The Death

by Jessica Beymer, 13yrs. old, 2/96

reprinted with permission

It was a chilly day on December 19th in 1991. My mom was at work, and I was at school. Everyone was so alive except for my 5 1/2 month old brother.

Christopher was a jolly baby every time you looked at him. It seemed as if he would have lived forever, but, boy, were we ever wrong!

My mom came over to my cousin's house to pick me up at about 4:30pm after school. When she walked into the room, her eyes were as red as blood. I didn't know what was wrong. She told me to come up to the house, and so I followed. When we got there my grandma and grandpa were there, too. My mom sat me down to talk with me. I can't exactly remember what she said, but I remember that I thought she was kidding. But then I saw deep down inside that she wasn't. I noticed the salty tear drops flowing gently down her face. After I figured it out, I laid my head down and cried for what seemed forever.

I hadn't noticed that I had fallen asleep, but when I woke-up, all of my family was there, everyone of them.

I got up off the couch with dried tears on my face. I walked gently to the bathroom, going past my family. When I got back, I went over to my mom and hugged her tightly. She said she didn't even know I had woke-up.

About two or three days before the funeral, we went to go see Christopher at the funeral home. I didn't want to see him at first, but then I changed my mind. When I went in there, I looked at his pale, white face and burst out in tears. My mom hugged me while I looked at him. A couple of minutes later, my hand had seemed to float over by itself and hold his tiny, freezing cold hand.

When it was the day of the funeral, everyone came except for my cousin's who were too young to understand. Even my teacher's from the past came. I would never forget the looks on everyone's face as I watched them all cry big salty tears.

On Christmas, everyone was sad. My mom just sat there all day long. Well, what can you expect from having a funeral of your 5 1/2 month old son only six days later earlier?

Well, that's all I can remember, or that I want to remember. But I can still see his face sometimes when I try really hard to.

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