October 25, 2007; that's when I realized that if I don't get closer to my sister, I could be too late.


It was 2:30 a.m. on a Saturday; I woke to my parents chattering loudly in the kitchen. “Why isn't she answering when we call her?” My dad asked. I couldn't hear the rest; all I heard was their muffled voices as they scrambled through the pitch black house. I opened one eye and lazily peeked around my room. Why is my bed here? Oh yeah, we moved it yesterday. I rolled my head on my pillow, and started fumbling with my sheets, kicking furiously, I don’t know why. I groggily sat up and fell out of bed. Crawling to the door, I stood up and lightly touched my ear to the cold white door, and heard the word accident, very clearly. I dropped to the ground with a thud, and then everything went black.


You see, I was 10 at the time, but I knew something was wrong. I realized that I passed out for a couple minutes. I slowly got up and tried to listen again, but the voices were too far to hear. I knew they were talking about my sister, Kim.

Ever since I was a baby, I got more of the attention and my sister got pushed out of the picture. My dad always spent time around me, since I was still little. He didn't do it on purpose, he never would do that to us, and neither would my mom. She loves us so much I can't even describe it. She gives us everything we could ever want and more, she's the mother any child would want to have. She loves us both equally and nothing can tear our family apart, even my sister knew that, but she still resented me. Since I was little, the attention was taken away from her, that's why we never got along. I spent years trying to figure out why she “hates” me. All I wanted was a big sister that would always hang out with me and love me like my mother did, even though she never gave me that as I got older, I still loved and cared about her.



I hear loud footsteps thumping up the old wooden staircase and as usual, I pretend to be sleeping. My mom came in and turned on the light, which caused me to twitch my eyes, since it was so bright. “Sammy” I heard my mom say. I opened up my eyes to see her face, wet from tears. “Something has happened to your sister” she continues, “Want me to tell you now, or in the car?” In the car?!?!? I thought, why the car!? I felt, huge indescribable knots growing in my stomach even before I got out of bed. I replied shakily, “Tell me now.” “She's been in a car accident. We need to drive to the hospital.” I rolled out of bed and tried to get dressed as fast as I could. I walk downstairs trying to process the hard truth my mom just told me. I ignore the never ending questions that pop up into my head and just worry about getting to the hospital.



We were on our way to St. Vincent’s hospital on the through way, in the dark again. I feel tears start to roll down my cheek and try to blink them back, but it’s hopeless. I needed to get there faster and see if she was ok. And yet I am dreading every second that goes by to see what she looks like. We arrive at the hospital 20 minutes later and rush to the Emergency room. I ran through the halls, my parents a blur behind me. My heart was racing around every turn of the hall I made. I could hear my footsteps very faintly, and everything else was blocked out. I tripped and fell, pain didn't bother me, I got up and ran again. The clock on the wall stayed the same; it felt as if time was frozen. I stared closer at the clock and saw a vision of the car crash. I stepped back up against the wall. What was happening? I continued running, everything and everyone continued to stay a blur. I found the room, number 35, I saw a bright light, and there she was.




My heart exploded with joy, I ran to her and hugged her. I had never felt such a real connection in her arms before, since I hadn't hugged her in a long time. I smelt her hair, smelling the shampoo she uses, Fructis. I started crying, again, because I felt happy to see her in one piece and alive. She only had a minor injury, a concussion, which was about the size of my fist. As I peered at it I noticed it was black and blue, she must have hit her head hard. Now that she was ok, we had to go find her friend that was in the accident with her, Kate. We found her outside in the hallway; we were surprised they didn't put her in a room! Her injury was worse than my sister’s; Kate was paralyzed from the waist down. Kim told us how this happened, it was a quarter to midnight and they were driving in the rain in Brooklyn. It was Kate's birthday and they just came back from a club. The rain got heavier and she was driving through enormous puddles. This time the car didn't grip to the ground, the car spun and they hit the guardrail 3 times. Kate did not have her seat belt on, plus had the seat all the way back. Kate flung into the back seat, which caused her to be paralyzed. My sister had her seat belt on, and had the seat where it should be. When the car jerked, that's when she hit her head on the steering wheel. If my sister hadn't had her seat belt on, she would have been dead.

We came home from the hospital that same day at 11:00 a.m., with my sister with us. I was pretty tired and hungry since I barely got any sleep and only ate a stale granola bar from the machine. I didn't care how tired I was or how hungry I was, as long as she was coming home with us alive.



2 years later, October 25, 2009, the same day it happened, Kate is almost fully recovered, it was a miracle. She managed to get around pretty well, and my sister and she hung out again. This whole experience that happened really changed my life because my sister and I never had been close. We still don't talk much, but when she says hi, it means the world to me. I can't refuse to say hi back, so I say hi and sometimes even start a conversation. This finally made me realize that we do need to start a real relationship before something happens like the car accident. I don’t know what I would do without her, she’s very important in my life. And even though we don’t hang out very often, it’s nice to have a sister, in case I need to come to her for help. As I get older I know we will form more of a relationship, but I can’t lose her now.

And you know what? Last month we spent 6 full hours playing my Wii, and that started the beginning of our relationship as sisters. She's the sister that I was born with, she's the sister that I will never forget, and she's the sister that I love.