It was a late crisp November night in Washington D.C. , my family and I were walking to a nearby metro station. We were coming from a football game with the victory by the Washington Redksins, our favorite team. My dad was in such a great mood considering he had a few beers and watched his team defeat our rivals. It was around 2 am, the metro station was empty, the guards on duty were nowhere to be found, and the last metro of the night was 15 minutes away. My sister and I were fatigued so we found a nearby bench to wait on. My family stood near us and an older gentleman came over with multiple bags in his hands and sat near me. 
The older guy proceeded to  pull out a poster paper and started drawing. Every once in awhile he would look at me and then draw some more. After 5 minutes he gave me the poster paper and it was a sketch of me. It looked exactly like me and I was amused by how awesome the sketch was. The older gentleman pulled out another poster paper and sketched my sister and then after he sketched my brother. He smiled at us and handed us the sketches to look at. We assumed we got to keep the sketches since they were of us and he handed them to us. 
The bell rings to notify us the last metro of the night was approaching. My family and the older gentleman were the only ones in the station waiting. My family and I gathered our things including the sketches and proceeded to the metro. The doors were open and everyone but my father got on to the metro. I turned around to see the older gentlemen yelling at my father, "60 bucks for the sketches man!". Confused, my father continues to state how the older gentleman gave us the sketches without asking us in the first place  if we wanted them and how we assumed we could keep them since they were of us. My mom held us back while we yelled to our dad to hurry up. The tone for the doors closing started to go off. There was no way my dad was giving the older gentleman $60 for sketches we didn’t even ask for. My dad started to walk to the metro and all of a sudden the older gentleman grabbed my dad's arm and pulled him close. The older gentleman reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocket knife. *Ding**Ding* the doors are closed. My dad did not make it. 
The metro doors were now closed. My father is held close to a complete stranger with a knife pulled on him in front of his family that are incapable of getting to him. My heart was racing, every vein in my body was filled with anger and fear. My mother was now crying and screaming, my brother was trying to rip open the door while my sister tried to get help. The metro started to slowly work its way of getting out of the station. The last thing I saw before tunnel walls was my father throwing his hands in the air and then it is dark. I felt helpless just standing on the metro knowing my father has a great chance of getting stabbed. Everyone was handling this situation differently. My mother was devastated, my brother was angry, my sister was crying, and I was completely silent, no emotion, nothing was going on with me, I felt empty.
The very next stop which was the last was ours. The metro stops and the doors open and we all immediately sprint to the exit. We've been to Washington D.C. multiple times so we knew where exactly we can find the metro station my dad was in. After running down a few blocks we turned a corner and there he was, my father. He was completely fine besides the fact he was in a life or death situation 5 minutes ago. He explained to us the older gentleman was homeless and desperately needed money. He had no right at all to threaten my dad's life just for a few bucks. Of course my dad gave him about $30 just to get the knife away from him and was able to leave. My dad left with no cuts or anything. He was okay. 
This situation was one of the worst things that happened to me in my life. I learned a lot that night. I learned to keep distance from strangers and do not accept sketches of yourself unless you have money to give up. I also learned that I am very thankful for my family. My dad was incredibly brave that night and I will never forget that. I will always remember that night.