MiLisha Shackleford Gail Richard Composition I Connection Essay, Final Draft September 11, 2013 A Troubled Angel It was

March 5, 2013 and on this particular day, my life changed in a major way. I got a phone call around 6pm. It was an emergency. All I heard was my step sisters shaky voice telling me that Tony had been shot. At first, I denied it with a racing mind and burning tears running down my face. She told me the location of which he was shot. I called my dad and told him what happened and to meet me at the location. Normally, it was a 20-minute drive to North Little Rock but it only took me 10 minutes that day. I pulled up to the location at the same time as my dad. He told me to wait in my car while he went to talk to the officer filling out paperwork and sure enough Tony had been shot. The police told my dad that he was rushed to UAMS. When we finally found out where he was, the first person I saw was my grandma. All she did was hug me and said, MiLisha, Im so glad youre here with me now. I just hugged her and cried. In the back of my mind, I was telling myself you have to be strong for her. After about 20 minutes, the doctor came in the room and from the look on his face, I knew it was bad. It was like something off of a movie. His words were the wound that he has sustained cannot be survived Those words made my heart sink.

It was an early Saturday morning that I thought I would never have to wake up for. I was heartbroken and mildly depressed. I started getting ready for an event that is still unbelievable. When I looked into the mirror, I just burst into tears. As I cried I started to write a good-bye letter to him. I wrote about the good and the bad times, how I was feeling, and asked him to watch over the family. Then, it came to me. I had to be strong. I had to be strong for not just myself but, my whole family. They needed me to be strong because what we lost was somebody closer to me and if I was going to be alright, then they would be alright. When I arrived at the church, I was again stricken with the same sadness. This time I held it back and thought about my family again. As I walked down the aisle, I saw many faces with tears rolling down them. Front and center was the reason for all of this. Seeing Tonys lifeless body lying in the casket was something that I locked in my brain because that was the last time I saw him. When I walked by his casket, I tucked my letter into his casket by his arm and looked him over for the last time. I took my seat and waited for everyone else to do the same. The pastor began to preach about Tony. By the end of the sermon, the ushers began to close the casket. The closer the top of the casket got to the bottom, the harder it got for me to hold back my tears. At the sound of the closing of the casket, tears began running down my face. As tears of hurt rolled down my cheeks, I thought back to the times when we were kids. We played together, took up for each other, and he even tried to protect me from all the monsters in the closet at night. We would always like to race down the street to the park and play basketball whenever my dad let us. He dared anybody to mess with us while we were there. Hed always tell me If they come over here messing with us, Im going to punch them and we are going to run home. Okay? That was his way of fleeing every time. He was more than just my cousin; he was my brother that I will never forget. With us being only a year apart, we clang

together as a team. He adored me so much, he would always ask when I was coming back over or when he would see me again. I loved being around him because no matter what situation he was in, he was always so happy and laughing. A song he always sang and still reminds me of him was Charlie, Last Name Wilson by Charlie Wilson but, he would always change it and put his name into it. He usually sang it around girls he liked to make them laugh and get their attention. As we grew up, we kind of went our separate ways. While I was glorified for my good behavior and good grades, he was not. He was much like the opposite of me. Tony was into the fast life and basically did anything to get some money. Society labeled him as a thug, like any other young black males that wore baggy clothes, but to me he was much more cherished. For a while I thought I would be lost in my thoughts about Tony. Then, I realized I had to succeed not only for my family but, for Tony. So, today I sit in class and I do it all for him. He taught me that life is too short to walk around sad, mad or upset because there is so much more to life. Its just whatever you make it. I want to make my life better because he had his life taken away before he had a chance to turn his life around.