Home | Contest | Write A Book | Write Ebooks For Cash | Be A Travel Writer | Write Children's Books Write For Newspapers | Write An Ezine | Write A Blog | Writing Skills & Tips | Novel Writing Software Please take a moment to bookmark this site and join our free hot tips list. Read & Rate Our Writing Contest Entries! See what other people have written, and rate them on a scale of 1 to 5. This is an opportunity to view a wide variety of short stories and see what kind of original material is being submitted to us on a daily basis. After you rate an entry, you will be randomly redirected to another entry to rate. You may read and rate as many entries as you wish! The user-rating system is simply a fun way for writers to receive a public opinion of their work, and does not affect the judging for the cash prizes. If you wish to enter the contest, you may enter for free here. Rate This Contest Entry: Contest: June 30th, 2005 Author: Kara Miller Ten months later and it’s finally hitting me. I have no one. My dad’s found another woman, and everyone else is dead. There is no euphemistic way of saying it. I’m undoubtedly alone. I blame him. It was his fault that she hadn’t been sleeping. It was his damn selfish choices that caused all of this. He is the reason that I’m so alone now. I am seventeen years old going on fifty. I live with my aunt in Porter, Michigan. Last week I decided to take a little stroll down memory lane. Wait, that’s the wrong way to put it. I decided to take a walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I was going back to West Virginia. Everyone said it was a bad idea, but I knew the verity and reality of it all wouldn’t hit me until I looked death in the face. The doctors said I was a miracle; I don’t feel so much like a miracle. They say that I’m strong, a fighter. They don’t know that inside I’m dying. We needed a vacation. Not so much the rest of us as my mom. I knew that she hadn’t been sleeping. It wasn’t as apparent to my 3 month old brother and five year old sister as it was to me, but I couldn’t take the midnight crying, the restless days, and the blank stares she sometimes had on her face when she was thinking about what he had done. Twenty years of marriage and she had no idea. He had been with another woman for ten years now and she had no idea. She needed to get away. It was one week until my birthday so I used that as my excuse. I asked for a vacation. The beach, the mountains, anything. She was reluctant at first, and considering her predicament, happiness didn’t seem a likely possibility. She finally agreed and we set out for sand and sun in South Carolina. The trip had exactly the effect that I wanted. Sammy, my baby brother, couldn’t have been more content with launching sand into Amanda’s hair. Amanda, my little sister, provoked him to keep chucking sand by her small giggles and contagious laughter. It was paradise. It wasn’t really the place that made everything feel perfect, but it was the perfect getaway from the real world, from all of her problems. Exactly what she needed. My mom was happy again. The last day on the beach was depressing. We were caught in the stronghold of reality; knowing that we had to go back home and face “real life.” The ten hour drive ahead didn’t help either. We packed our belongings and loaded them into the rental. It started to storm. Cold, wet, rain stung my face as I tried to cram my suitcase into the too small trunk to no avail. I had to keep it at my feet for the trip. “We’re lucky.” my mom shouted over the rain as she got into the car. “It waited to storm until we were leaving.” But we missed all the signs. The radio scanner in the kitchen was buzzing nonstop about car accidents in the rainy wet weather. My mom was tired and had prominent dark circles beneath her eyes from lack of sleep. We should have waited until morning. The drive started off slow. Traffic was backed up because of a five-car pile up twelve miles ahead and Sammy was wailing in his car seat, scared of the rain. We spent three extra hours stuck in traffic and darkness was fast approaching. Rain threatened to get worse with every drop tapping the windshield. Mom decided to take the back way home. There was an exit a couple miles ahead that would take us home through the mountains of West Virginia. We reached the exit about a half an hour later and my brother’s cries tapered off to the soft breathing of sleep. Street lights slowly diminished until all we had to guide us was our headlights. There were no cars in front or behind us and eventually I drifted off to sleep. Dreams filled my head until I was thrust back into the real world by the slamming of brakes. A deer. We barely missed it. “Sorry,” my mom apologized. “I’m kind of tired.” I offered to drive but she turned me down. “Bad weather.” she said. Now that I think back, her eyes looked bloodshot, but I thought nothing of it at the time. After that I couldn’t fall back asleep. I was too shaken up. I turned on the radio and started singing along to Pearl Jam. The yellow reflectors up ahead signaled a sharp turn. My mom wasn’t breaking; she was speeding up. Something was wrong. I looked over and saw her head lolled to one side, hands barely gripping the steering wheel. I couldn’t think. I screamed her name and grabbed the steering wheel and jerked it hard to the left to keep from careening down the overhang. My mom instantly woke up and slammed her foot on the brakes but we were too late. Our car was rolling down the hill hitting every rock and tree on the way down. The squealing tires still rang in my head as glass shattered all around me slashing my face. Instantly sharp pains shot up my left leg as the front dashboard crushed under the weight of the car. Blood filled my mouth when I bit my tongue hard, ran out the corner of my lips and down my arm. I looked over at my mother who was bleeding profusely from where her head had hit the window. Screams from the back peirced my ears but I couldn't turn around. The car was plunging down what felt like a bottomless pit. With every flip and roll I could hear the bones in my leg crushing even more. I was beyond feeling anymore at this point. Finally, after when seemed like and hour of falling, the car came to a crashing halt. The suitcase that I had been carrying in my lap was ripped open and peirced with glass. Thoughts finally swirled my head. That could have been me. I didn't want to see anything that I saw next. My mother's lifeless body lie in the seat next to me. Her face was covered in blood. My little sister was no where in sight. She had been thrown from the car. My baby brother was jerked around so hard that he died almost instantly. I lied there waiting, thoughts invaded my head. Who would come for me? Would anyone notice? Shadows. Obscurity. Now, here I stand, looking over the hill that killed my family; my mother, brother, and little sister and left me with nothing but a shattered leg and a few bruises. Shards of glass and metal still litter the mountainside. Darkness overwhelms me as I think how the death beckoned the car over the mountain. Sounds of crushing metal, shattering glass, piercing screams, and squealing tires still ring in my ears. I have no one. I blame him. It was his fault that she hadn’t been sleeping. It was his damn selfish choices that caused all of this. He is the reason that I’m so alone now. They say I'm a survivor. They say that I'm strong. I don't feel so strong. people have rated it so far. is the current average. |
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