“I think what scared me the most was how fast it all turned around.”

“For my company’s fifteen year anniversary we wanted to do something special for our annual conference overseas. We all decided that we were going to travel to Cape Town, South Africa. We all had a really nice trip, we went on a lot of excursions and even climbed the famous Table mountain. It was very interesting to see the unique culture and the cultural differences there compared to Sweden. 

While we were there our schedule was packed with things to do and we almost had no extra time for ourselves. However one night we got to do stuff on our own. I took a taxi to the city along with three of my colleagues. There was this one place that was recommended by both the hotel concierge and the locals in the neighborhood so we all thought that we were going to be fine. When we arrived at the restaurant we got a table outdoors. We sat down and quickly ordered our food to get back to the hotel in time for our next lecture. 

On the opposite side of the road there was a small currency exchange building. Suddenly out of nowhere a man holding a black object in his hand came running out of the building. At first I didn't realize what was happening, but just a few seconds later when the raucous sound of a gun being fired was heard, I instantly knew what was going on. It was a robbery. 

Panic spread all around the place, everyone started screaming and people ran inside or far away from the scene. I can barely remember what I did but all that I know was that I acted the way that I did only because of the shock that I was in. When the police arrived at the scene minutes later the man was already gone. It took me multiple hours just to get back to my normal calm state. All I wanted to do was to get home again and meet my family. I think what scared me the most was how fast it all turned around. From a nice night out with my colleagues eating food and drinking to a night filled with panic and terror.”

Felix Bommelin 9a