There was so much Blood

*As a warning, this is going to be a lengthy post and there are some parts that are graphic*

Man…where do I even begin?

More Apartment Complex Drama:

It’s been a very long night and I don’t know that I’ll ever forget last night. I have a heavy heart this morning and I’m still not sure the drama of last nights events have ended.

Apartment living always has its drama but things have gotten really bad around here lately. Cops are here more frequently than the mail lady…ok that might be a bit of an over dramatization but they are here way more than they should be! It reminds me of when I was living in Madison Heights, a suburb of Detroit and it was common to hear police sirens but I’m in freaking Gaylord, a small Northern Michigan town…this isn’t normal. At least it isn’t supposed to be normal but it’s becoming a regular thing hence becoming pretty normal.

Normally when cops come or an ambulance pull up I’m like oh brother what’s going on now and piss and moan about everything and complain about how this complex is so bad to live in. Not last night. Last night it was a relief to hear the sirens, see the cops race in and come to a screeching halt.

Fireworks:

Before this incident happened I was awoken at a little after midnight because of fireworks. Yes fireworks. The morons that moved a couple doors down from me (to the right of me) lit them off Thursday night & I didn’t say anything even though it was around the same time & midnight is NOT the time to be doing fireworks. Last night it awakened me and I was ticked. So today I’m placing a call to my landlord to let him know he needs to put a stop to it because I won’t put up with it. After they had their fun, I fell back asleep but it didn’t last long.

Blood…lots of it:

I was awakened a little after 2am by screaming. Not just pissed off fighting/yelling screaming but high pitched shrieking. It took me a couple minutes to crawl out of bed and “gather” myself. It was coming from Caleb’s friend D’s moms apartment. She lives about 6 or 7 doors down. Let me stop here and say please forgive me for all the complaining I did on Twitter last night about these two 9 year old boys getting on my nerves. I am thanking God that D was here at our apartment and not at his.

Unfortunately the whole family has issues and there are many times Caleb isn’t allowed to play with D, be near their apartment because it’s just a situation I don’t want my son around. Caleb just got back from his dad’s yesterday and I was planning on a nice quiet evening just the two of us. He asked if D could spend the night, I said no. A little later he asked again, I said no again. A little later he begged for D to spend the night and I said yes this time. There was a reason that Caleb kept asking and that I finally said yes because God knew that this little 9 year old didn’t need to see it…unfortunately his 8 year old sister was home & had to see it all!

D’s older brother (who is also a D) is 17 and he slit his wrists. I don’t know what events led up to this, like I said this whole family has issues and the mother did some jail time last year for stabbing her boyfriend. He was recently released from jail or a detention center in December. Anyways…after he slit his wrists he began running up and down the sidewalk and through the parking lot. She (the mom) was screaming, he was yelling and all hell was breaking loose.

The commotion came to an end, in front of my apartment. He slumped over and sat long enough that she was able to get ahold of him. She was screaming help so I didn’t hesitate to go out there. (It amazes me all the people that want to stand around being nosy wondering what’s going on but won’t jump in when someone screams help). I wasn’t prepared for what I saw (and at 2 something in the morning it’s not exactly light out but thanks to all the porch lights that are always on…it’s supposed to be a security thing & we can’t even shut them off from our apartments…I saw too much).

I have never seen something so horrific in my life. She was covered in blood – it was caked all over her face, her shirt was soaked, it was on her shorts. And at first I couldn’t tell where he was bleeding from because there was so much blood but when he moved his arms I saw it…as it squirted from his wrists. I think the sucking in of breath and yelp came from me but I don’t know. I was too stunned to pay attention if it was me making any noise. I remember asking her what I could do & all she said was please don’t let D (her youngest son that was at my apartment) wake up & see this. (how the boys slept through it all I’m not sure – they did have Caleb’s radio on plus 2 fans so I suppose that was noise enough to drown the drama unfolding outside out)

As I heard the sirens I remember sending a quick prayer up to God and the tears falling down my face.

He freaked when the cops pulled in, pushed his mom away, got up & took off running. It didn’t take the cops long to get to him because he collapsed on the grass across from our apartment complex. By the time he was put into the ambulance he was unconscious and not breathing. I came inside, checked on the boys and just stood there for a minute watching them sleep. Suddenly I saw life in a whole new perspective.

The Aftermath:

I went to D’s apartment (I know I shouldn’t of left the boys here alone while I walked down to their apt. but I couldn’t not go check on D’s sister either!) to see if his sister had someone there with her and I was sick to my stomach to see the pool of blood in their entryway and on the porch outside. And I couldn’t believe this little girl was there through this and looking at the same thing I was looking at. There was someone there with her already but I can’t explain how I just had this urge to pick her up, wrap my arms around her & whisk her out of there. It was a somber walk back to my apartment and I couldn’t stop thinking about why this 17 year old would want to take his life.

Later (6:30am ish)

I must of finally fallen asleep on the couch watching TV because suddenly I was being awakened by a knock on my door. I opened it to see D’s mom standing there. Older D is alive and in surgery. He received several blood transfusions but the major concern was sewing his left hand back on his wrist. He cut it so bad that it was actually dangling from his hand. He severed all the tendons, muscles and arteries in that wrist. The other wrist was cut but not nearly as bad.

She asked me to please keep D for the day until she could get back home or send someone to get him. I told her to please not worry about it and just let him stay here until whenever. The hard part is going to be keeping D from going to his apartment and going inside. She said they had just dumped bleach water all over the pool of blood in the entry way and outside on the porch but it still isn’t something that she wants D to see. If D sees that he will freak out and when he freaks out he goes into fits of rage which end up sending him into seizures.

I won’t ever forget the horrific events of last night. Sleep eluded me for a long time after I saw all this. I closed my eyes only to have everything replay over and over. The thought of closing my eyes just wasn’t an option anymore. It was like de ja vue back to 1995 when a major event happened in my life, the event that started my years of sleepless nights and being afraid of the dark. But even though this event was so different and one that didn’t involve me or anyone in my family it now ranks right up there along with the incident I went through way back when.

More drama to come?

I can’t help but think that the drama isn’t over. What’s going to happen to this family now? Will the older D be released back to her or sent to a mental institution? What’s going to happen to little D that has idolized his brother since he came back home only a couple months ago? What’s going to happen to the little girl (who is also a D) that was home and had to see all this? What’s going to happen to the mother?

I can’t stop thinking of all these things. Suddenly this annoying little 9 year old boy that I’ve so often referred to as one of the neighborhood hoodlums (sp?) is seen very differently by me. So many things make sense now as to why he acts the way he acts. And unfortunately for my son he’s going to be required to NEVER go to D’s house, not even during the day. Caleb will only be allowed to play with D if D is down here. I just can’t allow my son to be in their house, out of my sight because I’m petrified of what might happen. And oh my god what if Caleb would of been there last night instead of the other way around and D was here?

I feel so numb right now. I’m dreading the fact that the boys will be up anytime now and I’ll have to keep them entertained and inside so that they don’t head down to D’s apartment. What am I supposed to tell D? How am I supposed to make him think everything is ok but not allow him to go near his apartment? I’m glad that D is here but I’m frustrated that I’m in this position of trying to make a child think everything is ok when it’s not & he’ll find out at some point today what’s truly going on. Ugh this just sucks.

Prayers:

This family needs prayers and lots of them!

Tish