Personal Essay: The Worst Night Of My Life

As he pounded on the door, the room shook. My mom opened the door and my aunt, sisters, and I followed. It felt like the world was at a standstill. My older sister, trying to protect us, stood in front of us so we couldn’t see what was happening. But she couldn’t, I saw my aunty fall to her knees and my mom holding her. I knew something was wrong and nothing would be the same. I couldn’t take my eyes off my aunty, July 9th, 2008, one of the worst nights of my life. When I was about 9 my aunt and cousin moved into our apartment with us. My aunt had a job but she was barely making ends meet and my mom was a single mother with 3 kids so anything helped so they moved in with us. My cousin Jori, we called him JoJo though, was 16 and my older sister, Nikki, was the same age so they had a lot in common. Then you had my younger sister, Brittany, who was 8. We lived in a rough neighborhood and times were tough, but that didn’t stop my mom and aunty from giving us the best. My aunt and mom always told us that our education, family, and God are the most important things in our life and without them we wouldn’t get far. They also taught us how hard we would have to work because our skin color was dark and

The ones that liked to hang in the streets and carry guns. JoJo never had a man in his life to tell him how to be a man. He had my mom and aunt but they can only teach you so much. JoJo wasn’t a part of a gang but all his friends were in one so he hung around them a lot. My cousin had a best friend named Kerry and Kerry and JoJo were completely opposite. JoJo was focused, on a straight path and wanted to be a firefighter, Kerry was in a gang and headed down the wrong path. Kerry wasn’t a bad kid he was just like a lot of the kids and adults that lived in our neighborhood. They never believed they could make it out so they stayed and