Gangs. When that word is said violence, weapons, and murder quickly pop into my head. The funny thing is my brother and I grew up in a stable home. Violence, drugs, or anything like that was never around us. Honestly, the only thing we had to worry about was who got home to the remote control first. Those beautiful Summer Nights.. They were amazing, just laying down under the dark puffy clouds. Christmas was definitely our favorite time of the year. Presents, Hot Coco, Tamales, etc. made the whole Christmas mood 100x better, but presents didn’t really matter. Quality time with my family did. But as the time went by, things changed. For the worst.

Coming home late, being below the influence, hanging out with the wrong people, change of mood, and little things pissing him off. What caused him to change at only 12 years old? Possibly peer pressure. But only he know’s why he did the things he did. The years went by, his crimes got worse. He had an astonishing record by the age of 15.

An Autumn cold Winter day, on October 14, 2012 I’m coming home from school. A block away from my house I see Police cars everywhere. Literally. I asked mom what had happened, she hesitated, and told me my brother was involved with whatever happened. I set my things at home and rush to the scene. The Police were pushing us back. We couldn’t go any further. 2 hours later, shots were fired. My brother surrendered. He was handcuffed, and put into the back of a Police car. Not the first time. Maybe not the last. He was charged with possession of Marijuana, robbery, assault, and for drinking under the legal age. Court after court. It got stressful. We were told he was going to be serving 10 years. Mom prayed, and prayed. 1 day, her prayers were answered. He was only sentenced to only 4 months.That lifted a lot of weight off of our shoulders. Time went by quickly. The only sort of contact we had was through mail, or 1 minute phone calls. It wasn’t much, but it was better then nothing.

He promised me once he was out, he was going to change. I wouldn’t believe It, until I saw It with my own eyes. Words don’t mean anything. Actions do. February 17, 2012 he was released. Let me tell you, running into the arms of one amazing brother, was the best feeling ever. To this day, he has completely turned his life around. And for that, I am totally glad he served time. Everything does happen for a reason.