Chapter 8 Marco: The Rober

I arrived at my house just about when the whole neighborhood heard the news that my father was attacked. The street was covered in a dozen police cars, two fire trucks, three ambulances, a few news vans and even a garbage truck. There were people everywhere, news people, police, neighbors and random strangers. I pushed my way through them, running to my house to see my dad. I ducked under some police tape and began running to my house but was almost immediately stopped by two policemen.

"Are you Marco?" A policeman I didn't notice asked.

"Y, yes." I said shakily.

"Come with me, son." He said as he led me through the crowd surrounding my house.

"Son," the policeman said with a formal, sad, over practiced tone. "Your father was brutally attacked late this afternoon. It was a robbery gone wrong, the thief broke in through the back door, breaking the glass. Then searched through the house, knocking things over, breaking things. Your father confronted the man with a steak knife from the kitchen. Your father said he thought he had the element of surprise, but the man overpowered him."

"The man wore a mask, gloves and a large trench coat, so we have no I.D." Another policeman said. "A neighbor confronted the man as he was leaving the property, it appears that he saw the man entering the house through the back and tried to help, but he has sustained a broken arm, jaw and multiple broken ribs."

The police then had to ask me the usual police questions they ask on T.V. Do you know of anyone who would want to harm your father? Does he owe anyone money? You know, the usual police questions.

I just kept saying no, I didn't know of anybody who want to hurt him, my dad has no enemies, he's loved by everyone he knows.

"Can I please go see him now?" I asked the officer in charge of talking to me.

"Of course. He is on his way to the hospital, son. He should be on the way to the emergency room by now." And with that the policeman himself drove me to the hospital.

You know how I say that life is either comedy or tragedy? That we get the choice to be happy or to let our problems bring us down. My whole life I lived on the comedy side of that line, now, I'm gonna live on the other side. My mom, Visser One is dead, my dad is the only reason that I fight this war, without him, I have nothing.