It all started February 23, 2006. I had been anxiously awaiting the end of yet another grueling day of the second grade.
The intercom buzzed into the room, everybody quieted, like the teacher had us practice, "Yes?" said Ms. N.

"Ms. N can we please have Sally Santiago to sign out?" questioned the soft spoken receptionist.

My heart filled with joy as a quickly gathered my belongings, for it was my birthday and the fun was just about to begin. My friends, Rachel and Laura, escorted me out to the car line where my parents waited for me with huge grins on their faces. I waved goodbye to my friends and hopped into my car.

When we arrived home, I found my first birthday surprise on my mahogany night stand. Two marvelous baby sea turtles peeked out across the room from inside the fish tank. Their bodies were green lime olives and their appendages had a much darker brown hue. One of the turtles lounged around on the floating island, under the shade of an artificial, pint sized, palm tree, while the other glided through the water effortlessly. They were beautiful.

Soon my little sister was back from day care and she tip toed in, presenting me with a homemade birthday card. I could tell she was trying to admire my new gift so I invited her to get a better view.

"Pretty," she exclaimed, "Can I name one?"

I reluctantly agreed. I let her name the lazy one, of course. She decided to call it Wellwo, which I believe translates to yellow in English, considering the fact that she was three and often confused yellow with green, and had a slight speech impediment. I had already known the name for mine though, Crush. Finding Nemo was my favorite movie, so there was absolutely no hesitation.

No more than a month later, I raced home excites to feed my turtles, the newness had not wore off yet, only to find Crush lying on the bottom of thank unresponsive. Hoping that he was only sleeping I tossed a couple of flakes into the tank, still no movement from Crush. I rushed in a panic to my mom.

"Mom," I said nervously, "Crush isn't moving."

I could sense she knew something was wrong by the look on her face. A few minutes later she was trying to explain to me that Crush had moved on to "Turtle Heaven".

Ten months later, on January 27th, my mom had another child. I remember dad taking her to the hospital that Sunday night and him, my sister and sitting at the dining room table brainstorming ideas of baby names the next morning, my mom on speaker phone. I remember at one point throwing out the suggestion of Lindsey Lohan!

All of the sudden my favorite show came on Nick Jr., The Shannah Show, with a smile on my face I blurted out Shannah; not really expecting it to be a real option. My parents instantly fell in love and knew it was "the one". I felt so proud!

Two days later, when my parents picked me up from school, there was a new addition to the back seat, Shannah Marie, my new baby sister. I don't remember much after that, because on about two weeks she would be back at the hospital.

Seizure. That's the word my dad kept repeating to himself in the car that morning on the way to school. His usually loving, energetic voice was now filled with worry and fear. I was scared. Scared because my dad, who wasn't afraid of anything, was scared.

That afternoon they forgot to pick me up from school. They had never forgotten before, and I was terrified. When my mom finally arrived, was practically in tears. All she kept doing was apologizing for not being a good enough mother. What was she talking about? I didn't know what was happening but I knew it was serious so I reassured her that it was okay.

She dropped me off at home with my grandma, who I had been spending a lot of time with lately, and headed back to the hospital.

When my parents sat me and my sister down after school on March 1st, I could sense that something was wrong. They tried their best to explain to use that she was going to die, and there was nothing we could do to fix that. She was dying from an airborne disease she acquired from my turtles. They tried to explain that everybody leaves and that God does it to save them, but I was nine. I had just turned nine; I didn't understand what was going on, or why everybody was so on edge. However, one thing I did realize was that I would never see my sister again.

Even though I was only in the third grade I made a connection with the fact that it was my fault. Everything I name dies. Not only did I kill Crush, I killed my sister. I learned the hard way; I'd rather the things I love have no name.