Get in the car, quick,” shouts their mother. Kattranece and her younger sisters jump in the back, and their mother steps on the gas. The shot came from another car that is now chasing them along the freeway and still firing shots at them. Suddenly Kattranece feels a burning pain in her chest. “Mom, it burns!” Kattranece’s mother realizes her daughter has been shot, but she doesn’t dare stop. In the end, she drives down a street full of people. The police come, and their pursuers give up.

Shot in the lung

Kattranece has been shot in one lung and nearly dies. She has to stay in the hospital for three months and have several operations before the doctors manage to get the bullet out. Then she has to go to court to testify against one of the men who shot at her. He’s a gang member and says he got the wrong person. They meant to shoot someone else.

Kattranece has to learn to do many things all over again, like talk, walk, and remember. It’s going well but unfortunately, the bullet wound has made her asthma much worse. This causes problems when she becomes homeless. After a big fight with their dad, their mother takes only what she can pack in a hurry and tells her daughters it’s time to leave. From then on, every day, they move to a new place. Kattranece thinks her mother did the right thing, but it’s hard when her coughing gets worse because of the dust, dirt, and cold in cheap motels, at shelters, and in cars.

For a few months now, the family has been living at a special shelter for homeless families. Kattranece’s favorite thing is singing. “I performed when the shelter had a picnic. I was nervous and once, I started laughing in the middle of a song. Afterward, I was happy and relieved. People said I was really good. If we find a place to live, I want to sing in a church choir again.”

Kattranece Fuguoa, 14

Lives: Shelter for families, South LA.
Likes: Writing songs and singing. Reading.
Listens to: Alicia Keys.
Sad: When adults fight.
Happy: When I sing and when I’m with friends and family.
Looks up to: My mom.
Wants to be: A singer, fashion designer or journalist.