Mireya Zaragoza from Mexico Two years ago, in Mexico in 1998, I came back home from school tired as I always was. I was resting with my mother while two of my seven brothers, Moses and Enrique, were drinking in front of Enrique's house. I remember that it was exactly on Friday the thirtieth. Even though I'm not superstitious, that night something horrible happened. Suddenly, my brother Moses came into my house running. He looked scared. He didn't say anything to my mother or me. He just went directly into my brother Jesus' room. They talked for about five minutes. Then a family friend came driving my brother Enrique's truck and parked it in the backyard. He left with my two brothers, Moses and Jesus. Later on, Jesus came back and said he had bad news about Enrique. He said that somebody had shot Enrique and not to say anything to my mom. My brother Enrique was in the hospital with a bullet in his head. The doctors told his wife to be prepared for anything. She was in the hospital with him. She had left their two boys with her mom. The shooting happened around nine o'clock on Friday. We passed the whole Saturday waiting for the worst to happen. Then on Sunday night the doctors took him to surgery to remove the bullet. They did it, but they told us it might have consequences. Fortunately, he just had the normal problems due to the shooting. For one whole month he didn't had any reflexes. He couldn't control his leg. He felt very depressed, but with the support of his family, especially his wife, he is now completely recuperated. After that incident our lives changed a lot. My brother moved to another house in a totally different neighborhood. We left all the bad people behind, but we kept on feeling nervous every time when we heard the police sirens. Due to that horrible event, I returned to the United States. My mom is now here, too. She came alone a month ago. All my brothers are married and live in Mexico. Now we are trying to continue our lives in a better way, not only for ourselves, but for the kids that my brothers already have and for my mom because we know that she needs peacefulness. This experience taught me not to be afraid of death.
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