I was born and raised in the Middle East until I was 11 years old and throughout my time there, I witnessed a lot of people die from gun violence. I witnessed two of my uncles get shot down during crossfire while we were escaping a warzone. I also witnessed my brother die right in front of me after getting shot by an ISIS insurgent and right before I was going to get shot right after him, an American soldier shot him saving my life.
Ever since we were able to finally immigrate to the US, life has settled down. I’ve been able to adjust very well and also receive psychological help. I started going out with a girl in my class 3 months before prom and I havent gone in depth about my trauma but ive told her it was rough growing up over there.
When I went to pick her up for prom the other day, I rented a Porsche through my dad and got a nice suit. I pulled into her driveway and stepped out to give her a hug since she was waiting for me. She gestured me towards the door so I can introduce myself to her parents. Her dad was trying to pull off some sort of ‘intimidate the boyfriend’ stunt and stepped outside wearing camoflauge clothing and brandishing an AK47 (not pointing it at me, just holding it for symbolic intimidation) and I froze for a second because a bunch of bad memories came flooding in in the span of a second and then I stumbled back and my body took over and I couldn’t think. I got in the Porsche and drove away super fast.
I had a breakdown in the car by myself after and decided to skip out on prom because of how dysregulated I felt. I haven’t talked to my girlfriend yet but she’s super angry with me right now and says I left a bad impression for her parents albeit she doesn’t know what I’ve witnessed.
AITAH?