A Simple Story

That Day

That day

That day started out like any other day.
It was the day of my 8th birthday party.
That day was September 8, 2008.
My father went to get my cup cakes. Instead of cake I wanted co cakes with the whipped icing.
My sister from my dad's side was over. She spent the night.
We were doing the dishes when people started arriving.
2 of my uncle's, 3 of my aunts, my grandma, my sisters and brothers and my mom and dad. Only a small party. I also had my best friend there.
My father stayed in the garage all day expect when he passed out the cupcakes. He didn't talk. After we had our cupcakes he went right back into the garage. I was disappointed but I was also 8. I didn't know what was going on.
After everyone left he came in and made steaks. He also went to the store and bought shrimp, my favorite food ever!
We had a nice family dinner and then passed some more. We had a trampoline so my best friend and I stayed on the trampoline until I had to go in at 8.
............
It was hot that night. Our air conditioner had broken so we had our windows open. It was very hot in my room. I had the middle room and it only had one window.
I had went into the living room where my parents were and asked for a fan. He kept saying "Yeah. I'll be in there in a minute."
He never came. I asked 7 times. The last time I walked into the living room, my father saw me and then just walked into the garage. I thought he was getting me a fan.

September 9, 2008

He was in there for 10 minutes before we heard a gun shot. He shot the power line. My mom grabbed the flashlights.
She called my aunt and asked her to come over. 10 minutes later my aunt and grandma showed up. My mom grabbed an ice scraper and my aunt grabbed a mag light. The went out the back door. I was being them. I saw that the garage door was cracked open just a little. My mom kicked out open and screamed. They both screened. I ran into the garage and screamed. My brother ran into the garage then ran back inside.
There he was. My father. Hanging from the garage rafters by a cable and hook. He was blue. He wasn't breathing.
My mother climbed up on the stool and held him up. She put him on her back. Our neighbor heard us scream. He came over. He called 911.
They were there within 5 minutes. The gate was locked. Our neighbor kicked out open for the paramedics. It took them 30 minutes to get him down. They had to resort to using a chainsaw to cut the cable. My mom did CPR. She heard him gurgling. They shocked him. He died 5 times but he was brought back. They rushed him to the hospital. I went with my great grandma. They didn't want me to see that stuff. My brother went with my aunt.
My great grandma later took me to the hospital. He was in the ICU. I sat with him. I talked to him for about 2 hours. He was brain dead. He couldn't respond. He was on life support.
His family was called. They saw him. My great grandma took me back to her house. It was late and I was tired. We left and then about an hour later my mom called to say he had passed away. He was 31.
I knew him for 1 year, 1 month and 4 days.