It is a warm June day, don’t know precisely what day it is as I have lost count of my days. The situation is getting better but there is not much hope. Nothing goes on here in Berat. No one works, talks, or does anything anymore. You can only hear Kalashnikovs being fired. I am sick and tired of this. When is the government going to do something about this. It is complete chaos. The daughter of our neighbor got killed because of  bullets rushing down from the air. What the stupid “gang members” do is that they fire bullets in the air for fun, but they do not know that those bullets are coming back down. Poverty is widespread in its maximum, people barely have food to eat. The situation is depressing. Our country, our city, our people are being controlled by greasy-haired, leather- jacket-wearing, ignorants, who have nothing else to do. Since the pyramidal schemes fell there has been nothing but chaos and poverty. I don’t blame the people for this revolt, but I don’t like that they are taking control. It is insane, people lost all their money, and on top of that the gangs are killing for fun now.  This is unacceptable I can’t let my family down, we have to escape to Greece. I have arranged with a friend of mine to escape tomorrow. I know it will not be easy but I need to do something as I am the man of the house now. I have to stand up for them.
I return home and pack my things, I tell them, “Get ready because tomorrow at dawn we are leaving”.
My mom and my dad stay silent and quickly rush to their room. But I don’t worry about them I worry about my brother. He is 13 years old and is a little overwhelmed. I don’t blame him but I feel bad for this tragic period he is going through, he should not have to go through this at such a young age.  For the moment it is going to be too much for him but he will get used to it. We can’t stay here anymore. I don’t feel safe keeping my family here, as the man of the house I can’t protect them here, it’s a messed up environment. I try to get some sleep as tomorrow we leave when the sun sets. I check that everyone is ready to go as we don’t have time to waste tomorrow. We are going to Saranda. My friend Gesti has a friend with a boat. He is going to take us there. He is taking us as he knows roads where we can avoid the checkpoints of the Vlora and Berat gangs, because they steal all the cars they see.  I go to sleep and try to get some rest.
Tomorrow I wake up the time is 4:30 and I rush to wake up my family. I then pick up all the money that we have left in the world, about 900 Euros.We then leave at precisely 4:40 and head to the beginning of the Berat road where Gesti is going to pick us up. He told me to look for a black Benz E class 1982. By 4:50 we are at the beginning of the road and he is still not here. My heart is beating very rapidly. Did something happen, was there something wrong? When he arrives I am relieved. This day has not started well, and I am scared or maybe I am paranoid. I do not know how to feel because I am the with all the responsibility.  We quickly get in without making noise and leave without anyone seeing us. When  we get in the car I calmed down, my  nerves relaxed but I know we have a long way. 
I hear Gesti telling me, “Wake up, wake up.”
I wake up immediately and ask him what is going on. It appears nothing was going on we were stopping for some gas, which was another horror of its own. The gas station was empty nobody there. We were praying that there was some gas left. Without the gas we could not reach the Greek border. Me and Gesti go to check for gas and there isn’t any. I get nervous as it is too silent and we had no way of getting far enough. The Greek border was at least another 100 kilometers, and at least some more gang stops on the way. Gesti proposes that we drive for as long as we can and stop at the next closest gas station. There was only one problem with that, the Altin Dardha gang might have a checkpoint before the nearest gas station. Just as we leave we see 2 cars heading towards us. They were four greasy heads and it seemed as if they were coming towards us. They were definitely gang members.
They are shouting, “Get out of the car, get out now, all the money you have give them too me or we are going to blow your head off.”
  We get out and all four of them get in the car and just head off. We were probably  the first car of the day to go through that road. They had stolen our car and all our money. We were stuck in the villages 15 km away from Gjirokaster, where we could find somewhere to stay and go back to Berat. Very few Taxi’s operated and no one would leave the city as they were afraid  their cars. The situation had become very bad.  What were we going to do we are in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing but barns. Gesti calls a friend but he is not willing to help he doesn’t want to drive out of Berat he says it is too risky they might steal his car as well. This is what the gangs would do, they would steal anything that came upon them. They are dangerous ignorants, with a lot of guns.  What would you expect from them. We start walking towards Gjirokastra but I know that will bring us no hope.
We walk and walk and come upon 4-5 “gangsters” driving slowly. They were shooting in the air outside of their windows. Seems like they were drunk. This did not make me happy. I had a bad feeling about this. We try to hide in some bushes along the road before they see us. They were shooting in the air like mad. They go by and we continue walking. I feel something's not right. I am really scared of those gunshots. So many bullets were shot up, it is crazy. They might have shot up at least 10-20 rounds up in the air. Now I see them coming down. 
I shout madly, “Get down get down.”
They were coming at as if it was an asteroid shower. They would not stop, they were all over the place. My heart was beating so hard, I was hoping so much we would be safe. After all it is my fault we are here. After 2 or 3 minutes the bullets stop rushing at the ground, and I stand up. I check that everyone is ok. Thanks god we had all avoided them. We are lucky. I tell Gesti to call his friend immediately so we go home. This trip was a mistake. Gesti says that his friend is coming.  All of sudden I feel a sting in my head. With my body out of control I also fall to the ground. I could not get up, I had no ability of feeling anything anymore. My head aches but it is not that I am worried about. I have no control of me anymore. I try to reach  my parents and my brother but I can’t. I try to move, talk, shout but I am unable. I lose my sight, and am completely numb. I am in complete silence. My life flashes before my eyes, but I still can’t feel nor hear anything. I lose my vision, everything is dark. Was I shot, did a bullet rush back down? I had done this to myself and my family. How was supposed to protect them when I could not protect myself? Tears rush through my eyes as I say goodbye…...