RED LAKE, Minn. - Thirteen years ago, it was them.
As a fellow student-turned-gunman entered a classroom and opened fire, they were the ones hiding in a closet, hoping it wasn't their last day. They were the ones dodging bullets on their way to safety, watching friends who weren't so lucky. And now, 13 years later, all those horrific memories are rushing back in the wake of yet another school shooting.
March 21 will mark the official 13-year anniversary of the day 10 people, including five students and a 16-year-old student-turned-shooter were killed at Red Lake High School.
By the numbers, it’s the worst school shooting in state history.
For two students who survived it, Tom Barrett and Whitney Spears, it's the day they lost their innocence.
A day that comes barreling back when news hits of other school shootings around the country.
The most recent on Feb. 14, when a student gunman killed 17 people at a Parkland Florida high school.
"That night I had to cry," said Spears. who was a freshman at Red Lake in 2005. "I haven't cried about it in so long. I really miss my friends and I really feel bad for all the families that are affected by these shootings."
Tom Barrett was a sophomore on that fateful day. He was inside the last classroom the shooter entered.
"Seeing the confusion. I can see the confusion on these kids’ faces. As to how could this happen to us? Our school? We felt that way too," Barrett said.
They both witnessed their friends being shot inside the school.
"We had a substitute teacher that day," Spears said. "She left us in that room but that's when we ran into the closet connecting the class that Tom was in."
Their classrooms were connected by a small office, where they took refuge from the shooter.
"We knew the door wouldn’t lock so myself, another student and the teacher were just using our force to keep the door shut," Barrett said. "It was at this point where the shooter was trying to shoot the door handle off and taking shots at the door."
Both Barrett and Spears, along with several others, were able to get out of the school to safety.
"As we got out of the building, we still were not out of the storm of everything. He was still shooting at us. He shot through the glass," Barrett said. "You could see bullets bouncing through the grass."
The school shootings that have happened since Red Lake have instantly made both Barrett and Spears feel as if they understand the victims and the students affected by the trauma.
"I feel a lot of remorse for those kids.," Barrett said. "Because you lose all innocence as a teenager or whatever the age may be."
However horrific the shooting or the circumstances were in Red Lake, Florida, Sandy Hook and others since, Barrett said he also can’t help but feel a sense of compassion for the shooter.
In the 13 years that have passed, both Barrett and Spears are quick to point out what they believe are some changes in society. Some for the better, others for the worse.
"Even in 2005 in Red Lake we all saw it on the TV screen. Now our kids, as young as 5 years old, everybody has the screen in their hands," he said. "It’s like we see a national tragedy every week."
Investigators later found the gunman in the Red Lake school shooting, Jeff Weise, made references to students about the Columbine shooters.
"In a way we glorify these kinds of things," Barrett said. "It’s one of the reasons Jeff did what he did. He was obsessed with the school shooter culture.”
While some things seem to be slow to change, both say they have been impressed by the students in the Florida shooting who are using their voice to enact change -- something they say they wish they would've done back then.
"It's great to see all people, especially the students and younger generation, stepping up and getting involved in the democratic process and wanting our elected officials to bring change," Barrett said.
For them, it’s not about politics, it's personal.
"It's not a matter of no guns or all guns. It's not liberal or conservative. It’s not that kind of argument. It’s how can we improve our society in America? It's mental health and guns. So yes, I’m proud of the youngsters speaking out," Barrett said.
Neither Barrett or Spears say they dealt with the immediate aftermath of the shooting in positive ways but they are now.
"My teen years, adolescent years after that were really rough," Spears said. "I dealt with it in a really negative way."
Barrett said he buried his feelings back then instead of facing them.
“I was like Whitney. I didn’t really deal with it. Which is still why I am healing today,” he said.
They’ll be the first to tell you any victim of a mass shooting will have a long way to heal but they are the living proof of hope.
"Ask for help," Spears said, admitting she struggled to open up about what happened. "Don’t be scared to talk to anyone about what you are feeling.”
For Barrett, it’s a matter of finding strength from the past.
"It's OK to feel whatever way you’re feeling," he said. "There are people like you and this is just going to be another hard lesson in life. It feels horrible right now but you can turn it in to strength."