I’m 16 years old, I’m half Italian and half African American and I’m not a fan of skinny jeans, skirts, dresses or leggings; I’m Joggers and sweatpants type of gal. I live in Los Angeles California. I go by the name Sam but my real name is Samantha. Live with my mom, dad, and older sister. My sister is 17 years old going to the University Of California, with a 4.0 GPA. She also wants to be a lawyer when she’s out of college. My mom is a nurse and my dad is an engineer. . As you can see, my family is very successful. Me on the other hand, I have a 3.2 GPA, and I have no idea what I want to be when I get older but I assure you, I’ll be alright.

It is about 2:30 in the afternoon and my parents are both at work. My sister is staying at a friends house for the weekend so once again, I am all alone. Today is saturday which means my parents won’t be home till about 6. I get out of bed and throw a towel over my shoulder. I go to get in the shower when my phone rings. It’s my mom.

“Hey.”

“Alright. Are you alright?”

“Yea, I’m okay. Wish I wasn’t here alone though”

“Sorry, I’ll be home in a little bit. What would you like for dinner tonight?”

“I don’t know. Maybe some chinese.”

“Okay. Chinese is good.”

“Alright thanks.

“ No problem, love you, bye.”

“Bye”

As soon as I hung up I went and got in the shower and brushed my teeth. Then I went straight to the fridge and pulled out a can of sprite, grabbed a bag of chips, and plopped onto the couch to watch some T.V. until I fell asleep. My mom came home at about 6:30pm some chinese food. Thank God! For some reason I was starving. I got up and helped my mom set the table for dinner.

My Mom is usually home right after my Dad so her being home before him was a little weird, but I didn’t worry about that too much. All I wanted to worry about was stuffing this chinese food into my face. My mom had just called my dad to find out where he was, and he said he got stuck at the office and that he was on his way home now. Boy was I glad. I thought maybe something had happened to him or he forgot where he lived or something. I chuckled and continued eating my food.

We finished eating our food and I started to clean off the table while my mom sat down on the couch and rested. An hour and a half later and my dad still wasn’t home. My mom and I began to worry. We had sent 30 texts, called 15 times, and left 10 voicemails in the last 5 minutes. My mom was saying how she was worried about him and didn’t know if he was hurt. The more my mom called and texted,  she was getting more and more angry. She didn’t know what was going on. I think she may have thought my dad was cheating for a minute. But we both knew that wasn’t true. My mom and dad rarely call each other unless it’s an emergency. Their texters. An hour later my mom gets a phone call, she breaks down in tears. She hangs up.

“What happened”

“It’s your father. He was in an accident.”

I didn’t ask any more questions. My mom grabbed her keys and we both went and got in the car. Before I knew it, we were walking into the police station. I could barely talk, so I sure wasn’t about to ask my mom all the details about what happened. All I knew was that it concerned my dad, and that it obviously wasn’t good. A couple of police officers took us into a room and told us the whole story. The police explained it as a “Hit and run.” My dad was hit by a drunk driver on the corner of maine street. The police officer continued to tell us the story. Once I heard the words “I’m sorry for your loss” I broke down and cried, screamed, attempted to pull every little strand of hair on my head. It didn’t work.

We were at the police station till about 12 O’clock. The ride home was awkward and depressing. There was no talking the whole way home. We had no words. My mom usually has a lot to say about everything so the fact that she wasn’t saying anything at all shows how sad and angry she was. But who could blame her. When we got home my mom and I finally talked. Not that I really wanted to though.

“Are you okay?”

“Not really, but I’ll manage.”

“Okay, If you need to talk, I’m here.”

“Thanks but not right now.”

“Okay.”

She turned around and went into her room.  I could hear her screaming and throwing things for a good 15 minutes. When she finally calmed down, she called a couple family members and a few friends. A lot of crying was going on and i couldn’t even manage anymore. I went into my room and threw myself onto the bed. I broke down again. At this point I didn’t care who heard me. All I could think about was who did it, and why a hit and run? I would have never thought anything like this would happen. I could still hear my mom’s sobs from the other room.

My dad is the nicest person I know. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. I’m gonna miss when he sees me crying, sad, or upset, he would stick out a 5 dollar bill and say “If you want more, keep crying”. I would never keep crying because it was super funny to me. It would make me smile every time. I started to cry even harder now. Me and my dad were way closer than me and my mom. Don’t get me wrong, I do love my mom, but my dad; super funny, always knows how to make me laugh, would do anything for me. If you can’t tell already, I’m a daddy’s girl.

A couple days later while me and my mom were eating double stuffed oreos and sour cream and onion lays chips, my mom got a phone call. My mom was on the phone for about 10 minutes. Her face was as red as a police siren when going off. I just couldn’t stop thinking about the police call I got a couple days ago, and to soften the blow, that was them on the phone again with my mom.

“What now?”

“It’s about your father.”

“What did they say?”

“They… They found the drunk driver that hit him.”

I stopped. I had absolutely no words. I was speechless. I didn’t know if I was sad or angry. I was a little bit of both.

“What about them?”

“They wanted to know if we wanted to see or talk to him.”

“They wanted to know what?!?”

My mom could tell how angry i was at that statement.

“Alright calm down Sam”

“What do they mean? why would I want to see the person who took my father’s life? I just don’t understand.”

Then I thought about it for a second. Shouldn’t this guy be sent to the electric chair or something. He should feel the same pain that we feel. or even worse.

“Okay then. I’ll tell them No.”

“Well it’s not like we’re not gonna see him in court so what’s the point?”

“True. OKay then.”

I went back into my room and once again. I threw myself onto the bed. I don’t know why but I was actually thinking about maybe going to see the guy. Listening to his side of the story. Nahh. Drinking and driving is illegal so even if he didn’t mean to do what he did. It’s a law for a reason. I heard a knock at the door. I didn’t want to answer because I had smeared makeup and puffy, red eyes. But my mom was in the shower so I had no choice. I went to answer the door. As soon as i answered the door, I broke down into tears. It was my sister. She grabbed me and hugged me. I could tell she had been crying too.

“How’s mom?” she said

“Not too well.”

“Who could blame her. How are you holding up?”

“Not too well but i’ll manage. What about you?”

“She pointed to her smeared makeup and red, puffy eyes.

“What do you think?”

We both giggled. I let her inside and I helped carry all her stuff in. As soon as she was settled, we went straight into my mom’s room. It was the saddest thing i had ever seen. So many tears, so many why’s. and way too much hugging. But who could blame us.

A week later and it was time for the funeral. To see all my relatives sad and crying was torture to me. Some of my family members that were there, I had never even met before. This wasn’t the best way to officially meet someone. But that’s how I met a couple family member’s believe it  or not. It didn’t take us long to start crying in each other’s arms though. The funeral was fairly long and really depressing. After everyone said their good bye’s and nice to meet you’s, we headed home. Some of the family members I met, stayed in contact.

My sister stayed home for about a month before she moved back to college to keep attending. My mom and I were still upset about the situation but, we didn’t cry everyday anymore. BUt to be honest, we try not to talk about it at all! But sometimes we do talk about him and how much we miss him. but that usually ends in a pool of tears. Even though It still breaks my heart in every way possible, I know that me and my mom will do just fine on our own.