Augustine Burgos

10/06/10

Ms. Priester

Per. 4

Autobiographical Narrative

Final Draft

He’s Gone

Looking into the rough past feels like a nightmare that has gone completely wrong. They come throughout the night. He treated me like I was his own son. I never had a father figure that loved me, showed me that he cared for me. My life fell apart after I found out that he has passed away. I will never forget it. It was the first time that I ever saw death with my own eyes.

I do not remember the exact date, but I believe it was around 6:30 p.m. I lived in a blue,not-so-big of a house. It had a white fence that had lions, which looked like gargoyles. I was 7 years old and I barely got out of a nice warm bath. I could hear my foster mom talking to her friend and my sisters fighting with each other over a brush. I was drying myself off, and then I walked down the hallway to my room to change into my superman pajamas. I went back into the bathroom to brush my teeth, “sparkling clean”, I said. I dashed back to my room to get my soft, red blanky.

Ten minutes passed and I was sitting in front of the television. I flipped through every channel to find the new episode of “Superman”. I was waiting impatiently for it to come on. I remembered that I had told every person that walked in the door that to come in quietly. “Finally”, I told myself, “it is starting”. I got so into the television program that I was leaning towards the television set. I had it so loud that I couldn’t hear my foster mom talking to my sisters trying to calm them down and solve the problem. I had a big smile on my face like I just got the best Christmas present in the world.

There was a part of the show that made me remember what I did earlier that day. A couple of my friends and I were playing cops and robbers. I was literally running around the whole house chasing my friends. They tried hiding from me, but like a good and smart hero, I knew every hiding place. I caught every single one of them and I even arrested them like a real cop. I had a great time, because I imagined that the head of the police department gave me the key to the city. Everyone was admiring me, chanting my name, “Augustine!!!”. I missed those days.

It is 7:00 and the show was on commercials. My foster dad walked by me, leaving the room. He went into the kitchen, opened the cupboards, and took out his prescriptions. I watched him take them from the room. He usually took them with a cup of milk. The show was back on; I looked away and got into the show again. He walked by me again and sat on his bed. All of a sudden I started hearing a gargling noise. I did not know where it was coming from. I stood up and I was just standing there, silenced. I stared at him as he lay on the bed with his eyes turning into his head; the milk over flowing his mouth. I was scared. I felt my heart beating faster than ever. I ran out of the room and got my foster mom. She followed me into the room. She immediately called her daughters, sons and the paramedics. She told my sisters and I to go to my room. My room was straight across from theirs. I left the door cracked and I saw everything that was going on across the hall. I heard my sisters sobbing and I saw their depressing faces. Their eyes were red from all the tears.

I have nightmares, still to this very day, of it every night. I fear for my grandma dying because I have witnessed death too many times and I don’t want her to leave my sisters and me alone. I just don’t want her time to end quite yet. I know that when I think about him, he thinks of me too. I sometimes remember the good times we had. For example, I remember the first time he took me to the Swap Meet, he bought me a toy. After that, we ate cow tongue tacos; they were delicious. I will miss him dearly and I will see him sometime later when I leave this world.