The grieving parents in shock after the massacre that left Emilie dead. (AP)
Her eyes. I’ll remember those beautiful eyes as long as I breathe.
Like practically every little girl, Emilie Parker loved pink. She adored rainbows and ribbons and fishing with her daddy in the river running behind their house.
But mostly, she enjoyed doting and fussing over her two little sisters, Samantha and Madeline, who came into the world, improbably, after Emilie’s birth.
Kind and wise beyond her years, with gorgeous, long, blond hair, Emilie was like a little mommy, a close family friend told me. Yet it’s Emilie’s blue eyes, so full of joy and wonder and excitement, that will haunt me until I leave this earth.
Those eyes look up at you from the side of her father, Robbie, on a Facebook page created by friends Brad Schultz and Alan Prothero. Those eyes gaze happily on her little sisters.
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It’s hard to believe she is gone. For Emilie was among the littlest victims of madman Adam Lanza.
On Friday morning, Lanza, 20, shot his mother in the face, killing her in their house. He drove her car to Sandy Hook Elementary School, arriving as Emilie’s class was just settling down,
Clad in black, Lanza forced his way into the school, State Police Lt. Paul Vance revealed yesterday. He killed the principal and a staffer.
Then he strolled into the little girl’s classroom, taking aim with his mom’s guns at the small, vulnerable pupils.
And he opened fire.
When he was done, 20 children were dead, along with six adults. Plus one crazed gunman.
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Before she could enjoy Christmas, or again smell the fish she so loved catching, Emilie died.
She was 6 years old.
Near Emilie’s classroom, another drama was playing out. First-grade teacher Kaitlin Roig heard the gunshots, saw the blood. She knew what was coming.
She stuffed her students into a tiny bathroom and told them to be quiet. Then she said something she’d never before uttered to her young charges.
She told them, “I love you so much.’’
Roig started to cry at the memory.
“I thought we were all going to die,” she told ABC.
“I wanted it to be the last thing they heard — not gunfire in the hall.”
But Roig’s kids didn’t die. Others were not so lucky.
Emilie’s parents, Robbie and Alissa Parker, tried for a long while to have children. “Finally, they were blessed’’ with Emilie, family friend Brooke Prothero told me. Two baby girls followed.
The Parkers had moved to Connecticut from Utah more than a year ago so Robbie could study to be a physician’s assistant.
On the day of the shooting, like so many parents, the Parkers were frantic. They waited all day for word. None came.
Brooke’s husband, Alan, received texts in Utah. “We can’t find her. We still can’t find her.”
Finally, two minutes before 3 p.m., word came. Emilie had died. Her parents already knew.
Yesterday, the Parkers were still waiting. Waiting for Emilie’s tiny remains. Waiting to find out how she died. Please, God, let it have been quick.
They also needed to figure out how to explain to two little sisters that Emilie was never coming home.
“Robbie is a fine man,” said Alan Prothero. “He’s a good father. An educated individual. He believes in God. Right now, he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.”
As for Alissa, “She’s a mom who just lost her baby. There’s not much to say.’’
In Sandy Hook, people wait for healing that may never come.
Parents, hug your children extra tight. The monsters are real.