Week Twenty-One(March. 16 - March. 21)- Topic:Homecomings
Winner: Sunny
Price of Survival
By Sunny
I wove through the throng of people looking for him. Finally I saw the gleam of his blonde hair, he was leaning against a back wall, large glass in hand.
“Ian!” I called.
He turned and I realized he wasn’t so much leaning against the wall as he was propped against it. “Hey s-s-sis!” he slurred.
God, he was even more wasted than I was. “Our ride ditched us,” I said angrily.
“What? Kelly left?” this seemed to confuse him. “But she said she was gonna take us home.”
“Well apparently she forgot about that,” I said. “Come on Ian, we have to find someone else that’s going back our way.”
We found one vehicle headed back towards our house and it was already full. “That’s OK, we’ll squeeze in,” giggled Brittany. It seemed Brittany giggled a lot, particularly when she had had too much to drink.
We stood on Chelsea’s lawn comparing how many drinks he had had. With six bears and two shots Derek had the least and became our driver.
The eight of us crammed into the five-seat car. Derek drove, Emma and Dave shared the front seat, a guy I didn’t know sat behind Derek, Jenna sat next to him in the middle, Brittany sat on my lap the seat belt going over both of us and Ian sat between us and Jenna with no seatbelt.
“Kate, is it true that you and Ian are twins?” Brittany asked.
“Yeah, paternal twins,” I said. It was pretty hard to believe that we were twins, we were both were tall and thin, but that was were our similarities ended. Ian had blond hair and grey eyes with skin that tanned easily. I had auburn hair with brown eyes and skin so pale that I looked like I never went outside.
Ian and me were also in a different way; Ian was a boy and I wasn’t. That made Ian Daddy’s favorite. He was the golden child, I was just part of the deal, we came as a set. We were a pair, inseparable, we would always look out for each other.
We drove in silence for a while apart from Brittany’s occasional giggle until Emma said, “Derek, can you go a bit faster? I have to be back by one.”
Derek sped up as commanded and it was probably because of this that he missed the curve and shot over the safety railing, down, down, down into the ravine and darkness.
I awoke surrounded by white. The walls, the sheets, the light, everything but me; I was several shades of purple.
I shifted slightly and became aware of how uncomfortable I was, I wasn’t in pain, they obviously had given me some powerful painkillers. The painkillers might be able to get rid of the pain but it didn’t replace it with any other feeling.
Fear overwhelmed me. What was wrong with me? Where were the others? Were they alive? Was I alive?
***
The nurses told me nothing; only that my parents had been notified. My parents didn’t visit and they staff at the hospital wouldn’t tell me about my friends in the car.
After a week I was told that I would be released the next day. I sighed in relief; I was going crazy without news.
I called the house, no answer. I tried both my parent’s cell phones, no answer. Finally I tried Madison; she picked up on the first ring.
“Katie, oh my God! Are you ok?” she demanded.
“Basically. I’m all busted up but I’m alive,” I answered.
“I’m so sorry to hear about Ian,” she said softly.
“Ian? What’s wrong with him?” I asked, feeling panicked.
“You don’t know? Oh Katie, I’m sorry! Ian’s dead.”
I was silenced by the horror. Ian, my twin, dead. That couldn’t be.
Madison let me sit in silence for over five minutes. “I’m so sorry Katie,” she said even more quietly.
“Can you give me a ride home from the hospital? I can’t get a hold of my parents,” I said, my voice measured—basically.
“Sure, Katie, no problem, see you tomorrow,” Madison hung up.
I dropped the phone and sobbed.
***
Madison dropped my off at home and let me walk up to the door, I told her to. I was home for the first time in over a week, it would seem so strange with out Ian to battle over the TV for, to be able to tell all my secrets too and no Ian to cry to when things got rough.
I walked through door, Daddy looked up at me and said, his voice laced with hatred, “How dare you come back after what you did to Ian?”
I stared at him, horrified; how could he blame me for what happened. Then I realized why he was mad, he was mad because I was alive and Ian wasn’t.
“Get out of this house and don’t you dare come back,” his voice was low and measured but was so full of rage that I stepped back.
“Where do I go?” I asked.
“I don’t care! Get your clothes and get out!”
He barely gave me enough time to shove my things into garbage bags before he stomped to the door and opened it for me.
I left; I was being punished for survival.
More Writing by Sunny: http://www.goodreads.com/story/list/1814...
More Writing from this contest: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1190...
