My mom’s yelling at me over the phone while I cry hysterically. Frozen in fear, like a scary scene you would see in a movie. My mom tells me to run. That’s exactly what I do. I run barefoot on the wet chilly, road for my life.

I would go to my grandparent’s house every Wednesday since basketball started. My mom bowled on Wednesdays and my dad was in Iraq at the time. My mom would be gone for awhile at night bowling so she didn’t want me home so late alone. I never really got to see my grandparents either so we thought it was good to see them at least once a week. This was the first Wednesday I didn’t have basketball practice or a game though. With nothing planned that Wednesday this would be the first time alone with my grandpa.

Grandma asked me if I was ok with staying with my grandpa while she was bowling. Of course I said yes; he’s my grandpa and I trusted him at the time. Who wouldn’t say yes? Before grandma left she told me to make sure grandpa didn’t drive his truck because like usual he was drinking. As grandma was walking out the door my grandpa got weird and something wasn’t right.

My grandpa asked me over and over again if my grandma left until I finally said yes (because she was pulling out of the driveway). Then I sat on the couch. I was thinking grandpa was acting weird because he wanted to drive his truck. He sat on the couch right beside me. He was trying to hug me but it felt like he was trying to put his hands down the backside of my pants. I got up and was confused; I couldn’t possibly think my own grandpa would try to touch me like that. I second guessed myself though and sat back down. After I sat back down he was tell me everything is going to be ok and tried hugging me again. That’s when I really knew he was trying to put his hands down my pants. I felt disgusted and so confused.

I ran outside to the porch not knowing what to do. My grandpa wasn’t too far behind. I was really upset and so con fused. When I was on the porch I was telling him to leave me alone and to go to bed. I just couldn’t think what to do. Eventually he did go to his bedroom. As I think about I now I think he only stood by the door instead of getting in bed. Either way I ran inside grabbed the phone and called my mom.
As I ran back inside the house and grabbed the phone, I went straight into the spare room closet because by memory I knew that the closet locked from the inside. I called my mom from in the closet and asked her what grandma’s number was because she just left about ten minutes ago. I could tell my mom was worried. All I could tell her was that grandpa was being weird. She asked me if I wanted her to come get me and I told her yes. Why I was talking to my mom though all I could really focus on was my grandpa yelling at me to get out of the closet and pounding on the door.

I ran out of the closet not having any idea what I was going to do at the time. As I ran I could feel my grandpa trying to grab me but I pulled away from his grasp and got away. I ran out the door, down the steps, to the other side of the fence between the road and the house.
When I was on the other side of the fence I was shivering. My shivering was like when you hear nails on a chalk board. I felt like that all throughout my body. My grandpa was on the porch again. He was asking me what I had done. What I had done? He must have thought I called the police or something. I called my mom again to tell her to hurry. I just wanted to go home away from there. My grandpa went back inside the house again and I figured he went inside to grab the other house phone. But no, my grandpa came back outside, I knew the second I saw him point something at me through the dim light that it was a gun. I was frozen with fear and still on the phone with my mom. I told her that he had a gun and all she told me to do is run.

I ran for my life to my grandparent’s neighbor’s house and knocked frantically on their door. I was freaking out. As soon as the neighbors opened the door, all I could tell them is that my grandpa had a gun. I was still on the phone with my mom, I told her I was safe and she told me she was almost there.

My grandma arrived first and went to her house, straight for my grandpa. My mom showed up just minutes later and came right to me. I was crying my eyes out. My grandma came over not much later and asked us what was going on. She told us that my grandpa had a gun in his lap. That’s when I knew with no second guessing that he pointed a gun at me.

After all that we went to the bowling alley. There was friends and family that I could be with. I didn’t want to go home and feel unsafe. I knew that if I went home my grandma would have showed up and want an explanation. We went to the bowling alley though and I just acted like nothing happened and played around. Until my cousin David showed up.

He didn’t come to see if I was ok, he just came for an explanation. I really didn’t want to talk about it though. I just told him what mainly happened; he was being weird, I ran off to the closet, called my mom, ran outside, and then he pointed a gun at me. I didn’t talk to him since.

I had school the next day and it was hard. I just didn’t want to talk to anyone or hangout or anything. My teacher Ms. Lewis noticed this and asked me what was going on. I wanted to tell her but I wasn’t sure how or if I was supposed to. I didn’t say anything but that something was going on.

My mom went to the school that day to give me my backpack that I forgot. She also went to the counselor and told her that I needed to talk to her. The counselor called me down to her office and I told her what went on the night before. That’s how the story about my grandpa got out.

The next thing I know I’m telling Deputy Sheriff Cortani and my lawyer Ann what happened to me. I wouldn’t tell anybody that my grandpa tried to touch me though. I’m not sure why but I was really embarrassed about it and it was weird to me.

When court was finished, my grandpa was found guilty and sentenced four years three months in prison, just for the gun charges, not for the sexual assault. It was good to hear that he was guilty though for something. His prison sentence didn’t last too long though. In the first week in prison he hung himself in his jail cell. When I first heard it I actually felt bad, thinking it was my fault. Now getting older I know that it was his own guilt that brought him down.

This adventure was a tragic one to go though for a nine year old girl. With my grandpas death though it makes life easier, he would be out of prison by now. What he did was terrible but I am a stronger person then I would have ever been. It really gets you to think that you don’t know what happens in life and the people you trust most could be the most dangerous.