By:Gracie Meoni

Titouan Guillo, a 14 year old Paris native, got tickets to go to Stade de France with his soccer team from his coach for a good start to the season.

And what made the deal even sweeter was the fact that when the team got their tickets it was Titouan’s birthday.  Yann- eric, Titouan’s father stated, “Everyone was so joyous.”

Yann-eric was listening to the game on the radio while he was working, his ex-wife watching it on the TV. “On all three [radio, TV and in la Stade de France] you could clearly hear the first explosion. We all thought that they were ‘agricultural bombs’ the loud noise makers fans of certain teams have. The boom just sounded louder than usual.”

Disregarding the loud sound, the game was continued, but a few short minutes later, the second boom occurred. The announcer on the radio station came on air and said that the booms were kamikazes who just imploded themselves, not the joyous fan bombs. Yann-eric continued to listen, and a few short seconds later the radio announcer started to talk about the first shots inside Paris. The city of lights had just entered the pure darkness of evil.

Yann-eric contacted his ex-wife and was shocked when he learned that she still didn’t know about the bombers, or the shooters. Both quickly alerted the coaches and other family members of Titouan’s team.

It wasn’t long until the public slowly got the details. Paris was in a state of emergency. Tituoan, still unaware of the crisis, later realized how surreal it was to watch the players continue their match. “They were the only people who didn’t know until the end of the match. It was only then that the announcers came on to the loud system to officially announce the attacks. And that was when they [the announcers] told us of the evacuation, and how they [spectators] could only go out one side of the stadium, the rest was blocked off by police.”

The spectators, whether in awe of what was unfolding in their beloved city or keeping the calm attitude for their fellow Frenchmen, the evacuation was going smoothly, everyone incredibly calm. The busses and trains were held up at different checkpoints, making the evacuation take longer. Somewhere in the crowd, a small explosion started a panic.  The panic forced police to take a highly risky move, sending the crowd back into the stadium. This posed the threat of another suicide bomber sneaking in and blowing up everyone who went back.

As Titouan’s team was going back to go onto the field, someone started singing “la Marseillaise” (the French national anthem), and the tune soon echoed through the stadium, on the grass, and in the tunnels under the fields.

The evacuation continued, now under strict police supervision. In small groups, the spectators were able to leave to go catch their train or get to their cars. However, Titouan’s team still had a lot more to endure before they would get home.

Once the soccer team got aboard a train, it only took three stops to discover a bomb threat, dispersing the crowd once more. However, the team stuck together and did a “ ‘training run’ for 15 high level athletes.”

After getting off the platform and seeking shelter in a hotel lobby, the boys were finally educated on the extent of how their city was falling. The hotel staff offered the team food and water, while the adults scrambled to find a way to get the boys home safely,” proving to be a difficult task in a city that was on total lockdown.  Finally, the boys were able to arrive home at 2:00 am.

Titouan, an already quiet kid, was hushed for a few days after the attacks, yet he was able to continue his daily routine, with the help of soccer and keeping busy.

Yann-eric hopes that his son keeps shining on in the time of darkness. “I only hope he [Titouan] won’t fuse the two;  that all of the terrorists who hold themselves as Muslim and that not all Muslims are terrorists.”