At some point, I heard my dad’s phone ring. It was loud and close by. He was out in the hall. Dani and I froze, thinking we were going to get caught for playing after bedtime. But then he shouted, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!"

We stopped playing and stared at each other. Something was terribly wrong. My father wasn’t the kind of man to raise his voice. When he got angry, he got quiet.

The phone rang several more times after that, and each time, my father's voice grew louder. Dani and I crept to the door. I put my hand in hers. I was scared. I knew something bad had happened.

We heard the front door open and close. We snuck into the hallway, hoping my mom had come back early. But my dad was talking to the neighbor, a woman by the name of Mary Carpenter. She put her arms around my father. He was shaking.

I started shaking, too. Dani squeezed my hand. "It's going to be okay, Brynn," she told me.

I cried in response.

That’s when my dad saw us.

"You’re supposed to be in bed," he said, tears in his eyes, as he walked toward us.

"What's wrong, Daddy?" I asked.

He dropped to his knees and opened his arms, taking both of us into his warm, safe embrace. "It will be okay. You need to go back to bed. I have to go out for a bit. Mary will stay with you."

"I want you to stay, Daddy," Dani said.

"I'll be back soon," he promised. "Take care of Brynn."

"I will," Dani replied, always happy to be in charge.

"I want to go with Daddy," I said when he walked away.

"You can't," Dani told me.

"I want Mommy," I added.

"Me, too," Dani said, meeting my gaze. "But we have to be strong, Brynn. We can't cry. Let's go to bed."

We went into our room. Instead of getting into her bed, Dani got into mine. I needed her near me, because the fear was overwhelming, and I didn’t want to be alone.

As memories of the past swamped me now, I felt tears gather in my eyes. I'd never seen my mother again.

For almost a week, Dani and I thought our mom was just delayed in New Orleans because of the horrible storm that had hit the city. Eventually, we'd been told that our mom had been caught in the hurricane, and that she'd gone to heaven.

I hadn't known what that meant. I just knew she wasn't going to be around anymore, and nothing would ever be the same.

I was right. Our lives changed drastically after my mom passed away. My father withdrew into a sad shell. He hired a nanny to take care of us and buried himself in work. Dani and I were the last people on his mind.