ORLANDO, Fla. — As the sun set behind a cloudy sky Wednesday, a small group of people set up flags, lit candles and strummed a guitar while the Lake Eola fountain splashed behind them.
At the center of the group was Chris Hansen, a man with a near-constant smile on his face, but whose eyes occasionally flash signs of a deeper pain.
Hansen became well known during the night of the 2016 mass shooting as being one of the first to escape Pulse nightclub, and who went back in to help pull others out.
Now he works across the country to give victims and allies of violence spaces to be together.
“I woke up from a dream, and I thought I was in a crowd of people in my dream, and I was wondering what it was about,” Hansen said. “I don’t remember, except for the fact that I brought a lot of people together.”
Hansen spoke of his struggle to move on from that night, describing the process as glacial. His project, called the Rainbow Remembrance, centers on affirmation, love and hope.
It’s also personal for him. He pointed to one lantern in honor of a 17-year-old from his hometown who was shot by a police officer.
Hansen will take his own turn going through Pulse Friday morning, where he said he will be focused on the wall that saved his life.
“I want to touch that bullet hole. I want to see the that I saved my own life, or that my life was saved for some reason,” he said. “Through every storm as a rainbow. Who knows why I’m still here or what message I’m supposed to perceive, but I know that I’m here for a reason, and I’m not going to be quiet.”
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