As they pulled my mother out of the house, the SWAT team tore apart the whole house. They started in her room, cutting up the mattress and ripping up the rug. I knew what they were looking for, but I didn’t understand why they had to break everything.

We had to leave the house for the time being and my sister had to gather things for me and the baby. The police searched everything we had, including the diapers.

I was still wearing my red dress, but I no longer felt happy about it; they could have ripped that up too. My sister changed me, as a police officer stood behind her, making sure we weren’t hiding anything.

I peeked over my sister’s shoulder and stared at the policeman as my sister slid up each of my pant legs. How could he ruin our home and take our mother?

I whispered to my sister so he couldn’t hear, “What is going to happen to us?”

~

When my sister was done dressing me and gathering stuff for the baby, we walked down the hallway and past my mother’s bedroom. I peeked in to see the mess that was left behind and hopefully find a chance to spot my red dress.

I knew my mother told me I could wear it after school, but she never laid it out for me. I stopped to think when was the last time I actually saw the dress; I don’t think I have worn it since the first day I got it.

At first I was upset and tears started to come to my eyes. I don’t know if it was for the loss of the dress or my mother, who I was sure by now was on her way to the county jail.

But I know that when my mother said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be home soon,” I believed her. This wasn’t the first time my mother was arrested.