ORLANDO, Fla. – Now that the work week is over, many people are visiting a memorial outside the Dr. Phillips Center to pay their final respects to the victims of the Pulse mass shooting. It's a quiet Saturday morning at the growing memorial.
"Just all of this...the emotion," one woman said.
The only sounds are the flowers left behind for the 49 and the tears of people visiting who were too emotional to speak.
"This is just wrong. It's sad...should have never happened," one man said.
For many, this marked the first time they have visited the site. They told News 6 they were unable to come during the work week. But they still felt compelled to spend a few minutes in the silence staring at the faces and remembering the lives lost.
[VIDEO: Families saying goodbye to nightclub victims]
"And the strangest part of it is now I don't want to leave. I'm feeling guilty getting ready to walk away from here," Mike Westley said.
Demetrice Naulings escaped from the Pulse nightclub, but his best friend Eddie Justice didn't survive. He visits the memorial, struggling to say goodbye. "I'm not going to get a phone call from him, I'm not going to get a text message, I'm not going to get that hug, that person that says you can keep going on. I lost somebody that was dear to me," Naulings said.
[VIDEO: Orlando nightclub victim laid to rest]
These lives gone, but not forgotten. Each flower, picture or sign left here by family, friends and strangers is how we heal: together.
"I think we've already started to recover. I think we're going to be a better city for it," Westley said.