Amelia Juarez, Bonita Springs FL

            I am going to try and right my story but don’t be surprised if it isn’t done vary well. I only went to school until 5th grade.  I was 10 then and I am 15 now.

            When I was 11, I was at school one day when the fire alarms starting going off.  The principle said on the loud speaker that everyone had to go to the gym and that there wasn’t a fire and we were having a lockdown.  Mr. Bradley, my teacher, told us if we had our phones to take them with and we got in a line and walked to the gym.  No one knew what was happening and some of the teachers and kids were crying.

            When we got to the gym we all sat in the bleachars waiting for them to say what was wrong.  Nobody knew there were aliens yet but they said that there were all kinds of fires in Miami, Orlando and Jacksonville.  My mom and dad worked in Miami and I tried to call them but my phone didn’t work.

            My sister Kassie also tried to call them and our grandma but her phone didn’t work either. Kassie was at school with me because she was in grade 10 at the same school. We never found our mom and dad or our grandma after that one horrible day.

            After a while at the school some people’s parents came to pick them up.  Also a lot of teachers were leaving to find there kids and wives or husbands so after a few hours there weren’t very many kids or teachers there.

            Kassie and I ended up going home with Bill and Todd Wilson who were our neighbors. There mom said she cheeked our house and no one was there and we would spend the night at there house.  We drove to there house and ate dinner but Kassie and I were crying all the time because we wanted our mom and dad.   It was very scary because that was the first night with no lights and we had to stay quite because all the people were screaming in the streets.

            After that night, somebody who works with my dad told Mrs. Wilson that our mom and dad and all the people in Miami were probably dead.  We were very sad and cried a lot when we found that out.  Until then we had thought that they would be home any second.

            It was very crowded at the Wilson’s so one night Kassie and I snuk out and went to our house.  It was very dark and smelled bad because the fish were all dead in there water.  We took our stuff and put it in bags with pictures of mom and dad and desided that we should try and go to Bonita Springs to find my Aunt Shelby.  We started walking and some lady told us to go back home because it wasn’t safe.  Kassie told me to hide in the woods until it was day time and she was awake all night to make sure no one came.

            In the morning we walked and walked and then we found an empty car on the road and there was a guy with gun dead by it.  Kassie told me not to look and to get into the car and shut my eyes.  She went over to the drivers side and got in.  Kassie found the key in the car already and turned it on.  I was vary surprised because Kassie was only 15 then and did not have a lisents yet but she said that the polese were to busy fighting the aliens to worry about a lisents.

            Kassie already new how to drive a little because my dad was teaching her before.  We drove to my aunt Shelby’s house and started to cry when we got there because she was there and we were so happy she was ok.  She had heard that everyone from where we were died and she wasn’t sure where to look for us because someone had cheeked our house for her and told her it was empty.  She was very sad that her brother who was my dad was not alive but we were happy to be together. 

            We lived with Aunt Shelby after that.  There were many scary times like the time that we saw her poodle, Mimi, get eaten by one of those aliens right in our yard.  The alien was very scary and we hid under the table.  It came by the window and licked the glass with its black tongue and its eyes were red.  We were sure it was going to break the glass and kill us but then Uncle Joey, who we didn’t know yet, came out of his house next door and shot it and it flew away.  The house was empty before that and Joey was just there looking for water.  After that he came to live with us and fell in love with Aunt Shelby and then was our uncle.

            Uncle Joey went to the school one day and took a lot of old books and brought them to the house.  Aunt Shelby had tried to teach us all the things we needed to know but was too afraid to leave the house accept for food so she never thought to get books.  Now everyday we have school here with Jill and Carmen and Alex who live by us.  It is hard after so long but I am starting to remember how to do math and I like to read.

            Someday soon I hope we have real schools again.  I would like to be a doctor or a teacher someday so I hope I can learn everything to do that.  Kassie says she wants to be a dancer.  She was a vary good dancer before the aliens but only can dance by herself in the attick now. I hope that someday everything would be like before again.

Date Retreived: 12-4-2022
Date Written: 12-3-2022

Location: Bonita Springs, Florida. 

Other Notes: This essay is part of the AIR Emergency Education Project, which is attempting to collect information on how children were affected by the crisis and how local communities are educating their children with no public education available.