Care-Bear

“KERRI, HELP!” I was nine on that Monday when the tragedy happened. My dad had taken my twin sisters Kelsey and Samantha to school, my little brother Deryk to daycare and then he was off to work. My mom was supposed to give me a ride to school because I woke up late. Instead I never went to school that day. As a matter of fact I didn’t go to school all week. Two men came into our house that morning at about 9:30. They asked my mom where the safe was. When she wouldn’t tell them they pointed a gun at her head. At that time we were living in a nice big house in the country. We owned 50 acres of land and had a horse breeding farm. The safe was in the barn in a secret room behind my dad’s old racing horse. Rono was really mean and no stranger could get near him. Anyway my mom yelled for me and the man who wasn’t holding my mom down came upstairs. I was brushing my teeth and listening to my iPod. The man grabbed me and before I had a chance to scream gagged me. Not that screaming would have worked; we were at least five miles from our neighbors. He brought me downstairs and tied me to a chair across the room from my mother. Then the men asked my mom where the safe was and she still refused to answer so the man shot her. Right in front of me. I watched my mother die. When the shot went off it was really loud and a woman driving by stopped and pulled into our driveway. The two men bolted out of the house, got in an old beat-up car, and drove away. The woman ran inside, untied me, and took out my gag. I started crying and the woman followed my eyes and saw my mother. She called 911 and they rushed over but couldn’t save her. It was too late. My dad raced home, but I was still too shocked to talk.

Now six years later, that fateful day still haunts me every night. I’m 15 and I’m in my freshman year of high school. We live in Redondo Beach in an okay townhouse now. I have lots of friends, but only three of them know my deepest darkest secret. My dad has been an alcoholic since that day and my youngest sibling didn’t even know mom. He was only one. Kelsey and Sam were five and just going into kindergarten. When my dad found his knew best friend named beer, I became the unofficial new mom. I didn’t even get time to mourn over my mother. My father bought me a credit card and told me to take care of them. It’s worked out pretty well, except some clerks at random stores questioned a nine-year-old with a credit card, but oh well.

I raised Kelsey, Sam, and Deryk the way I thought my mom would’ve but she wasn’t there to guide me. I took them to school, always missing my first day, but it’s worked out, until now.