Title: Caught in the Middle
In the fall of 2001, I was a senior in junior high school. I remember waking up early on the first day of school, feeling a rush of excitement going through my body. I had been waiting for this day since forever! Over the summer, my parents had agreed to let me walk alone to and from school, and although I had three older sisters who could pick me up from school, they were tired of doing so. The feeling was mutual, because I was not particularly eager to walk with them either; they always rushed me to school. Furthermore, I had officially become a key holder to our apartment, a significant milestone for me.
The night before the first day of school was always a busy night of preparation. I remember it being very noisy, mom yelling out to my sisters, asking if they needed anything, such as ironing their clothes or helping them get their hair done. Luckily for me, dad always volunteered to iron my uniform, and I was grateful for this because somehow, all the background noise would fade away. We would then head over to the foyer, where he would unfold the ironing board and set a chair across from him so that I could sit and watch. My dad enjoyed ironing, he moved the iron swiftly up and down, or side to side, making sure he captured any wrinkles. I realized that these moments, brought back childhood memories for him. While ironing he’d tell me stories about his mom (my grandmother) waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning to iron clothes for his dad (my grandfather) and for all of my dad’s seven siblings.
The day was finally here, I was well prepared to head out on this journey to school alone. I stopped by the grocery store, picked up some snacks and ordered a coffee to go, it was delicious! It gave me a sense of responsibility and maturity. As I approached the school grounds, it became very congested with the double-parked cars, school buses and school safety. I felt nervous, I glanced through the crowd of students and parents hoping to recognize a face. I then felt someone grabbing my arm, and it was my best friend Jankelly, I was so happy to see her. We hugged each other and asked simultaneously “what class are you in” and of course we had the same one, I was not surprised.
As we headed to our classrooms, we noticed the school had made changes to the floors. On one side they had all gifted and talented classes and the other side the general education. I was in the gifted side together with my friends. We were all thrilled to be back as seniors. We were the cool students now and from this moment on, I knew senior year was going to be amazing. Little did I know, I was going to experience a very traumatic event in my life.
I watched the clock, thrilled that we only had one more hour for the day to be over. I was excited because I was going to be walking back home alone. Strangely, an hour before dismissal, all students and staff were called to an emergency assembly. Our Principal and Dean gathered everyone to discuss some events that were taking place earlier that day. There were rumors about a gang called “The Bloods” who was going around making random attacks on civilians. Some of them were seen nearby our school, and our Principal advised us to head straight home after dismissal. Some students displayed worriedness, while others were completely calm. I was definitely worried, but I immediately made arrangements with my friends who lived close by to me for us to all walk home together.
Dismissal time was at 2:45 pm. My friends and I started to walk home taking the usual route. We passed by a crowded high school along this route, with students hanging out in front of the premises. Within a matter of seconds, I heard, “Rose watch out!”. I felt a hard hit in the back of my head. I felt dizzy, confused, about to fall on my side, but then I felt something that held me up-wright, it was a gate. I was able to hold on to it and catch my balance. As I turned around, I noticed there was a fight consisting of multiple people. I was caught in the middle of it, in my attempt to run and separate myself, someone pulled my hair, bringing me down to the floor, and started stomping me. I was getting kicked so hard in my face by several people that I could not move to get up. I felt kicks and punches and felt wet. The wetness was a mixture of tears and blood running down my nose. I was dragged to the middle of an active driveway and robbed of my sneakers and jacket. The attack lasted about ten minutes and then the sounds of sirens approaching, and everyone scattered.
I heard someone shout “get up” and then pulled me to the sidewalk away from the driveway. The person asked if I was ok, but I did not know how to respond. I was in a state of shock, I could barely open my eyes and my body ached so much. From a distance I could see someone running towards me, I thought I would be attacked again. I started trembling, but it was Jankelly my friend, with a police officer. She was crying and helped me walk to the police car so that I could call my parents. The officers suggested that my parents take me to the emergency room in case of any broken bones. I went to the hospital had a CT scan and X-rays done. It turned out I had a fractured arm, so they decided to keep me overnight for observation. In the middle of the night, some officers came by and were speaking with my parents. They wanted a statement about the incident. I also overheard them saying I was caught in the middle of a gang fight, “The Bloods and Latin Kings.” They mentioned I was fortunate to have made it out alive.
The following morning, I am getting ready to be discharged. One of my eyes was closed shut and the other barely opened. I wanted to cry so badly but held my composure. I said thought to myself Why did this happen to me? Maybe if I wasn’t so desperate to walk home alone my sisters would have protected me. I wouldn’t have gone through this. As I picked up my clothes to put them away, I noticed my shirt was dirty, stretched out and wrinkled. That’s when I broke down! I cried and told my dad “I am sorry daddy, the effort you put to iron my shirt and now look at it? It is destroyed” He held me close to him and, with tears in his eyes, said to “sweetheart, this was an atrocious incident; what matters is that you are still alive, and daddy is happy to continue ironing for you as long as I live.
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