There are very few worse feelings then watching the ones you love, sad and hurt, and not being able to do anything about it. I’ve been dealing with this problem for the last 4 years of my life. It’s hard to accept the fact that even know sometimes your forced to grow up a little too fast, there’s still things not even a grown man can do. As a 14 year old boy I had to realize this a long time before most men do.

It was right before Christmas in December of 2010, my eighth grade year. My mom and step dad were arguing. It was a little louder than usual so I came out to try to quiet them down and I see my step dad with my sister in his arms and they are ready to leave. I hear him say, “I’m taking my daughter to my mothers, we’ll stay there for the meantime” Previously that morning, while my mom and step dad were working, the gas and electric where shut off in my house. So it was just my mom, my dog and myself, under layers and layers of blankets and at least 5 candles providing light for my moms room. At this point, the temperature in the house was below 40 degrees.

The next morning we get a call from my moms close friend and she offers us to stay with her for a while till we could get back on our feet. My dog unfortunately was not able to come with us but was kindly taken in by my science teacher Mrs. Farmer. I am very grateful that Mrs. Farmer was able to watch over my dog for such a long time because we could never have prepared for what hit us next.

The night I will never forget is New Years day, about 11:30 pm. My mother and her friend go out to get something to eat. From my understanding, my step father was repeatedly calling and texting my moms phone, demanding to speak to her about my little sister. The next thing I know my step dad is on the door step of the place we were staying. As my sister walked out side my mother pulls up with her friend. I see them arguing at the end of the driveway. Everyone tell me to go back down stairs she will be inside in a minute. 5 minutes later I return up stairs, I walk outside and see my mom laying in the street. I run to her screaming out “Mom! Someone help please!” I approach her and see all the blood rushing down her hands and face and she says “He took your sister”. The ambulance and the police arrived shortly after the instance and my mom was taken to the hospital.

About a week after the incident, my sister was returned to us by the police and my mom had surgery on her shattered jaw the was broken in seven places, the bones above and below her left eye were also broken. She spent about two more weeks in the hospital, recovering from her surgery. After she was released, we were placed in a domestic violence shelter for three months. There I took care of my mom to the best of my ability and guarded my sister with my life. From that point on, We’ve had our ups and our downs, but things have changed drastically. I’m the man of the family and have been since I was fourteen years old. We lost a lot during our hard times but there is one thing that we will never lose, this family.