The Experience That Made Me Who I Am Today

Some people let their past experiences shape them. Experiences that can either be good and bring out the best in them, or experiences that can be really traumatizing and can scar us with fear, depression, anxiety, and obsession. I too have an experience that has integrated into me and made me who I am today.

It all happened when I was 9 years old and in my country Pakistan. I remember that was the night when my uncle arrived in Pakistan, the night I felt scared to see 9 people with guns in my room.

It was a serene summer night of mid-March when I was standing at the airport in the middle of the crowd searching for a tall, bald figure with smiling eyes and a big mustache. After getting through the sweating crowd of people that were also looking for their loved ones. I reached the front with a perfect view of the airport exit line and walked out through those doors.

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I finally saw that figure I was searching for the past 3 hours. My uncle walked out pushing his cart with bags full of gifts possibly for me accompanied by a small bag which might comprise of his personal belongings like clothes. It was a momentous occasion for me as it was my first time physically meeting him. That was the moment I realized that he was not just a digital figure on my iPad, but an actual person with actual feelings. I saw him hug my mother and I saw them both shedding sincere tears of both happiness and longing, it was really a touching sight.

He then approached and hugged me, I felt happy and I could see he did too.

After the dramatic reunion of my mom and her brother, we loaded all the cases in our truck and started the hour-long drive home. When we were close to our home I looked in the rearview mirror and saw a single bright headlight. I turned around to find two men, their faces covered with scarves, driving right behind us, about feet away from our truck. They seemed suspicious as it was 3 a.m. in the morning and absolutely no traffic on the roads. They kept following us until we reached home after which they continue to drive their way. Since they were gone, I didn’t think much of it, and the fact that they were tracking down our residence was unknown to me.

We couldn’t sleep that night due to the excitement and ended up spending our time chit-chatting and catching up on 27 years’ worth of stories. Soon it was morning and our first day went like any other normal day, where we skip meals and stress out about our tough school lives, except for the fact that our long airport trip and us being up the whole night had made us all very tired. By the time the night moon and stars filled the sky, we were all soundly asleep. It was the best sleep I had in a very long time. I had no worries that night just peace, so I slept, excited to spend the next day with my uncle and thinking about us executing all the fun plans we made. I was so immersed in my pre-sleep thoughts and imaginations that I forgot to lock my room’s door. I woke up at about 4 a.m. at night to see three tall men, their faces covered, a rod-like structure in their hands following my mother to my uncle’s room. “Hmm, must be his weird old friends,” I thought but then my mom came towards me, shook me to my senses and whispered “go to my room and sit down on the bed” while she tried to wake my fast-asleep brother. Upon entering the room, I saw two more men of built with similar structures in their hands and their faces covered. Then I saw my dad and uncle, lying face down on the cool floor with their hands tied. That’s when it struck me, that the structures in their hands were guns and that we were being robbed. They sat down my brother and mother on the bed and covered my brother’s face with the blanket. Same was done to my dad and uncle. Surprisingly, and somewhat oddly I did not feel any fear as I saw them trashing my house looking for all the valuables we possessed. Instead, I felt a calm anger inside of me along with some worry and hope that they might miss my gaming consoles and laptop. My eyes were set on those items, and my mom’s huge jewelry box which had all the jewelry. Despite my attempts to save those items valuable they were stolen. After hours of searching and finding treasures, they covered us all under the blanket, locked us in my mom’s bedroom, and left. The noise in the house suddenly disappeared and there was silence. My’ mom unlocked the door and saw no one, so she signaled us that it was safe. The whole house was upside down, all the food items scattered on the floor, all the closets inside out. We alerted all our neighbors and called the police, hoping that we could get a lead on them, but we had no luck.

Once that was over, we went to stay at our relatives, changing place every few days so that we could protect my uncle and my brother, whom they threatened to kidnap. We came back home the day before my uncle’s flight back home. We met with all our relatives, who left their far away homes and came to take care of ours while we were gone. It was a sad and somewhat traumatizing event, but in the end, the warmness and the love I saw in my huge family was what made me think that we’ll be alright. After all, all’s well that ends well, isn’t it?

Works cited

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