There were papers everywhere, objects of mine broken, and money missing. People trashed my room, my house, and even broke objects just for some lousy money. December 12, 2009 was the day of this robbery and ended up changing my life for the worst. Everyone in my family was devastated; however, I was affected the most. For approximately the next month my grades dropped drastically and I went night after night laying in bed sleepless. Awful thoughts constantly raced my mind. Those robbers were coming back to get me, kidnap me, slaughter me, torment me, and I know they want to make me suffer. I was going to die. I became paranoid, jumping every time there was a loud noise. My father noticed a change in me and started asking questions about what was wrong with me.
I eventually told him while tearing up that “I’m scared of dyeing and I don’t want those robbers to kill me.”
He just looked at me and told me nothing was going to happen. He wasn’t sympathetic at all that I felt like I was talking to a wall. The conversation ended up helping a little but a couple days later I went right back to being scared and paranoid. Only this time I tried to hide my feelings.
The next Saturday morning my family was sitting around the table eating scrambled eggs. After the short talk ended about how everyone is it became dead silent. I could hear my mom’s fork scrape the plate as she went to scoop her eggs. I heard that constant sound about every 5 seconds until all of a sudden my mother put down her fork and started to speak. It was the normal speech about our plans for the day and the tasks me and my siblings needed to do. Only half listening, I continued to eat my eggs. Half way through her talk something caught my attention enough to get me to stop eating. She was explaining that her and my father had to go to a wake for an uncle I never even knew about. My head dropped again and tears fell down my face one by one as I tried to hold them in. My father said stop but it just made me cry more. Eventually my dad got out raged and as soon as he went to take a bite he dropped his fork to his plate. Egg splattered onto the table. Confused, I looked around to see every one with similar expressions. Next thing I knew my dad was behind me grabbing my arm. I was terrified at that moment because had never done anything like that before. We didn’t ever get along but he would never put his hands on me. There was no escape from his tight grip he had on my upper arm; therefore, I just walked as he pulled me. We end up in my room where he sat me down in a foldable chair that just happened to be there. He had this sternness in his voice as he talked.
“You can sit here in your room the rest of your life to make sure you don’t die or you can go out into the world to make memories and live a life your most proud of.”
A few seconds later I just stopped crying, nodded, and proceeded out the door to finish breakfast. This time it was different because I was no longer thinking about death. Instead I was coming up with what I want to do with my life. Right after breakfast with that on my mind I ran to my room to write my thoughts down. I ended up writing myself a letter talking about my goals. There were 4 major goals written about which are serving my country in the military, volunteering in my free time, helping everyone, and just to smile at everyone I see.