Shattered Night

Everything was peaceful until it wasn't. The loud popping  echoed through the night waking everyone up . I rolled my eyes because the Fourth of July wasn't for another week. Why do they always start to shoot them off so early? It wasn't until I heard the screams and saw my daughter, Nikki on the floor unmoving, with a hole in her chest that I knew that my world would never be the same. The popping sound stopped, followed by the screech of tires and then silence. My husband, Tony was on the phone with 911 while Tony Jr. , my thirteen year old son was applying pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding. I dropped to my knees holding my baby's hand as she weakly gasped for breath.  Swallowing, Tony told Will, my seven year old to go and unlock the door and look out for the ambulance. A few minutes later, we heard the sound of sirens, but the relief I expected to feel didn't come; even as the paramedics quickly gathered Nikki vital information and loaded her into the ambulance as I rushed outside to join them. The whole ride to the hospital I prayed that this was all a dream and when I opened my eyes things would be back to normal. The moment we arrived at the hospital, Nikki was taken into an operating room in the pediatric ICU and I was led to a waiting room, not knowing if my child would live or die. My eyes slid closed as the tears started to fall down my cheeks and I could feel my heart clenching painfully in my chest. Tony's hand gently gripped my shoulder and I clutched it, drawing strength from him so I wouldn't fall apart. Our boys sat silently staring at the floor.

"Our baby is strong. She's going to be alright."

"But what if she isn't?"

"We can't think like that."

Someone cleared their throat and we looked up to see an officer standing in front of us.

"I just have a few questions."

"Alright."

"Did you see the person who shot your daughter?"

We both shook our heads.

"Do you have anyone who would target your family?'

"We don't live in the best neighborhood but we stay out of trouble. I'm a mechanic and my wife is an elementary school teacher. We're just doing what we can to provide for our kids and keep them safe." 

Tony laughed quietly.

"Did you know that before this happened we thought it was fireworks? Our daughter was shot and we thought it was fireworks."

The officer nodded, smiling sympathetically

"We'll do everything we can . . . for what it's worth, I'm sorry for what you're going through."

We thanked the officer and waited for the doctor or a nurse to come out and let us know what's going on, but knowing that even if the people were caught and even if our Nikki survived nothing would be the same.