Now I know how strong I am

Now I know

how strong I am

D. Castellanos

The writing process in Soy Autor evoques an authentic experience of self discovery. The following piece is the result of the collaborative work between students and teachers to find the hear t of the story, through the publication of their first illustrated Memoir.

With the support of:

Ahora sĂŠ que soy fuerte

Now I know how strong I am D. Castellanos

One night, I was sitting on a chair watching the sky. The sound of the dogs barking was the only sound that broke the silence.

I, deeply in my heart, felt that something was about to happen to me. I felt guilty.

I heard three knocks on the front door. So I quickly went to my room to hide.

I knew I would get in trouble!

“Come out into the living room, don’t be afraid,” my father said.

It was the police. They wanted to inspect the house, because they suspected of me. I went out to the linving room. When the police officers saw me, they quickly pointed their gun at me and shouted:

“Get down!�

I was immediately tightly handcuffed.

When I got into jail, I realized that there was no turning back, I would no longer be with my family.

I also imagined I would never see the sun again, because life behind bars is hard. Sometimes the temperature in the cells was too high.

And sometimes the guard forgot to get food for us.

A few days later, they took me to the court for the first audience.

I was told that I would go to the juvenile detention center for six

months.

The first time I entered the assigned sector, I suffered a nightmare.

It was one of the most traumatic experiences in my life; I felt as if an earthquake passed over me,

as if a

hurricane had dragged me to the

depths of the surface.

I felt like exploding in anger.

It was like a horror movie, and time did not pass by.

Months later, they picked me up from the detention center with a

freedom letter.

Only then, did I feel so happy!

I felt like a lion they had just set free because the most wanted day had come:

meeting my family again.

The days I was in my house I enjoyed my family the most I could.

I helped them make the beds, wash the dishes, the toilet, and clothes, etc.

One day, while we were enjoying a comedy movie, when a messenger got to the house and rang the doorbell.

My father, still laughing at the movie, walked to the door to receive a letter from the court. While reading it, his face instantly changed and with a nostalgic tone said:

–Son, it says you must show up to court tomorrow.

When I was introduced to the court, some policemen walked towards me; Tying my hands, they handcuffed me again.

When I felt the handcuffs, I felt a shiver as if I had been given a cold bath. I felt it was unfair to be handcuffed, because I no longer owed anything to justice.

I tasted freedom and they brought me back to this place of confinement.

It’s been a year since that day that I came back, since they cut my wings again.

Another 9 years will pass so that I can go home,

watch TV with my dad, sleep with my wife and

watch my son walk.

Every day I ask myself the same question: “What are they doing right now?”

I like to think they miss

It is for them, that I want to see life differently.

me.

I immerse myself in the seas of letters that books give me,

I get involved in anything I can,

I go to school, I to to church,

I learn from my friends.

I dream on the day when I can be free again. I want to show my son that I am a good man, with an honest job, and able to live for him.

Always looking forward.

My name is D.A. My Family name is Castellanos I gift the story of my life in the form of a book to the world sometimes we young people think life is easy.

I realized that mistakes must not be done because those mistakes can get you to a life imprisoned between four walls.

I’m afraid of losing my family afraid that something might happen to my wife and kson I grew up in a community full of problems and among a family as beautiful as a rose garden.