We were having a family gathering, when the phone rang. After I answered, my Uncle Eddie commanded me, “Peonies, tell the family to come down to the hospital and please call Trish and tell her too.” My heart beat fast and hard, as I listened to the tone of his voice. Something terrible had happened. “Why? What happened?” I asked. As I uttered those words, silence fell around me; everyone stopped what they were doing.
“Something’s happened to my daughter Realene” he cried and hung up. By the look on my face, everyone knew something was terribly wrong. “That was Uncle Eddie on the phone; something has happened to Realene, and he wants us all to go to the hospital immediately” I blurted. As everyone got up to leave, I picked up the phone to call my cousin Trish, but her number was busy. So, I called the operator. “I need to get a hold of my cousin, but her phone is busy.
Could you please help me and have her get off the phone. It’s an emergency.”Sorry, but we are not allowed to interfere with others conversations.”But it’s an emergency. I must get a hold of her” I cried. Thankfully, she was able to help me and got me through. “Trish, your dad said to get to the hospital as soon as possible, something has happened to Realene.” There was no reply, only the sound of the phone dying. My mom, sister, and I got in a car and headed to the hospital.
As we get to the entrance and the hospital door opened, I immediately got chills. The hallway was crowded with my family and my uncle’s wife’s family and everyone was crying. My heart fell, something extremely terrible has happened, but what? I see my uncle standing and one corner with a few of my mom’s brothers and sisters and we go up to them. He was explaining what happened.
They were having a little family gathering with his wife’s family at their farm. They were drinking and everything was just fine. A few of them were taking turns shooting a gun and targeting a soda can that was hung on a tree across the field from them. As soon as one of men took his shot, they saw something fall. No one took it too seriously for they thought it was an animal or something… until they heard screams.
All of them immediately rushed to the end of the field and there they see Realene lying on the ground with blood all over, lifeless. And right behind her were her two cousins that she was playing with, which was were who the screams came from. Their farm was so far from the hospital that my uncle couldn’t wait for the ambulance, so he picked her up and they drove her there. As soon as I learned of what happened I immediately started crying and hugging my uncle and his family trying to comfort them, telling them not to worry and that everything is just going to be fine. As we all sit there waiting for the doctor to come out of the operation room, then tension grows more and more. We all tried to keep my uncle and his family calm.
Waiting for the doctor seemed like forever. Finally the doctor comes come and as we all give all our attention to her she explains “Realene was shot in the head. The bullet went in from the back of her head and out through the top of her forehead and her skull has been cracked open.” Then she asks if she could speak to my uncle and auntie in private and as she is talking to them, my auntie drops to the floor and starts screaming “Oh God no! Please God no! Please help my baby.” Everyone starts to cry again and one of the my uncle’s daughters rushes to her mom, “Mom what is it? Please tell us, you ” re scaring us.” My auntie looks at all of us and says in so much pain, “The doctor that the bullet has scrambled Realene’s brain and they don’t know if she ” ll make it and if she does she will be a vegetable.” Realene is pushed out of the operating room by the nurses and is moved to the Intensive Care Unit and we all follow after them. One by one we all go in and talk to her.
As it was my turn I enter and immediately seeing her motionless body lying there and there is nothing I can do to help her, I start tearing. I hold her hand and say to her “Ling, please get up. We are all waiting for you, the family and I. We love you and we will be here when you awake.” She was on life support for about two weeks, when my uncle and his family decide to take her off the life support. They didn’t want her to suffer anymore. Those two weeks was hell for us and I can’t even begin to imagine what is was like for my uncle and his family.
On the day that they were going to take Realene off of life support many people, both friends and family, came to comfort our family. The nurses and doctors told us that they have never seen the hospital so crowded before. When the time came for the doctor to take Realene off life support, we all gathered in the Intensive Care Unit. It was so jam packed that you couldn’t even move. As the doctor turned of the life support, everyone starting crying, because right when they turned the life support off Realene’s heartbeat started to drop until it just stopped and she was gone. One by one, we all went up to her and said our final goodbye’s.
I have never experienced such horrific pain, until that very moment that I had to hold her and say my final and last goodbye. I have a sister who is only one year older than Realene and as I stood there and watcher her go and said my final goodbye, my sister came into my thoughts. When I finished saying my goodbye’s and hugged and kissed her one last time, I rushed out and went straight to my sister and held on to her so tight, telling her how much I love her and cherished her. I never got to tell my little cousin, Realene, how much I love her and cherish her and now I never will. “The first chance you get to tell someone you love them, tell them… for you may never get the chance.”.