Ohana

    You may have seen my story before, through the eyes of another storyteller, but here I will tell you, in my own words, how my little sister and I stitched our family back together. I am Nani Pelekai, the eldest daughter of Makuakane and Makuahine Pelekai, and a determined defender of my family. 

A few days after my nineteenth birthday, my sister Lilo and I lost our beloved parents in a fatal car accident; that is where the story began when it was first told. The true story, however, begins before their death. Because my parents were good people and are a part of who I am. Makuakane, my father, was a kind man with a loud, infectious laugh. A hard worker and incredibly talented ukulele player, he made everyone smile. He had the kind of laugh that made even the worst day perfect. My father was the one who taught me to surf. I became one of the foremost surfers on the island, with shelves of awards left over from my years spent on the waves. 

My mother, Makuahine, was just as compassionate and loving as my father but nowhere near as loud. She was a quiet woman with a bite of sarcasm, always at the right moment. A great listener and an even better singer, she made every day brighter. She was the wiser of my parents and always knew the right thing to say. She was the one everyone went to for advice. When they were alive, my parents always told me how proud they were of me. I have often wondered since their deaths if they still would be. 

After their deaths, I had no time to grieve them. I had to take care of Lilo. Lilo was only twelve when our parents died, she needed me, and I had no choice. So taking care of Lilo meant saying goodbye to the surfing competitions and the possibility of college because I had to work. Between work and parenting, I had no time for friends. Poor David, my boyfriend, had been asking me out for years, and I never had time for him. Being a caregiver to Lilo is a lot to handle, especially with her struggle after the death of our parents. 

Lilo is an extraordinary little girl, the other children never understand her, and they mistreat her. I often worry about her naivety and inability to see that those children are not the ones she should be friends with and that she deserves better than girls like Myrtle. I remember the day she got into that infamous fight with Myrtle. Part of me blames myself. If I had only had peanut butter, maybe Lilo would not have been late, and maybe there would never have been a fight. 

I was so scared, terrified in fact, of losing Lilo after that visit from Cobra Bubbles. I should have been there for Lilo. I knew she was upset. I knew she had to have been just as scared. However, I let my fear get in the way. The fight we had that night was nothing new we had fights like that all the time, and every time I was left with regret. I was putting my hurt onto her. I will never fully forgive myself for that. 

Later that night, when I brought her dinner, pizza, our favorite, we did what we always did, we made up. Then, the shooting star came, and that is when everything changed. I heard Lilo that night, heard her wish for an angel, a friend. I thought a pet would be suitable for her. I thought a pet would keep her company. She would have something in her life that loved her back—a friend. So the next day, I took her to the shelter, and boy did that backfire. That day at the shelter, Lilo found Stitch.

I tried to talk Lilo into picking another dog, but, as usual, she was as stubborn as me and would not take any other pet. Stitch was strange, I did not know what he was, but I knew he was not a dog. So the night we got him, Lilo and Stitch were at the restaurant where I was a waitress for dinner. Stitch was already not acting like any animal I could think of; the way he looked and his mannerisms were all wrong. Then he attacked another patron at the restaurant. He put the customer's whole head in his mouth, which had devastating consequences for me. I was fired.

So I was jobless again, the last thing I needed with Cobra Bubbles watching me. I hid it from Lilo, but I was so afraid I would lose her, and on top of that, I had to worry about affording food, water, and electricity. Keeping Lilo safe and cared for was my only mission and purpose, and I was failing. I knew then that my parents would have been disappointed in me, and I certainly was.

To make matters worse, when he first walked into our house the night we took him home, he immediately began destroying things—ripping a pillow apart, dumping drawers, and scratching the walls. I told Lilo we had to take him back, that something was wrong with him, but then she used ohana against me, and that was that. So Stitch was here to stay. I was up late that night, searching for something to tell me what Stitch could be. There was nothing.

The following day, another nightmare, Cobra Bubbles, was back. He found out I had lost my job. He gave me till his next visit to get a job, or he would take Lilo, so I set out with Lilo and Stitch in tow to find a job. First, I went to a kind old lady who had posted a newspaper ad for an employee. However, Lilo and Stitch were dancing and crashed into her, getting her head stuck in a watermelon-no job. Next was a coffee shop, but Stitch's guitar playing literally shattered that opportunity by causing all the shop windows to shatter. I almost had the job as a concierge, but Stitch kissed a stranger and got us chased from the premises. Finally, I went to the beach hoping to get a lifeguard position, but Stitch became angry and attacked the beachgoers, so I had no job. 

The day had been an exhausting disaster, and I felt hopeless and terrified. Lilo and I sat on the beach, desperately trying to find a way to cheer ourselves up. Then, David came. He suggested a surf to get our minds off the day's disaster. That afternoon in the water and on the beach with Lilo and David gave me a glimmer of hope. I thought that things could turn around. 

Suddenly, while we were surfing, we were knocked off our boards. Stitch began to sink, and Lilo was being dragged down. David pulled her out, and I brought her to shore. Moreover, Cobra Bubbles saw the whole thing. He was coming back the next day to take Lilo. I would lose the only good I had left in my life. The only person that mattered to me would be taken away. Without my sister, my life would be empty. That night, I sat with Lilo in a hammock near our house. I sang her a song our mother sang to me—Aloha oe. 

I was up all night, sobbing; I felt helpless and alone. My baby sister would be stolen from me, and I could do nothing about it. I had failed. I failed Lilo. I failed my parents. I failed everyone I loved and cared for. I was beyond devastated. I lost all will and motivation. After a long sleepless night, I heard Lilo come down. She told me that Stitch had left. I had to try to explain what was about to happen, but how could I do that; how could I look my little sister in the eye and tell her that I failed her?

However, there was a knock at the door. It was David. He had a job for me. This was my chance to fix it all. I could get a job, and Lilo could stay with me! There was hope. I told Lilo to stay home and not to open the door for anyone. I promised I would be right back. Then I ran to the store to meet with the owner. The interview went well. I had the job, but as I was leaving, I saw a fire truck, it turned, and I knew where it was going. So I ran faster than I had ever run that day to get home.

When I arrived, Cobra Bubbles was already putting her in the car. I was too late. I tried to plead with him and tell him that Lilo needed me, but it was no use. However, when I went to say goodbye to Lilo, she was gone. She had disappeared into the woods; Cobra and I ran after her, searching the woods. I was running through the trees calling her name, desperately searching for any sign of her, when suddenly an enormous creature stepped over. 

He placed a capsule on the back of his ship, and that is when I saw her, Lilo, in the capsule with Stitch. Before the giant took off, however, Stitch escaped the glass pod. Only Lilo was taken. I tried to interrogate Stitch tried to find out where they had taken my sister, but I was interrupted by two more creatures. Just as scary as the first but nowhere near as gigantic. They captured Stitch and told me Lilo was gone forever. I fell to my knees. I lost her.

Then, ohana, one word, said by Stitch. He told me what ohana meant, "ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten." Then he convinced the two creatures to go after Lilo and bring her back. I did not know what these things were that I was dealing with, nothing about the ideal was safe, but none of that mattered. All that mattered was that Lilo needed me, and I would do everything I could to save her. 

So we climbed into a spaceship and took off. I held on to the seat as tight as I could. I was terrified, but I had to trust that Stitch could help Lilo. He was the only hope I had. What ensued following takeoff could only be described as a war. First, the two ships shot at each other, then the gigantic creature that took Lilo and Stitch were the ones fighting. Explosions happened, and Stitch was thrown to the ground and knocked unconscious. Then, after one final explosion, Stitch, carrying Lilo, landed on the hood of our ship. They were safe. 

Finally, our ship landed in the ocean, and throughout several trips from the ship to the shore on a surfboard, I learned what the creatures were. They were aliens. When we were all finally safely on the sand, Stitch was grabbed by another Alien. He was handcuffed and about to be forced onto a ship when suddenly, he asked if he could say goodbye. That day, Stitch said something that will always stick with me, "This is my family. I found it, all on my own. It's little and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good." then, just as Stitch was getting on the ship, Lilo pulled out her certificate from when she bought Stitch. 

From then on, Stitch was a part of our family, to live with us forever. Along with Stitch came Jumba and Pleakly, the aliens who had helped rescue Lilo. Stitch was right; our family was little and broken, but that day, my sister and I stitched our new, mismatched family together. And for that, I know that mom and dad would be beyond proud.