Alyssa was 35 years old with dark brown hair and big, beautiful green eyes. She was married to Ted, the man she had loved her whole life and together they had 2 children Robert and Kathleen. Her life was as good as it could get. She had a nice two-story house on 20 gorgeous, landscaped acres. They loved fishing in their private pond stocked full of Catfish and Large-mouth Bass. To top it all off this picturesque house overlooked a very beautiful yet, mysterious forest in the background. But her life wasn’t always this good. From the time she was born till she was 15 she had lived in a shack with her “mother” Tammy. All of that changed on October 21, 1993 when her mother sent her to the store to get oranges for their dinner. The only problem was the nearest store was 3 miles away and it was already twilight outside. Her mother knew of the danger but sent her anyway. Alyssa always had to walk to the store because they didn’t have enough money to buy a bike, a car or anything else for that matter. Her mother had never sent her out this late before and she was scared. Since then every year for the past 20 years on October 21st she would wake to horrible nightmares relating to that frightful night. Just to help you understand I am willing to put you into Alyssa’s shoes. Tread carefully…

I was in my room, lying on my small bed reading the same Mark Twain book that I had read at least 20 times before that. It was the only book that I had to read. I had read it so much that I almost memorized every last word, and phrase in it. It was 8:50 p.m. when my mother came into my room and told me that she needed oranges and that I was to go and get some from the store. I knew better than to disobey my mother because the consequences were very drastic if I disobeyed. So I got up, put my book away, put on my old, beaten up shoes and walked out the door. When I walked outside, I realized that it was freezing, I tried to get back into the house to get a jacket but mother’s rule is that once you leave the house and realize you had forgotten something, you can’t go back into the house and get it. So I was stuck walking 3 miles to the store without a jacket in the freezing weather. Mother’s rules usually didn’t apply to this but for some unknown reason it applied now. I knew that if I just stood there I would just get colder and colder. So I started walking toward the store. It took me about two hours to get to the store. When I walked in it was nice and warm, I never wanted to leave but I knew I couldn’t stay long so I walked over to the oranges and got a bag. When I turned around I bumped into a young man around 18 years old. He had dirty blonde hair and green eyes just like me. For some odd reason I felt some kind of spiritual and emotional connection to him. I didn’t know why or what it meant. But when we bumped into each other the bag of oranges fell out of my hands and dropped on the floor. The bag opened and all the oranges rolled off in different directions.

We bent over and began to pick them up and put them back into the bag. We looked into each other’s eyes and we both felt the same connection but we never said anything to each other. When we got all the oranges picked up, we walked to the checkout aisle. When we got up there I heedlessly forgot about getting the money from mother. I knew that if I didn’t come back with the oranges then I would get in serious trouble. But the young man saw that I didn’t have any money and he ended up paying for the oranges. When I finished checking out I immediately started walking home. But when I got outside I realized that it was raining really hard. But I knew that I couldn’t just stand there, so I just started walking. The young man came running after me asking if I was walking home and how far I lived. I told him that I couldn’t talk, I was already late and mother would be furious if I kept her waiting any longer. But he said that he had a car and he would take me home. I usually wouldn’t get into a car with a stranger but I felt that I was safe with him. We got into his car, and I asked him his name, he said his name was Jeremy but just to call him Jerry. We took off towards my house. It didn’t take us to long to get to my house. When we got there, mother was already standing outside waiting for me. She looked very mad and scared about something, but I didn’t know what. I started to feel scared on the inside but I never let it show. When we got out of the car, and walked up to her, she looked very suspiciously at Jerry, like he was going to rob us. After a few minutes of this glare that made me shiver she told him, in a very sweet, comforting type of tone, which was unusual for mother, to come inside for a bit. He accepted, and walked inside. When mother got supper finished we all sat down and ate.

When supper was over, it was close to midnight. Jerry had to leave but when he got up to leave the lights went out and nobody could see at all. Mother got up and picked up one of the very dim flashlights, and she headed down the stairs to the basement to see if she could get the lights back on. While Jerry and I waited for the power to come back on we grabbed the other two dim flashlights and looked at all the pictures we had. One picture really caught his eye, the picture was of mother in the hospital, holding me, but in the background were… his mom, and dad looking around with panic on their faces looking for something. And Jerry, he was only three at the time, was running after them looking terrified. When he turned around again, and looks at me but this time he had a different kind of expression in his eyes. He noticed how much we looked alike. He finally realized why we had the connection at the store. He transpired that I was his long, lost sister! He then began to tell me that I was stolen from the hospital when I was born and that they had been searching for me ever since. I didn’t believe him at first but the moment the lights came back on and I got a really good look at him, I realized that it was true. When mother came back upstairs she could see the seriousness in my eyes and she knew that I had figured the secret that she had kept from me all these years.

She got really mad at Jerry and grabbed a large kitchen knife and told him to get out, and if he told anyone about me, she would hunt him down and kill him. He told her, with a voice only a protective brother would have, I am not leaving without my sister, and at that very moment the loudest thunder I had ever heard erupted. It sounded like a million crash cymbals had banged together at the same time. Mother had a very short temper, and if you didn’t listen the first time then you would get it. She began to walk towards him with the knife, he started to get a little scared at first, but then held his ground. She got right into his face and said get out. Once again he said not without Alyssa, mother had finally lost it and the moment the thunder and lighting hit again, I heard a very loud scream that said someone was in extreme pain. When I got a look at my mother I saw that she had blood all over her hands and the knife was gone. I looked everywhere for the knife, but I couldn’t find it. When I looked at Jerry he was about to collapse, but I ran over there as fast as I could and caught him just in the nick of time. I felt something in his shoulder; it was the knife. My mother had stabbed my newly discovered brother. I started to cry but I refused to let her see me crying. She tried to grab me and take me away but I wouldn’t go with her. She said that if I didn’t go then she would stab me too. Her eyes looked as black as the night sky. She tried very hard to induce me to go with her. But I told her no; I’m not going with her. She looked at me with anger and frustration, and she walked to the kitchen. She came back with another big kitchen knife and told me, once again, to come with her. I told her no. I was tired of being scared of her. She walked over to me, raised her arm up high in the air and was about to stab me, but what she didn’t see was that I had pulled the knife out of Jerry’s shoulder. As self-defense, I picked up the knife and stabbed her in the arm just above her elbow. I didn’t want to kill her because she was the only mother that I have known. She shrieked with pain, and dropped the knife and ran outside into the freezing rain and I never saw her again. When I looked back down at Jerry, I heard him say that he was glad I was ok and I would be safe from now on. I called the police immediately, and it felt like a long time for them to get there. But by the time they got there Jerry was dead. They tried everything they could to help him. They said that the kitchen knife had cut the aorta in his heart, which caused him to bleed to death. Sadly there was nothing they could do to revive him. He was gone. I told them everything about my mother and what direction she headed when she left. They searched for her for days but never found her. They called Jerry’s parents who mourned with their loss but they also rejoiced at their new gift.

It has been 20 years since this incident that impacted my life a lot and every year on October 21st I would always wake up with nightmares, fearing that mother was still out there and that she would come and try to finish what she had started so long ago. But after a few minutes each time, I felt bastion again. I felt the same way as I did when I met my brother Jerry. If it weren’t for him I don’t know where I would be today. Every day I feel him watching over me, protecting me from danger just like any good brother would do. Though I only knew him for a few hours. Those were the best few hours of my life. I miss him so much but, in my heart, I know that one day I will see him again. Whether it is in my dreams or in heaven, I know that someday we will spend every bit of eternity and happiness together as family. As a lot of people say “ Life will always get worse before it gets better.”