One City One Story 2016 Writing Contest: \u201cA Vivid Memory\u201d<\/p>\n
2nd<\/sup> place<\/p>\n Category 3: Grades 9-12<\/p>\n \u201cDear Diary\u201d<\/p>\n by Jocelyn D. Chea<\/p>\n Grade 12<\/p>\n Blair High School<\/p>\n <\/p>\n May 9, 2005<\/p>\n Dear Diary,<\/p>\n I feel silly writing like this, but I thought since mommy gave you to me, I should write in you. Besides, I love writing. For some reason, through writing, I feel better. Though right now, I feel really scared and I have a knot in my stomach. Mommy and Daddy have been fighting a lot lately and it seems like they fight every night now. They\u2019re always screaming and throwing things and it always keeps us up at night. Oh and by \u201cus\u201d, I mean me and my two older brothers, Ken and Alex. My parents fighting isn\u2019t new, although the thing that\u2019s scaring me is that my brothers keep saying Mommy and Daddy are going to get a divorce. I\u2019m not really sure what a \u201cdivorce\u201d is, though it sounds really scary and my stomach doesn\u2019t feel good. It\u2019s 7:30pm right now and Mommy just came in and told us to get ready for bed. I guess I\u2019ll write in you tomorrow then.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n May 10, 2005<\/p>\n Dear Diary,<\/p>\n Today is Saturday and it\u2019s 10:16 am and this morning made me feel very strange. I\u2019m not even sure how to explain it, Diary, but I\u2019ll try as best as I can. This morning, I was woken up by the sound of something being thrown against the wall. I quickly got out of bed and ran to the living room to see what was making that noise. As I reached the end of the hallway, I stopped and crept slowly to peek over to see what it was. I saw our daddy\u2019s back and I came all the way out of the hallway. I could see him kicking and throwing our toys. I watched for a few minutes more and finally saw what he was doing. He stopped and turned staring straight at me, he looked so angry. He looked down at his feet and saw the Barbie doll. He kicked it to the side and told me to clean up or else he\u2019d throw everything away. He then walked out the front door and shut it hard. I already knew he was gone outside to smoke. Everything I had was everywhere. I looked around at the mess. I didn\u2019t know where to start. The messy living room looked like how I felt inside.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n May 17, 2005<\/p>\n Dear Diary,<\/p>\n I\u2019m sorry I haven\u2019t written in you for a while. There is just so much going on, Diary. I think I know what a divorce is. It\u2019s when a mommy and daddy don\u2019t love each other anymore and they live in different houses. Daddy had two suitcases packed with all his things yesterday and left without saying goodbye. I\u2019m not sure where he went. Mommy won\u2019t tell me. I really miss him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n May 19, 2005<\/p>\n Dear Diary,<\/p>\n You\u2019re in your new place today Diary. I decided to bring you to school today. Me and my brothers have been waiting for Mommy to pick us up, but she\u2019s running really late. All of the other kids have already left to go home with their mommys and daddys. The teacher said she was going to call Mommy, but that was a long time ago. I really hope that everything is okay.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n May 22, 2005<\/p>\n Dear Diary,<\/p>\n Mommy\u2019s late again today with picking us up. Mommy said that she\u2019s been very busy because she has to take care of \u201cbusiness.\u201d I\u2019m not sure what kind of business she\u2019s doing but I hope she finishes soon so we can go home. I\u2019m really getting tired of staying here after school. Diary, you won\u2019t believe it! Daddy\u2019s here. He just came through the gates. I have to go. I\u2019ll write in you soon.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n May 23, 2005<\/p>\n Dear Diary,<\/p>\n I\u2019m really sad, Diary. After Daddy picked us up yesterday, he told us that he wasn\u2019t going to come home anymore. But he did say if we got lonely, we could go visit him at grandma\u2019s house. I don\u2019t like it, Diary. Don\u2019t get me wrong. I love going to my grandma\u2019s house, but when Mommy comes to pick us up, I feel sad. Usually whenever we get out, Daddy brings us and we go home together. Now he doesn\u2019t. On the drive home, I asked Mommy why Daddy doesn\u2019t come home. She didn\u2019t answer me and the whole ride home was quiet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n May 30, 2005<\/p>\n Dear Diary,<\/p>\n We went to visit Daddy again today, but he told us very sad news. He said that he was going to go to a very far trip by himself. He said he needed to do something in a place called Cambodia and that he didn\u2019t know when he\u2019d be coming back. I hope he\u2019s back for my birthday. It\u2019s only 6 days away. Usually he\u2019d be asking me what I want. Maybe he forgot?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n June 4, 2005<\/p>\n Dear Diary,<\/p>\n Mommy said I could invite my friends from school to my birthday party tomorrow. I\u00a0 asked her if I could invite Daddy to my birthday, too. I don\u2019t think she heard me, so I asked again. This time she heard me and she said she\u2019d asked. Diary, I\u2019m very excited. I can\u2019t wait to see Daddy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n June 5, 2005<\/p>\n Dear Diary,<\/p>\n Happy Birthday to me! My birthday party is already over, Diary. It\u2019s 10 pm and I\u2019m very tired from my birthday party. The party was a lot of fun. All of my friends came. We played lots of games, ate cake, and we got to hit the pinata for candy. Some of my cousins came, too, but I didn\u2019t see my daddy. When the party ended and everyone left, I asked Mommy where Daddy was. She said he\u2019d be here soon, but Diary, I\u2019ve been waiting by the door for what feels like forever. If he doesn\u2019t come home soon, his piece of cake will go bad. I hope he comes soon before I fall asleep. I want to tell him all about my party.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n June 6, 2005<\/p>\n Dear Diary,<\/p>\n Daddy didn\u2019t come yesterday. When I asked Mommy this morning, she said she didn\u2019t know why Daddy didn\u2019t come yesterday. I don\u2019t know why either. Diary, I feel very sad, but I\u2019m sure he has his reasons why he didn\u2019t come yesterday. Mommy says I\u2019m a big girl now sine I am 10 years old, but I don\u2019t feel any different. Diary, I\u2019m not sure that I want to be older. The future is scary. I\u2019m not sure what will happen tomorrow or the day after. The only thing I\u2019m sure about is of what happened yesterday and the day before. All I know is that I hope that Mommy and Daddy will stop being divorced. I really don\u2019t like not living with Mommy and Daddy.<\/p>\n
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