The lights begin to flicker and a slight shaking fills the room. The chandelier starts swinging, back and forth progressively swaying faster and farther. The crosses on the walls slowly begin to turn until they’re completely upside down. Fear hits us as if it were plague, the flickering turns to pure darkness and then… darkness envelops The room with only the candles to light the room. The room felt like I would freeze if I stopped moving for a second with how cold it was, the air growing colder and colder as we stood there in pure silence.

“LUIS AYUDA ALGO ME TIENE!”

All hell broke loose…

ONE WEEK EARLIER

Silence fills the room, everyone sitting in those pews sat frozen on the edge the state of pure sadness and grief.

“Ve Dile adiós a tu mamá mijo” explained my Dad holding back the tears in his eyes.

“¡Papa no puedo! Quiero ver a mamá pero nomas no puedo. I love her with all my heart papa but I can’t do it.”

“Can’t mijo… Or Won’t”

Those words hit me like a truck. I wanted to walk up there and say goodbye but I didn’t know what I’d do or what would happen once I reached her casket. A few heavy minutes passed by and I mustered enough courage to stand but walking up to that casket was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. Each and every step I took was like a memory of her being broken right in front of me with nothing I could say or do to stop it. Her smile was like the sun, able to light up any dark or gloomy day. She prepared food like that of a 5 star chef, making dishes so delicious that it could even warm up your heart with each and every bite. My mom was my best friend and she meant so much to me, but to have that all taken away from me like this out of nowhere? It hurts… so much. Memory after memory, I made it to the casket but looking at her like that, cold and lifeless.. It snapped whatever string was keeping me together. 

“I just can’t do it.” I said running out of the room.

 My dad could only watch as I rushed out of there, not one word came out of his mouth. 

On September 24th at 12:49Pm, A man broke into our house. My mom would then be declared dead later that night. God knows why this man went and chose our house but nonetheless, he attempted to rob us.

My dad had been working the night shift at his job so it was just me and my mom at home. We had just finished watching a movie around midnight, and just like every other night we said our prayers and said goodnight. We stood up and gave each other a hug,

 little did I know that would be the last hug I ever gave her. 

We both headed to our rooms ready to sleep after such a long day, I had tagged along with my mom all day as she ran her errands and in the process made it so much more fun. Who would have known how easy it was to make a fort in costco. Some Time passed and I just can’t sleep, tossing and turning does nothing and I flipped the Pillow to the cold side for crying out loud but I just can’t sleep like I don’t kno- 

*Crash..Thunk..Thunk*. 

The sound of what sounded like glass shattering echoed through the house. I very slowly got up from my bed and walked towards my door making sure I was as silent as a ninja, I opened the door real slow and saw my mother had done the same. She mouthed to me to stay quiet, I nodded and slowly made my way to her room without making any sound or noise to alert the man. She looked around to make sure that the man didn’t see me and handed me her phone. Not one word was said but I knew exactly what she was asking me as if I was Professor X from one of my favorite comics. I unlocked her phone and dialed 911 making sure to lower the volume as much as I could so the intruder wouldn’t hear, 

A woman shortly after picked up and answered. “911 what’s your emergency?” 

“A man that broke into our house, Please help us,” I said very slowly and clearly so I wouldn’t have to repeat myself. 

“Alright then sir my name is Darcy and we’re gonna send some police to your house, can you give me your address?” 

“Yeah here it’s Southwest Miller lane house number 2705. It's the house with the yellow jeep in the driveway.”

My mom quickly shut the door but made sure to cushion it so it wouldn’t alert the intruder. She quickly looked at me and motioned for me to stop talking, 

Nodding, I quickly said one last thing. “I have to be quiet now, he’s close but please help us.”

“I really need you to stay on the line----”

I had already thrown the phone at a pile of clothes before she even finished her sentence.

His steps were slow and heavy, creeping around in our house. We could hear him opening doors all around the house with a couple minutes of silence in between which I’m sure he was using to search the room. Step after step we heard with not one sound coming out of us until I heard him open my door. I went and picked up the phone again hoping that she was still on the line.

“Darcy, Darcy!”

“Yes I’m Still here what’s wrong.”

“How close are those cops because the man is in the room right next to ours. Please Darcy, I’m scared--how close are they?”

“The police are on their  way little guy I promise you, but I need you to hide and make sure that the man doesn-”

The doorknob started rattling, my mom rushed towards to lock it before the man got in. The man tried more and more but then he just stopped… not one sound was made, my mom slowly grabbed the closest thing she could use as a weapon.

 *BANG* 

The door burst open and I Locked eyes with the man who chose our house. The man had dark brown eyes which the darkness didn’t help because that just made him look scarier then it should have. He had black hair sticking out from underneath from his gray beanie and this man had just found me and my mom hiding in a room. Not a second later he ran into the room to try and catch my mom, but she fought.

“RUN, LUIS! RUN AND DON’T LET HIM CATCH YOU”

At that moment I felt as if I was an Olympic sprinter running out of our house, I wanted to go back and help my mom but what was I gonna do against that man? 

Leaving the house, I heard the sound of what sounded like more glass shattering. I ran outside, hoping that the cops would be somewhere near. I looked all around the street but I didn’t see one police car, not one sheriff, nobody was there, we were alone. Just as I opened my mouth to scream for help, in the distance I heard the faint sound of a siren. 

I pivoted, and ran back to check on my mom. She was down on the ground with the man, trying to hold him so he wouldn’t escape but she was really struggling, both of them were. 

I screamed at both of them, “The police are close, they’re gonna catch you!” 

Suddenly, the man panicked and he gained a surge of energy breaking free from my mom. He lunged at me but my mom tackled the man before he could lay a finger on me. They dropped to the ground and wrestled, it was as if I was on the sidelines of a WWE cage match but my favorite wrestler wasn’t winning. 

My mom put up the biggest fight she could but it was all for nothing. 

The man grabbed a shard of glass from the ground and plunged it deep into my mother’s liver. 

In that very instant my heart sank but I couldn’t pause to think because if I did, I would end up being caught by the man rushing at me. 

I just ran. 

I ran out of the house like I did before, except one thing was different this time--my hopes came true because when I opened that door cop cars and an ambulance were surrounding our house. The man saw and ran as far and as fast as he could away from our house. A couple police chased after the man but the rest ran in our house, searching every inch until they came across my mother’s body bleeding out on the floor of her room. 

All my might I tried going to my mom but this police man blocked the door.

“LET ME IN”

“I can’t kid”

“I SAID LET ME IN MAN”

“Kid we can’t let you in there, we have to help her before she bleeds out”

“DUDE GET OUT OF MY WAY I HAVE TO SEE MY MOM”

“Kid quit yelling at me, calm down go wait outside with the police men”

“WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN! MY MOM IS BLEEDING OUT ON THE GROUND AND YOU WON’T EVEN LET ME SEE HER!”

Paramedics ran into the house with a stretcher very easily pushing me aside to get to my mom. At this point I tried rushing into the room but this police man blocked me each and every time. Eventually the police man  just picked me up as if I was a toddler.

Picking up my mom and placing her on the stretcher, the paramedics begin to wheel her out. I tried breaking out of the man’s hold but he was just too strong, as she got to me she took a hold  of my arm. 

“Luis don’t you worry about your mom okay?” her grunts of pain getting worse as time progressed. 

“Your mom is gonna be just fine okay, siempre recuerda Luis que nunca me voy a morir. Siempre estaré contigo en la vida y en la muerte.” 

She said those exact words to me before she was wheeled off on that stretcher and placed in the ambulance. 

“Let me go with my mom you giant.”

“I can’t do that kid, you need a guardian or someone with you so we’re going to wait here for your pops until he arrives”

“I hate you, you know that?” Luis said with a defeated tone. 

“The names Jared, so quit calling me names you big doofus.”

“Fine then giant Jared, can you put me down yet?”

“I need five milligrams of morphine now Hendricks!” said one of the paramedics looking for something to take the place of the mother’s hand that was covering the wound.

“I can’t set you down yet kid, I don’t know what you’d do if I did,” said Jared with a little smile on his face.

“Quick! Give her the morphine and start hooking up EKG machine stat. Alright lady you’re gonna be just fine you got that, we’re gonna help you and you’re gonna wake up tomorrow and see your beautiful family,” said the paramedic

“No offense doctor but I don’t think I’m gonna make it through this car ride,” said Luis's mom with a little smirk which quickly turned into pain. 

“No no no don’t say that lady, you’re gonna make it and you’re gonna see your kid. Where’s that EKG Hendricks?”

“Believe what you want but I know what’s to come, I don’t want treatment. Also, my name is Lucia so please stop calling your elder lady.”

“Oh come on giant jared I’m not gonna go anywhere, they’ve already taken my mom in the ambulance and my dad is still like 15 Minutes away,” Luis said, wiping the tears that remained on his face.

“Well even still I will only set you down if you agree to stay in your room,” said giant Jared trying to bargain with Luis.

“Ok ok fine,” said Luis with an annoyed look on his face.

“Glad we could come to an agreement kid,” said Giant Jared while setting down Luis.

 “Fine then Lucia, I don’t think that you’re in the right state of mind to say something like that, do you understand the r--” 

“Oh trust me doctor I’m the right state of mind, I’m not delusional, I don’t drink, and I don’t use drugs, so I think it’s pretty clear that I’m in the right state of mind and since I am then I have the right to refuse treatment,” said Lucia cutting off the paramedic before he could finish his sentence. 

“Lucia, You’re wasting your time by even arguing about this with me!”

“Sir the EKG Machine is up and running, blood pressure is dropping and she has an irregular heart beat,” said Hendricks with a serious tone.

“So kid you wanna show me around your room?” said Giant Jared stepping into Luis’s room. 

“Alright well this is my desk where I usually do any work I have left over from my classes,” said Luis as if he were a tour guide.”

“Come on lucia, just let us save you!” said the paramedic trying to convince Lucia.

“Listen doctor, there just isn’t a point you’d just be wasting resources that could be used for the next person to be in my position,” lucia said.

“Besides I’m feeling much bett--” 

“Hendricks get the defibrillator!” said the paramedic, exposing Lucia’s chest.

“So yeah giant Jared that’s my whole bedroom,” said Luis with a smile on his face.

“Well I’ll be damned kid I was surprised when you showed me your nintendo 64, I hadn’t seen one of those since I was a kid so that brought back some memories,” giant Jared said feeling nostalgic.

“Hey Jared?”

“Yeah kid?”

“Do you think my mom will be alright?”

“Come on lady, Come on!” said the paramedic performing Cpr

“Your mother is a tough cookie to beat, I mean she held her own against that guy for such a long time.”

“300 hundred joules ready sir!”

“If I were to say kid, I’d say your mom will be just fine,” giant Jared said with a sincere look on his face”

“God damn it lucia Breath!” screamed the paramedic.

“You’re probably right,” said Luis with a smile.

The whole ambulance was filled with just the sound of the EKG machine flatlining. 

My mom was dead.