u/marisaonfilm

hi everyone! my incredible co-writer and i wrote a story together for our university's news publication about the American Outlaws Miami chapter (which is the city i live in) and thought about sharing it on here. it was such a cool story to put together and i hope everyone enjoys reading it!

in May of 2014, my paternal abuelo passed away when i was nine (turning 10 less than three months later). ​for many years, he dealt with heart issues that he had surgery for in 1996 when my cousin (dad's nephew) was a couple months old. he, my paternal abuela, my parents, my brother, and i had gone to a Miami Heat playoff game and he passed ​in the middle of the night. my parents got the call during the lunch after my cousin's baptism that he had passed of a really bad heart attack that killed him in his sleep.

around 3:30 AM the night my abuelo passed away, i woke up because i felt like i was being watched. i look at my door, which was open, and saw him standing there. i was very confused because he and my abuela were at their house. i got up from bed, walked over, and said "ito, what are you doing here?" (ito is what my cousin, brother, and i used to call him)

when i reached out, he suddenly disappeared. freaked out, i went back to bed and went under my pillow. my parents didn't tell my brother and i he passed after they got the call and told us the next day. i asked what time he died at. they said 3:30 AM.

it's been 12 years since this experience, i turn 22 in a month and four days and i still haven't told my parents. ​i want to tell them but do not know where to start.