October 4th, 2011, around   9 o’clock pm, I was at my grandmother’s house waiting for my mom to get off work and come get me. The tension in the house was super high. My dad and my cousin kept looking out of the window skitzing back and forth. They were contemplating if “they” were out there or not, and if it was safe to leave the house. 
       “No, bro don’t go out there. We’re just going to have to accept the fact that it’s a long night”, said my dad with a sigh. 
       “Man, you tripping dog, I'm good”, my cousin argued back.  
       My cousin who swore up and down that “they” weren’t outside the house, went on the front porch, and as soon as he went down the steps “they” got him. Then “they” all popped out from the corner, from behind the bushes, from behind the house, from out of the darkness of the night, and they were ready for anything and everything. That’s when a flipped was switched. 
      My dad ran up the stairs so fast and started demanding everybody to do everything, he had to move quick before “they” ran in the houses. 
     “Aye Shiz bag that up”, he demanded as he pointed.  
     “And aye Eem take this bookbag and put it in that spot. Niheem nodded, understanding as if they talked about the “spot” before. Niheem went upstairs to the attic.  
     My dad gave me a kiss on my forehead and said these words that I never forget, “I love you princess see you in a little bit”, and he followed after Niheem. 
     Niheem came back down but my dad didn’t. He was climbing across the attic into the neighbor’s house. 
     “BOOM,BOOM,BOOM” the hard knock was “Them”. 
     My aunt Careema opened the door with me standing next to her. I was confused somewhat but I wasn’t dumb. 
     “Is Craig Hughes here?”, of “them” asked with his hand on his gun, I just starred. 
     “No”, my aunt said.  
     “They” looked at each other and the same guy said. “Well I'm going to need you and everyone else that’s in the house to step out.” 
     That’s when my aunt started to panic. She started to cry. My aunt looked at me with her weary eyes and picked me up. She was a little resistant at first but she, and everyone else stepped out of the house. “They” began to search, all of “them”. Some stood at the bottom of the porch with big guns, no one moved. The next door neighbor, whom house my dad was in at the time being, stood at her door. She was asked several times to go into her house and close her door but she didn’t. Then she was also cuffed and put in the back of a car. And that’s when he jumped, off the roof and started to take off. 
    “HANDS UP DON’T MOVE", they said loudly as pointing the guns into our direction. 
     Then all the attention was on him. It was raining everyone was slipping and sliding. 
    “Go boy”, my uncle Shiz yelled, oh I miss his voice. 
    Then we left ran down the street to my aunt Linda house. “They”, the cops, eventually got him and I didn’t see his again until August 23rd,2018. 
 
                   In loving memory of Shawn “ Shiz Macky”