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so this is the story i wrote for my narrative writing assignment in school. its supposed to be a short story, tho it was a little over 7 pages on microsoft word (i dont get the concept of short story) if you can think of a better title, be my guest. its kinda depressing *you've been warned*
“Okay dad, I’m leaving for school,” I shouted up the stairs. My dad responded with nothing more than a grumble. It makes sense since I was the only one awake at 7:45 in the morning, everyone else woke up around nine. Opening the door, I looked upon the horizon, it seemed the sun was just waking up too.
“Another wasted day at school,” I sighed. “Every day we go over the same annoying stuff, most of which we learned last year.” The morning was chilly waiting down by the bus stop. After about three minutes the big yellow bus pulled to a stop in front of me.
My seat was way in the back, which meant that I had to shuffle through everyone’s feet and book bags. It was a bit tricky to trip in such a small aisle, but somehow I managed to almost do it. When I sat in my seat I turned my IPod on and leaned against the window as I always did on weekdays. The golden leaves on the trees passing by outside formed into a gold wall, this was normal enough for me though. I almost fell asleep until I heard the air pressure of the bus. Wrapping up my IPod, I stood up and started walking off the bus. It seemed that the guy that I was sitting with had talked to me, I wasn’t listening though, I was still half asleep. Zombies would look livelier than me in the mornings.
All the morning classes seemed to take an eternity as they always did. Social studies was boring, but that means I got to do almost nothing so it worked out. We started something new in language arts but I didn’t hear what it was, I was too busy telling my stomach to shut up. As always algebra was really annoying and boring. The teacher managed to go on and on about a single chapter without explaining a thing.
Finally it was lunch time, my favorite time of the day. I caught up with my friend Reyana heading over to the cafeteria. “Do you know what we are having for lunch today?” I asked her.
“I’m not sure, I think its foot long hotdog day,” Reyana replied. Reyana had been my best friend since pre-school. She had shoulder length, reddish hair and a somewhat thin face. We did everything, together ranging from skating to video games. For some strange reason we both liked the idea of medieval fighting and war craft, so naturally that’s what our video games usually were. “Hey, did you get any of that algebra? I was completely confused,” she told me.
“Not really, Mrs. Macintyre is really bad at clarifying what she is talking about.”
“That explains my C+.”
“Not to mention the fact that she takes next to nothing for a grade. That means one bad grade and algebra is down the toilet.”
Both of us were walking across the street to the lunchroom, then she asked a very strange question, “Avelia, what would you do if I died?”
I gave her a funny look, “What kind of question is that?” I asked, half avoiding it.
“That doesn’t answer my question, what would you do if I died?” she persisted.
“I don’t know, you’re not thinking about committing suicide are you?” I joked.
“No, of course not, I just wondering.” We walked into the lunchroom, the smell of french fries filled my nose. “So do you see the others?” she was referring to our other friends.
“No, but I’m sure they are—there they are.” I pointed to a table a little ways away with our friends waving at us to get our attention. Reyana went to sit with them while I jumped in the lunch line. Lunch was normal, we talked about the homework we had, gossiped about the teachers and as always I was the last one to finish eating.
All of us threw our trash away and headed outside for recess. Reyana and I just walked around and talked since there was nothing better to do. The autumn leaves were everywhere, there was no way to even walk around them. A few tried to cling to the trees a bit longer. “So what are we going to do today? A new movie is coming out, we could go see that,” I suggested.
“Oh, you mean Thunder? That didn’t look all that great.”
“All right, what about…” I tried to think of something we could do. “Oh what about the self defense class at the recreation center? You get to beat people up,” I tempted her.
“As cool as that sounds, I don’t think my mom would go for it.”
“My house after school for video games?” I offered.
“Sure,” Reyana agreed. “Hey, Avelia,”
“Huh?”
“Do you see that guy across the street,” she looked in the direction of a man in a black hoodie fidgeting with something in his hands.
“Yeah, what about him?” I looked back at her.
“Nothing really, he is just really creeping me out,” She said quite bluntly.
“Yeah, you’re right,” I agreed. “Oh well, his business is his business. So I’ll see you after—,” there was a loud bang, instinctively, I turned to see what was going on.
Everything seemed to be going in slow motion, sounds muffled. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Reyana fall. The feeling in the air changed instantly, the whistles that called everyone in were going off but I barely heard them. I bent down next to Reyana’s body sprawled on the ground. “Reyana! Reyana!,” I shook her unconscious body violently. “Reyana, get up!” Everyone else had gone inside, with a rush of adrenaline, I hoisted her up and carried her to the school’s front doors.
As soon as the aid saw Reyana in my arms, her hands covered her mouth and I heard her say, “Oh my God, get inside quickly.” She raced to get the nurse while I dashed to get to our homeroom which was closer. Before I even set her down on a table of desks there was a crowd of people surrounding us. All sorts of questions flooded me, but not one made it to my ears. The nurse rushed in and gasped, of course she would, my best friend had been shot.
“Someone call an ambulance!” she shouted to whoever would listen. “Everyone, back up! You,” she looked at me, while wiping up the immense red mess. “Do you know what happened?” she asked with an intense sense of urgency.
“I-I’m not exactly sure, we were walking outside during recess. I heard a bang and she fell to the ground.” At that moment I was in a state of confusion, worry and fear.
“Was there anything else, anything at all?” she asked. I’d never seen the nurse so serious before.
“Well, there was this freaky guy across the street. He was wearing a black hoodie and had something in his hands,” I recalled.
“Okay, you may go now,” she said.
“No,” that was the first time I had ever said no to any school faculty member. “I’m not leaving my best friend.” I stood my ground quite defiantly in my spot, my worried eyes just staring at her.
She hesitated for a long time, “Very well, just don’t get in my way.”
I nodded as the paramedics came in. They got all the other students out and turned the classroom into an operation room. As much as I wanted to stay by Reyana’s side, I couldn’t stand seeing what nobody was ever meant to see. I left the classroom to meet tens of thousands of question. Everybody was bombarding me when I just wanted to be alone. I screamed, “Shut up!” and ran towards the other side of the building where my seventh grade teacher taught. Mrs. Cerai was probably the most understanding person in the entire school. I rushed into her classroom apparently looking very distraught because all of them were just staring at me
“What’s the matter, Avelia?” she asked. “You look like you’ve just been smacked in the face.”
“I don’t know, everything is so confusing.” My eyes started to fill with tears and my vision blurred. I tried to blink them back, but that just sent them flowing over the edge.
“What happened? Start from the beginning, that always seems to help you,” she advised.
“Me and Reyana, we were walking around during recess,” my voice quavered and my nose sniffled. “I heard a loud bang and she fell over.” At this point I didn’t care who saw me, I hadn’t cried in over seven years, certainly not in public. Now I was practically bawling my eyes out.
“Oh my goodness,” she breathed, her eyes grew wide. Mrs. Cerai lowered her voice, “is she…” she didn’t need to say what was coming.
I shook my head, “I don’t know, there are paramedics checking her out now.”
Mrs. Cerai stood up from her chair, “Come here,” her arms were outstretched and she spoke softly. I stepped forward and she held me close, my chest was heaving and my breaths were short and uneasy. Hugging her felt so good, like I was letting everything out. For the first time in seven years I just let everything out. Both of us just rocked back and forth, like nothing else existed, I was so confused, I didn’t know what was going to happen.
“She was alive when I carried her in, but…she was shot in the chest. Mrs. Cerai, what’s going to happen to her?” I pleaded.
For a long time she didn’t say anything, finally she said, “I don’t know.” She held me by the shoulders now, “You should probably head back now, see if they have any news.”
I nodded and walked out of the classroom, yet again everyone stared at me. I really wanted to shout, “Don’t have anything better to do than stare at me?!” but I didn’t. walking back I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hurry back to hear the news I was anticipating or walk ever so slowly to avoid the bad news as long as possible. It ended up being somewhere between a jog and a sulk. The hallways felt more like an endless gerbil tube, I felt so small compared to what was happening. When I turned into my team’s hallway, everyone stared at me, just like the seventh graders. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the teachers look away. No one wanted to tell me the truth that I knew was coming.
My homeroom teacher, Ms. Arith came up to me. “Avelia,” she spoke so softly that if I hadn’t known what she was going to say, I wouldn’t have heard her at all. “Reyana was…” she couldn’t get the words out.
I nodded, “Okay.” All through sixth period we did nothing, all of us were silent with the exception of a few boys in the corner of the room, they seemed happier than ever. I was sitting one table over while he was laughing and joking with his buddies.
“Did you hear what happened to that girl Reyana?” he laughed. “She got shot!” all of them started chuckling, “Yeah, she died, I’m only sorry I didn’t shoot her first.”
That was it, I snapped, I rose from my seat and headed towards him, growling. I pinned him up against the wall by his shirt. All the color drained from his face. “Reyana was my friend!” I snarled, shoving him even harder into the wall.
“I didn’t know you were—,”
“What? Sitting right there? If I hadn’t been there no one would snap you like a twig for saying what you said.” With one hand still pinning him against the wall, I punched him across the face leaving a fist mark. The tension in the room rose, all the other students were probably a little too frightened to get up and do something.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” he pleaded.
“No you’re not,” I spat as I brought my knee up. He tried to keel over in pain but I didn’t let him. At that moment the teacher stepped in.
“What’s going on in here?” she cried. I looked over my shoulder, still not letting go of the boy. I looked back and with one swift motion scratched the boys face and threw him to the ground. He brought his hand to his face and flinched at the red on his fingers.
“A little souvenir, I hope you don’t lose it.” I growled at the dazed boy. I slouched back in my chair and eventually so did the boy. The rest of the period was relatively normal, except for the fact that everyone was a bit quieter, especially the boy.
I got home and dropped everything by the door. “How was school?” Mom asked as she always did, I said nothing. “Honey?” she asked.
“You’ll get a call in about five seconds,” I headed for my room. “Four, three, two, one,” I continued to count down, her phone rang and I locked my door. I heard yet another gasp from the living room. About two minutes later Mom jiggled the doorknob.
“Avelia, Avelia sweetie, let me in,” she called through the door.
“No!” I shouted back.
“Honey, I just want to help.”
“How can you help me when you have no idea how I feel? None of your best friends have ever died!”
“No, none of my friends has ever died, but the friendship you had with Reyana emanated to me, I feel your pain.”
“No you don’t! Stop sounding like a cheesy novel!” I screamed back to her. Mom didn’t talk for a long time and I heard her walk away.
The next few weeks no one could get me out of my room, I left to find food and go to the bathroom, that’s about it. I even skipped school, I didn’t want people teasing me or Reyana. I especially didn’t want their pity, understanding maybe, but not pity, I didn’t like people feeling sorry for me.
The next week or two my grades plummeted. I spoke to no one and no one spoke to me. One day my brother actually did come into my room. He was a junior in high school and despite being a bad influence I looked up to him. We didn’t fight like most siblings, we actually got along pretty well. He sat down at the foot of my bed, “So are you just going to sit in your room all day?”
“Go away,” I muttered.
“Eventually you are going to need some fresh air.” Without looking I brought my arm up above my head to where my window was and opened it. “What about exercise? You’re looking a little flabby.”
I glared at him, “Not helping.”
“You know, on a day like today, there are probably quite a few people skydiving, maybe a few scuba divers.”
“Yeah, what’s your point?”
“Well if you want to waste your life in here be my guest, but remember, you only get one life to waste.” He left with me thinking, maybe I can do something incredible and be away from everybody. That night I packed up clothes, a little money, some food and anything else I might have needed.
The next morning I woke up to my alarm at 5:00 A.M., slipped on my shoes and jacket and left. The sun hadn’t even risen to greet everyone yet, but I didn’t care. In fact, it was better that it wasn’t up, if no one saw me leave, then no one would come looking for me. Many hours passed, the sun was high in the sky and I was ready to eat. I slipped into a nearby McDonalds and started eating some of the food I had packed, that is until someone chased me out telling me to buy something or get out. No matter, I had to eat quickly anyways, it was noon and I was only three towns over, four more and I would be out of the state.
At nine o’ clock that evening I was at a loss for where to sleep, I started knocking on random doors. Well, not completely random, I looked for houses that seemed to hold a family. A family is more likely to be nicer than a single man living in a condo. After about six different houses I found one that looked suitable and people were home. I rang the doorbell…no answer. Maybe their doorbell was broken, I knocked on the door…still no answer. They probably do the same thing I do, if I don’t know who it is, I don’t answer. This seemed like a nice neighborhood so I tried the next house over. This time a middle aged women answered the door, “Hello, do you need something?” she seemed to have a very caring disposition.
“Please, I do not mean to be a burden, but I need somewhere to stay, just for the night,” I tried to sound very polite and maybe a little pathetic. “I have nowhere to go, I will not bother you in the least, I’ll even sleep on the floor if needed,” I begged.
“Nonsense, come in from the cold, I needed some company anyways. I’ll go get the guest room ready, make yourself comfortable.” I sat on the couch and pulled out a book I had brought. Within minutes the woman was back, “You probably haven’t eaten in hours let me heat up some macaroni and cheese for you.” She seemed to be happy to help, almost like she would have been bored to tears had I not come.
“You don’t have to,” I said, but my stomach seemed to disagree.
The lady smiled, “I’ll heat some up. If you don’t like to intrude then you’ll be glad to know that this was my dinner to, I already had it made,” she called from the kitchen. I continued reading until she came out with a bowl of macaroni cheese.
“Thank you,” I spoke very softly.
“You’re very welcome.”
I put my fork down, “If you don’t mind my asking, do you live her all alone?” I asked.
“Yes I do, my husband died a few years ago and my children all moved away long ago.”
“I, I’m sorry I didn’t know,” I babbled.
“It’s fine, it’s been a long time.
I was a little embarrassed so I stayed quiet. After dinner I said, “I think I’ll go to bed now, I’ll probably leave early in the morning.”
“That’s fine, I’m just glad I could help, let me show you to the guest room.” She led me down the hallway to a door on the left. The window gave an excellent view of her gorgeous backyard. Tall, bare trees lined the back edge of the yard. The moon shone on the golden leaves below. Even the deck itself was beautiful, the dark wood overlooked the backyard. Compared to outside the window, the room was very plain. Very light cream paint lined the walls and hardwood floor to match. The bed had a white feather blanket with blue sheets and was just below the window like at my house. Across the room from the foot of the bed there was a dresser with a mirror attached. I didn’t realize how filthy I was until I looked in the mirror. Spots of dirt covered my face and my hair was like a ball of yarn.
“On second thought, I think I’ll clean up a little first.”
The lady grinned, “Just across the hall.”
“Thank you,” I gave a little bow. The wash cloth felt very cool and refreshing after I got it wet. I rinsed off my face and ran the water through my hair. After brushing my hair, brushing my teeth and washing up altogether, I finally felt clean. I walked out to find the lady by the door. “Excuse me, I didn’t catch your name.”
“Guinivere, Guinivere Ratchi,” she answered.
“I’m Avelia Senuzo,” I held out my hand. “Nice to meet you,” I laughed.
“You too,” Guinivere chuckled.
“Now I think I’ll go to bed. In case I don’t see you in the morning, thank you so much for taking me in for the night.
“Always glad to help, good night.” She closed the door and left. I sat on the bed and wondered why Guinivere was being so nice to me. Maybe it was because she sensed that I had gone through something similar to her. How could she have figured that out though? I haven’t revealed anything, have I? I turned out the light and fell asleep.
Reyana and I were walking around the school yard, it seemed like recess. I seemed to be the only one that had noticed the mysterious guy in the dark hoodie across the street. Reyana continued talking as the man raised something at arm’s length. “No!” I screamed jumping in front of Reyana. The gunshot struck me right in the chest.
“Aaaaagh!” I sat up gasping for air, it was only a nightmare. The digital clock next to me on the nightstand said 1:37 A.M. Reyana was the lucky one, she had about a second of physical pain before she fell unconscious. I feel pain everyday because of that man. I lied back down and closed my eyes but sleep didn’t come. The thought of how things could have been if my nightmare had come true. Reyana would still be alive and I would have been the one that had that one second of pain. That’s selfish, I thought, then she would be the one sitting on some stranger’s bed wondering how things could have been. I kept going back and forth and eventually argued myself to sleep.
I woke up and saw the sun shining through the window, “light?” I mumbled, “I was hoping to leave before the sun rose.” I glanced at the clock, 11:14 A.M. “Shoot!” I meant to spring out of bed but ended up just barely keeping myself on my feet. I trudged out to the living room and flopped on the couch as was my usual routine at home.
“Do you want some pancakes?” Guinivere asked, “I made them for myself but ended up making too much.”
“Sure, thank you,” I replied. I started thinking, “Hey Guinivere, I know we are still like complete strangers, but can I talk to you. It’s a little personal, you don’t have to if you don’t want,” I added.
“Go ahead, tell me anything,” she said as she came in with a plate of pancakes.
“Where to begin? Where to begin? Well, I was school one day, minding my own business, hanging out with my best friend since pre-school when some random guy shoots her, completely out of the blue.” Guinivere was a very good listener, she was the first one gasp for breath when she heard the story. I took another bite of my pancake, “from there I just snapped, my grades dropped, I beat people up and skipped school altogether. I never even left my room.” Guinivere nodded. “After a few weeks I ran away, right now I think I’m about five towns away.”
“Listen to me,” she sounded so serious, but somehow in a calm way. “I can relate, when my husband died I felt terrible. I thought that maybe if I had done something I could have saved him. Just remember to put others before yourself, your friend is in a better place watching over you. Not to mention she is not feeling the same pain as you. A gunshot is something very fast, there’s no way you could have saved her if you tried. Now, everyone except Hollywood knows that knowing that she is happy isn’t going to take away all the pain. You should never forget about her, that’s never an option, but you shouldn’t let it run your life either, if that makes sense,” she seemed to be finished.
“How do you know so much about how to cope with this? One death in your life can’t give you that much wisdom.”
“Well, somehow all these kids with terrible pasts end up on my doorstep. I don’t know how or why, but it happens. Oh and most important, don’t commit suicide.”
“Of course, I couldn’t kill myself if I tried.”
“Good, no one should be able to.” She kind of half smiled. Both of us just sat there for a long time.
“Do you think you could--,”
“Give you a ride home?” she finished for me. “I’d love to,” that sweet, caring smile spread across her face again. “Grab your stuff and we’ll leave in a few minutes.”
“I have no idea how to thank a stranger who has helped me so much,” I couldn’t help from saying.
“Just promise me you won’t run away anymore,” she said.
“You have my word,” I agreed.
I’d like to say that I got on with my life like it was before, but I can’t. I did end up going back to school and I raised my grades. However, I stayed away from other people. Whether it was because I didn’t want anything like what happened to ever happen again or because I didn’t want their pity, I wasn’t sure. I’d like to say that everything went back to normal, but from that tragic day forth, a crucial part of me was missing from my life.
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Call me a nerd but i found two songs that could be like her theme songs: Eva and End of all hope both of them are on my playlist
 Ember1257 · Fri Dec 19, 2008 @ 04:17am · 5 Comments |
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