Every morning I woke up, did my morning routine, and then made my mom’s coffee. While doing this I would be waiting for a little voice to greet me from the tan wooden crib in the living room.

“Hi Mana!” the high squeaky voice of my favoriteonly little niece Abby exclaimed excitedly over to me. When I walked over to her side she looked up at me expectantly and held up her arms. “Up!” she would command me until I lifted her into my arms.

Hey sweetie! Good morning” I would say hugging her close to me and kissing her head then I would try to tame her curly black hair that would be sticking up all over her head.

I reached back into her crib and grabbed her pink hand-stitched care bear that I had given her. I passed it to her and watched with a smile as she hugged it.

“I love you!” I whispered to her and smiled when she replied “love you.”

I haven’t seen or talked to Abby for a month since her, her brother and parents moved to Ohio. Now every morning I wake up and wait to hear her voice but it always stays silent.

Before Abby left her and I was inseparable, for example one night, about 12:00, I was woken up by a rustling coming from the door way of my room. I sat up and saw a little shadow standing by my door.

“Ab’s?” I asked my voice slurred with sleep. “What’s the matter?”

I heard whimper then she toddled over to my bed her steps muffled by her footy-pajamas. She climbed on to my bed and cuddled in next to me. When I wrapped my arms around her small body I noticed she was shaking.

“Did you have a bad dream?” I asked pulling the blankets up to her chin. She nodded and curled against me.

I didn’t understand why she came to me and not her parents who were laying right next to her. When I asked my mom she said that Abby probably felt in her heart that I was the one to go to because I was there every time she was hurt or scared.

The last time I saw Abby is when my sister and brother-in-law came over to tell us they were moving. I don’t know if she understood what it meant but when she saw me crying she instantly walked over and threw her small, thin arms around my legs. That night I didn’t move from Abby’s side wanting to spend as much time with her as I could. Finally the time came that they had to leave and go and see Trinidad’s mom and stepdad, when I hugged Abby it was like she knew it would be the last time she saw me for a while and began to cry. I wrapped my arms around her tight enough to comfort her but not enough that she couldn’t breathe then I proceeded to walk with her to the car. I sat her in her little car seat but she wouldn’t let go of my coat, after what felt like hours I gently pried my coat from her death grip and kissed her head softly for what felt like the last time. What really broke my heart was when she wailed as I was shutting the door and screamed “NO GO! NO GO! NO GO!” over and over again.
Right now is the hardest day in my life because I never thought about how I really felt about it since she left a little over a month ago. But now that I’m writing about it I can feel the emotions I had pushed down the past month coming to the surface and I know I will more than likely call my sister to talk to Abby tonight when I get home from school. I miss Abby so much it makes me sick to my stomach whenever I think about her.