Braided Memories

Braided Memories by Yohana Áglice Tavares Veloso

It was Friday night and also my 11th birthday. Mom was downstairs finishing the decoration listening to "Can You Get To That" by Funkadelic, while my older sister, Anne, was braiding my hair. I remember exactly how her soft touch felt: her fingers sliding through my hair. I was so happy, but it didn't last long. I used to love when people played with my hair, but after that day, I've never let anyone touch my hair again.

We heard mom scream. We ran downstairs and found her fighting with a strong, tall, creepy man. He threw mommy against the wall and she fainted so he turned to us. We tried to run, but he grabbed us as if we were nothing but dolls. He knocked us down and by the time we woke up, mom was tied in a chair right in front of us and he was smiling with those disgusting brown teeth.

He babbled and laughed while holding a knife against mom's neck. He showed us how sharp the knife was by cutting his own arm and then he stabbed mom right in her belly. In that moment my world just fell apart. Anne wouldn't stop screaming right next to me. I didn't understand what had happened but all of a sudden everything had disappeared, I was awake, but it felt like I wasn't there.

When I came back, I saw him pulling mom's body to a closet. There was a trail of blood on the floor. I looked at Anne and she was wearing a dress with ruffles and a bow in her head. I looked at myself and I was wearing a similar dress, but with different colors. I remember thinking "Where that came from? We don't have these clothes in the house", and then I realized that he had brought it with him. He was probably observing us for a long time, everything was planned.

He approached us with toys and plastic tea cups and we understood that we were supposed to play our roles in his game. We spent hours pretending to be little girls drinking tea and while he would cuddle us. The guy was clearly mental but I hated him anyway and since he was kinda like a kid, we just needed to make him