contents - Gallatin School of Individualized Study - New York ...

diomaris sierradiomaris sierra Persevering132A Time I Was Frightenediread The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in my English class. It’s a story about ghosts,fear, deception and running away. It made me remember something thathappened to me when I was a young girl. I was frightened, and it has followedme all my life.When I was 12 years old, my sister Silfa and I visited our half sistersin Najayo. When we went back home, a man followed us. We were very afraid.We walked quickly. The man walked quickly, too. He went ahead of us. Then hestopped in a place. After we passed him, he walked behind us. We walked fora long time, and he did, too. We were crossing a bridge to arrive home, and hecaught me. He put his arm between my legs. He lifted me and put me on the wallof the bridge. We were crying and hit him.My mother heard us crying and calling her. She ran, looking for us. Theman left, running. My mother hugged my sister and me, and we all went home.Then my mother asked who he was. I didn’t know where he came from.My sister answered, “He lives near my godfather. He is the son of Fidel,my father’s friend.”Then my mother, my sister and I visited Fidel. My mother explained thesituation to him. He said, “This is a big problem and a very delicate situation.But the girls are fine. It is better for them that it stays a secret between our twofamilies. If other people know, they will gossip about them. But I will punish him.”My mother understood and left him. We went home, and she told us totake it easy and everything would be all right. She never spoke about that again.Then my mother moved our family to San Cristobal, a big city.This story was a terrible experience for me. The man had planned toviolate me. He went unpunished.In that time, the crime stayedsecret, and my family left theWe walked quickly.The man walkedquickly, too.