There once was a girl named Elizabeth who lived with her mother and father on 84 Anchor Street. They owned a monstrous house that was beautifully decorated for Halloween. There were jack-o-lanterns on the stoop and lights that made the house vivacious. Inside, the house had elegant stairs that made them seem like they were stairs people would see on television. The house was like a piñata, exploding with every color of the rainbow and more. The decorations were going to take over the house if it had the chance to. The family was an amicable group of people who cared for the safety of everyone and the environment. Everything was going right for the family until one day, it took a turn for the worse and they suffered a fatal accident.
Elizabeth and her mother, Claire, were going to the store on one Monday afternoon to get the groceries they needed. It was a gorgeous, summer day so they decided that they would walk instead of driving. The sun was glistening in the sky with a blaze that could melt steel and it was shining as bright as could be. Claire and Elizabeth kept walking to the store in their purple and pink poke a dotted dresses. When they arrived at the grocery store, Claire took out the list that they had made before coming. The list included milk, eggs, butter, bread, and meat for the dinner they were going to have. The two of them rushed to get all the items they needed so they could get home to watch their favorite television show, Friends.
After getting the groceries, they walked out of the store and spontaneously, there were three men with guns, shooting at the grocery store. The three men seemed of all different descents and they were all using handguns. They kept on shooting until they came close to where Claire and Elizabeth were. They were straight across from them and they shot three bullets each heading towards Elizabeth, but before they were going to hit Elizabeth, Claire jumped in the way and took the shots. The three bullets hit her: two in the head and one in the chest. Claire dropped to the ground instantaneously and Elizabeth dropped as well to weep at her side. She saw the blood dripping from her mother’s head and she couldn’t believe her eyes. Elizabeth loved her mother unconditionally and she lost all of her hope. Elizabeth told anyone she could find on the street to call 9-1-1 and immediately get an ambulance. She called her father and her father rushed to the scene. He asked what had happened to Claire and Elizabeth told him. Her father started to cry and Elizabeth comforted her father. The ambulance came and they all left together, with tears down their faces. Elizabeth thought to herself: Why did this happen to my mother? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
Elizabeth, Claire, and her father arrived at the hospital hastily and went straight to the emergency room. The nurses and doctors came from every angle of the room and brought all sorts of equipment to operate. Elizabeth and her father saw them take Claire away and the tears rushed down their eyes like a cascade. They both wondered: Would Claire make it? If she did, what condition would she be in? How long until they get answers? They tried to stay in an optimistic mood, but they didn’t know what would happen.
Elizabeth and her father waited in the waiting room, restlessly, with thoughts circling their minds. Then, the doctor came out, with blood all over his gloves, and he said that Claire was going to make it! She pulled through it all and was saved. It was a miracle! The doctor told Elizabeth’s father that he was able to wait in Claire’s room until Claire woke up. He rushed to get in the room while Elizabeth stayed and waited to see her mother when she was better.
Elizabeth’s father began talking to Claire and he said that she would make it. Even though she wasn’t awake, he felt as though she could still hear him. He knew that she was potent at heart and that everything was going to be okay. He told her how he just got a raise and about all the experiences that they shared together in the past. Just then, as Elizabeth’s father was going to say another word, Claire flat lined and the doctors barged in like buffalo. They forced Elizabeth’s father out of the room and the tears gushed out of his pupils again. The doctors tried to get her to breathe again, but there was no use. She was dead!!!
Elizabeth’s father didn’t know how to break the horrific news to her daughter, but he had to do it some way. When Elizabeth’s father came out to see Elizabeth, Elizabeth asked, “How’s mom doing?” Elizabeth’s father couldn’t stand it anymore and he just let it out. He told her, “Elizabeth, you’re mother is dead!” Elizabeth couldn’t believe her ears and she cried right in her father’s arms. She soaked his shirt in tears and Elizabeth wished that they didn’t go to the store today. Her father told her that they were going home and they walked, trudging through the hospital. She felt as though everything was her fault and she was the one who had killed her mother. Elizabeth was ashamed.
When Elizabeth and her father got home, Elizabeth ran straight up to her room while her father called everyone he knew to break the news to them. Everyone was shocked. They thought that since Claire had a strong soul, she would survive. Then, Elizabeth’s father went up to Elizabeth’s room to go to talk with her. The talk made Elizabeth feel a little better, but she still felt as though her heart was ripped out of her chest.
As time went on after Claire’s death, Elizabeth’s father started to turn abusive towards Elizabeth. Every day, Elizabeth would get bruises from her father either from getting pushed into something or getting thrown into the wall. Elizabeth would say that she fell down the stairs or she fell off the patio. Elizabeth’s father missed Claire so much, he couldn’t do anything. He turned into a despondent man and he lost his job. When Elizabeth finally got the guts to tell someone, she told her uncle, Max, and they went to court. Elizabeth didn’t want to go to court at first, but her uncle convinced her and she knew she had to. Max was there for Elizabeth and her father had nothing to do. He knew there was no way he was going to win this case.
When the case was over, Max was going to be the legal guardian of Elizabeth and Elizabeth’s father was going to be put in jail. Elizabeth visited her father once in awhile, but she didn’t miss him as often. She missed her mother the most who always told her to be strong and to be who you really are. She followed that motto for the years to come and she grew into an elegant woman just like her mother. She had a family of her own and she named her child Claire, to honor her mother.
As for the men who shot Claire, they were never found and lived regular lives like every other person. Nobody ever found them, but Elizabeth forgave them. She told herself that she forgave them for what they did. Her mother told her to always forgive people no matter what, and that’s exactly what she did. Then, when Elizabeth’s daughter asked, “Mommy, where’s my grandma?” Elizabeth told her daughter that she was flying with the spirits. She told her daughter that her grandmother’s name was Claire just like herself and she was a fighter, a compassionate woman that would live on forever and ever to be remembered and honored by everyone in the family.