'I pretended to be dead': Paris attack survivor shares her terrifying story

“You never think it will happen to you.”

A woman recounts her story of how she played dead to survive Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 others in a chilling Facebook post, along with a photo of her bloodied shirt.

Isobel Bowdery, 22, had gone to the Eagles of Death Metal gig at the Bataclan theatre expecting a night of music and dancing with her boyfriend.

Instead, she was forced to lie in the blood of strangers and pretend to be dead for over an hour.

Shortly after the band began their sixth song, three armed gunmen opened fire on the sold-out venue. She describes it, “Dozens of people were shot right in front of me. Pools of blood filled the floor,” she wrote. “Futures demolished, families heartbroken.”

The 22-year-old also wrote of the humanity displayed by her fellow attack victims and first responders instead of focusing on the “animals” responsible for the bloodshed. A couple’s “last words of love” inspired her to keep “believing the good in the world,” she wrote. One man risked his life to cover Bowdrey’s head as she “whimpered.” An injured man held and reassured her after the attacks.

“As I lay down in the blood of strangers and waiting for my bullet to end my mere 22 years, I envisioned every face that I have ever loved and whispered I love you,” she wrote.

The 22-year-old acknowledged that she was among the lucky to survive — but still felt a tinge of survivor’s guilt. “The people who had been [killed had] been there for the exact reason as I to have a fun Friday night were innocent. This world is cruel,” she wrote. “This world is cruel.”

Her Facebook post has already been viewed more than 1.8 million times and accumulated hundreds of comments overnight as people voiced their solidarity with her and the rest of the people affected by the horrific attacks that left 129 dead and more than 350 injured. 

To read Bowdery’s full post, click HERE