It was a Saturday morning. El cielo estaba nublado y 
como siempre, no tenía nada que hacer. I dressed up in 
all black con mi suéter negro y mi windbreaker negro. 
Me salí de mi room walking through the hall of my 
house pensando en qué iba a hacer todo el día. Me paré 
enfrente de la sala for a few minutes just watching 
TV. I left my house y fui a la casa de mi amiga Ana. 
Once I was at her house, Ana asked me if I wanted to 
go to Magda’s. I said, “Why not? Let’s go.” Yo no 
sabía lo que me esperaba.
Cuando llegamos a la casa de Magda nos subimos a su 
cuarto. Ella nos preguntó si queríamos tomar tequila. 
Ana dijo que sí, pero yo no dije nada. We waited until 
Magda got dressed. I was just sitting down en la cama 
mirando para todos lados preguntándome ¿qué estoy 
haciendo aquí? Pero luego pensé que era mejor estar 
allí que estar en mi casa. Magda le habló a otras 
amigas para decirles que si nos querían acompañar. 
Después, we went to their house by the Discount Mall. 
Then we all went to Longs. At first I didn’t know why 
we were going there, but then I found out why.
Mis dizque amigas y yo entramos a la tienda a buscar 
las botellas de tequila. Cuando decidieron cual 
querían, nos salimos de la tienda y le preguntaron a 
un señor, que ni siquiera conocían, que si les 
compraba una botella de tequila. The man said, “Yes.” 
After we got the bottle we went to Verónica´s house, a 
friend of Magda’s. Verónica y yo fuimos las primeras 
que nos servimos. Todas se nos quedaron mirando. 
Verónica me dijo que me lo jugaba a ver quién se la 
acababa primero. El vaso estaba lleno de tequila. Yo 
le dije que estaba bien porque no quería que me 
empezaran a decir cosas, like what a chicken or qué 
mensa. Yo me tomé toda la tequila en un solo trago.
A few minutes later, Verónica’s brother came home and 
we all went running to her room. When I got there, I 
didn’t feel so good. I sat down on the bed and looked 
outside the window. The rest, I don’t remember.
When I finally opened my eyes, I thought I was in 
heaven. I saw a white ceiling and asked myself, “Is 
this what heaven looks like?” I pinched myself to see 
if I was dreaming. Then, I saw a nurse walking through 
the hall. I was nervous and didn’t know what to do or 
where I was. I looked at the clock next to me and 
thought about my family. I said to myself, “They 
probably don’t even care where I am.”
I slept for a few hours. When I woke up, I saw my 
sister and her boyfriend standing in front of me. I 
didn’t really care if they were there or not. My 
sister and I have never been close. I went to sleep 
again. 
When I woke up, a nurse told me my mom wanted to see 
me. My mom came into the room and started crying. She 
wasn’t mad, only sad. The doctor told her that I died 
and they had to bring me back to life. This was the 
first time I had heard this. Later, I found out that 
my blood-alcohol level was so high they had to pump my 
stomach. Mi mamá y yo empezamos a platicar sobre lo 
que había pasado. Después de un tiempo, yo le empecé a 
preguntar que por qué no tenía tiempo para atendernos 
a mí, y a mis hermanas y hermanos, que por qué nomás 
tenía tiempo para mi hermana mayor? Como siempre, me 
dijo que no era cierto, que a todos nos trataba igual. 
De todo lo que hablamos esa noche no le creí nada. 
Knowing this made me wish I was still dead. 
After the day I got alcohol poisoning, my life changed 
dramatically. Now I don’t care about a lot of stuff, 
like whether my mom pays more attention to my sister. 
And I don’t care about my sister. I care about myself 
and my boyfriend. Ya no trato que mi mamá esté 
orgullosa de mí. Porque sé que nunca lo va a estar, 
aunque tengo buenas notas y voy a la escuela todos los 
días. Yo pienso que mi hermana me odia sometimes, 
because I don’t make the same mistakes she did—such as 
having a baby at a young age. I am going to graduate 
and go beyond that. Mi hermana nunca va a llegar 
adonde voy a llegar yo. Antes, yo lo hacía todo por mi 
familia. Pero no apreciaron lo que hacía para que 
estuvieran orgullosos de mí. Now, everything that I do 
is for me and my boyfriend. Sometimes, I wish I was 
dead. But most of the time, I thank God for giving me 
another chance.