Two days before: October 9, 2007
One sunny, warming Tuesday morning, I awoke lightly from my rest with my dad standing at my side, he said in his soft tone, “Sweetie, It’s time for school, I’m driving you today, hurry, and get ready for school only a few more weeks until Halloween!” My dad and I were both very excited for Halloween, unfortunately we were the only ones. The house contained my dad, who was the most ecstatic out of all, my mom, who cares too much, and my sister, Kim, who was at that teenage stage, where “they’re too cool for anything,” she even dyed her hair pink, meanwhile I was only eight, and very playful. After lying in bed for a couple extra minutes, I finally arose, and did the basic morning routine of all kids; got dressed, brushed my teeth, and went out for breakfast. The sweet aroma of pancakes stretched through the air, exciting me every step I took, until I was face to face with the delicious, chocolate pancakes. After breakfast, came the next enjoyable part, 3rd grade, while most people dreaded it, I always loved the class, and the teacher, and always had a blast. I grabbed my purple bag, and walked out the door to my dad’s midnight black truck. When I arrived to school, I kissed my dad goodbye and head off. Today, was fractions, taught by the short, blonde-haired, Mrs. Brown, who was always loving to me, though fractions weren’t my strong suit, as I was never any good at math. I stuck through it and tried my best, and class went fairly quickly today. After class, I waited out front for my dad to pick me up, he stuck to same old questions he always asked, how was your day, did you learn anything new. The answers always remained the same, today was fun, and of course. When we arrived at home, I dashed to my room, and commenced playing my favorite game: Jak and Daxter. The game was a PlayStation game, with action packed missions, and a great story line. The protagonist, Jak, began his mission when his best friend, Daxter, fell into a pit of goo and got transformed into a younger version of himself, from that point forward, they attempted to find the cure to change him back. It may not sound like much amusement now, but I enjoyed playing it, and spent hours on the game each and every day. The clock hit 10, and my mom called for bed. I crawled into my twin-sized bed, with zebra covers, and awaited my parents to be kissed goodnight, after which I fell into a deep sleep almost immediately.

One day before: October 10, 2007
Wednesday, my favorite day, because Wednesday’s always meant game night. Wednesday was the only day my mom and dad both had a day off the next night, so they allowed Kim and I to stay up late, and we all played board games together. The day started off as any other, the sky was clear, with a slight breeze every now and then. I still did the basic morning routine; got dressed, brushed my teeth, and went out for breakfast. At school, we were continuing fractions, and after class I went to my dad’s truck where he asked me the same questions: how was your day, did you learn anything new. To which I still replied, today was fun, and of course. But, I knew what today had in store, the excitement coursed rapidly like a river. When I got home, my mom and sister had hundreds to thousands of board games set out for us. We started with Sorry! which has always been my personal favorite, the way the game works is we each start off in the home base with our pawns, and take turns drawing cards. In order to move from the home square, you’d need to draw either a 1 or 2, which among the millions of cards, sometimes took years before someone actually left home. After which the other cards directed them where to go, such as, “move backwards 4 spaces,” or. “move forward 12 spaces,” the game would go on for hours, and always consist of rematches of fits of rage. Even though there weren’t teams, the scores were usually my sister, and I were always in the lead, with my mom and dad following behind extremely close. After about several hours, and millions of board games later, the clock hit 11, and our parents called it quits. I crawled into bed, and fell asleep quickly, worn out from the long, suspenseful hours. Little did I know, that would be our final family game night together.

The day: October 11, 2007
Today was a dark, and gloomy day, consisting of lots of clouds, and large quantities of rain. Nevertheless, the day started off as any other, I woke up and followed the daily routine; got dressed, brushed my teeth, and went out for breakfast. However, today was already different, my dad wasn’t who drove me to school, it was my mom. I didn’t probe my mom with any questions, since I was far too tired, and young to comprehend anything out of the ordinary yet. Maybe my dad had to go to work, or maybe he slept in. During school, we learned decimals, as sort of a continuation of fractions. After school, I awaited my dad’s truck outside of school, as usual, however when the truck pulled up, it was once again, my mom who was driving. Again, considering my age, I didn’t ask anything. I soon learned, asking wouldn’t have changed anything anyways, since when I arrived at home, my mom sat both my sister, and I on the couch and broke the news to us. Her voice, soft as she spoke, cracking, fighting back the tears, she said, “your father passed away last night, his heart stopped, and he did not awake this morning.” The feeling in my chest was indescribable, as though someone ran at my full force and jabbed me in the heart, I felt the single tear run down my face. I ran to my room, sat down on my bed, which now felt empty. The whole house felt empty. I didn’t want to play the game I once loved, and I didn’t want to look at another board game. All of the few memories I had of my dad flashed through my head quickly like a movie. When he taught me how to ride a bike, and I continuously kept crashing, though I laughed with him, and shook it off. When we were strolling on the road, one starry, dark night, and we saw a shooting star together. The single tear soon turned into many, like the stars that night. I didn’t want to be around anyone, I wanted to be alone. I couldn’t contain my feelings, until I soon learned how. The day went like this until night, where the tears helped me quickly pass out on my bed.

One day after: October 12, 2007
Today was a continuation of the pain, and suffering. I didn’t want to wake up for school, however after a long period, I arose once again. Yet, today did not follow the normal routine. I got dressed, brushed my teeth, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat. “Not yet,” I thought to myself. The uncontrollable pain enclosing my entire body as though I was being closed off into a pile of sand. My mom drove me to school in my dad’s truck, and I contained myself for the day. At school, my teacher taught adding decimals, as though it was just another day. However, of course, Mrs. Brown, hearing the news, came over to me, during the quiet time of class, and quietly asked, “how are you doing,” after adding, “I won’t make you do any work if you wouldn’t want to today.” 

I looked up at her slowly, I smiled softly, and said, “I’m fine,” as a single tear strolled down my face. It was then when I learned how to hold feelings, which wasn’t good for anyone, of course. It was, also then, I knew my life had changed forever. I was never the same, and my life was never the same.