I Survived

The Day The Sky Fell

Part 1: My Granddad

My name is Miguel and today, despite my better judgment, I have decided to post this online where hopefully it can be found and heard by enough people to be preserved. I would understand if you didn't want to be a part of this little experiment, I am not sure if this will put your life into any danger. For those of you who are going to continue to listen to what I have to say, I have a crazy tale for you and a warning. I will tell you the warning first because it may just save your life and stop you from listening to the rest of this recording.

There are those that do not want you to know what I'm about to tell you and they are likely watching you now. If you proceed to listen from here forward, you will also be on their list, and I cannot guarantee your safety. With that said I give you two options, turn this recording off now and forget what you've heard or stick with me to the end.

If you are still here, I will assume that you want to hear the story. This isn't my story, it's actually the story of my granddad who just recently passed. You see, I'm a first-generation United States citizen from my father's side. He grew up in a small village in northern Portugal while my mother is a Kansas born woman who my father met while studying abroad. We've lived here in the United States my entire life but at least once a year we would go out to visit my father's hometown to see my grandparents and cousins.

Every time we went to see them my grandfather (his name is Santiago) would always tell me stories of his younger years. Despite being a farmer his entire life and never really leaving the small village the stories he would tell me were always so interesting and was one of my favorite pastimes when we would go. About a year before my grandfather passed, he was diagnosed with cancer. I'd prefer not to go into detail, but it was terminal.

I wanted to remember my grandfather and I wanted my children to be able to hear and enjoy his stories as I had growing up. So, I took off from work so I could spend as much time in Portugal with him as possible and record as many of his stories as I could during that time. He was happy to share, and he enjoyed the company. Honestly, I was excited to be able to hear the stories that always fascinated me as a child.

The stories started off the same as I remembered which was great. I was entranced by every word, and it felt like I was a kid again. This continued for some time as he retold many of the same stories I heard as a kid. Then one day when we sat down to record the stories changed. He mentioned people that I didn't know, family members that I've never had and events that seemed impossible. This is how that interview went. I'll interject every now and again just to clarify some things.

"Alright, everything set up, what story did you want to tell me today?"

"Alright... alright I know the perfect story for you today... You could stop me if I already told you this one. You see, when I was 14. Lucas, and I all decided when we were done with chores, we would go out to the river to wash up and swim...You see my father never really liked whenever we went back to the river to swim. I never really understood why he didn't like us back there but anytime he would catch us we would definitely get the switch. We came up with a secret spot that we could hide in if he went looking for us. We thought that we were so clever but no matter how good we hid he would find us. Eventually I think he just accepted that we would keep going back and allow for us to go as long as all of us went together. That night there was going to be a full moon and with the weather perfect we knew that it would be a great night to swim. With the harvest going on it would be a relaxing way to spend a few hours. Padro said he would lead us to a new secret spot where dad would not find us..."

"I am sorry granddad but who is Padro?"

"I know I have mentioned him before... He was my oldest brother."