A Real Life Nightmare
By: Danyelle J Lieneck

The full moon lit up the water that night. The water was calm and there was not another boat in sight. As my parents, my sister Brianna, my friend Alissa and I traveled home from Fire Island; there was not a sound except for the engine of the boat running. As I looked up in the distance I saw a light and kidding around with Brianna and Alissa I said, “hey look a UFO” and they both laughed. All of a sudden I heard a bang. I closed my eyes and grabbed onto the pole right next to me. The boat was spinning; I heard screaming, and my Dad say something. Then everything came to a sudden stop; I got up and looked at the horrifying scene that surrounded me. I saw my father pulling himself up onto his seat, his eyes swollen shut, blood pouring down his face; he was confused and incoherent. Next to me was my mother, grabbing onto the side of the boat, her arm only attached by a few pieces of skin, her flesh cut open, her bone sticking out, blood pouring down from her face. My friend was screaming and I quickly snapped at her to shut up. This was not the time for her to be acting like this.
There was an even bigger problem then the bloody scene around me; everyone was accounted for except for my sister. I looked around and realized that lying on the floor underneath the canopy that used to be the top of my boat was my sister, motionless and decrepit. I immediately went to her side and lifted off the heavy canopy and pushed it away. She was face down and there were no signs that she was breathing; knowing CPR I knew that there was not much time if she had a chance at living. I slowly lifted up her body; it was all dead weight. I gently turned her over so that she was lying in my arms. When I looked down at her I couldn’t help but cry. This was not that active, crazy, little girl I came to know, this couldn’t be her.
I checked for any signs of life. There was no pulse, she was not breathing at all, and I couldn’t even hear the faintest heartbeat. I slowly laid her down on her back and tried to administer CPR but when I went to give her mouth-to-mouth her lips were flaccid and flabby so it became impossible. Then I felt something wet on my hands, I brought my hand to my face and realized that it was drenched in blood. At this point I knew things were a lot worse then I thought. There were blood bubbles began to come out of my sisters nose, ears, and mouth; it was the scariest thing I have every seen. I could not smell the seawater anymore, I could only smell blood, and it surrounded me like the water that surrounded my boat. Brianna’s skin was cold and her body was extremely wet which made me think.
I stood up and looked at the huge gash that was in the side of my boat and the water slowly seeping in. I looked down at my feet and noticed the boat had already taken on a few inches of water; we were beginning to sink. At this point I didn’t know what to do. I returned to my sister and held her in my arms and began to cry, begging God to save her, begging for help but I knew it was useless. My mother came to our side and she had taken a pretty bad hit to her head. She didn’t know what was going on. She thought we were on the dock and that my sister was my cousin and kept screaming my cousin’s name. My father began to lose consciousness; his face looked terrifying, he didn’t even look human. Finally after what felt like days another boat pulled up beside us and tied us to them so we would stop sinking.
There were three men on the other boat. They all looked disheveled and their boat smelled of beer. I asked them if they knew what had happen and they shook their heads no. The three men on the boat were really no help at all. They didn’t help my parents; they just looked away, and would not look me in the eyes. Eventually they ended up asking me if we had a radio board.
I rudely responded, “Do you see the shape of this boat? Even if I did know how to work it, do you think I would be able to find it in this mess?” They had to be kidding me, asking this question. I was pissed. Eventually they got their radio to work and put in a distress call. One of the men went to shoot off a flare but on the first try he burned himself, on the second try he shot the flare straight into the water, finally on the third try he successfully got the flare to go up.
My friend had gone into shock at this point and she just sat in the corner, crying and staring off into space. My mom was losing a lot of blood something had to be done. I took a towel that we had in one of our bags and tightly wrapped my mom’s arm in it to try to keep a constant flow of pressure. My sister had still not shown any signs of life and now her skin was now blue. When I went to see if her eyes were dilated, her pale green eyes stared back at me with a terrifying look. Thank god, help finally came because at this point I was ready for a complete nervous breakdown.
My sister was first to be taken off the boat, then my father, and then my mother. My friend and I were left alone, no parents, and no family. By this point my boat was falling apart so we were forced to go on the other boat that had attached them-selves to us. Oddly, this boast no loner smelt like beer but smelt of ammonia, and was exceptionally clean, but at the time I had other things to worry about. My friends and I were taken away by a police boat and brought to the hospital, different from where my family was.
After a night full of tests, tears, and confusion, I was finally able to go home. I went and slept at my grandparents’ house and passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow. I woke up and my whole body ached, I didn’t even want to move. As I looked up I saw my nanny standing over me, tears filled her eyes. I knew what this meant, she didn’t have to tell me; my sister was dead. I just kept screaming “no” over and over again while tears poured down my face. I didn’t want to believe this! She was only eleven, I was only thirteen, and this is not how it was supposed to be. We were supposed to grow old together, hang out together. This wasn’t fair; she was so young and had so much going for her, why her? It just made no sense.
That wasn’t the only news I receive that morning. I also founded out that we were hit by another boat from behind, but not just any boat. The boat that attached themselves to us and told me they didn’t know what happened. I also found out the driver was drunk but he got off; the administered a blood alcohol test (BAC) seven hours after the accident happened and he had traces of alcohol in his blood, but Suffolk country didn’t want to spend the money to do the stimulation of what his BAC was at the time of the accident. My whole world was in pieces, and to top everything off both my parents were in the intensive care unit (ICU) and they didn’t think either one would make it.
My father now has twenty-seven titanium plates in his head, and suffers from brain damage. My mother has limited use to her right arm and has a disease in her face due to the injuries. Both my friend and I are emotionally damaged from the accident. We also have hip and shoulder problems; and my little baby sister is no longer with us. This is something I will never forget! It plays like a broken record in my head. If you get anything out of this at all, just remember to cherish your family and don’t take anyone or anything for granted.