As I stand there getting ready for my picture to be taken while holding my baby sister, I begin to wonder how the upcoming days are going to take place. I am frightened of this terrible war that is happening right now. I just want it be over so I can see my dad again. My name is Jake and I live with my baby sister, Jessica, and my mom, whose name isn't important. My dad left for the war a few months ago with the other Marines in hopes of ending this war with Germany. I always looked up to my dad as my hero and wanted to be just like him when I grow up. As I walk through the door, my mom says hello and gives me a kiss on the cheek. I could smell alcohol on her breath and I hated when she drank. She wasn't the nice, sane mother that she was when she didn't drink. At first, she would be nice and then she would eventually become crazy and mad as the alcohol took a toll on her. I never liked it when my sister stayed home with her because I feared that she would fall or hurt herself badly. I asked her if anything was wrong and she told me to read the letter on the table. As I stood there reading the letter, tears began to come from my eyes, roll down to my cheeks, and were caught by the letter I was reading. It said my dad had died in combat while protecting another family from being shot. I couldn't believe it. I dropped the paper and ran into my room and cried the whole night.


The next day was just as bad, maybe worse. I woke up and walked into the small living room and saw Jessica lying on the floor crying. My sister is always with my mom in the morning when I wake up. I pick my sister up and place her in the crib and give her some milk to be quiet. Once she fell asleep, I walked over to my mom's room and saw her sleeping. So I walked up to her and saw pills and alcohol all over the floor alcohol along with the picture we took a few days ago. I didn't know what to think, but it must be bad. I kept yelling her name to wake her up but to no avail. I just kept yelling and yelling that day.