The Collage Photograph
The photograph halted them in life.
A mahogany haired and eyed baby smiling sweetly being held in the couple’s arms.
The couple was extremely fortunate to have a joyful, healthy baby girl.
All three smiling contently and satisfied.
Until one day they weren’t.
There had been plenty of fighting, and anger in the air.
Parents had finally had enough.
The family had been shattered into a million pieces beyond repair.

My Last Memories of Umpy
Many Questions, Not Nearly Enough Answers
One of the last memories with him was going to breakfast every
Sunday morning at the crack of dawn
and always getting a delicious honey- ham and American cheese omelet,
with, of course, home fries and ketchup (a favorite) on the side.
The stench of leftover, slightly warm pancakes still lingering
in the air made me warm inside.
Laughing with him, while not thinking of what was to come.
When you’re  young, you don’t know the scary stuff.
Parents try to shield things, but as you age- they don’t as much.
He got sick.
In and out of the hospitals almost every 2-3 weeks
His body wasn’t working like it was supposed to.
His Liver, his Stomach, his Brain
So many questions, while not nearly enough answers.
We still don’t know, maybe we never will.
It’s worse than him be diseased
There aren’t the mean cruel jokes that made us laugh till we can’t  breathe
anymore like he used to.
Talking very soft- spoken, not making sense of what Dad and I say half the time
It’s almost like he's not even Umpy anymore, he hasn't been for almost 2 years.
Just someone talking to me.
But not really talking at all.
I don’t know what to do, what to say, because it doesn't make sense.
None of it.

Worst Day In History
People ask all the time when getting to know someone “What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you?” I usually reply with a casual comment (trying to make people laugh), “There are too many to count”. But that’s not true. So I guess here’s the story of how the last day of 7th grade was the worst day in the history of any day for anyone.
It would be fun right? I would think so too, not being the “middle child” of school anymore. We were about to be the leaders of the school! It started off as any other day. Laughing and and having fun, but we were also missing one of our friends from our group. We had been wondering where he was but we hadn’t heard from him. Must have gone on an early summer vacation, or maybe he was sick.Little did we know it was much worse.
My best friend Amelia hadn’t been feeling well all day either. With a high fever of 101 and throwing up, she was a trooper for wanting to come to school.
Our friend group had planned a big end of school beach party to go to Jenness Beach to hang out and get pizza/ ice cream but plans took a drastic turn for the worse. The fatal (well not fatal, but it was a doozy) happened when our friend group and a bunch of others were playing soccer. I must remind you that soccer IS NOT my sport. I used to play it, and I would just sit on the sidelines and talk with my friends. Now that I’m thinking of it, I still do that now. Having fun, and sweating because it felt as hot as a fireplace on full blast in the winter, and I started running for the ball……
Fast…..Faster...Wind whipping at my face and neck. Then a shadow comes behind me, then next  to me. Next thing I know, his feet get entangled in mine and I’m falling onto my shoulder to the ground. The sound my collarbone made as it snaps in half sounds like breaking a handful of uncooked pasta- raw, and sharp. I knew exactly what had happened, and tried my best not to ball my eyes out. I stood up -and of course made a joke, (what else is new?)and made my way to the nurse’s office.
I knew for sure it had been broken, so we drove to the hospital (most comfortable car ride ever) to make it finalized- and the E.R told us I was out of sports for 8 weeks! Ugh!!! Why ruin the last day even more, so I went back to school after to see my friends, and to make the day a tad bit better. Amelia was half-dead when I got back to school she was so sick, and then I found out the missing friend had not been just sick, but he had had a seizure! The irony of it, we were at the hospital at the same time! #twinsies! The whole day was a mess- but the best thing= we’re high schoolers now! It’s in the past, now we have the future to worry about next.

William
Sad, angry, annoyed, confused
That’s what I felt when finding out.
Sad that I never got to meet him
Angry that I was never told about him.
Annoyed that he was given up
Confused: why I was kept and he wasn’t?
I guess they are both different situations
Different times
There’s a big difference between 16 and 25
I found out while searching for something
Don’t remember exactly what I was looking for
But I definitely found something
Searching for whoever knows what,
When I come across a big red album,
And a diary
Reading
And staying up all night.
Reading, Looking, and Thinking
And then that I realized what I had done.