28-year-old Marion Bartherotte is looking at a photograph of the staff of the French newspaper, Charlie Hebdo. She says all the smiling faces are familiar to her.

"I see (Stephane) Charbonnier," she said. "I see Bernard Maris; I see (Georges) Wolinski; and here is (Jean "Cabu") Cabut -- ah, it is very sad."

A few years ago, Bartherotte was part of Charlie Hebdo -- the satirical newspaper that was the site of last week's attack. Bartherotte was an intern at the paper in 2007, and she visited the newsroom just two years ago for lunch with her mentor, the cartoonist known as Cabu -- who was among those killed last week.

"For me, it's fiction," she said. "I saw some picture of the office with the blood and those things. And it's overwhelming. It's too violent. I think I have to go to France to realize, to go to the office and not to see Cabu -- where is Cabu; where is Wolinski, Where is Charb? I don't realize. I don't realize. It's too sad."

Bartherotte is a cartoonist herself, and she's living in Woods Hole on Cape Cod for the next few years as her husband does his post-doctorate work here. She warmly describes the satirists working for Charlie Hebdo as like children -- full of fun and teasing.

"They were like child, not naive, but child people -- not realizing that people could come and kill them," she said. "They were not having any hatred those guys. They had no hatred at all."

Since the shooting last Wednesday, Bartherotte has been following the happenings in Paris in the media, while also talking with family there. This past Sunday, she was proud to learn of the citywide march that was held to show solidarity and courage in the face of terrorism.

"I was calling my family, and they were part of the march, most of them," she said. "And even if I am proud to be French, I am scared also. I'm scared because even if we all say I am not afraid, I am not afraid, like the signs during the march, we are scared, I think."

Bartherotte said she's scared that in the aftermath of the attacks, Paris will become something of a police state, with officers on every corner. She's also scared there will be another terrorist attack. But the most frightening part of this whole ordeal, she said, is that the two men accused of the shooting were born and raised in Paris.

"I think those people felt put away, you know? Put aside. They don't feel part of the society," she said. "Because if you apply for a job and you are a Muslim in France, it's very likely no one will answer you. It's very sad to say because they are French."

Bartherotte said France needs to do more to make all its citizens feel welcome and part of the culture, and that starts by reforming the schools and putting a renewed emphasis on the French arts and humanities.

"We have to love them and integrate them -- the youth and the young people and find them a good job," she said. "Because if we don't do that we are serving the jihadist people and we are giving those people to the Jihad, and increasing the local jihadist network in Paris."

Bartherotte picks up the Charlie Hebdo staff photo again and points at her friend Jean Cabut. He was the paper's lead cartoonist who first caricatured the Prophet Mohammad on its cover in 2006. She said he never talked about the death threats he received or mentioned that he feared for his life. When she visited him a few years back, she said he was full of laughter.

"He was leading his life like nothing wrong will happen to him because he was just doing his job," she said. "And he knew that he had no hatred for everyone."

Bartherotte said she believes in Charlie Hebdo's mission to satirize and make fun of everything. Her worry now, she said, is that the freedom to make fun will be eroded and could fade away.