Remembering Rachel

The more we learn about how 17-year-old Rachel Scott lived, and why she died, the more it becomes apparent that the girl whose car became a gathering place for grieving friends and family was an extraordinary member of the class of 2000. 48 Hours Correspondent Cynthia Bowers reports on one girl who was killed at Columbine, and her family's struggle to carry on without her.

Rachel's family continues to be devastated by the loss. Her mother Beth and stepfather Larry say Rachel had a prophetic quality, as exhibited in her poetry:

What if you were to die today?
What would happen to you?
Tomorrow is not a promise but a chance

"My memories of her are so sweet," says Beth. "I don't think Rachel realized she was such a joy. She was always kind of for the underdog. "

On April 20, Rachel became the first victim at Columbine High School, left outside to die alone.

"I had just really bad visuals of her still being alive and nobody taking care of her or her being laying out somewhere and nobody doing anything for her," says Beth. "So that was probably the worst night of my whole life thinking that nobody had taken care of her and not knowing where she was and not being able to go get her."

Rachel's father Darrell had the same foreboding.

"I had a sense that Rachel wasn't going to come in on the buses," he says.

In fact, Rachel's younger brother Craig was a likelier target. He was in the library when the shooting started, and that's where most of the killing happened.

"I haven't been thinking 'what if I did this or what if I did that?' But I've been feeling a little guilt because I've been receiving all this attention and my sister's dead," says Craig. "I'm not even sure if she knows or if she sees any of it. I hope she does."

It's not only guilt he feels but a sense of irony as well. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed someone who could and would have helped them.

"They wanted to get some big football player that made fun of them, and they didn't. They got some accepting, passionate, sincere person like my sister," Craig continues. "She knew that they were being ridiculed at school and she would have opened up to them, and instead they killed her."

For Rachel's family, life will never be the same. But they are confident that Rachel will never be forgotten.

"I would definitely like to be towards other kids like my sister was, real and open and accepting and sincere," says Craig.

But before that can happen, Craig has another hurdle to overcome: He must continue attending Columbine High School.

"It's going to be really hard going back," he says. "Not because of my experiences. But I migt even walk over, if I go back there, where my sister was killed. I might walk over that side."

The story of Rachel Joy Scott as it is told and retold will continue to be the oldest story on Earth: what is given and what is taken away.

"I really miss her," says Beth. "It's hard for me to imagine her not ever coming here again. She was just a wonderful child and I'm so thankful I got to be her mother. And I'm so glad I had her for 17 years."