The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond XXX

Juliani Nerio
Mr. Alas, Teacher
Our Lady of Guadalupe RC School, Belmopan, Belize
It was a Sunday night when my mom told me that I would have to sleep
alone. I said okay, but I was scared of the dark. My mom gave me a night
light to help. When I was going to plug it into the outlet, my sister screamed
and scared me. The light fell on the floor and broke into two pieces. I told
my mama that it broke, and my mom said I was going to sleep in the dark,
because there were no more night lights to make me feel comfortable. My
mom asked my little sister to sleep with me, but she was too little. That night
I was still scared to sleep in the dark, so I hugged her all night long. That
night was the longest ever.
The following morning, we went to get a puppy. Now that we had a puppy,
I could sleep well. Finally, it was night time, and my sister, the puppy, and
I were ready to sleep. I lay down for a couple minutes, and I started to feel
sleepy. Suddenly I heard a big, scary noise in the room. I woke up and saw a
shadow. I screamed so loud that my parents came to see what happened. I
was not able to speak, and I was shaking. I thought I saw a ghost. I have always
been scared of ghosts. My mom sat on the bed with me and taught me to
pray. She said that praying makes her feel better when she is scared.
I still feel fear of the darkness, and to me every night is like a punishment,
but puppy and my sister keep me company at bedtime. The darkness of the
night is not my friend, and one night my parents had an emergency. My mom
was very ill and needed a doctor, but she was not able to drive. My dad said
mom needed to go to the hospital but kids are not allowed, and my dad said
I needed to be a good girl and stay with my little sister while he took my mom
to the hospital. I started to cry, because I was afraid to stay home alone. That
night was so silent.
Before he left, Dad said there were no ghosts, and that the puppy would
protect me. When my parents went to the hospital, we locked ourselves in the
room. I was scared, but I remembered what my dad told me, so I had to be a
brave girl for my mom. I was waiting for my parents; my sister fell asleep. The
night wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. Two hours later my parents came
home, and they were proud of me. That night I realized that nights aren’t that
bad. I was proud of myself. Now I have the courage to sleep in the dark alone.
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