Yingting Song

Professor Howard
ENGL 101A
February 11, 2016
Memoir Final draft
Things went terribly in September. I could never forget that day. It was the midnight of
September 19th. My stepfather and my mom were fighting in the living room on the first floor
and I was staying in my bedroom, which is on the second floor. I was so afraid, because he yelled
at my mom so loudly that I was worried that he would hurt my mom, so I came out of my room
and stood behind the stairs to make sure that he didnt do anything bad. When I was standing
behind the stairs, I saw Mr. Cheng pushing my mom down the stairs, and then my mom slipped
down the stairs from the first floor to the basement. It happened in a sudden and made a terrible
noise. I was totally in shock at that time, and I rushed at my mom to see if she was hurt badly.
My mom hurt her head and blacked out, so she couldnt move. However, Mr. Cheng still wanted
to shake her and let her wake up, so I went back to my bedroom and called 911. There were three
policemen coming to our house and they helped me to call an ambulance to transfer my mom to
the emergency office in Germantown. At the same time, they arrested Mr. Cheng at that night.
My mom and I went back home from the emergency office at about 4 AM. I was so tired that
I fell asleep soon. But when I woke up, my mom told me that Mr. Cheng came back to our
basement, picked up some of his clothes and left. I was worried that he left something bad,
therefore I went to the basement and checked if everything was good there. But I found two big
black backpacks. I opened the backpacks, and there were over 10 guns inside. I had never seen
so many guns before, so I was terrified and called the police again. I wanted them to take away

the guns. After checking for couple hours, they found there were 5 real guns, ten more fake guns,
as well as two boxes of real bullets. The policemen took all the real guns away, which made me
feel a little bit better, so we wouldnt be afraid that Mr. Cheng would use the guns to threaten us
again.
My mom met Mr. Cheng four years ago in Maryland, and they got married soon after. I didnt
come and live with them until I decided to start studying in U.S. Before that I was studying
abroad in Lambton college, Ontario Canada. When I was still a freshman in Canadian college, I
already knew that the U.S had better education and excellent Universities, so I planned to
transfer to a college in the U.S. Also, since my major was business, I always wanted to enroll in a
prestigious business school. University of Maryland came to mind and I knew that I could enroll
there by way of Montgomery College if I maintained excellent grades. Then I told my mom and
Mr. Cheng about my decision. They were really happy and welcomed me. After my application
was accepted by Montgomery College, I moved from Canada to the U.S and began to live with
my parents. This unbelievable and horrible story happened on September 14 th, 2015, which was
only one month after I came to the U.S.
After this tragedy happened, police told me that I needed to go to the Montgomery County
circuit court and apply for the protective order for my mom and myself. This protective order can
protect us from Mr. Cheng. With this order he couldnt get close to us or hurt us anymore.
However, I had never been to a court before, so I had no idea about how to write all those
documents. Luckily, Montgomery Countys Victim Assistance And Sexual Assault Program sent
us a free attorney to help us with our case, so we got our temporary protective order smoothly.
Mr. Cheng was so cunning, even after he knew that we already had protective order, so he
couldnt go back or get close to our house anymore. When my mom and I went back home, we

found his red Hyundai car was parked only 100ft from our house, so we knew he was still
stalking us. My mom couldnt mentally recover after that horrible event, and neither could I. I
couldnt even sleep at night, because I was so afraid that he would break into our house again.
Even when I tried to close my eyes, the nightmare would always come into my mind. I started to
use the sleeping pills to help me to fall asleep smoothly, but still it had some bad effect on me
that I always felt too drowsy to do anything in the morning.
I was so stressed out and exhausted during that time, so the Montgomery County sent me to a
therapist. Her name is Patricia Waldron. I had to meet her once a week. Shes a really smart lady.
Instead of asking me about what happened in that night, she asked me about my study and career
goal. It was a really smart choice, because it wouldnt remind me of my terrible story again and
again. She advised me to find something that would distract my attention, so I could get away
from the horrible nightmare. Then I found when I was concentrating on my study, it could relax
me and keep me away from the bad memory. I started to spend all day in the college library and
focus on studying.
The Canadian college I attended was a party school, and I was not a really good student there.
Instead of focusing on my study, like all of my friends in Canada, I liked to make new friends
and go party with them. Of course, I didnt study well in that college. Yet after I started to study
hard in Montgomery College, I realized I was so immature and irresponsible before that I didnt
even make any study plan or career goal for myself. Even though I already chose the business
major for myself before, only because of the good pay in this field, but not because I was
interested in what I was learning. I was so lost and had no idea about what I wanted to do in the
future.

The college midterm was coming and I would have five tests in one week. I had so much
work to do in that weekend. It made me really tired and stressed out. Because I was exhausted
during that time, when I went to sleep I could fall asleep in a sudden. Just like magic, I didnt
take any sleeping pills, but I got over my sleeplessness issue. I think that school work cured my
sleeplessness.
For the domestic violence case between my mom and Mr. Cheng, they chose to write down a
legal agreement between them. After that, they separated and we moved out of our house.
Luckily, Mr. Cheng didnt continue to stalk us or try to harm us. Even ever since then, Mr. Cheng
wont be able to financially support us, we need to make a living by ourselves. But Im not
depressed anymore, because I have the capability to face stress and overcome challenges.
Now one year later, when I look back on this devastating experience, Im feeling so grateful
that I can experience this at my age. Also, I was so proud of myself that I got through all this,
including my family issue and my school work. Also during that semester, I maintained the good
grade and got GPA of 4.0 at the end of that semester. And because of this experience I have made
myself a career goal. I want to go to law school and be an attorney who can help others just like
others helped me.