In 1987 I had the worst experience in my life. Sometimes when I talk about it is very hard to go back and live that experience again.

Sometimes I pretend that was a nightmare, it didn't happen but it was real. Sometimes when I go back to remember I felt so helpless . . .

I saw how one of my neighbors was killed in front of me. Her name was Angela. She was shot in her head. I was watching everything. I tried so hard to help, but I couldn't. I just saw her fall down on the floor, and two of her daughters were crying and screaming for help. Everything happened so fast I was in shock because also I spent that day with her and my grandmother. She got killed in the afternoon around 5:30pm by another close neighbor named Chabela.

At that moment I felt helpless. I still don't know exactly what happened. Why did they start to fight? For so many years I looked for an answer but I couldn't find one.

I get so affected by that because some nights I dream about that and I wake up so scared and crying. Year after year, I try to forget it and think that it never happened and live my regular life like everybody else . . . .

Sometimes when I see the news, and they put a story on that is like my story or when somebody got killed, I start to feel bad and very weird. I hope nobody else has an experience like this, especially the kids.

That's my wish for this year.