With my mom leaving the country for work, I sighed and stared blankly at the wall, knowing the dread for the next couple days.  Home alone with my step dad is the most awkward situation I’ve ever been in.  Luckily, my sister was there to relieve some of the pressure.  My step dad took countless pills every night for all the illness and problems he had; the mixture of these small tablets caused absolute sudden anger and destructiveness.  My step dad has diabetes, a pace-maker, blood thinners, and an extremely poor diet.  This combination of drugs with an overdose of insulin put me through the scariest night of my life.

My mom, Deb, goes out of the country numerous times throughout the year.  She goes to China, Mexico, and many states in the US; however, on her latest trip to Mexico, her flight was not just delayed but rescheduled for a later date.  This brought about great concern in my sister Emily, step dad, and myself.  We had no idea when she would return.  ‘Something is about to happen,’ I thought, as something always does when my mom leaves. 

The night she returned, Emily had a softball game coming to a close with one inning left.  While driving right by ballpark, my mom stopped to see the final inning, for she hasn’t seen any of us in over a week. What none of us three, Mom, Emily, and I, knew was the crazy turn of events to shortly follow a simple twenty-minute stop at the field. 

From my upstairs bedroom, I heard the front door swing open.  ‘This has been the longest week of my life,’ I thought.  Emily and I, from our bedrooms upstairs, arrived in the doorway to greet my mom.  The three of us became overwhelmed with the scent of food.  Turning around, the whole kitchen looked to be ready for a Thanksgiving feast.  My step dad sat at the far end of the table with a blank stare as we entered.  “What is all this?” my mom asked as she sat down.  I felt a cold rush down my back.  He explained, “I spent the entire day planning and preparing this, and this is how your treat me!” He continued to rant about how he spent all day preparing a meal for her return, but now it was cold; for she had not told him she would be stopping at the ballpark.  My step dad had such a simple interruption to his plans, causing chaos.  A massive argument began as he stormed after my mom to their bedroom.  Listening to this feud from upstairs, my sister and I began to worry as the arguing intensified.  Hours felt like days as the fight continued well past midnight, reaching 6:30 A.M. Monday morning.  My sister and I fought the desire to go back to sleep, for we both needed to get ready for school. 

Unable to take anymore, Emily busted into their bedroom screaming at him to stop because what my mom had done was nothing important.  All she did was stop to watch one inning.  “Why are you so angry?  Why is this such a big deal?”  Silence soon turned to rage as my setp dad retaliated but with no success.  Building frustration, he yelled, “I’ll put a stop to all this arguing right now,” as he reached for a safe in the closet.  My mom and sister screamed as he began to load his 12 gauge.  My sister ran from the room as my mom and I held the bedroom door shut from the outside hallway with my step dad trapped inside.  Frantically calling 911, my sister bawled, locked in her room upstairs.  I heard her cries on the phone for the police from downstairs.  Desperately holding the door against kicks and punches, my mom and I waited till the police arrived.  The police arrived at seven in the morning, ready for a gunfight with backup on the way.  ‘I can’t believe this is really happening.  We all could die because of a fifteen-minute stop 15 minutes at a softball game.’  Weapons drawn, the police escorted us outside where we waited by the cruisers till the situation was resolved.   Emily and I soon left for school, and my mom traveled back to work. 

The final solution to the whole matter was that he had taken too much insulin along with his other medication.  The police calmed my step dad down but took no other action.  Today, because I am forced to live with this person, I am still shaken with fear.