The Men in Black: A Memoir

A short memoir for the January session warm-up of the K12 HS Creative Writing Club.

I remember the sky was gray, a dreary time in February. Everything was quiet, in that sense of routine kind of way. Dad was at work, like he usually was in the morning. Nothing seemed out of place; but it would take only a moment, a single nick in the routine fabric of our neatly-knit lives, for our entire world to unravel.

Our mother was doing her laundry, watching her last bundle of joy as he snoozed on blissfully, no one expecting the commotion that would come.

I remember the look on the tall man's face. The men in black had come to take us away. Why did that man smile at me? It was not a nice smile. It made me boil to see his smugness, as tears stains crawled down my mothers cheeks.

She packed our bags as she cried, that man still smiled at me. I remember thinking to kick him, I was short enough to hit him in the shin hard enough. Did he think it was funny to make her cry?

I didn't understand why we were leaving. I didn't want to go, especially seeing how it hurt my mother so. But the men in black said we had to go.

They took us in a white van, to a place we didn't know.

The men in black took us from home.

Author's Note

This is just a short memoir based on a childhood memory. I am in the process of making it longer, possibly to be a short story instead of a little snippet. That will be a personal project though.

Reviews and ratings are welcome.

Reviews

[Summer D.]

It was like a ditty, but the choice of language didn't take away from the sadness of the memoir. Very well written, it made my eyes sting thinking about this. I wish my piece was a bit of a more powerful memory. I can't think of one... as powerful.. when I was between 5-9 years old... Honestly.. I admire your courage. :) Well-written!

[Desiree S.]

Nicely done, Teralyn! I would love to see what happens next for this project of yours! :)

[~Dragon X]

Sad. :( I very much like how you made it seem like the main character was telling the story :D How she didn't know what was happening to her, where she was being taken...
Where was she being taken? Write! XD

[Veronica Lynn]

This is really good!

[A. L. Allen]

This is so sad. D: I can definitely feel the confusion of a child in this; not understanding the often bitter world of adults.

This is nicely written. I did see a few typos, but they can easily be fixed with a re-read.

Great job!