It was winter season of 2011, nice beautiful cool evenings, sweet good ol’ coffee and family gatherings out of nowhere but something was always missing… My grandfather. Never in  my life did I think I was going to be in the hospital so much, but it didn’t bother me because it was my Grandpa and I was his little girl and all the times I spent with him, I cherished.

“China!” my dad called me out while I was doing homework, “yes, dad?” “Tu Tito, he’s really sick and he’s at the hospital again, Doctor called me in an emergency and said he was very ill…” I didn’t even let him finish his sentence and I ran, ran straight to my room, slammed the door and threw myself on the bed crying. Everything I could possibly think about was going through my 12 year old little brain. Nothing could stop me, nothing at all. That evening, I didn’t eat, didn’t speak nor did I try coming out of my room. I cried for hours and hours until I finally fell asleep.

Next morning I finally woke up to the sound of my alarm and looked at myself in the mirror, I was devastated, my eyes were all puffy and swollen and nothing could make me get my mind of off him. I ran to my parent’s room looking for my dad… but he wasn’t there. I went back to my room and got ready for school thinking everything was fine, “Yeah Tito is fine, my dad woke up early for work because the doctor called him and said Grandpa woke up much better,” I said to myself. But it was finally time for school and on my way there I made sure to ask my mom, “Mom, is Tito fine? Como amanecio?” My mom looked at me and nodded while saying fine, but there was something in her face that didn’t look right. She kissed me on the cheek and said, “Que Dios te bendiga mija,

” and I took off to my school doors.

Thursday seemed like forever, I couldn’t concentrate and all I did was look at the clock, but not even the clock would help. My mind was all set into my grandpa, I would daze off and get in trouble but finally, the bell rang and I ran outside looking for my parents to pick me up. As soon as I got into the car, I’d seen my dad and asked “Dad, Dad! How’s tito?” “Esta bien mija, he’s fine”, but something just didn’t seem right. I asked myself questions like why was he home from work early? Why is he not dirty? On our way home, not a single word spoken and that bothered me, I wanted to know what was going on.

As I opened the front door, I saw my Grandma and aunt from my mom’s side quickly wiping their tears off but I didn’t understand why nor did I asked. As I went into my room and settled everything down, my Dad came in and closed the door behind us.

“China, I need to talk to you…Nada esta bien. Im sorry for not telling you the truth, pero yo se cuanto lo quieres y cuanto te va a doler pero…Tito esta en el cielo… Descansando en Paz.” He hugged me tight but all I could do was push him away, scream and cry. My life at that moment was falling apart and I couldn’t find a way to escape from it. Everything was ruined, everything.