Letter to My Father
by Ana Vallejo from Brooklyn, NY
You are in the hospital again. Once again the paranoia had you thinking my grandmother wants to poison you. You couldn’t sleep. Sleep is so precious for our fragile minds. Around 11pm you went to my grandparent’s room and told them you weren’t feeling well. My grandmother decided it was best to go immediately to the hospital. She wanted to make sure you went willingly. She says calling the doctors to force you is too painful, that only the people who have been through this understand.
My 77 year old grandmother spent the night sitting on a chair while you were on the hospital bed. You were too sedated to sit straight so my grandparents had to give the bed to you. They tell me you will be in the hospital for a week. I hope you are calm, I hope you are not scared. I suffer at the thought that you are all alone. I want you to have a decent life. My grandmother says that at the hospital you told her you were sorry, that you won’t stop taking your medicine anymore.
