-1I was a young boy. I was such a young boy…
I can remember walking down the city streets with them. The exhaust fumes mixing with the delicious smell of hot dog stands and random coffee houses. I was home in that city. I was home with my mother and my father. I knew their love for me. I had felt it ever since I could remember. The way my mom used to call my names when a fresh batch of cookies had arrived with a sweet smell. The way my dad would wrestle with me right before bedtime as a way of tiring me out.
These memories are all I have left of them,
We walked down the streets once more. I had no clue what I was about to witness. I had no clue my life was going to change forever at that moment. I was too busy smelling the hotdogs to care.
Mom had just taken my hand, her hands were always so warm and inviting. I would never let her hold my hand around my friends but it was okay now. My friends weren't there to see it. So I kept close to her like I always did. My dad looked down at me. We had walked these streets everyday… nothing out of the usual until some worthless bum from the street looked at my family with greedy eyes. My dad wore a clean suit and my mother wore a silk dress. I dressed like my father, so our looks were appetizing to a coward with a gun. He pointed it at my mother with a hand that quivered in the cold. My dad stepped in front of her protectively with strong heroic eyes. My father sternly looked the stranger in the eye.
"Hold on…" my father said calmly lifting his hands begging for peace.
"The wallet!" the man called out shakily.
"Okay okay," My dad slowly started to reach into his pockets. He brought out his wallet slowly. What else did the thief want? Did he want it wrapped in Christmas paper? As soon as my dad handed him the jacket…
BANG! My dad fell to the ground. My mother screamed. BANG! She fell quickly. The thief looked me straight in the eyes. He saw me… He saw my tears. He could see the pain in my eyes by the sight of what he just did. He just ran. He ran like a coward.
I fell to my knees in horror and anguish. Why ?
Why did the an shoot him?
Why did the man want to kill us?
Why didn't the man kill me?
Why couldn't the man just kill me as well?
I didn't understand. I was too young….