Suffocation.

The sun was just starting to set and shades of oranges and reds cast shadows onto the kitchen floor as my mother and I began to clean up from dinner. My younger brother Toby was up in the attic going through boxes of Christmas decorations that needed to be brought down into the living room. I could hear him shouting through the floor boards above us, saying something about thinking he saw a mouse. My mom rolled her eyes and muttered something to herself as she put the glass she was drying away in the cabinet.

For twelve years, my mother had raised us alone. My father left when I was five and Toby seemed to only be moments old. Since then my mother had to play both parenting roles. My dad calls on special occasions like birthdays, holidays and or whenever something important happens in our lives. Like I got to go to Haiti with the Red Cross and help the Earthquake victims when I was sixteen. Or when Toby scored the winning touchdown and his team won the State Championship.

I loathed those phone calls when I pretended to be happy to talk to him even though I hadn't seen my own dad in years when he agreed to let my mom have full custody. I especially hated the birthday and Christmas cards with a couple crisp hundred dollar bills inside, along with a neat signature that I was sure wasn't actually his.

I was almost done washing the dishes when the doorbell rang. I watched my mom wipe her hands on her apron, remove it from around her neck then went to go answer the door. The doorbell rang once room before she opened the front door.

"Hello?" I overheard her ask.

I looked up from the bubbles in the sink when I heard loud popping noises. They sounded like firecrackers but I was smart enough to know that it wasn't that, that caused the noise. I rushed to the small living room where our front door was. I brought my hands up to my mouth in horror. On the ground was my mom laying in a pool of her own blood. I made eye contact with one of the two masked intruders and before they had time to raise their gun I gave a small scream and ran back to the kitchen.

"Call 911!" I shouted, hopefully loud enough for Toby to hear me from above.

I didn't have anywhere to go. The gunmen were blocking the only exit and I wouldn't leave my brother behind. I made it to the back bedroom, Toby's bedroom, where the attic door was. I turned to shut and locked the door while Toby was already coming down the ladder to see what the commotion was.

I reached into my back pocket, retrieved my cell phone and thrust it into his hands. "Call the police, two guys are in our house they have guns. Go up into the attic and hide, do not come down until the police come and get you okay. I love you so much!"

I kissed his forehead quickly, in normal circumstances Toby would never allow this to happen but he could hear the fear in my voice and see it in my eyes. He gave a small, shaky nod before rushing back up the ladder and pulling it up with him then sliding the door into place.

Just at Toby was out of sight the door gave way to the man's weight on the other side. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, no one but Toby to hear me scream.

I watched in slow motion as the man raised the gun until I was staring down the barrel. There was no use pleading with him, he had already killed my mom, now he was going to kill me.

The bullet only had a few feet to travel until it made contact with my skin. A burning sensation flowed throughout my body, hot, painful and numbing. I couldn't breathe, I tried to draw in air but I couldn't. All that I got was raspy wheezes.

The second intruder came in behind the guy that shot me and rummaged around the room around me before turning to look at me directly.

"Don't worry sweetie, you'll die soon," he gave a sinister type laugh before following his partner and out of the house just as the sirens came into earshot.

It felt like someone was turning a knife inside my chest every time I gulped for precious air. My vision began to get fuzzy but I heard a noise coming from somewhere in the room. It was Toby, he had come out of his hiding place. I wanted to shout at him to go back up into the attic, to go hide, that the men could still be inside the house, but I couldn't.

I watched in a hazy panic as he knelt beside me with my cell phone pressed up against his ear. Toby disappeared out of view then reappeared with his bed sheet in his hands, as I tried to tell him one last time that I loved him as my vision began to dim and close around me until darkness engulfed me fully.