Daniela Guerrero

Humanities
October 16,2016

The Power Within: The Second Draft

Butterflies... Butterflies are small and fragile. So beautiful you question if there existence is real
or not. They kind of jump when there wings flap together, it's cool to watch. Butterflies were just
caterpillars with wings to me.

My power ignited on April 25,2016.

I was watching Easy A, a movie suggested by my friends as a must have. It was just me ,my
younger sister , and my older sister at home. It was a Saturday my mom was at a baby shower in
Mexicali and my dad was working. Nobody was to be home until 6 that day, you could imagine
my surprise to hear the doorknob shake with keys jingling on the other side. It was my mom. She
called out to us, telling us to come into the living room. I knew something was wrong. 1. She
wasn't supposed to be home until the next day and 2. Her eyes were red. I sat next to her and my
sisters in front of us. She kept avoiding my eyes, trying not to cry again. Before I say anything I
need you guys to know that your dad and I love you and we are both here for you guys I
started to get really bad anxiety and thousands of thoughts came into my mind in the five
seconds she paused. I tried not to look worried for my little sister's sake. Abuelita is really bad
right now. is all she came out to say. I was confused Is it her heart? Did something go bad with
her surgery I said with my voice sounding angry. No, she came out perfect from the surgery.

she paused again. She got up to go to the bathroom after the surgery and collapsed. She was
gone for thirty minutes. This had happened before so I wasn't worried about it. My thoughts
quickly changed. The doctors don't think that she's here anymore. I could see from my sister's
faces that they were confused not knowing what she meant by here. I asked her what she
meant by that. She said Physically shes here but they think that she's brain dead. We all knew
what she meant, we arent stupid. I looked up to see my little sister reach for a pillow and bury
her face in it with silent sobs coming from it. My older sister was quiet, not one movement
coming from. From the corner of my eye I saw one tear falling from her cheek to her thigh. In
the movies you see people having tunnel visions and voices muffled in the background, that's
how I felt. I sat there with my head getting blurrier and blurrier. I was in shock.

Day 1
The hospital was weirdly lighted ,it looked like they were trying to make it look sunny in there to
lighten up the mood. The hallways were never ending,turning right and left constantly. It smelled
like a whole bunch of cleaning supplies mixed together. My family got into an elevator making
small talk along the way. My uncle came with us. He pointed to rooms and said hey that's
where I get my chemo therapy. I'm like a superhero you see. pointing to a radioactive sign on
the board saying it like an excited little kid. My mom trying to distract us of why we were
actually here was telling us jokes. I pretended to laugh not because I was sad but because the
joke just wasn't funny. We walked into the waiting room. It was full of familiar faces. Walking
in, it was hard acting like I was okay. Having to put on a brave face for my grandpa. I gave him
the tightest hug and whispered I love you in his ear. He looked at me, I knew he was pretending
to be okay. I could see through him. I turned around and saw my aunt. I feel into her arms not
being able to hold it anymore. It was the first time we had both cried. We were okay in each

other's presence. I regretted crying. I didn't want my family to think I was vulnerable, I wanted to
be their rock. I knew it wasn't right for me to cry because my grandpa still had hope and I
couldn't show him that I didn't believe she was going to be okay. I stood up stronger than before.
I had cried what I needed to and now I am the rock. I didn't want my sisters to be in there, they
were down I could see it. I wanted to get them out of there. We wandered the halls for hours.
Going up and down the elevator to pass the time.

Day 2

It was the next day, we got up around 8 and went to pick my grandpa up from his house. It wasn't
a long drive. We got to the hospital and went through the same thing again. Saying hi to
everybody, going up and down the elevators, and looking for food. I didn't want to see her. Not
the way she was. I wanted to remember her like the last day we saw each other. About a week
prior to this situation. Both my grandparents had come over to my house for some dinner, I won't
forget that last hug. Never.
We went to the cafeteria to go look for a vending machine. We found one. All the food that was
in there was horrible. It was all types of healthy snacks. I survived on seaweed and baked hot
cheetos. Hot cheetos are my all time favorite food in the whole world since i was like in
kindergarten. If you would ask me if I wanted lobster or hot cheetos i'd say hot cheetos.I like to
think back of specific moments that i've had with hot cheetos. Like last year my mom banned me
from eating them so when we would go on fieldtrips to vons id ask for money and buy two big
bags of hot cheetos to last me the week.
I changed my mind. By the end of the day I had decided that I needed to see her. I couldn't walk
into the room. I watched her from afar. I chose to leave a little while later because I was so

hungry. My cousins and I decided to make a food run for everybody. We got a case of waters, ice
cream, slim jims, candy, hot cheetos and way more. Still we had hope. We went home soon after
that planning on coming again the next day.

Day 3

We went up the now familiar elevator and without looking my sister clicked the third floor. I
walked in excited to see all of my family again. The room was more filled than it was the day
before. Thats weird, but I didn't think much of it. I sat down with my cousins. My grandpa was in
front of me being held by his brothers as he cried in their arms. My aunt was on the phone with a
mystery man. I had no idea who it was. I just thought it was a distant relative wanting to know
what's up with my grandma. We waited about an hour when they told us to go in with her.
We were in the room where her limp body laid. A priest had walked in and I was a little
confused, but it wasn't rocket science to figure out why he was there. My aunt had called a priest
to bless her body and soul before she was to be disconnected. I guess my grandpa didn't want
her here if she was suffering. The priest walked in everybody still focusing on my grandpa's
hands locked in on my grandma's. Everybody got quiet. Id see motions of people wiping their
faces. We started to realize that he was about to say goodbye to somebody he had spent his entire
life with for a little bit. The priest began. I don't even remember his words it was all a big blur.
My eyes started to fill with water as everybody grabbed each other's hands and circled around
her. My grandpa crying into her shoulder was what hurt me the most. I didn't realize how hard it
was to lose somebody before now. He started to sob a poem that he had written her when they
first met.
Te elevaste hermosa en vuelo.

Mariposa de mi flor
Dejaste un jardin muy triste
Mi cario que aun existe
Y una flor pidiendo amor
Se que con tus alas de encaje
Al cielo te podrn llevar
Pero no olvides que te quise u te quiero
Y tu lado llvame porque sin ti me muero

It's about this butterfly landing on a flower. The flower was my grandpa and the butterfly was my
grandma. He couldn't get through his words. The butterfly stays on the flower for a little bit and
starts to fly away from the flower. The flower misses his butterfly and wants her to take him with
her.
She stayed strong for about 13 hours before her heart gave out. I woke up to go to school to hear
my mom tell me the news. I think back and think about how stupid I was. I said ok and went
back to sleep. I reacted like if i heard nothing, like if I didn't care.
At the funeral we decided to celebrate her life, not mourn it. My two sisters and two cousins
released monarch butterflies, her favorite animal. Know that i'm with you and will always be
Came out of my mouth as we released them.
Im not that much of a religious person, but i like to believe that there's something waiting for us
after. The day before my driving test I prayed and asked my grandma to guide me through the
test. The next day I was sitting in the car waiting for my turn when a butterfly flew right in front
of my car and just floated there for a while and left. That was my grandma.