I can’t believe this is happening.

My own child.

A criminal.

My sweet innocent baby girl.

Being escorted out of the court room.

I remember her first lesson in my beat up Honda civic. She barely even made it up to speed. So nervous... So cautious… So careful…

And the first time she saw an animal crossing the road in front of her. She cried because she only just stopped in time.

I’ll never forget how the second that she got her license she picked up her friends and visited every fast food chain in the city.

I swear I never even saw so much as a scratch on her car. Never once crashed. Never a speeding fine. Nothing. The perfect driver.

I still have a hard time believing the police officers that came to the house that night. The entire night seems like some figment of my imagination. My little girl could never.

I couldn’t stop asking them how.

How could my little angel commit such a terrible crime? How could she take a life as innocent as her own?

“Angela was operating the vehicle with a blood alcohol level of 0.19”

No. Not my little girl. Never. She knows better.

“She hit the other vehicle head on, travelling at speed on the opposite side of the road”

No.

“It appears she swerved at the last second, saving herself, but killing the other driver on impact.”

Not my little girl.

“Angela Martin, the jury found you guilty of manslaughter…”

I can’t believe this is happening.

“…sentence you to 5 years in prison…”

My own child.

“Case closed.”

A criminal.