I cheated death. Out of all 18 years of my life I’ve cheated death 3 times. First being when I was about 2 years old... It was around Christmas when I had swallowed a bell the size of a dime. It was stuck in the lower part of my throat. My parents took me to the hospital where they had to X-ray my throat to look at the bell. When the doctors tried to get the bell out, they had to make sure that they were careful not to cut my throat with the bell. When they reached in my throat to get the bell, instead of getting the bell out they accidentally pushed the bell even lower, but eventually the doctors got it out. The hospital said that they have never seen something like that, the doctors had my x-ray as their computer screen savers for the month of december for christmas. The x-ray showed everything from where it was at to the crosshairs on the bell itself.  

The second time I cheated death was when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I had thought what every 5 or 6 year old thought was cool -- swinging between two chairs. My parents told me not to do it, but no child listens to their parents. When I swung between the chairs, my hand slipped and my head cracked on my grandparents’ cast iron stove they keep in their living room as decoration. I don’t remember much, but my mom told me there was a lot of blood and it just kept coming. This is where I got the Harry Potter-looking scar in the middle of my forehead.

The third time was around 7th grade, actually the first day of my 7th grade year. I remember that day like it just happened. It was raining all day, and honestly I’m glad that it did. Me and my brother had to walk home that day. We were drenched and when I finally got home I never changed my soaked clothes. Honestly, I went for a walk in the rain because my brother and sister had made me angry; I don’t remember why though. See, my family was and always has been poor, so when we could not pay for our electric bill they turned off the power to the house, and I've got 5 people in my family, but we only could afford a 3 bedroom house. Well I traded off on who I get to share a room with. At first it was my brother and then it was my sister, but then we both got tired of sharing a room so my grandma let my sister have the camper that they had bought before they moved to Texas. Well, the camper used propane, and so we used it to make ourselves dinner for that night. I remember what we were going to have that night, it was mac and cheese. My brother was not with me and my sister when we started dinner but he then came in with a candle, not just any candle but MY candle. See, back then all I was worried about was the fact that he had MY candle, it’s a sister-brother thing. When my brother came in with the candle, he said that it smelled like propane and at the time me and my sister were both sick so we did not smell anything.

Since my brother was the only one who smelled it, we thought that he was lying. I snached my candle back from my brother and just before I could blow out the candle, the only thing that I saw was a bright spark and a loud bang…. Next thing I know, my brother and sister are screaming and rushing to get out of the door. I remember what I saw… the flash came from the candle that I held in my hands and I remember closing my eyes and when I opened them I saw flames and smoke. I made sure my brother and sister where the first ones out. When we ran out, the first thing that my mom did was put us under some cold water. When the fire trucks showed up the fire was already out. The ambulances came and one took me and the other took my brother, at the time my mom did not know that I was the one hurt the most. On the ride to the hospital the paramedics had to take off my rigs because they were too swollen. They did not have enough morphine for me not to feel the unbearable pain. I didn't know it at first, but I was burned on my arms, chest, hands and face. Because I was in pain, I looked for ways to get rid of it or at least manage it. I started to pat my stomach (as if it was a drum) and, honestly, it helped. The paramedics tried to get me to stop, but I couldn't nor did I want to.

When we got to the hospital, I got to see my dad and my cousin. I don’t know what it was, but for some reason, I started to cry as if it was all my fault it happened. When I saw my dad I did not cry, but when I saw my cousin all the tears came out of my eyes like a waterfall. When I saw her I didn't know what to think, but the tears just came. They had her take my earrings out and keep them with her. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for them to see me like that. The only reason I did not get burned on my legs was because my pants were soaked from the rain. They transferred me to a hospital in Denver where I spent about a month healing. I remember always being asleep and not being able to do anything. My hands and arms were wrapped because of the burns. I remember having to be fed because I could not use my hands… It brings me to tears just thinking about all this. Family and friends came to visit me while I was there, but I was asleep some of the time. I can't imagine the thoughts that went through their minds when they saw me. The one person that I really wanted to see was my best friend, Mataya. When she got to the hospital to come and see me, she came into the room and she could not even look at me. I don't know why, but she would not; all she did was stare at the TV. It’s like she could not see me like that. I don’t blame her. I would not want to look at me. Even though she did not look at me I was happy that she came to see me, because, honestly, all I wanted at that point was my best friend. I'm glad I am who I am today, and I’m glad to have met the people I did.