Lost In Transition

2

September 2005

The next few weeks were pretty chaotic. Aunt Mika ended up moving in with us, and Mom did a majority of the funeral planning. There were also a lot of detectives talking to Mom and Aunt Mika all the time. I remember hearing stuff on the news about the shooting, even though Mom tried to keep me away from it.

They would say things like:

"Twin girls shot dead by police officer in Sacramento."

"Marijuana-addicted twins killed by noble officer."

"Hood rats killed by officer protecting our citizens."

They deserved it.

They were high.

They were aggressive.

They were animals.

According to Mom's statements to the detectives, we got to Aunt Mika's house around 3:15. Her, Aunt Mika, and the twins spent about an hour or so planning and cooking the food for the barbecue.

Around 4:30, a police officer pulled up complaining that they were too loud. Rena questioned who called him and complained, as they hung out outside like this all of the time. Rae joined in with her, curious as to what they were doing wrong. The officer threatened to arrest the girls if they kept disrespecting him, which sent Rena into an uproar. Aunt Mika asked her to calm down, but when she stood up to check on the food, the officer shot her.

Rae jumped and screamed in a hysterical fit, so did Mom and Aunt Mika. Rae ran to go check on Rena, and the officer discharged his gun again shooting her too.

Around 5:00, more police officers had arrived. They asked the officer what happened, and never addressed Mom or Aunt Mika until they detained her for being hysterical as well.

The ambulance did not come until 6:30.

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After the shooting, Aunt Mika had a hard time getting herself back together. She ended up quitting her job, and started to smoke and drink a lot.

Mom ended up going back to work, but did not have the time to enroll me in school. She said I'd get enrolled after Christmas.

One particular day, Mom had gone to work, and I was home with Aunt Mika. She usually slept until about 2PM, but Mom had taught me how to make myself a sandwich and how to use the microwave, so I was okay feeding myself. I went to the kitchen to get some cereal, and Aunt Mika and some man I'd never seen before were in there sitting at the table.

"Hi, Auntie!" I said to her when I walked in.

"Heyyy baby." She said back to me.

Her speech was doing the funny thing it does when she drinks.

"Mika, who this?" The man who was sitting at the table with my aunt asked.

"Just my niece. She ain't no trouble." Aunt Mika said back to him. "Nya, say hi to your Uncle Brandon."

I looked at the man and waved to him. He waved back to me, and Aunt Mika called me over to her. I put my cereal down, and walked to where she was sitting.

She picked me up and sat me on her lap at the kitchen table. "Uncle Brandon" was repeatedly dipping his card into a white substance and smelling it from his hand.

"Nya, you know your auntie loves you, right?" Aunt Mika said to me.

"I know, Aunt Mika. You say it everyday."