I got lucky.

Chapter 1: The beggining

Hi, my name is Derrick and this is a story about me. Currently I have a good life and I'm loved by many. I live with my mom, my grandma, and my cousin (Austin.) Me and him are the same age and we hang out all the time. We're almost like brothers. He sticks up for me all the time and we are constantly together, either at the basketball court or the pool we have in our backyard. We all love each other very much and I'm grateful to have a family like I do.

My moms name is Elizabeth or Liz for short, and my grandmas name is Judith. We are a very close family and tell each other everything.

My life is pretty good right now. My grandma is a retired teacher and my moms a Surgeon so we have a little extra cash to do fun things every now and then. Most of the time we just go bowling or out to eat somewhere fancy. I love all of my family and they're so nice to me and Austin, I hope that this never ends.

One day at school me and Austin were in Chemistry doing a project. When all of a sudden, 2 tables away there was an explosion. At first we were laughing because we thought it was just someone had screwed up with their measurements. Until the smoke cleared up and we realized it did a whole lot more than just smoke. The 2 kids that were involved were severally injured and suffered a 3rd degree burns on their faces and arms. So we all had to go home because they didn't want us to breathe in the "harsh" chemicals. Even though we were at school for about 30 minutes before we left so obviously they aren't dangerous.

Whenever we walked in the door we went to go tell grandma what happened. We called her name a few times and then thought that she might be asleep. So we went upstairs to check on her and we were shocked at what we saw. She was laying on the floor not moving and not responding. I yelled for Austin to call the ambulance and was beginning to do CPR on her. It wasn't working and 5 minutes later the ambulance showed up. They took her straight to the hospital and called mom. She came and picked us up before going to the hospital.

Whenever we got to the hospital and into her room we could tell something wasn't right. The doctor took mom into the hallway to speak with her. She came back into the room and I knew there wasn't something right. She walked over to us sobbing and gave us a big hug. I started crying but I don't know about Austin because he was laying on the other side of her shoulder.

When mom finally was able to catch her breath and talk she told us that Grandma had died. Austin and I started crying so hard. I couldn't hardly breathe. When I finally stopped crying enough to where I could talk, I asked mom when the funeral would be or if we were having one. She said that Grandma had told her that she doesn't want a funeral, she wants to be cremated. So for Grandmas wish that's what we'd do.