Back when TikToker Harmony (@iamharmonydust) was a kid and her mother was deep into her addiction, she would often use the public library in Santa Monica as a makeshift daycare center for Harmony and her brother.
“She would drop us off when the library opened and pick us up when it closed,” said Harmony. “I mean, my brother and I would just get lost in books. It was just this magical world of stories that we could throw ourselves into and forget about life and reality.”
But one day, a man walked into the library with a gun in his hand and ordered everyone to get down on the floor. Luckily, Harmony’s brother wasn’t with her that day. She dropped to the ground, face down on the floor.
There was a woman in the bathroom when the gunman walked in. A partition covered the entrance to the bathroom, so he didn’t see her leave the bathroom.
When she realized what was going on, she quickly snuck away and called the police on the payphone. The police were able to detain the man, and no one was hurt.
This happened in the era before cell phones, so Harmony had no way of letting her parents know that she had just been held hostage at the library and needed to be picked up.
After everyone vacated the premises, she was left sitting alone on a bench outside.
She waited and waited until the police finally came back around and asked why she was still there. She told them that she was waiting for her ride and asked what had happened with the man.
They explained that he was homeless and hadn’t been taking his medication, so they brought him to a center for services for people who were homeless. However, the center was near the neighborhood where she lived.
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“So, they literally brought him from the library, essentially to my backyard at my house,” said Harmony. “Was not delighted to hear that news and had to wait until sundown to get picked up that day.”
The hostage situation obviously became a core memory for her. She doesn’t remember if she told her mom what happened because it felt like just another regular day in her life.
Several TikTok users could relate to spending their childhood days without much parental supervision.
“My parents would drop us off at Disneyland because back then, you could buy ticket books but wander the premises all day,” stated one user.
“My mom would drop me off at the movie theater. She loved Titanic because it was so long. I saw that so many times when I was little,” commented another.
“I have a similar story, minus the shooter, and I spent all day waiting until I got picked up,” added someone else.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
