The friendship behind the infamous bunk beds at Champlain Towers South

Infamous, eerie, chilling.

Those words scratch the surface of how to describe the tragedy of the Surfside condo collapse one year ago on June 24, 2021.

There was one image that was burned in the minds of people around the world – bunk beds.

Seen hanging on for dear life atop Champlain Towers South after 98 people fell to their death when the condo collapsed.

This bedroom in the image was ripped open like a storybook.

Shoshana Bizouati knows that story. She told WINK News while everyone assumed those beds were there for kids, they were not.

“I would actually stay in that bunk bed. It was the second bedroom,” she explained.

The condo belonged to Linda March, her friend of 28 years.

“She had just moved into the apartment three months ago,” Bizouati said.

She described Linda as a New York girl 
who fell in love with Miami. When she moved into the Champlain Towers South she put those bunk beds in her spare bedroom on the penthouse floor.

Bizouati said she would sleep in the bunk beds several times a week. “I will always remember her as my support. My friend. Fun. And very kind.”

She was on the phone with Linda the night before the collapse because the day of the collapse, June 24, was also Shoshana’s birthday. “So we were just finalizing ‘Okay, we’re meeting at 7 o’clock at Livy’s, see you there. See you there.'”

A dinner they never had.

When this storybook opened, the story of their friendship, closed with so many pages left unwritten.

And if Shoshana could speak with her one last time. She said she would say, “I miss you. I miss you. Too early.”