The Death Of The Car

Once my dad got home, my mom called a family meeting in my room. I had this weird look on my face because I was super confused.

The day was February 11, 2007. I had just woken up. I went to my closet to get ready for the day, threw on some clothes and went into the kitchen. The day was dark, the atmosphere had an unusual dreariness to it. My mom was in the kitchen making breakfast for my brother, cousin and I. That is when the phone rang. Every day, every hour that phone rings. I never thought my mom ever gets off of it. My mom picks up the phone and it was like a movie, someone calls and receives horrible news and drops the phone from shock. That was this scenario. My mom could not get off the phone any quicker. She calls for everyone to hurry up and get in the car, dressed or in pajamas. I knew something was terribly wrong, did my father die from a plane crash, or did my grandma fall?

My parents arrived the following morning, it was quite awkward greeting them at the door, no one knew what to say or how to approach this situation we just looked at each other trying to understand what is really happening. It was a silence of which I had not experienced before.

I could hear my breathing as if it was a voluntary action. As I saw my mom car come screeching into the driveway, she rushed out, I ran up to her as I tearfully asked, "Is he okay?" With hesitancy and a sorrow- filled voice she said, "He's dead," I screamed over and over again, "No, no, not my brother! Anyone but him!" and I broke down crying, I felt as if I was paralyzed, I felt like I was suffocating; as if a giant hand was clamped around my heart, I wanted to run, I wanted to scream, I wanted for it to not be

“WHAT?! Oh my God!” she screamed with a hint of crying. She bolted out the door, grabbing my brother by the arm, started the car and rushed to the hospital leaving Chloe and

“These optimistic speeches, which no one believed, helped to pass the time. The few days we lived here went by pleasantly enough, in peace. There were no longer questions of wealth, of social distinction, and importance only people condemned to the same fate-still unknown” (Night 20). Elie and the others Jews from his community lose some of their innocence when placed on the train to go to the camps. Overall, nobody seemed to think they would actually be doing this and at first still had hope. After being forced on the train they lost some of that hope they had, and because they didn 't think of what would happen and had no idea what to expect as a result. “Life in the cattle cars was the death of my adolescence. How quickly I aged. As a

She immediately came to me , hugging me as tightly as she possibly could. This happened several times afterward, it became a “tradition”. A month passed, and my mom said that Icould finally see my grandfather now that he was feeling better. Finally, the day came and I finally got to see him. He looked so droopy and dull unlike his personality. So I started to to talk to him, he seemed so excited to see me! Afterwards, he gave me my birthday card,and I was so grateful! I could not believe he thought of me while he was sick!

Before my mom sent me and my dad off to find help, she was on the phone with the roadside assistance which seemed like forever. All of a sudden we then realized the gas station wasn’t that far down the road, at least that is what we thought. We started to walk to the gas station, our foots sinking in the mud, the cold mud rises to our ankles. We immediately turn around knowing that this wasn’t the right decision. The gas station was longer than we thought, it was not even visible. Trudging back to the car we come to find my mom on speakerphone with the phone ringing. It goes straight to

“The firemen came to my house, they burned it down, I got out in time but my family didn’t” she mumbled. At this point she had been sobbing. I had engulfed her in a hug again, “A rumor had spread that I had a secret library in my house” she sobbed. I took a while for her to calm her down

Fear racked my body. I couldn't think. I couldn't hear anything except the two voices that echoed in my head. One was saying: don't cry, be strong for your dad. The other was saying: cry and scream and panic.

We looked at each other, stood up, and headed down the big hallway and around the corner to find my mom gasping at the fact that her water had broken. This was a surprise seeing as she was not due to give birth to my little sister for another two weeks. Once again, we were out the door and in the car. My grandmother did not put me in my car seat right and I remember struggling to free my arms the entire ride. My mom sat in the front seat yelling and muttering words under her breath. I was afraid because my mom was in such a strange state but I soon realized that she was yelling more at my grandmother than at her painful stomach. Every time we approached traffic, she gasped and turned behind her with her hand on my car seat, as to secure me from some ejecting force. It was not until years later that I was told all of the stories about what a terrible driver my grandmother was and how many cars she destroyed in various "incidents," as my grandfather calls them. We reached the hospital in plenty of time, but with one problem remaining, my grandfather and dad remained uninformed and unreachable as the resided among thousands of intoxicated football fans. They arrived in just enough time to see my mom before she had my sister, but not without strategic methods to get a hold of them. They first had to be paged over the intercom and when that seized to succeed, event staff members were sent to find them standing

Katelyn went to the front door opening it wide and peered out at my grandmother. My grandmother then called to her, telling her to come out into the yard, telling her that the boys had left and wouldn’t be back again. That she had nothing to worry about any longer. My grandmother then picked up one of the chickens and began petting it—Katelyn did the same.

When we got to the house I saw everyone. They cried. Some of them just sat there, looking into space probably thinking why did this all happen. No one was happy. That whole time.., everyone just felt sorry for one another.

We all got into the car and immediately my sister was bombarded with questions. “Is he ok?”, “What happened?”, “Who is with him?” She answered each one to the best of her knowledge. She told us that his heart had stopped and started back up again, and that Mama (my Mom) and Papa (my Dad) were at the hospital with him. The car ride there was a very scary ride, because we were all so frightened by what had happened.

Both my parents burst through the doors, looking slightly concerned. “Mehak, why are you screaming?” My mom questioned. My eyes started to get watery, thinking of all the terrible possibilities, and I got a feeling in my gut that something was wrong. “Grandpa... H-he...w-were t-talking a-and h-he started c-coughing a-and the l-line w-went d-dead.” I stuttered, not knowing what to think. My dad flew out of the room, probably to contact my grandma about what was going on.