The nightmares came after the funeral.

Months after 16-year-old Devonie Shearer died from injuries sustained when another student hit him with a chair at Ocho Rios High School, teacher Mikhail McKenzie still found himself haunted by the tragedy. To cope, he turned to writing – a letter to the Gleaner editor.

“I went to the funeral, and I was so saddened. I even had nightmares about this thing, you know, and I got up and said, ‘Let me see if I can write to the editor to see if I can clear my mind.’ Since I wrote the letter, I felt a little better,” McKenzie told The Sunday Gleaner.