The Terrible Day
by Maricela LopezOne of the most terrible days that I have experienced in my life was the fight when my friend was punched by another girl in the face. That girl almost destroyed my friend’s face which was badly swollen by the hard punches. After the fight I was so scared because I had never seen someone get violently hit by another person with a lot of rage. Later that day I felt so guilty because I did nothing to stop the girl from beating my friend badly. The fight had me frighten because I did not know what was going to happen. I wondered if I was next and really wished I had never seen what I saw that day.
After school when classes were over, outside the weather was very sunny and hot. Like any other day I walked to the library with my five friends Sandra, Elvira, Estella, Cynthia, and Aracely. We headed to the library to work on some English class project that needed to be done. Sandra and I were walking together, and we were talking about her sister. Sandra said “you know, Karen I am worried about my sister Elvira because she may be pregnant, and I don’t know what to do.” right about the time I was about say something to her, I glimpsed back quickly and noticed that some girls were following us, so I turned around and told her. “Sandra, I think these girls are following us. What should we do?” Sandra said “I don’t know.” After a few seconds, one of the girl started saying bad words to my friend. The girl was saying, “Hey, Sandra, you are a bitch. Turn-around I want to fight with you. Come on stupid Mexican, mojada, mother fucker. Why don’t you go back to Mexico? You and all your stupid friends?” The moment I knew that something terrible was about to happen if she turned around, I told her, “Sandra, don’t pay any attention to her. We are almost at the library. It is only one more block. Do not turn around- Sandra- that girl just wants to start a fight.” I knew that my friend was going to listen to me, so she never turned around. She told me, “Ok Karen let’s go”. We both agreed we would keep walking forward and not pay any attention to those girls.
However, I did not expect what followed next right after we thought we had avoided a fight. It only took a few seconds for everything to turn upside down. The girl grabbed my friend from her hair and started beating my friend’s face. My friend was slammed into the rugged cement ground and because she had her backpack on she could not do anything to stop the big, fat girl from beating her. My friend was small and thin compared to the giant ogre. Maybe if she did not have her backpack on she would have had a chance to defend her self; however the odds were against her, and unfortunately ended up in the hospital. At that moment, her sister and I tried to stop the big ogre, but the other girls told us, “If someone tries to stop this fight; you will be hit like your friend. Don’t try to interrupt my friend.” After they threaten us they started to laugh. I begged for mercy, I wished that someone would come and to stop these girls. I felt useless because I could not help a friend. After a few minutes, someone came and stopped the fight; the man took the big girl off of my friend because she was on top of Sandra. I quickly grabbed my friend, and covered her face because she was bleeding. Her shirt was dirty and ripped. I tried to cover her chest, and I was so nervous. She was crying and very upset because she could not do anything to defend herself. Before that girl left she told my friend, “If you want more let me know and don’t mess with my friends bitch”. After that, she left and she was laughing at her.
After the girl left, one of the persons that arrived at the moment took Sandra and me to Kaiser Hospital in Gilroy. I covered her face with my sweeter to stop the bleeding. She was so angry and desperate because she started to feel that her face was swelling and bleeding. She said, “Karen, what is going to happen with my face. My mom is going to get very upset when she looks at my face like this.” I said to her, “Don’t worry. The good thing is we are going to the hospital and you will be ok. Your sister is calling your mom, so she’ll be here any minute.”
When we arrived at the hospital, I told the nurse, “Please help me. My friend was hit. She is bleeding and is in a very bad condition.” Right away the nurse put Sandra in the room, and the other nurse called the doctor. Sandra and I were in the room. I cried we I saw my friend in her condition I did not know what to say or do. Sandra went to the restroom because she wanted to see her face. When she took off the sweater from her face I could not believe how she looked. It was not her because her face was very swollen. Her nose was so big like a lemon I thought it was broken. Her eyes were shut because they were swollen. She looked like she was from Asia. After she saw her face, she began to cry and she was saying, “Stupid girl. I will get my revenge from that girl. I do not know when but I will.” I told her, “Don’t think about this right now, the police will take care of her.” Sandra said, “How could you pretend not to think about this. Look at my face. It looks atrocious.” I didn’t say anything to her. After that, the doctor arrived to the room, her mother did too, so I left the room and let her mom to be with her. When I was out of the room, I did not know what to say to her father. He asked me what happened, so I told him everything I could. Then he said, “I don’t comprehend how a person can do this to my daughter.”
When her mother came out from the room, she told us crying, “Sandra is going to be transferred to the hospital because her nose it is broken; as a result, she needs immediate surgery.” Sandra’s mom was so upset when she told us. I did not know what to say. I felt sorry for her mother and father because they could not understand why this girl almost killed their daughter. After the police came they asked everyone who was present in the fight what happened. My friends and I told the police everything that we saw. We described all the girls and what they said. After that, we left home.
When I arrived at my house, I told my mom what happened with my friend Sandra. After that, I started to think why would those girls do as such as horrible thing? Why did she have a lot of hate for us, but especially with my friend? I did not understand why she hates Latin people if she looks like a Latin person. Maybe because she was born in the United States, and she spoke English; However, I still do not understand this hate between people. I believe no one deserves this kind of aggressiveness. That was that most terrible day I had experienced in my life.