Day That Day

That Day That day was the day I watched as tear drops flooded the town and could do nothing about it. That day the day I stood in silence and listened to cries of sorrow for hours. That day was the day I figured out that humans are fragile, and that loved ones could disappear in a second. It was seven years ago on June 9th, 2008, a perfect sunny day, not even a cloud in the sky to ruin the weather. I was only in fifth grade and school had just ended for summer. When I thought the days would be filled with fun and laughter, a sudden meltdown struck our family. The phone echoed throughout the house and sent chills down my spine. I watched as my father answered the phone and only listened to what the caller had to say. I had no clue that that

They usually don’t talk in private like that; therefore, I suspected something was wrong. When they came out, my parents told us to get ready to go to my cousin, Aida’s, house. I wasn’t sure what happened but I felt a little relief that my parents came out of their room with a smile. They rushed us into the car and drove off in silence. My siblings and I wondered what happened and asked the most regretful question, “What happened?” asked Mk, my older sister. It took my mother a few seconds to respond to her. “Nhia got into a car accident.” she said as her voice trembled in fear. In that moment, I pictured the terrible accident in my head and felt a slight burning sensation inside. We all sat in silence as we were dropped off at my cousin’s place and watched as my parents drove off in a hurry. I remember praying for his survival. I turned around and knocked on my cousin’s door. We stood quietly outside and could hear the footsteps run towards us.

“Hey! Why are you guys here?” asked Aida as she opened the door. We didn’t know how to respond to the question and then Mk said, “Our parents dropped us off because they had to go somewhere.” Aida closed the door after we walked in. We just sat in the living room in silence. I didn’t know how to break the silence, but thankfully Aida and her sister, Hope, got us to

Why did your parents drop you guys off?” I could feel a tear fighting its way out and would have won it I spoke. Instead, Mk said, “Nhia got into a car accident.” I could see Aida, Hope, and her brother’s face grew pale. They didn’t know what to say or what they should say. Aida finally broke the silence and said, “We should write letters to him and pray for his safety.” We all agreed and grabbed the papers, colored pencil, and scissors. We spent the next hour spilling our hearts onto the papers. Some of the papers had little drops of tears, while others were filled with words of love. Another idea came to Aida.

“We should burn these so he can will reach him in heaven.” she said. We believed her words and agreed to burn the letters. We had their brother, Duke, to help us start a fire in a grill outside. As the fire burn the wood in a lovely orange color, we read our letters one by one and threw the letters into the fire. I could feel a warm hug from the fire, but I wanted it to be Nhia himself. It was dark when we headed back inside after putting the fire out. We quietly sat in Hope’s room before hearing a sound. Ring! Ring! Our hearts stopped as we stared at the phone