Home Invasion Robbery - Part 2 - Loss of Innocence

(What follows is a blow by blow account, from  my son's perspective, of what went down the night of the invasion...from start to finish. He would never be the same innocent child afterwards. A cautionary tale for anyone who believes they are safe in their own home...)

It was a balmy evening in May. As usual, the Northern California nights had become hot and muggy. Those who had air-conditioners used them as springs' barometer for-told a scorching summer to come. 


My husband Nick, had custody of my 10 year old son, Joshua, on this night. Though he had an air-conditioner, he chose to leave the front door open, with just a rickety old wooden screen to separate my son from the chaos that was swiftly approaching, albeit, unbeknownst to them.


I had warned Nick: "When you have Joshua, close that fucking front door. Use the air-conditioner, you effin tight-wad. We're talking about the safety of a kid, our kid!" Nick never was a very good listener...(if you sense anger in me towards my ex-husband, you are dead, bang on).


As I've said in Part One of this Blog series, the neighborhood that Nick lived in was notorious for all sorts of crimes. Drug dealing, prostitution, gang 'activity,' drive-by and random shootings, and home invasion robberies, but all 'that' had happened to 'other' people, it had missed us...until this night.


Nick was watching the end of the NBA Playoffs, as usual, and it was time for Josh to go to bed. It was approximately 9 p.m.. Joshua's bedroom light was on, as he was getting ready for bed. Once finished, he asked his father TO CLOSE THE FRONT DOOR. Nick told Josh to get into bed, and that he would be with him in a few minutes. That decision would forever change Joshua's life.


The clock having been set for disaster, it exploded without warning:


The sounds of heavy footsteps were heard by Nick, storming up the switch-back wooden front stairs. Both he and Joshua said the noise was 'paralyzing.' Time slowed down. They were frozen upon hearing those sudden, violent thundering footfalls. The skin on their bodies became moist and prickly with heat. Heart pounding. Breathing rapidly. Their amygdalla's were working at full throttle. #Fight or #Flight reaction had immediately set it. That reaction is much different for kids, than adults. Kids feel completely helpless. Adults, we feel completely helpless to protect our kids. It's a no-win situation that would later drive father and son apart for over the next five years. 


In a New York Second. BANG. Nick's up off the couch and reaches the front door in time to close it on the arm of the Skinny Guy who was randomly firing shots, trying to hit Nick. 


All the time Nick had to help Joshua, before he rushed to the door, was to motion for Joshua to hide. Josh went into his bedroom. The door was wide open and his lights were on. 


Back at the door, Nick didn't know it yet, but there was a second perpetrator, (heavy set), behind the first. The second one pushed from behind, over-powering Nick, and forcing their way into the home. They are wearing dark jeans. They have dark masks on. They are wearing T-shirt #Hoodies. Other than one being skinny and the other 'fat,' they were indistinguishable and indescribable. 


And they have guns.


THEY ARE IN.


Ten at the time, and equipped with any survival skills we may have taught him, Josh was crouched on his bedroom floor and saw these guys pistol whip his dad. There was blood on the walls in the entry way. There was blood in the living room. There was eventually even blood in the kitchen. Think of it: Blood, yours and a strangers, all over your home and you have no weapon. Your kid is home. You are powerless. Stop for a moment, close your eyes, and pretend it's you, not an action flick on Pay-Per-View.


Joshua told me that they were yelling something to the effect of, "Get down, get down! Where's the fucking money, man? Get down! You got it! We know you got it here." (frm. Joshua's recollection. Nick remembers very little of the conversation and his version, at time's contradicts Josh's. Such contradiction are normal in a eye-witness accounts of crimes). 


Joshua backed up around the end of his bed, and saw these men drag his panicked, pleading, weeping, bloody #Father who was under the complete control of these men with guns. Let me tell you something about your kids: They think, up until the early teens, that their parent's are pretty invincible. A parent's always 'in control.' This is natural for children as at Josh's age. He still had a notion in his innocent mind that 'dad' could protect him from anything; he was completely safe when he was with him. And kids SHOULD be able to BELIEVE that about their parents. I believe it is a right. But too often might wills out over right... 


Joshua became aware, again instantaneously, that his father could not help he through this horror. His dad was incapacitated and, obviously in complete control of these men. So, Joshua said that he crawled all the way around his bed, away from his bedroom door. He crammed himself as best he could, under his bed, which wasn't very high off the ground. It provided minimal cover. 


There were some dirty clothes, and towels by that side of his bed. He used these to cover himself up with. And remained motionless. Not frozen, he says, but, as he puts it, "I felt too alive to move." 


Nick had told these guys that he had some money in the kitchen. He actually did. So, The Fat Guy stayed with him in the kitchen while Nick got the money, and The Skinny Guy went to roam around the house...


Fuck. He walked into Joshua's room. Stood there with the rifle and looked around. The Skinny Guy said that he had the money. And the guy left Joshua's room.


They fled the scene. End of story. Nick got a few stitches. Joshua was 'unharmed.' No one died.


Happy ending, yeh? Let me tell you something, my heart friends: You can reset a broken leg; you can sew up a cut; you can bandage a scuff; you can even, sometimes,allay those night tears.


How do you bandage a wound to the mind? 


For children with wounds to their minds...There are worse things than death. 









(to be continued in Part - 3)